Confessions of a 1080p Newbie

[EricJ]

Okay, I'll admit it--
I've been talking about Blu-ray since the Wars for what, three or four years now, and the shameful secret is, all this time I've been watching it on a 720p set that could "imitate" 1080i. Which is about as good as you could've hoped to get on a middle-class budget back in '08.
For a birthday present, finally treated myself to a 1080p Panasonic (with 3-D), just because I'd promised myself I would "as soon as they became common enough", and....


For those who jumped right on when the technology came out and don't know, Blu's still looked good on 720, but just a hair better than the HD network broadcasts, and the amazement was the jump in PQ from DVD.
But I'd started going through my three/four-year collection of old disks to see what the new set looks like, and it almost feels like I'm violating the "theatrical experience" spirit of film preservation that my movies now don't look like movies, they look like LIVE TV!!
For reference material, I'd pulled out Fox's amazing 4K Chitty/Bang, a movie that still looked like great old 60's roadhouse-engagement cinema when I watched it on the old set; the musical numbers now looked like they were on a live variety show, and the flying scenes looked like old Saturday-morning greenscreen.
I tried putting in Snow White to see what vintage Disney Diamond Edition would look like, and I wasn't watching a moving painting, I was watching painted cells (you could even see the brushstrokes) move like real people...It was only a hi-grain movie like "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" that still kept some look of "film", even though the movement was still "live".

I'd heard some display nuts talk about the "Soap opera factor", would this be what I'm talking about?
I'm using the Default settings, but do I have some Contrast or Sharpness turned up way too high, or should I just learn to get used to the new experience?
(Yes, I see some longtimers here snickering , but hey, you had your first 1080p virgin experiences too.)