Poor DVD picture quality on a Samsung LNT-4661 LCD TV

[Ben123]

Hi,

This question is directed to owners of Samsung LN-T4661. I recently trade in my old projector TV to a Samsung LNT-4661 capable of 1080p which is shipped Free of Charge under my local Samsung promotion program.

Immediately upon hooking up, I find the DVD picture to be quite bad. It's very soft and "pixelated" and lack of detail and sharpness. After extensive tweaking and upconverting the picture to 1080i helps a bit but the picture still looks very soft. I recalled that my older non-1080p 40" LCD TV display a much better picture for standard Def DVDs. I start to wonder if the less than satisfactory picture is due to the fault of my DVD player ( Samsung HD860, connected to the TV via HDMI ) or simply because this TV is bigger and I am watching them at about 8ft away thus making the picture flaws seems more obvious.

So for those that own this TV, which DVD player do you use and at what settings?

I read somewhere that 1080p TVs are actually not suitable for watching standard DVDs due to the need for more scalling up which can distort the picture and in this case, lower-end 720p TVs are more suitable to the task. Any truth in this?

Unfortunately, I don't have a BD player hooked up to this setup yet so I can't test the TV's performance on highdef sources.

Another wierd problem is that component cables do not work at all. The TV shows an error "mode not supported"

[tqmilymi]

I purchased this tv for the bedroom a few weeks ago to replace a 27' philips magnavox. It's hooked up to Verizon FIOS and a SD DVD player. For the most part, I agree that SD video, whether cable or DVD, does not look the greatest. I see less of pixel problem but more "softness." However, when I hook up our PS3 (which is downstairs) I'm very, very pleased with the video quality. Since I don't have speakers hooked up I can't comment much on sound quality, except to say that it meets my needs. I use HDMI cables when I can; otherwise, I use component cables, which seem to work fine. I'm strongly considering picking up a second PS3 for the bedroom to use as a blu-ray player. Would be much easier than having to lung the one downstairs upstairs when we want to watch a movie at night.

As for the settings, I don't really play around with the settings all that much, so sorry I can't comment much on that. My bottom line suggestion with the Samsung 4661 is to buy a blu-ray player and then make the judgment. I assume if you're not pleased with the set afterwards you'll want to replace it with another HD set, but you'll still need a blu-ray player to make the most of it. I can't comment on a regular upgrading DVD player.

[musicman1999]

Did you have the set calibrated or adjust the picture yourself?

bill

[Ben123]

Originally Posted by tqmilymi

I purchased this tv for the bedroom a few weeks ago to replace a 27' philips magnavox. It's hooked up to Verizon FIOS and a SD DVD player. For the most part, I agree that SD video, whether cable or DVD, does not look the greatest. I see less of pixel problem but more "softness." However, when I hook up our PS3 (which is downstairs) I'm very, very pleased with the video quality. Since I don't have speakers hooked up I can't comment much on sound quality, except to say that it meets my needs. I use HDMI cables when I can; otherwise, I use component cables, which seem to work fine. I'm strongly considering picking up a second PS3 for the bedroom to use as a blu-ray player. Would be much easier than having to lung the one downstairs upstairs when we want to watch a movie at night.

As for the settings, I don't really play around with the settings all that much, so sorry I can't comment much on that. My bottom line suggestion with the Samsung 4661 is to buy a blu-ray player and then make the judgment. I assume if you're not pleased with the set afterwards you'll want to replace it with another HD set, but you'll still need a blu-ray player to make the most of it. I can't comment on a regular upgrading DVD player.

Thanks for your feedback. I plan actually to get a stand alone BD player to replace my DVD player so that I can use it to play both BD and standard DVD. Due to lack of shelf-space in my AV rack, I might not be able to fit in another PS3. There seems to be lack of affordable choices for BD standalone, except the Samsung BP1400 which is quite buggy.

[Ben123]

Originally Posted by musicman1999

Did you have the set calibrated or adjust the picture yourself?

bill

adjust myself. I got a DV Essentials but it's just too tedious to use.

Anyway, I find out after posting this that turning on the "Just Scan" settings helps a lot to improve the picture as it activates 1:1 pixel mapping.

[Blu Haze]

You should get a PS3. They are awesome and will be the best all around media player for awhile

[Ben123]

Originally Posted by Blu Haze

You should get a PS3. They are awesome and will be the best all around media player for awhile

I already got one but it is in my living room home theater setup which looks great on my plasma. The LCD Tv is in my bedroom.

[john_1958]

Originally Posted by Ben123

Hi,

This question is directed to owners of Samsung LN-T4661. I recently trade in my old projector TV to a Samsung LNT-4661 capable of 1080p which is shipped Free of Charge under my local Samsung promotion program.

Immediately upon hooking up, I find the DVD picture to be quite bad. It's very soft and "pixelated" and lack of detail and sharpness. After extensive tweaking and upconverting the picture to 1080i helps a bit but the picture still looks very soft. I recalled that my older non-1080p 40" LCD TV display a much better picture for standard Def DVDs. I start to wonder if the less than satisfactory picture is due to the fault of my DVD player ( Samsung HD860, connected to the TV via HDMI ) or simply because this TV is bigger and I am watching them at about 8ft away thus making the picture flaws seems more obvious.

So for those that own this TV, which DVD player do you use and at what settings?

I read somewhere that 1080p TVs are actually not suitable for watching standard DVDs due to the need for more scalling up which can distort the picture and in this case, lower-end 720p TVs are more suitable to the task. Any truth in this?

Unfortunately, I don't have a BD player hooked up to this setup yet so I can't test the TV's performance on highdef sources.

Another wierd problem is that component cables do not work at all. The TV shows an error "mode not supported"

my Samsung LNT 4661 makes my Sd dvds look great especially with hdmi the only thing that i'm having problems when using pc is i have to lower the resolution
so i don't know why you're complaining about SD DVD

i use standard mode with game mode turned on

I did find rainbow effect while watching some broadcast shows where the person has stripe shirt

but for blu-ray i suggest
contrast 50
brightness 40
sharp zero
color 69
tint zero
backlight 10
all other features turned on

[ryoohki]

This is perfectly normal. Display quality right now are 1000000x better than when DVD was invented in 1994-1997. So you just see what it's like. 480i resolution was invented for size upto 27inch with where UBER huge in the 60's.

The only way to sharpen DVD is to up the Sharpness.. but then you're stuck with EE. Most DVD already use EE to give appearance of HD while they are not..

[big-bleu]

Originally Posted by Ben123

Hi,

This question is directed to owners of Samsung LN-T4661. I recently trade in my old projector TV to a Samsung LNT-4661 capable of 1080p which is shipped Free of Charge under my local Samsung promotion program.

Immediately upon hooking up, I find the DVD picture to be quite bad. It's very soft and "pixelated" and lack of detail and sharpness. After extensive tweaking and upconverting the picture to 1080i helps a bit but the picture still looks very soft. I recalled that my older non-1080p 40" LCD TV display a much better picture for standard Def DVDs. I start to wonder if the less than satisfactory picture is due to the fault of my DVD player ( Samsung HD860, connected to the TV via HDMI ) or simply because this TV is bigger and I am watching them at about 8ft away thus making the picture flaws seems more obvious.

So for those that own this TV, which DVD player do you use and at what settings?

I read somewhere that 1080p TVs are actually not suitable for watching standard DVDs due to the need for more scalling up which can distort the picture and in this case, lower-end 720p TVs are more suitable to the task. Any truth in this?

Unfortunately, I don't have a BD player hooked up to this setup yet so I can't test the TV's performance on highdef sources.

Another wierd problem is that component cables do not work at all. The TV shows an error "mode not supported"

my samsung lnt-4661 works great using samsung 1400 blu-ray player with Hdmi
with following settings
>contrast 84
>brightness 30
>sharpness 50
>color 66
>tint 61
> backlight 8
color normal
Dnie on
DNR auto
just scan
black levels high
dynamic high
gamma +2
color space auto
edge on

the only problem i have is connecting my old pc to it as it isn't supported

[stockstar1138]

I got a PS3 hooked up to my 4065 (basically the same TV).

Some movies look bad, Burton's original Batman on DVD coming to mind. However, some movies look absolutely phenominal (Revenge of the Sith), so I would think it could be the DVDs you are playing possibly or the maybe the player, but I don't think its the TV.

[DBlackGT]

I had the 4061 but sold it a few months ago. but generally lcd's have poor to mediocre standard definition video processing. so you can't really expect to much from standard definition (dvd's, non hd tv channels) on an hdtv lcd tv. its probably just the way it is, your not doing anything wrong that would affect this.

[big-bleu]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

I got a PS3 hooked up to my 4065 (basically the same TV).

Some movies look bad, Burton's original Batman on DVD coming to mind. However, some movies look absolutely phenominal (Revenge of the Sith), so I would think it could be the DVDs you are playing possibly or the maybe the player, but I don't think its the TV.

it could also be how old the movie is

[[1080-p]]

Originally Posted by Ben123

Hi,

This question is directed to owners of Samsung LN-T4661. I recently trade in my old projector TV to a Samsung LNT-4661 capable of 1080p which is shipped Free of Charge under my local Samsung promotion program.

Immediately upon hooking up, I find the DVD picture to be quite bad. It's very soft and "pixelated" and lack of detail and sharpness. After extensive tweaking and upconverting the picture to 1080i helps a bit but the picture still looks very soft. I recalled that my older non-1080p 40" LCD TV display a much better picture for standard Def DVDs. I start to wonder if the less than satisfactory picture is due to the fault of my DVD player ( Samsung HD860, connected to the TV via HDMI ) or simply because this TV is bigger and I am watching them at about 8ft away thus making the picture flaws seems more obvious.

So for those that own this TV, which DVD player do you use and at what settings?

I read somewhere that 1080p TVs are actually not suitable for watching standard DVDs due to the need for more scalling up which can distort the picture and in this case, lower-end 720p TVs are more suitable to the task. Any truth in this?

Unfortunately, I don't have a BD player hooked up to this setup yet so I can't test the TV's performance on highdef sources.

Another wierd problem is that component cables do not work at all. The TV shows an error "mode not supported"

that's because you are hooked up with dvd player and as for mode not supported you have to lower your resolution if your using a pc

I say ditch the dvd player thats what i did and got blu-ray

[john_1958]

has anyone else tried this on movie mode

contrast zero
brightness zero
sharp zero
color zero
tint zero
backlight 2
dnr auto
blacklight adjust --high
dynamic contrast--high
gamma +3
color space--auto
rgb offset 15 onsets 30
color cool2
vx color --on
dnie --on

[Avond]

Originally Posted by Ben123

Thanks for your feedback. I plan actually to get a stand alone BD player to replace my DVD player so that I can use it to play both BD and standard DVD. Due to lack of shelf-space in my AV rack, I might not be able to fit in another PS3. There seems to be lack of affordable choices for BD standalone, except the Samsung BP1400 which is quite buggy.

I'm not sure what your criteria are for affordable, so this might not be what you're looking for, but I have a Sony 350 standalone, and I have had no problems with it whatsoever, so I could definitely give it my highest recommendation. It can be had for around $300 I think...and I got mine less with a coupon and a sale, so I know it can be had for less! I hope you get the problem worked out!