Picture quality question!! - Blu-ray Forum

1080p Wannabe · 08-10-2007, 09:01 PM

I have a Samsung 720p 42' plasma ( Brand New ) Blu- Ray is awsome!!! But how come when i watch cable on my hd box ( charter ) It dosn't look to hi def to me? I have a Monster CAble dvi to hdmi cord for my box and the picture quality looks like it has alot of white fuzz???? Can anyone help me please???

nhaase · 08-10-2007, 09:13 PM

I don't know for sure about the fuzz you're experiencing, but the PQ of HDTV won't compare favorably with Blu-ray, as it is compressed more and not transmitted as fast as blu-ray. Planet Earth on Blu-ray had superior PQ when compared to the HDTV showing.

The white fuzz could be with your cable itself. Does this happen on every channel, at all times? Do you run your cable through a surge protector or power cleaner? More info on the white fuzz will help.

Iceman_II · 08-10-2007, 09:47 PM

Another problem with HDTV is that cable does not necessarily transmit the highest level of HD, it is my understanding that they often only broadcast in 720p...

Now, normally, 720p looks pretty darned good... where you may be seeing problems is that cable companies have to manipulate the signal to get it into a more "bandwidth friendly" format... this is the compression spoken of above. When you combine this compression with the conversion to 720p, there is ample oportunity for the cable company to screw up the signal. Are you where you can use a terrerestrial over the air antenna? I have dish network, with HD locals, but the local broadcasts ALWAYS look better from the terrestrial antenna.

Deciazulado · 08-11-2007, 12:25 AM

"white fuzz" sounds like noise from an inferior signal. Remember an 'off the air' signal? Like in Poltergeist? That's the extreme for a very weak or no signal compared to a full strength noiseless picture. As the signal quality degrades a transmission starts to look more and more like the off the air signal

crackinhedz · 08-11-2007, 12:36 AM

Does your picture have sparkles?

The sparkles may be due to the DVI cable being too long for the small DVI output voltage in your sources. Each sparkle is a pixel that is white instead of whatever color it is supposed to be, and is a missing bit of information in the stream.

1080p Wannabe · 08-11-2007, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nhaase

I don't know for sure about the fuzz you're experiencing, but the PQ of HDTV won't compare favorably with Blu-ray, as it is compressed more and not transmitted as fast as blu-ray. Planet Earth on Blu-ray had superior PQ when compared to the HDTV showing.

The white fuzz could be with your cable itself. Does this happen on every channel, at all times? Do you run your cable through a surge protector or power cleaner? More info on the white fuzz will help.

Some channels look better than others but i usally put it on discovery hd to test. Do u think it's becasue my cable wire is really longer than it should be ( by like 10 feet?) Everything is hooked up to the surge protector. It's not extreme white fuzz, but when like when the picture is just sitting there its kinda like white sparkles through out. And not just green grass.

crackinhedz · 08-11-2007, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1080p Wannabe

... but when like when the picture is just sitting there its kinda like white sparkles through out. And not just green grass.

yeah, it seems your cable might be too long...you should try to use the shortest possible cable on your set-up..

How long is the cable and how long do you really need??

if you need some cables, check these out...you can get different lenghts of course...

HDMI DVI cable (24AWG) w/net jacket-10ft

takezo · 08-12-2007, 07:59 PM

I would make sure that receiver is set to the res you want 1080i, 720p. My PC tech background knows that VGA and DVI can't auto configure resolution. When I set up my PC to output to VGA on my HDTV, it defaults to 800 x 600 res which is the default for Windows XP and Vista. Your reciever may default to 640 x 480 or 1080i as some older digital TVs only suport 480p, and other only support 1080i, meaning that 720p broadcast must be converted accordingly.

second is check brightness, contrast, and sharpess in TV menu you may be able to adjust them to your likeing. I ran my TV through the THX optimizer I had on one of my DVDs, after tweaking the TV settings according to optimizer, my PQ went straight through the roof. My TV came out of box washed out and dull. Now it's crisp clean and vibrant, and a hell of a lot better.

Then finally it's service provider. Not all providers have 100% of their channels in HD. A lot of them are still SD. Bitrates of Broadcast is a lot lower than Blu-ray so don't expect quality to be on par. Then it's the quality of service. Some providers suck while other rule. Do your research befor getting HD service. I would see if other people using your HD service is having similar problems.

08-10-2007, 09:01 PM	#1
1080p Wannabe Junior Member Member since:Aug 2007	Picture quality question!! I have a Samsung 720p 42' plasma ( Brand New ) Blu- Ray is awsome!!! But how come when i watch cable on my hd box ( charter ) It dosn't look to hi def to me? I have a Monster CAble dvi to hdmi cord for my box and the picture quality looks like it has alot of white fuzz???? Can anyone help me please???

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08-10-2007, 09:13 PM	#2
nhaase Special Member Member since:Mar 2007 Trading Score:2	I don't know for sure about the fuzz you're experiencing, but the PQ of HDTV won't compare favorably with Blu-ray, as it is compressed more and not transmitted as fast as blu-ray. Planet Earth on Blu-ray had superior PQ when compared to the HDTV showing. The white fuzz could be with your cable itself. Does this happen on every channel, at all times? Do you run your cable through a surge protector or power cleaner? More info on the white fuzz will help.

08-10-2007, 09:47 PM	#3
Iceman_II Expert Member Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Ft. Worth Home Theater Gallery:2 Blu-ray collection:308 Blu-ray reviews: 4	Another problem with HDTV is that cable does not necessarily transmit the highest level of HD, it is my understanding that they often only broadcast in 720p... Now, normally, 720p looks pretty darned good... where you may be seeing problems is that cable companies have to manipulate the signal to get it into a more "bandwidth friendly" format... this is the compression spoken of above. When you combine this compression with the conversion to 720p, there is ample oportunity for the cable company to screw up the signal. Are you where you can use a terrerestrial over the air antenna? I have dish network, with HD locals, but the local broadcasts ALWAYS look better from the terrestrial antenna.

08-11-2007, 12:25 AM	#4
Deciazulado Site Manager Top contributor Member since:Aug 2006 Location:USiberia Home Theater Gallery:6 4K collection:1159 Blu-ray collection:7044 DVD collection:4040	"white fuzz" sounds like noise from an inferior signal. Remember an 'off the air' signal? Like in Poltergeist? That's the extreme for a very weak or no signal compared to a full strength noiseless picture. As the signal quality degrades a transmission starts to look more and more like the off the air signal

08-11-2007, 12:36 AM	#5
crackinhedz Super Moderator Member since:Feb 2007 Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray reviews:8 Trading Score:19	Does your picture have sparkles? The sparkles may be due to the DVI cable being too long for the small DVI output voltage in your sources. Each sparkle is a pixel that is white instead of whatever color it is supposed to be, and is a missing bit of information in the stream.

08-12-2007, 07:59 PM	#8
takezo Active Member Member since:Aug 2006	I would make sure that receiver is set to the res you want 1080i, 720p. My PC tech background knows that VGA and DVI can't auto configure resolution. When I set up my PC to output to VGA on my HDTV, it defaults to 800 x 600 res which is the default for Windows XP and Vista. Your reciever may default to 640 x 480 or 1080i as some older digital TVs only suport 480p, and other only support 1080i, meaning that 720p broadcast must be converted accordingly. second is check brightness, contrast, and sharpess in TV menu you may be able to adjust them to your likeing. I ran my TV through the THX optimizer I had on one of my DVDs, after tweaking the TV settings according to optimizer, my PQ went straight through the roof. My TV came out of box washed out and dull. Now it's crisp clean and vibrant, and a hell of a lot better. Then finally it's service provider. Not all providers have 100% of their channels in HD. A lot of them are still SD. Bitrates of Broadcast is a lot lower than Blu-ray so don't expect quality to be on par. Then it's the quality of service. Some providers suck while other rule. Do your research befor getting HD service. I would see if other people using your HD service is having similar problems.

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