What picture and audio setting do people use?what kind of blu ray player?

[Dwayne Hicks]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Every tv is different and requires different settings. Even 2 different sets of the same exact model could require slightly different settings. There's no one-size-fits-all with home video equipment. I highly recommend the AVS forum website for help there - each tv model has it's own thread where other owners discuss the tv and the settings, and users and even pro calibrators post their own settings to help people out.

One general rule is keep the sharpness at it's lowest setting - sharpness just distorts the image by adding artificial line sharpening - the image on the blu-ray is as sharp as it's supposed to be - the sharpness setting enhancements just cause damage to the image. Also, if the tv has different modes (movie, standard, etc.), movie mode is almost always the preferable mode to start with. Out of the box most sets are on "dynamic" or store mode, which is far too bright and saturated.

As far as a blu-ray player - same thing - check AVS for their recommendations for your player. In general, all blu-ray players should put out the same image - even cheap ones. I have a no-name brand player I bought for $40 last year (i bought it because it's region-free out of the box!) and the image it puts out is every bit as good as my $180 Panasonic 3D player, only without the 3D and other fancy bells and whistles. I do really like my Panasonic player and it's way, way better than my older Samsung player. My old Samsung player caused nothing but trouble and had a lot of issues with skipping.

Your last statement could not be further from the truth! Cheap players have poor video processing and Blu-rays start to look like You Tube videos.