How do i tell if graininess is from film or from TV?

[Valkyr47]

Im aware some HD movies have a decent amount of grain in them, sometimes on purpose as a way of being artistic, other times just because of the way the film was shot or limitations on equipment

grain doesnt bother me... as long as i know its in the film itself and can not be avoided in any way possible.. the reason i get so antsy when i see grain is because for all i know it could be from my tv

I will be honest, i didnt have a ton of money for a tv and i went the cheapo route, got the very bottom rung Sony Bravia (KDL-46S4100) its not rated very highly and i know i should not expect the best, but i wanted a 46" screen and the 1200 price tag was all i could spend

i will admit my blu ray player is probably also not of the highest quality, i just grabbed a sony bdp-s350 for 300 bucks from walmart, where i got the tv too

that being said, how can i tell if it is the movie that has the grain, or if the grain is from the TV because its a cheap one?

i noticed that if i pause the movie, the grain stops moving and gets paused with the rest of the picture, does that answer my own question?

thanks!

[ShockWave]

Get a reference material BD like Transformers. Always get at least one high PQ Blu ray as a base line. Then you can really see what your system is capable of.

Then if you see lots of grain on a different BD you know it's the transfer.

[Rob J in WNY]

Film-based grain can be inadvertently enhanced by having too high a sharpness setting on the TV. Turning down the sharpness may reduce the effects of grain. You might be surprised to find that you can turn down sharpness quite a bit without losing appreciable image detail. Most enthusiasts will recommend lowering sharpness. On my Sony XBR4, I have it set at 30 - but some would recommend going even lower.

Just a thought. Many films have inherent grain either throughout or during certain scenes.

[BStecke]

Get the Digital Video Essentials Blu-ray or use a THX test pattern if you've got a disc that has it, and calibrate your set. Having your sharpness setting too high will introduce noise into the picture that will often look like grain, and often accentuate grain that is already there.

[Valkyr47]

ok thanks for the replies

i saw that home calibration blu ray at best buy, maybe ill pick that up and give it a shot

as far as reference quality blu-ray's, the highest rated one i have is supposedly "ratatouille"

i will tell you that there is absolutely no grain in that movie whatsoever, however its animated so that might be the difference

POTC is rated highly in terms of picture quality and it looks amazing on the tv, but there is some grain in certain scenes, mostly night

same for Apocalypto

[elaine1015]

Most enthusiasts will recommend lowering sharpness. On my Sony XBR4, I have it set at 30 - but some would recommend going even lower.

[dadkins]

To tell if it is the TV or the movie... Pause!
Look closely at the picture, pick a particularly grainy spot then quilcly un-pause and re-pause it... did you see any change?

99 times out of 100, it's the movie.

[Valkyr47]

yeah

any movie, if i pause it, it pauses the grain too

[Diablo81588]

Originally Posted by Valkyr47

i will tell you that there is absolutely no grain in that movie whatsoever, however its animated so that might be the difference

Exactly! The difference is, animations are based off of DIGITAL masters. Therefore, film grain is never introduced into the picture, because there is no film involved! That is how all HD movies should look, and the studios continuing to use film based cameras is really making blu-ray look bad.

[J6P]

Originally Posted by Diablo81588

Exactly! The difference is, animations are based off of DIGITAL masters. Therefore, film grain is never introduced into the picture, because there is no film involved! That is how all HD movies should look, and the studios continuing to use film based cameras is really making blu-ray look bad.

Nonsense.

Grain is detail, and above that a tool used to evoke mood and tone. It will and should always exist.

EDIT: Also, welcome aboard! That was kind of a harsh reply to somebody's first post.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by J6P

Nonsense.

Grain is detail, and above that a tool used to evoke mood and tone. It will and should always exist.

EDIT: Also, welcome aboard! That was kind of a harsh reply to somebody's first post.

Agee. Everything would be the same & very flat, that would get old quick...

[Diablo81588]

Originally Posted by J6P

Nonsense.

Grain is detail, and above that a tool used to evoke mood and tone. It will and should always exist.

EDIT: Also, welcome aboard! That was kind of a harsh reply to somebody's first post.

Heh, thanks. However, I look at grain as a flaw in the picture. In my opinion, it resembles static of weak signal analog broadcasts. I would rather have the flawless, ultra sharp and grain-free picture like you see in animated transfers. To each his own I guess..