Am I missing something obvious? - Blu-ray Forum

ScubaSteve_ · 10-15-2009, 06:02 PM

Hi all,

New to the forum. After exhausting (albeit conflicting at times) research, I have ended up here with the following situation.

I have a 46" Sharp Aquos LCD TV that is less than 2 years old. I believe it supports (without going off on a tangent) 1080i as 1080p wasn't as prominent in LCDs when we purchased the TV from BestBuy. When our house was built we elected for a "home theatre pre-wire" option which basically gave us surround sound pre-wire and in-wall component cables run from behind where the TV is mounted to the cabinet housing all of our electronics. They told us afterwards that we wouldn't be able to get 1080p but that HD channels were broadcast in 1080i anyway (again, not going off on another tangent) so I didn't think anything of it.

I have since purchased a HK receiver and received a Magnavox Blu-Ray player as a gift. I noticed that when we watch Blu-Ray movies, it doesn't seem to be anything extraordinary. I was expecting a lot more as when I see Blu-Ray demos @ local stores the picture looks so real it almost looks fake if that makes any sense. Nevertheless, I don't get that amazing picture, but rather one that looks more DVD-ish. Note that we sit maybe 10-12 feet from the TV.

I am currently running the Blu-Ray player into the receiver via component cables, and a single set of component cables from the receiver, thru the wall, and to the TV.

I have tried running component cables directly from the Blu-Ray player to the TV but the picture doesn't change. I'm itching for that same quality of picture I saw in the stores and am not sure what I'm missing here.

Blu-Ray player output is set to 1080i. TV is set to 1080i and the on-screen display confirms that it is indeed displaying 1080i. I have read pages and pages on the HDMI vs. component issue and heard everything from "you will barely notice any different, if any" to "you need HDMI period".

Not sure what else to try at this point. My wife saw Batman on Blu-Ray at a friends house and now she won't shut up about it.

Helping me resolve this predicament would greatly extend one of our lives.

Would really appreciate some guidance in troubleshooting this. I find it hard to believe that I need HDMI but I'm also admittingly ignorant to much of this. If needed, I can provide model #s for my TV, receiver, and Blu-Ray player should it help. Thanks in advance.

v/r,
Steve

ijokr · 10-15-2009, 09:16 PM

Welcome to the forums. HDMI is highly recommended to get the best picture possible even though you read that it doesn¿t make any difference. You can still get a great picture with component cables though. The differences of another tv to yours (for example your wife's friend, retail store) may be due to the fact that others have: 1)a better set, 2)better calibrated picture wise, 3) better blu-ray player, or maybe all of the above. Give us your tv model number to better understand the capabilities of your set.

BLUCanadian · 10-16-2009, 04:50 PM

That "almost fake" look you are talking about is present on new LCDs with high refresh rates (ie 240 hz). This is an un-natural look, and you should not be aiming for this type of presentation if you are a film lover!

HDMI is highly recommended! You can get them cheap from monoprice.com

In order to fully enjoy the HD experience, you should look at sitting alot closer to your TV. Try the 6-8 ft range is your room can accomodate!

Your blu-ray player is definetly of a lower quality than most, but Im not sure what kind of an PQ upgrade you could get by upgrading the player...

sfmarine · 10-16-2009, 07:03 PM

Get rid of those component cables and replace wtih HDMI and you'll be in good shape! Welcome to the forum.

Zman2k2 · 10-16-2009, 07:40 PM

I'm going to go against the grain here, and not recommend HDMI. You've stated that you're not even sure that your TV does 1080p, so I'm not going to talk about that.

I am going to agree with BLUCanadian though. Most times, when you see a display in a store, with the "almost fake" or, I've heard it described as "soap-opera like" picture, it has to do with the refresh rate of the TV. I would hazard a guess that your TV doesn't have either a 120 or 240Hz refresh rate, so you won't be able to achieve that picture with your current set.

It would be helpful if we had a few model #'s though, as that would answer a few questions for us.

Uniquely · 10-16-2009, 07:44 PM

I try setting the resolution of the blu-ray player to 720P instead of 1080i and see if that shows any improvement. IMO, sitting 12 feet away from a 46" screen isn't going to offer you a "blow me away" type of difference in video quality between upscaled DVD and blu-ray. You'd either need a much bigger screen from that distance.... or you'd need to sit much closer to the 46" screen that you have.

10-15-2009, 06:02 PM	#1
ScubaSteve_ New Member Member since:Oct 2009	Am I missing something obvious? Hi all, New to the forum. After exhausting (albeit conflicting at times) research, I have ended up here with the following situation. I have a 46" Sharp Aquos LCD TV that is less than 2 years old. I believe it supports (without going off on a tangent) 1080i as 1080p wasn't as prominent in LCDs when we purchased the TV from BestBuy. When our house was built we elected for a "home theatre pre-wire" option which basically gave us surround sound pre-wire and in-wall component cables run from behind where the TV is mounted to the cabinet housing all of our electronics. They told us afterwards that we wouldn't be able to get 1080p but that HD channels were broadcast in 1080i anyway (again, not going off on another tangent) so I didn't think anything of it. I have since purchased a HK receiver and received a Magnavox Blu-Ray player as a gift. I noticed that when we watch Blu-Ray movies, it doesn't seem to be anything extraordinary. I was expecting a lot more as when I see Blu-Ray demos @ local stores the picture looks so real it almost looks fake if that makes any sense. Nevertheless, I don't get that amazing picture, but rather one that looks more DVD-ish. Note that we sit maybe 10-12 feet from the TV. I am currently running the Blu-Ray player into the receiver via component cables, and a single set of component cables from the receiver, thru the wall, and to the TV. I have tried running component cables directly from the Blu-Ray player to the TV but the picture doesn't change. I'm itching for that same quality of picture I saw in the stores and am not sure what I'm missing here. Blu-Ray player output is set to 1080i. TV is set to 1080i and the on-screen display confirms that it is indeed displaying 1080i. I have read pages and pages on the HDMI vs. component issue and heard everything from "you will barely notice any different, if any" to "you need HDMI period". Not sure what else to try at this point. My wife saw Batman on Blu-Ray at a friends house and now she won't shut up about it. Helping me resolve this predicament would greatly extend one of our lives. Would really appreciate some guidance in troubleshooting this. I find it hard to believe that I need HDMI but I'm also admittingly ignorant to much of this. If needed, I can provide model #s for my TV, receiver, and Blu-Ray player should it help. Thanks in advance. v/r, Steve

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10-15-2009, 09:16 PM	#2
ijokr Active Member Member since:Feb 2009 Blu-ray collection:118 DVD collection:1 Trading Score:1	Welcome to the forums. HDMI is highly recommended to get the best picture possible even though you read that it doesn¿t make any difference. You can still get a great picture with component cables though. The differences of another tv to yours (for example your wife's friend, retail store) may be due to the fact that others have: 1)a better set, 2)better calibrated picture wise, 3) better blu-ray player, or maybe all of the above. Give us your tv model number to better understand the capabilities of your set.

10-16-2009, 04:50 PM	#3
BLUCanadian Blu-ray Guru Member since:May 2008 Location:T. 4K collection:4 Blu-ray collection:4 Trading Score:223	That "almost fake" look you are talking about is present on new LCDs with high refresh rates (ie 240 hz). This is an un-natural look, and you should not be aiming for this type of presentation if you are a film lover! HDMI is highly recommended! You can get them cheap from monoprice.com In order to fully enjoy the HD experience, you should look at sitting alot closer to your TV. Try the 6-8 ft range is your room can accomodate! Your blu-ray player is definetly of a lower quality than most, but Im not sure what kind of an PQ upgrade you could get by upgrading the player...

10-16-2009, 07:03 PM	#4
sfmarine Blu-ray Archduke Top contributor Member since:Apr 2008 Location:The Swan Station aDdIcTeD 2 LOST PSN:U5MC51473 Home Theater Gallery:18 4K collection:930 Blu-ray collection:2311 DVD collection:276 MA collection:461 Digital collection:492 iTunes collection:534 Blu-ray reviews: 7 Trading Score:43	Get rid of those component cables and replace wtih HDMI and you'll be in good shape! Welcome to the forum.

10-16-2009, 07:40 PM	#5
Zman2k2 Blu-ray Guru Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Calgary, Canada Home Theater Gallery:5 Blu-ray collection:136 Trading Score:54	I'm going to go against the grain here, and not recommend HDMI. You've stated that you're not even sure that your TV does 1080p, so I'm not going to talk about that. I am going to agree with BLUCanadian though. Most times, when you see a display in a store, with the "almost fake" or, I've heard it described as "soap-opera like" picture, it has to do with the refresh rate of the TV. I would hazard a guess that your TV doesn't have either a 120 or 240Hz refresh rate, so you won't be able to achieve that picture with your current set. It would be helpful if we had a few model #'s though, as that would answer a few questions for us.

10-16-2009, 07:44 PM	#6
Uniquely Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Sep 2008 Location:Mobile, AL Home Theater Gallery:14 Blu-ray collection:171	I try setting the resolution of the blu-ray player to 720P instead of 1080i and see if that shows any improvement. IMO, sitting 12 feet away from a 46" screen isn't going to offer you a "blow me away" type of difference in video quality between upscaled DVD and blu-ray. You'd either need a much bigger screen from that distance.... or you'd need to sit much closer to the 46" screen that you have.

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