Can anyone help me?

[chunkymoonkey]

Hello everyone.
I am new to this whole forum thing, but I am need of some help.

I have just recently bought a HD TV and a Blu-Ray player.

Samsung LE46F86BDX (Full HD 1080)
Sony PS3
+
Sony STR-KS 1100 (Surround Sound)

I bought these items because here in the UK both products have won numerous awards for quality of picture.

My problem is that sometimes the picture quality is really poor. When I am watching a Blu-Ray movie and the picture is bright i.e daylight is looks amazing. However when it is dark it looks pretty shocking. It does not look much better than old VHS. Its really fuzzy & grainy. Its terrible. I am a Sci Fi freak, so much of the Blu-Ray movies I have are pretty dark.
Now the weird thing is, when its black it looks great. Its all the shades around black that are the problem. Grey, dark blue etc.
I have set the PS3 to play at full 1080.

Its really doing my head in so any thoughts on what I can do I would really appreciate. Thanks for your help.

Christian

[Pelican170]

I have had my fair share of annoyances with Grain in movies, but they seem to be getting much better. Im in the States, so im not sure what exactly is different, but what movies are you watching, and be sure you have updated the ps3 to the latest firmware... you may also want to try checking if you have the rgb set to limited or full... im sure there are others out there that can add to this...

[starlightpress]

What kind of cables are you using? HDMI?

[chunkymoonkey]

Yeah I am using HDMI & optical for sound.

[Pelican170]

why optical for sound??

[Bourne1]

Can you give an example what movie you were watching? Some movies just have been transfered poorly.

[chunkymoonkey]

The most recent movie I was watching was AVP. Others that I have noticed it on are Hostel 1 & 2, Hills Have Eyes...
I dont know why I am using opitical. I was told in store thats how to connect it up.. As you can tell I am pretty clueless at this stuff..

[Ispoke]

Another thing worth checking is the calibration of the TV, if you have not already done so. They can have a very poor factory setup. Some Blu-ray disc have basic calibration test cards on them.

[bootman]

Turn down the sharpness. Sounds like you have it turned up too high.
Ideally it should be at or near "0".
Ckeck contrast and brightness settings also.

What Blurays do you have?
Sony ones have a simple calibration menu that you can use to help optimize your picture.
(enter 7-6-6-9 at the main menu)

Warning: After you are done, you will think your set is now too dark.
This is normal since most sets out of the box are too bright to begin with since they have to compete with other sets in a very bright showroom.
Once you get used to it, you will be able to flesh out much more detail than before.

Yes, some older titles go have film grain.
(some new ones also. 300 is a perfect example)
Do not confuse this with a noisy picture. It is as intended.

[sj001]

Originally Posted by bootman

Turn down the sharpness. Sounds like you have it turned up too high.
Ideally it should be at or near "0".
Ckeck contrast and brightness settings also.

What Blurays do you have?
Sony ones have a simple calibration menu that you can use to help optimize your picture.

Warning: After you are done, you will think your set is now too dark.
This is normal since most sets out of the box are too bright to begin with since they have to compete with other sets in a very bright showroom.
Once you get used to it, you will be able to flesh out much more detail than before.

Yes, some older titles go have film grain.
(some new ones also. 300 is a perfect example)
Do not confuse this with a noisy picture. It is as intended.

+1, put your sharpness setting as low as possible, this will definite clear up grain. It will take a while to get used to it, but after a few days you will see.

Also, why are you using optical for sound? Or does your receiver not have HDMI inputs? Without HDMI you won't be able to listen to hi definition audio, such as Dolby TrueHD, DTS-MA, or PCM.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by bootman

Turn down the sharpness. Sounds like you have it turned up too high.
Ideally it should be at or near "0".
Ckeck contrast and brightness settings also.

What Blurays do you have?
Sony ones have a simple calibration menu that you can use to help optimize your picture.
(enter 7-6-6-9 at the main menu)

Warning: After you are done, you will think your set is now too dark.
This is normal since most sets out of the box are too bright to begin with since they have to compete with other sets in a very bright showroom.
Once you get used to it, you will be able to flesh out much more detail than before.

Yes, some older titles go have film grain.
(some new ones also. 300 is a perfect example)
Do not confuse this with a noisy picture. It is as intended.

Can you explain to me the Calibration Menu. I have a ps3. on a sony bluray, enter 7-6-6-9??? What do you mean?

[kpkelley]

Sony STR-KS 1100

Does that use the sony dg-1100 receiver? If so then it can process the audio through hdmi and the optical wire is not needed.

[Ispoke]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

Can you explain to me the Calibration Menu. I have a ps3. on a sony bluray, enter 7-6-6-9??? What do you mean?

Go to the main menu of the movie and hit the triangle, press 7669 and hit enter. 7669 spells Sony on phone keypad

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by Ispoke

Go to the main menu of the movie and hit the triangle, press 7669 and hit enter. 7669 spells Sony on phone keypad

wow great, i never knew that! Thanks

[sean10mm]

Most of these have been covered already, but let me reiterate the most important stuff:

1) It depends A LOT on the movie. If the original film was grainy, the Blu-ray will be grainy too. Generally dark scenes show more grian. Generally older films and low-budget films show more grain than newer ones. Some films are grainy on purpose, most infamously 300 and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

2) Set "sharpness" to ZERO on your TV. Sharpness controls the amount of ARTIFICIAL sharpening applied to the picture by your TV, and since a Blu-ray picture is already sharp off the disc all this does is screw up the picture and amplify grain and imperfections.

3) Set any DNR/noise reduction features to OFF on your TV. These make the picture fuzzy without removing grain very well. If you have DNR on and sharpness turned up, you can get the bad combination of lots of grain AND blurry edges. I saw it firsthand on my TV before fixing the settings.

4) If you can, use a calibration program to properly set the brightness/contrast/etc. so the picture is as accurate as possible.

[CptGreedle]

I also recommend a professional calibration. A professional can do much much much more than a disc calibration.

[chunkymoonkey]

I just want to thank everyone that has replied on this thread. I really do appreciate all of your help. Thank you.

[Deciazulado]

Hello chunkymoonkey. Some general pointers about grain on photographic film:

A: low light scenes tend to be shot with faster more sensitive film that has more grain than the slower less sensitive film used for brighly lit shots like in daylight.
B: B/W negative film (silver based) tends to be grainier in the highlights (bright parts of the image) while color negative film (dyes) tends to be grainier in the shadows.
C: smooth uniform pastel color areas (like shots of clear blue skies) tend to show more grain.

Electronic noise from digital capture might exhibit similar patterns.

For more reading about grain or noise in images you can peruse this other threads too:


Grain... How to deal with Grain...

Film Grain

I now see film grain

2001, Close Encounters, Pirates - Film Grain

Poll Would you prefer 300 with or without grain?

The "300 is grainy!!" thread