A Few Hdtv ?

[s dog]

I just got a toshiba 57h84 crt hdtv, for now i just have a denon 1600 dvd player hooked up to it , getting HD tuner later on . There are a few settings i dont real understand. 1st one is you can set it to 540p or 1080i which one should i go with, also you can set it to film or video, and it has a warm cool med picture setting, also i keep noticing a little red coloring in some of the actors faces or some times there faces have a tan color to them not sure if that is there natural color or if i have something set wrong just seem to be a bit to much sometimes BTW im running the dvd play with the progressive scan on , thank you

[edtyct]

I just got a toshiba 57h84 crt hdtv, for now i just have a denon 1600 dvd player hooked up to it , getting HD tuner later on . There are a few settings i dont real understand. 1st one is you can set it to 540p or 1080i which one should i go with, also you can set it to film or video, and it has a warm cool med picture setting, also i keep noticing a little red coloring in some of the actors faces or some times there faces have a tan color to them not sure if that is there natural color or if i have something set wrong just seem to be a bit to much sometimes BTW im running the dvd play with the progressive scan on , thank you

Congratulations on the TV, and the 1600 seems to be one of the better DVD players at under $200. Keep running it in progressive mode. The choice between 1080i and 540p boils down to a couple of noncritical points. Basically, the tv is capable of converting whatever signal enters its terrain by deinterlacing its de facto upper-limit scan rate of 1080i. Some people claim to see a better HD picture in progressive mode at 720p than at 1080i, and 720p enjoys an advantage over 1080i in showing motion on some displays (probably not your CRT)--at least theoretically--since it avoids plastering together two distinct fields that may not line up perfectly. But 540p, even if it were a straight, unprocessed feed into your TV is not 720p and so, by definition, not HD. Whether Toshiba's 540p manages to capture any benefit at all with standard defintion programming will depend on how well it can deinterlace incoming SD signals. See if you notice any improvement in your SD programming at that rate. I doubt that the set's 540p will make any noticeable difference to a 480p DVD picture. Your TV is big enough to show all of the flaws inherent in SD, and processing can just expand on them. The old NTSC signal wasn't made for big widescreen monitors. But your TV should respond well to ED and HD programming, particularly the latter.

When you get your HD tuner, you should definitely run the set at 1080i, and make any adjustments to your STB to match that resolution (rather than 720p, which is probably foreign to your CRT); 540p will be of little use under these conditions. You won't want to downconvert your HDTV to an EDTV resolution. You might want to disable velocity scan modulation, which manufacturers add to sharpen the picture. It actually decreases resolution by adding artificial edges that make lines bleed into each other. If you don't overdrive your TV with brightness and contrast, SVM is an obvious, measurable detriment.

The choice of color temperature is based on whether you'd like your picture to tend toward the cool side (favoring blue), the warm side (favoring red), or something indeterminate in the middle. The professional benchmark for color temperature is 6500k, and most reviewers and savvy consumers find that getting as close to it as possible is the goal. Most displays overshoot the mark in an attempt to create a distinctive picture, often going near or above 10000k, even at the warm setting. Chances are that your Toshiba misses the mark as well. For accuracy's sake, the rule of thumb is to select the medium or warm setting (warm is usually closest to 6500k across the board, though sometimes it is meant as an option to accommodate old black and white movies). To complicate matters, however, many TVs tend toward the red by default, no matter what you do. From what you say, yours might, though it is difficult to tell without knowing more.

Get yourself a calibration disk, either AVIA or Digital Video Essentials, and follow the instructions to get the color to look natural. Before you do anything else, turn down brightness and contrast to their halfway point or lower; too much gain can irreparably harm your set. You can calibrate them properly with the test disk. If you're willing to spend more money, an ISF technician can get your gray scale further in order in ways that you can't yourself.

Ed

[s dog]

Congratulations on the TV, and the 1600 seems to be one of the better DVD players at under $200. Keep running it in progressive mode. The choice between 1080i and 540p boils down to a couple of noncritical points. Basically, the tv is capable of converting whatever signal enters its terrain by deinterlacing its de facto upper-limit scan rate of 1080i. Some people claim to see a better HD picture in progressive mode at 720p than at 1080i, and 720p enjoys an advantage over 1080i in showing motion on some displays (probably not your CRT)--at least theoretically--since it avoids plastering together two distinct fields that may not line up perfectly. But 540p, even if it were a straight, unprocessed feed into your TV is not 720p and so, by definition, not HD. Whether Toshiba's 540p manages to capture any benefit at all with standard defintion programming will depend on how well it can deinterlace incoming SD signals. See if you notice any improvement in your SD programming at that rate. I doubt that the set's 540p will make any noticeable difference to a 480p DVD picture. Your TV is big enough to show all of the flaws inherent in SD, and processing can just expand on them. The old NTSC signal wasn't made for big widescreen monitors. But your TV should respond well to ED and HD programming, particularly the latter.

When you get your HD tuner, you should definitely run the set at 1080i, and make any adjustments to your STB to match that resolution (rather than 720p, which is probably foreign to your CRT); 540p will be of little use under these conditions. You won't want to downconvert your HDTV to an EDTV resolution. You might want to disable velocity scan modulation, which manufacturers add to sharpen the picture. It actually decreases resolution by adding artificial edges that make lines bleed into each other. If you don't overdrive your TV with brightness and contrast, SVM is an obvious, measurable detriment.

The choice of color temperature is based on whether you'd like your picture to tend toward the cool side (favoring blue), the warm side (favoring red), or something indeterminate in the middle. The professional benchmark for color temperature is 6500k, and most reviewers and savvy consumers find that getting as close to it as possible is the goal. Most displays overshoot the mark in an attempt to create a distinctive picture, often going near or above 10000k, even at the warm setting. Chances are that your Toshiba misses the mark as well. For accuracy's sake, the rule of thumb is to select the medium or warm setting (warm is usually closest to 6500k across the board, though sometimes it is meant as an option to accommodate old black and white movies). To complicate matters, however, many TVs tend toward the red by default, no matter what you do. From what you say, yours might, though it is difficult to tell without knowing more.

Get yourself a calibration disk, either AVIA or Digital Video Essentials, and follow the instructions to get the color to look natural. Before you do anything else, turn down brightness and contrast to their halfway point or lower; too much gain can irreparably harm your set. You can calibrate them properly with the test disk. If you're willing to spend more money, an ISF technician can get your gray scale further in order in ways that you can't yourself.

Ed Thank you for your help, i dont know what velocity scan modulation is for sure on my set , you know sometimes i wander if the red i see on the actors faces is makeup or something like that , the progressive scan really shows up thing on dvds it make some dvds look better and some look worse. I have contrast set at 65 i will turn it down some see what happens everthing eles is set at half. also standard feed from my satellite is not to hot, close up shots of a football game look pretty good but farway shots look unclear like when they show the whole football field. I will try some of the things you said and see what happens , thank you

[Mr Peabody]

I have a Denon 1600 and mine cost $449.00 a couple years ago. If yours is the same one when you use the component video and progressive scan you have to reset your black level on the Denon. You just have two choices and "darker" is for progressive scan. The "warm or cold" settings on the Toshiba only work on certain settings, I can't remember which screen. The "film" setting is supposed to give you smoother action scenes when watching movies. Most of this stuff you just have to try. Look in your manual or check Toshiba's website they have a toll free customer support number. Don't bother emailing they just refer you to the toll free line. If you aren't already, you will also improve your picture performance by using good video cables. If you are a non-believer buy a set to try from one of the mass merchants that offer a 30 day return policy and give them a try. Maybe Monster Video 3. As far as 540p or 1080i, from what i understand the TV will not upsample digital signals and your component is digital 480p, so it shouldn't make a difference which one for DVD viewing. Having to make a choice though, mine would be 540p just because the DVD signal is also "p" (progressive scan).

[edtyct]

My mistake on the price of the Denon 1600. It most certainly is not a $200 player. Thank you for catching my error, Mr Peabody.