Why Isn’t My Hdtv As Clear As My Friends?
When I was at my friends this past week, I noticed how clear and sharp his HDTV was … compared to my HDTV. I have an HDTV, but the picture quality is not even close to as clear (and I’ve made sure that I am watching an HD channel, and I am using HDMI cables). I have a 46′ Sharp Aquos 1080p HDTV (about 2.5 years old) … and my friend has Samsung 46-inch 1080p DLNA LCD HDTV (about 1.5 years old).
So, I want to know why the picture isn’t as clear as his…
1. Does HD Cable (from my provider cable provider) not come in as clear as HD DVDs? Could that be why whatever we were watching was much clearer than my TV? Could I just need to upgrade my cable box (it’s set for HD now, and I get HD channels, but the cable box is over 4 years old)?
2. Can it be my HDMI Cables? When I am watching an HD channel, the top right of my tv reads 1080p … so I am assuming that I have the correct cable. Are certain cables better than others, or should they all work?
3. Is there something different about my TV? It’s HD and a good model.
Please let me know. I want to get this picture pretty clear…
Tagged with: Clear • Friends • Hdtv • Isn't
Filed under: Question & Answer
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1. HD cable from your cable provider is not transmitted in 1080p. At best it is 720p, and probably more like 540p/1080i. So no, HD cable is not as clear as an HD DVD or blu-ray DVD. Upgrading your cable box probably won’t make a noticeable difference (unless it has an internal defect affecting signal quality), but it won’t hurt to take it to your cable provider’s Customer Service Center and exchange it for a new or refurbished unit. It doesn’t cost you anything.
2. It could be your HDMI cables, but that’s unlikely unless you got some really cheap crappy quality cables, or it’s an extremely long run (over 15 feet) from your cable box to the HDMI input of your TV, which I doubt.
3. Have you tried adjusting your TV’s picture quality settings, such as contrast, brightness, color temperature, etc.? I think that this is probably the majority of your problem. Refer to your owner’s manual for an explanation of how to access the various picture adjustments available for your particular TV, what they do, and how to adjust them. I think you’ll be surprised at what a little tweaking can do.
And remember that even the best cable “HD” picture will not be as clear as a local full HD DVD or other full HD signal source.
It very well could be the signal….are you watching HD channels…was he? Are you actually using 1080p as your setting in Video on HD channels?
Head over to AVSFORUM.COM and search the forums for your tv model number. There’s most likely a calibration thread where other users have posted their setup for their TV’s so you can try their settings to see if you like them. One common problem with LCD’s is that people have them set up way too bright which blows out the picture detail so they don’t look as crisp as they could. The settings you find will probably be less bright than you’re used to, but once you get used to it you’ll appreciate your TV more.
As far as HDMI cables go, avs forums recently did a test on HDMI cables using expensive test equipment and found no difference between less expensive cables and the absurdly expensive ones like Monster cable, so don’t worry about that.
HD from your cable company should look very good – not up to blu ray standards, but still very good. I watched The Dark Knight over the weekend on HD cable (Time Warner) and it looked very good and very crisp.
Try dialing in the settings on your TV based on other users settings and see if that helps. If it’s still not as good as you want, then you could try a new cable box – they keep improving them so that may get you some improvement.
Sharp Aquos is a good TV line that should give you a very clean picture once you have it set up properly.