LCD TV picture quality

stevemcol

I bought a digital TV at the back end of last year. I had no choice because of the switch over. It's a Toshiba Regza 37" and, to be fair, only gets mediocre reviews on the internet, but is generally considered to be good value for money.

I'm not happy with the picture but because I swapped from analogue to digital and CRT to LCD at the same time, I'm not what might have degraded the picture. It may be just down to the capabilities of an entry level TV.

In a uniform scene without too much movement or bright colours, the picture is fine. However, when there is lots of movement, flashing lights, bright colours etc the picture becomes blocky (not full on digital drop out but slightly discernible half inch blocks in the image) and there is a pronounced halo effect around people and objects.

The blockyness doesn't smack of a poor LCD display (to me); more like digital processing issues or transmission quality. I've convinced myself that the picture when watching DVDs is fine.

Anyway, I'm new to digital TV and the more experienced opinions on this board are always worth reading.

I miss my analogue tele!

fwor

stevemcol wrote: »

I bought a digital TV at the back end of last year. I had no choice because of the switch over.

Perhaps not the right time to say this, but you did not ~have~ to change TVs. An analogue CRT should work with a Freeview set-top box for many years after the switch over without a problem.

It's possible that the TV is faulty, but it's more likely that your aerial is not quite good enough for a Freeview signal, and has an error rate that the decoder in the TV can't quite cope with.

What type of aerial to you have? Specifically, how old is it and the cabling to the TV? If it's not recent, the aerial may not be wideband, and the cabling may be an inferior spec compared to what would be fitted today.

penrhyn

The wider you open the window the more the !!!! flies in.
Especially if you have gone from a small CRT TVto a significantly larger LCD one.

As above digital TV needs a decent signal.

evilgoose

Do you know anyone who can try your freeview box out on another telly/aerial?

CHR15

I would hazard a guess the OP's freeview box is built into the TV. Which is what prompted the mistake notion that a new TV was required to watch DTV.

stevemcol

Guys

Yes it's built in digi. I didn't want to use a seperate set top box so I went for an in built digital TV.
Not sure what the aeriel spec is but it's very new, with a new cable and has direct line of sight to the transmitter, about 30miles away.

I'll see if I can get the signal strength / quality checked.

henrysprings

What htz is the tv, some slower hertz tvs will seem blocky, also might be worth using a HDMI cable for any connections to the dvd player etc

macman

Don't suppose you can still get analogue reception, but if so, switch it over and see what the quality is like on there.
If it's fine when watching DVD's, the issue can only be signal strength or quality, unless there is a fault with the tuner.

stevemcol

is it worth getting hold of one of these:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=227864

or are they too cheap to be any use?

aliEnRIK

henrysprings wrote: »

What htz is the tv, some slower hertz tvs will seem blocky, also might be worth using a HDMI cable for any connections to the dvd player etc

Im sorry, but everything youve put there is totally untrue.
A HDMI should look better generally sure, but its not going to make ANY difference to a 'blocky' picture

stevemcol

OK, I've borrowed a sig strength meter. I have googled, honest, but I can't find what signal strength voltage I should expect. Anyone help?