Is my HD not so good because my TV is LCD?

the.weekender

It would be nearly 2 years ago that my wife bought a new 37" LG LCD flatscreen TV from the Co-Op.

I have been generally happy with the TV but when I watch HD programmes the quality doesn't improve much.

I have a Virgin Media XL box with HD, my TV has the lead in the HDMI socket and to the best of my knowledge the correct Pixels are set.

Is there any way of ensuring the TV is at its best setting or is it just that LCD TVs are not as good as Plasma or LED?

TIA

Nilrem

What HD programmes/channels are you watching in particular?
I ask as a lot of the stuff on some HD channels, isn't HD (IE a lot of old TV programmes aren't because they were filmed in video or haven't been transferred from film to HD).
So TV stuff from the 90's even if shown on a HD channel is usually sourced from SD masters (and I suspect some of the HD channels are using lower bitrates to save money - rather like the quality of BBC1 is usually better than say UK Gold or Comedy Central on SD).

macman

Which model of LG? Is it HD Ready or Full HD?

jedsonack2

You can't blame your TV if HD is not clear.
It may be the matter with your HD company.
TV brought by your wife, so that you can't blame on TV.

almillar

We have no idea of how good your TV is unless we know the resolution of the screen. Is it full HD ready? Model number?
LED IS LCD. The light at the back that comes through the LCD screen is LEDs, rather than, basically, a fluorescent tube.
Are you looking for an excuse for a new TV?
Do you have a little info or 'i' button, or a button with a screen on it with a star top right? Pressing something like this might tell you the resolution of the picture the TV is receiving from the V box. It should be 1080i.

shellsuit

We've got a 6 year old LG LCD telly and a Virgin HD box, and ours is fine, we can really see the difference between normal and HD channels.

d123

Same here, a Toshiba LCD that is a few years old and the difference is easily discernible between HD and non HD via SkyHD.

Quiet_Spark

Have you checked the video output format is correctly set on the VM box?

the.weekender

Thanks for all your answers, I'll check the suggestions out over the weekend and get back to you.

the.weekender

My TV is a LG 37LF 7700 and my Virgin box is a Cisco 4585 DVB V Box HD, the TV was bought 17/7/10 (doesn't time fly).
There is an HDMI cable from the HDMI socket on the VM box to HDMI DV in on the TV.

When I look at the Virgin Media settings menu it shows, TV connected to HDMI, HDMI ouput 1080 wide, RGB widescreen and HDMI audio Stereo.

I have just been looking at ESPN HD 530 on VM, I admit that it is a sharper piccie, but not much, maybe with my fussy demands I need to buy a Plasma TV, but the wife will be less than pleased, "There's nothing wrong with the Telly we've got" :-)

yangptangkipperbang

Are you watching HD from the correct distance ? You need to sit a lot closer than you would for SD.