Worse picture on larger TV

ripplyuk

My second post about this new (used) tv. The old one was 32 inch and the picture was great. This one is 48 inches and everything except HD stuff looks awful. I have a large DVD collection and the picture is unwatchable on it. It’s a blurry mess. From what I’ve read, SD channels are always poor quality on bigger tv’s. I’m wondering if that’s really true. Since most channels are still in SD, it wouldn’t make sense for people to want these larger tv’s if the picture is always so bad. 

Would a 42 inch give a better picture? Would it still be worse than my 32 inch tv? Would upgrading my DVD player to an HDMI one be better? Or a Blu-ray player? (I’m not sure if they even work with regular DVD’s). Could it be that the tv is just too big for the room? It’s a tiny living room and right now this 48 inch tv looks ridiculously big but I’ve read that I’ll soon get used to that. I’m not so sure. I can’t see the whole screen without moving my eyes from one side to the other. I’m sitting about 9ft from the screen which apparently is fine but feels uncomfortable. 

Jenni_D

What is the resolution of the 32" TV? What is the resolution of the 48" TV? If they are both 1920 x 1080 then they have the same number of pixels, but the size of each pixel is bigger on the 48" TV vs the 32" TV.

Add in the poorer quality of the signal source then any lower resolution source (like SD TV) will be exacerbated on a larger screen.

neilmcl

Exactly what model of TV is this?

How are you connecting your DVD player if not by HDMI? Is it an upscaling DVD player?

The chances are you can improve things with the correct settings on the TV but if you're not planning in watching anything in HD then it was pretty pointless getting such a large screen, particularly in such a small room.

ripplyuk

@Jenni_D The big one says 1920 x 1080. The small one just says 1080p. I’m not sure what that means. The small one is older and says ‘HD ready’. 

ripplyuk

neilmcl said:

Exactly what model of TV is this?

How are you connecting your DVD player if not by HDMI? Is it an upscaling DVD player?

The chances are you can improve things with the correct settings on the TV but if you're not planning in watching anything in HD then it was pretty pointless getting such a large screen, particularly in such a small room.

The big one is a Samsung UE48H6400Aak. The DVD player is connected by scart. I think it does upscale but not completely sure. 

I’ve fiddled about with the picture settings and looked up what’s recommended but it’s still awful looking for SD and DVD’s. I watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube and Disney+ as well as my DVD’s. Some things look great but a lot of stuff, especially older programmes look dreadful. 

ripplyuk

@neilmcl When I look up guides, for a 9ft viewing distance they recommend a 75 inch TV. 

That wouldn’t even fit in the room! 

Neil_Jones

Two things:

1) The DVD player should be connected by HDMI for the best picture, SCART does not support over 576p (and is an analogue source in any event), and the TV will only upscale what it gets.  If it gets a blurry mess through SCART it'll upscale a blurry mess to an even more blurry mess.  If the DVD player is SCART only, I'd suggest replacing it (or get a Blu-Ray one when they're on offer as they will play DVDs too)

2) Bear in mind DVD standard resolution is 720×576.  Your TV can output 1920x1080.  So it will always look blurry to some extent.

Re: Older programmes, depending on the age they were probably made at a time of analogue video (and probably in 4:3).  There probably isn't much you can do about this, and of course Freeview is (and has been for some time) a low resolution platform as it quickly became a quantity over quality offering, achieved by reducing bitrates.  Which makes it look like you're watching things in fog.

ripplyuk

@Neil_Jones Does this mean the even more modern tv’s will be even worse? I looked up a 42 inch LG and it says the resolution is 3840x2160. Will that be worse than the 1920 x 1080? 

How come no one else is complaining about this? Most people still seem to use freeview so this terrible picture quality must be common. I can’t understand why people buy big tv’s if this is what happens. 

Neil_Jones

ripplyuk said:

@Neil_Jones Does this mean the even more modern tv’s will be even worse? I looked up a 42 inch LG and it says the resolution is 3840x2160. Will that be worse than the 1920 x 1080? 

How come no one else is complaining about this? Most people still seem to use freeview so this terrible picture quality must be common. I can’t understand why people buy big tv’s if this is what happens. 

Because most people really do not care.  Long as they can "see" Corrie, EastEnders or whatever else that's all they're interested in.  The concept and point/resolution of huge screens is lost on a lot of people and of course its cheaper for broadccasters to show stuff in mushyvision than it is in semi-decent quality.

And also 3840x2160 is UHD/4K.  Your TV won't use that unless there is something transmitting in that format.  It doesn't exist on Freeview and its relatively spotty on satellite.  You're only going to find it either in Blu-Ray media, streaming services or maybe if you plug a computer in and ramp it up to that resolution.

Freeview the TV will use whatever is being transmitted, so typically 720x576 (sometimes 704x576 which is mushyvision) or 1920x1080 for the HD channels.

another_casualty

Interesting point regarding screen size and  older TV's .
My front room is on the small side  , and I have an old Toshiba TV/DVD combo. 32"
I'm not sure of the size I'd have to get if I were to get a newer style TV 

Regarding your DVD Player @ripplyuk , have you checked all of the menu on it?
( zoom functions etc ) .
Are there hidden preference settings along with the standard stuff ?
Is there a software update function on the TV?

Have you got TV plugged into freeview or similar ? If so , check settings on that
When I record certain programmes , I'm always asked by my humax Freesat box if I want to record in HD . Doesn't make a difference on my TV I'd say . 

Hope you get it sorted ..

[Deleted User]

Tricky.
A 4k picture on a 4k screen looks superb when done well. Same 55" an SD will look worse than on a 28 or 32. It is just what it is. You are expanding what is not there to a larger screen. HD should look good (1080 i and p). There is a difference in 1080i to p to 4k and all will have tell tales, then drop to SD and its fuzzy felt TV.

Samsung apparently had a new process to up lower formats on its 8k TV's but not seen it in action. But 8k doesn't look like a mainstream product any time soon.

When I went 4k, I took all my DVD's to the charity shop. BluRay or 4k min now. That and iTunes in HD or 4k. I have more streaming than hard copy. Of course there are some you cannot get again in higher res so Tinker Tailor etc. I kept.