Worse picture on larger TV

ripplyuk

@Sandtree Yes, the text is blurry even in the tv’s setup menu. Not quite as blurry as other text but still bad. There’s a haze around it. 

I can understand what you mean about how SD content will look worse on an HD screen. And worse still on a bigger screen. What I don’t understand is how other people tolerate it and seem to genuinely prefer the biggest tv they can get, despite most channels still being in SD. The SD picture is great on my 32inch tv and I much prefer that to a blurry, fuzzy 48 inch. I can only imagine how bad it looks on a 60 inch tv.

The guy from Richer Sounds said the same thing, that the SD picture would likely be even worse on a 4K tv. Since that’s what most people are upgrading to, I guess the majority just don’t mind watching a blurry tv. I must be unusual. 

ripplyuk

half_empty said:

ripplyuk said:

@half_empty On AV forums the advice was to stick to the few HD channels. That’s no use for me. At home, I don’t watch any live tv. I’ve been adjusting the settings constantly but it’s blurry no matter what. I think there must be something wrong with this so I’m going to use my old tv again. 

Does anyone know, if I go into a store and look at the different tv’s, will they be able to show me one in SD? I know stores usually have them all set to ‘dynamic’ mode and probably playing a 4K movie to look better but I really need to see what an SD programme looks like before I buy it. 

Apols, not sure what else to suggest then. If the previous users were happy, I still think its a setting amis. But different people will tolerate different visual impacts.

@half_empty I don’t think they’d used this tv recently. I got the feeling it had been sitting in their back room/garage for quite some time. Maybe that wasn’t good for it. It’s also possible it was damaged in transit. My bf is a very rough driver. 

The sound is also worse compared to my old tv which makes no sense. They’re both thin but my old one is smaller and thinner. I’ll upgrade eventually but I would really want to see an SD picture on it before buying. 

jamesd

Perhaps key here are two things

1. the built in display things showing the same issue, so it's not related to connections or analogue signal quality in any direct way
2. the overall gray even on built in things

First thought that comes to my mind is that the brightness or contrast may be set far too high. Maybe have a try at setting them both to half then a quarter way and see if that helps.

Neil_Jones

half_empty said:

Most panels today are 4k, only a few budget lower end but a good shop will have the tuner up for you. I did that comparison when I got my last one but only to see HD scaled up to 4k. I just accept that SD is SD and not a lot I can do about it. If I had a magic wand I would get rid of all the SD feeds.

The DVD's I have kept, I accept they will be fuzzy but in the main I can live with that if the program is good enough. e.g. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy filmed back in way back when for PAL consumption. Maybe its something to accept?

I have seen SD program watched when there is a HD and 4k on offer, with the comment "oh yeah" and stay on the SD. 

Tinker Tailor was made in 1979 and as it was mostly done on location, it would have been done on film.  Film holds a much higher resolution than videotape for boring technical reasons I won't go into here (if you're that fussed, almost certainly a video on YouTube somewhere), but that (if they were so inclined) could be full HD 1920x1080.  Except the recent Blu-Ray release is still 4:3.  It'll look better but it's still not HD.

Some HD "remasters" are just plain awful.  The Simpsons and Buffy for example.  And Friends to a certain extent.  All because people are adverse to black bars on their TV screen.

ripplyuk

@jamesd Turning the contrast down seems to make things worse. Adjusting the brightness doesn’t make much difference at all, whether I turn it down or up. Which is strange. Even on max brightness, the picture still looks very dull. The remote also seems to have problems. I can’t just hold my finger on the button to go up or down quickly so I had to press the button a hundred times. 

I’ve given up on it now. I think it’s faulty. Thank you for all the advice, everyone. 

getmore4less

ripplyuk said:

getmore4less said:

ripplyuk said:

getmore4less said:

ripplyuk said:

neilmcl said:

Also, as mentioned, if you're DVDs are US NTSC format originals output via scart then I'm not surprised the TV is struggling. Other than your DVDs what sources/channels are you using for SD?

Yes, most of the DVD’s say NTSC. 

SD is coming through the Humax freesat box. It’s very old but still works fine. 

Is that connection scary as well?

@getmore4less Do you mean scart? No, the Humax box is HDMI. 

Yey, my phone auto correct at work again.

If the TV menus are duff not a good sign,

How are the HD sat channels?

The HD channels are ok. I can see more detail with certain things, like faces, but there’s still dark shadows and it still has a sort of ‘greyish’ hue. I wasn’t sure if maybe that was meant to be more natural looking, instead of more vibrant like my old tv. It seems to vary hugely, even within the same channel. 

I think I would get onto YouTube and get some test transmissions that can test the TV for uniformity and colour.

Don't forget each input will have settings that may have been fiddled with check those as well.

Cornucopia

ripplyuk said:

@Sandtree Yes, the text is blurry even in the tv’s setup menu. Not quite as blurry as other text but still bad. There’s a haze around it. 

I can understand what you mean about how SD content will look worse on an HD screen. And worse still on a bigger screen. What I don’t understand is how other people tolerate it and seem to genuinely prefer the biggest tv they can get, despite most channels still being in SD. The SD picture is great on my 32inch tv and I much prefer that to a blurry, fuzzy 48 inch. I can only imagine how bad it looks on a 60 inch tv.

The thing is that most people aren't suffering a poor TV picture.   I have a 43" 4K TV with a viewing distance of about 9 feet, which suits the room, and my eyesight.  Surely you've been to other people's homes or Pubs where they have SD content playing successfully?

I watch a variety of different quality content - from Youtube to 4K HDR on Amazon Prime.   The only things that are unwatchable are very old videos on YT that originate on small film stock or VHS video.   That looks mushy, but everything else looks good.

I don't know where you got your original '9 feet = 75" TV' info from, but that's way too big.   In a typical front room, 32" is fine if you like smaller TVs, and 49" is about as big as you'd want to go unless you can get a longer viewing distance within the geometry of the room.   If you are swiveling your eyes because the TV is too big/too close, then that's an indication that it is the wrong size TV for the space.  It'll also get tiring over time.

Based on the prior discussion in the thread, I'd say there was a fault with your TV, although using SCART-connected sources will always give a poor result on a large screen.

Carrot007

ripplyuk said:

The sound is also worse compared to my old tv which makes no sense. They’re both thin but my old one is smaller and thinner. I’ll upgrade eventually but I would really want to see an SD picture on it before buying. 

Old TV had a Large bezel with front facing speakers?

Or maybe old TV had a  "fat bottom" with down facing speakers?

New TV may have rear facing speakers.

Whichever the combo. Becuse People want cheap TV's manufacturers decided to cut cpeakers costs and those who care can buy a soundbar. (or a more expensive TV (though even that does not alwyas work anymore).

Carrot007

Neil_Jones said:

Tinker Tailor was made in 1979 and as it was mostly done on location, it would have been done on film.  Film holds a much higher resolution than videotape for boring technical reasons I won't go into here (if you're that fussed, almost certainly a video on YouTube somewhere), but that (if they were so inclined) could be full HD 1920x1080.  Except the recent Blu-Ray release is still 4:3.  It'll look better but it's still not HD.

Some HD "remasters" are just plain awful.  The Simpsons and Buffy for example.  And Friends to a certain extent.  All because people are adverse to black bars on their TV screen.

Why wopuld a  4:3 1080 film transfer just not be HD?

Sounds like you are just as bad about the black boxes than anyone else.

Anamorphic 4:3 on bluray would be pointless as the tv would lose the pixels and do a worse job of it. anamorphic worked on DVD as many crt's would stretch/shrink (I had a 4:3 that would display real 16:9 from anamorphic by reducing the line size).

As for bad remasters. You can add HHGTTG and Red Dwarf to that, primerily for being 60hz versions becuase the beeb cannot be arsed to make mroe than one copy. At least the Dr Who team cares (as long as you ask for your fixed disks (applies to some of those too but 60hz was not an error there!)).

ripplyuk

@Cornucopia It was from this https://www.radiotimes.com/technology/technology-guides/what-size-tv-should-i-buy/ It also says the viewing distance should be 1.5 times the size of the tv, which seems crazy to me. 

I’ve seen other people’s tv’s with good pictures but I don’t know if they were HD or not. My bf’s tv definitely gets a much better SD picture but his is also smaller, at 42 inches.