LCD TV's - So What's The Deal

[greenhorn]

So I decided to upgrade, out goes my old 12" CRT TV and in with the new.... Narrowed it down to 32" so that means LCD. I check around a little bit and go with a Sharp Aquos LC-32D43U and mounted it on the wall. Have to say I'm not impressed What is with, for lack of better discription, the swimming colors effect? When there is a solid, or consistant somewhat gradiated color the color swirls or swims or something? Also things like skin tones are somewhat blochy, not smooth and consistant. Those or in combination of those and general performance the standard definition quality is not what I expected.

My living room TV is a 42" Panasonic Plasma TH-42PX50U and I would swear the color stability is significantly better as is the standard definition picture is noticeably better. I'd go with plasma but space won't accomidate 42" which seems to be the plasma minimum.

Only thing to consider is the living room has a cable box and the bedroom is non box, just coax. I will say HD programming on the Sharp is pretty good with standard DVD's (non HD) being Ok.

I've got one week left if I want to return. Willing to buy up a bit if that's what it takes (understand Samsung are well respected), but if this is what you get for the $900 price point I might actually buy down to a Vizio or Westinghouse for a few hundred less.

Any thoughts here?

[Hdale85]

You calibrated and everything? And the swimming colors you describe is that on SD material? What kind of upconverting dvd player do you have? That may be the problem with DVD. Get something like an Oppo. Just some idea's.

[aud19]

Not many larger, HD TV's are going to look "good" with analog, SD cable. that's just a factor of a lack of resolution and signal quality. That said I have to also ask if you've calibrated the set with DVE/AVIA discs? Is it just with analog cable source that you have this problem then?

Have you gone through the TV's setup and turned off all of their picture "enhancements" ( :roll: )? A lot of these can cause unnatural pictures and weird picture anomalies/errors as well.

[greenhorn]

Not formally calibrated at this point, I do have a Avia disc to use. DVD's look ok and do not swim like SD broadcasts. HD broadcasts look very good. Lack of cable box a non issue? Understand that SD picture is a weak point, but SD picture is poor compared to Panasonic plasma.

[aud19]

What about the picture "enhancements"? Have you tried turning them off? This sounds like it might be the result of "enhancements" trying to "improve" the picture :roll:

Plus pull that disc out, it can't hurt the picture to calibrate it :T

[audioqueso]

Not many larger, HD TV's are going to look "good" with analog, SD cable.

I agree 100%. I just finished moving, and for 5 years I had a Sony RPTV that was top of the line in 2001-2002. It looked gorgeous and friends would always mistake it for it being HD. When I moved last month, I bought a Sony Bravia 32" LCD. I hooked up my DVD player via s-video and rca (no component, Japan uses D-terminal), and it looked ugly. However, if I use my laptop's monitor output and connect it to the LCD via the DB-15 connection, it looks great. I am still waiting on my Oppo dvd player to connect it via HDMI. But I agree that the analog connections on LCDs just don't look that great.