Is it true that they look like crap because they were made for HD use.
I just got a (LG) TV as a gift, but I don’t like the look as much as my old tube set. Absolute garbage. Is this just a lousy TV or are all flat screen tvs lousy?
Do they make them? I assume you are hinting at they are taking a HD set and purposefully downgrading it to SD and taking a hit in resolution.
But really, before we go further, do they make SD sets anymore?
Or is your source SD and viewing it on a HD set?
It could be a good TV displaying a lousy signal. (Meaning: it’s trying to upconvert 480p to 1080p, because the signal coming in is low-resolution.)
Unlike CRT displays, LCDs only have one resolution they look good at called the “native resolution”. The TV will work if the image is not in the native resolution, but it won’t look very good.
Check your setup to ensure the signal you’re watching:
- Is coming via. HD hardware (a cable box or DVD player that supports HD)
- Is coming via. an HD connector (HDMI or DisplayPort, not Component, RGB or S-Video)
What model is it?
I find it hard to believe any flat-screen TV would be incapable of showing HD. I believe the technology for mass producing flat-screens came after the widespread introduction of HD signals and sources. Of course, the term “High Definition” can mean different things but if this monitor (or TV) only shows standard definition that would be a big surprise.
More likely the monitor can show HD but the source is SD.
How big was your tube vs. how big is the flat screen? Tubes maxed out around 34". Any larger with a standard def feed and it starts to look like crap. Those old projection sets always looked terrible.
what signal source are you using? if it’s a standard-def (4:3 aspect ratio) signal, is the TV “stretching” the image to fill the screen? That’ll make it look lousy.
also, what’s the screen size of the new one vs. your old CRT set? CRT TVs were low-res enough to “hide” how lousy broadcast signals used to be; and a large LCD displaying an SD signal can expose many of its flaws.
Thanks for your great responses.
I have an older philips tv with a tube, and a 21 inch screen or so.
And an LG TV that’s just slightly bigger and it seems to have a cinemascope aspect ratio. The figures don’t look altered, but the picture is inferior. I should be getting virtually crystal clear reception. It’s blurry and not well defined.
Is this inherent in the two tvs? Old and Flat screen?
One more thing: The volume on this TV is too low. Annoyingly so. I don’t imagine this has much resale value.
Maybe you should reset the settings… whether the menu has a “reset all settings to factory”
or you go to picture, and choose reset, and then go to sound and choose reset.
There are settings for sharp vs blurry, why ? because old tv programs may have glaringly obvious fake sets and/or scenery, and even some noise in the picture, and so its pleasing to blur these …
Some people get annoyed by the news presenters freckles and moles, for example. Its a distraction… they like perfect. But you may be noticing that your modern documentaries seem blurry like an old one. It may well just be a setting !!
For music, why are there settings ? Surround sound not sent to a surround sound system makes it less distincti. OR it may be set to be more suitable for music. How does a music setting work ? The thing is that the TV normally doesn’t emit treble at same volume as midrange, because treble from the air waves were full of noise,even microphone noise on live productions. But for music, there’s a lot of treble use, such as from the percussionist, and noise is drowned out by signal…
LG makes a heck of a lot of TV’s , its the single largest producer, its not some sort of lemon , no one else has noticed that an LG is somehow inferior… not a single LG is inferior in the way you suggest…
- UNLESS ITS TOO OLD, as the glowing spots can FADE, and speakers can wear out.
Some older LCDs are 720p or 1080i. But what I suspect your problem is that you’re watching a DVD using your old player. It is stretching the image about 2.25x which leads to poor resolution. You need one which upconverts DVDs or better yet a BluRay player with actual Bluray discs. The cable between the two should be HDMI or another HD cord; if it’s the yellow ended composite cable (alongside the red and white audio), then you’re sending a poor signal.
If you’re using something like Netlfix, you will need to pay for the tier that provides HD content, IIRC it’s only $1 more.
What is the model number of the LG TV? (It should be on a sticker on the back)
It’s hard to believe that any modern TV would look noticeably worse than the old CRTs…
I am not watching a DVD. I am watching news channels. And they look vaguely like they are being filmed broadcast against a sheet. Compared with my old tube tv. Maybe this is a lemon. I notice that the words onscreen are ghosting and refusing to articulate. It’s clear there is a problem.
Are you saying that my tv is an “old CRT”? And that you would expect a low quality?
The old ones aren’t bad. They made some really amazing CRTs back in the day. They had great color reproduction, the ability to look good at any resolution, etc. They just usually tend to be lower resolution (480i/p) instead of the 1080p standard these days.
But that’s not the point… just want to figure out what’s going on with the new one. What’s the model number on the new LG one? It’s most likely what the other people are saying… a SD channel is being upsampled to HD resolutions, which looks really bad compared to the way they used to look on CRT TVs.
Looks like you might be able to get those LGs for $50-100. Seems pretty trashy to me. Maybe I just start again with a new one.
I’m looking at ebay “LG TV 26"” and I got them.
They make many different models that all superficially resemble each other. It’s probably one of their 720p TVs, which should still not look terrible… do you have a laptop or something you can connect to it via HDMI to test with, to make sure it’s not just the broadcast coming it at a bad quality?
I think the problem is that you’re watch a standard definition program on an HDTV, which are optimized for a 720p or a 1080p signal. If you have cable, contact them and pay for the HD signal.
What do you mean “on an HDTV”?
I never had HD and wasn’t really in the market.
This. It sounds like you don’t have an HD cable box.