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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 92 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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8 out of 10 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Having a tough time setting it up"
Pros: HD sources look awesome
Cons: Constantly messing with color, contrast etc
Summary: Hi All,
Im hoping you can help me with this problem or direct me somewhere that could.
Just received this TV as an engagement gift and am having a very tough time with the Video Settings. The out-of-box performance on this set is just awful. I have Time Warner Digital Cable and the Scientific Atlanta HD-DVR box. The HD channels, HDNET etc, look great but the regular channels looks so grainy and messed up. Is this just the way projection TVs are with regular channels?
I've tried the THX optimizer from one of the DVDs and DVDs I think look fine. I realize that this TV is primarily for HD sources but theres gotta be something to fix how grainy and boxy these channels are. I've heard alot about professional calibration and different calibration dvds, can anybody recommend one or someone, i'm in Queens New York.
Has anybody else experienced this problem, does anybody else have this TV?
Thanks guys, anything you can suggest I'd really appreciate.
- 8 replies to this review
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Before I bought the Sony E42A10 I came across a forum where someone had actually used the custom settings to get a fabulous picture. I should have saved it because now I am looking for help. Has anyone calibrated their set and care to share the settings?
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I have Directv.I just got HD programming from them.They gave me a new receiver for the HD channels.The old receiver had a much better picture on the NON HD then the new does.I think they do this to make you think your getting a way better picture then you really are.HD pictures are nice and clear but I think its you cable comp.Receiver
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I have just received this television a day ago; although it is the smaller version of this television (42"). Currently, it is connected through satalite reception, but it has a grainy picture. Unfortunately my amplified indoor UHF antenna is not pulling its weight either, so at this point there is no benefeit of HD. The color is great however, and cant wait to view it in HD.
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Please take a moment to read some of the other user reviews on this TV and you will definitely find your answer.
Any HDTV is designed to display a certain resolution picture best (720p, 1080i, 1080p) and in ALL cases that resolution is going to be much higher than standard TV (480p). HDTVs are also "widescreen" which is why standard TV appears in a "box" as it isn't meant to fill the screen of the larger TVs.
Most TVs and/or cable boxes will allow you to adjust the picture format to zoom / stretch the image so that it fills the screen, but you will lose image quality by doing this. For example, when we have to stretch a standard TV image on our TV, the people tend to look a little shorter and "stretched" out in some cases, but that's the trade-off with HDTVs and today's TV systems. -
While standard def material will never look that great on any HDTV, this TV features DRC, which is Sony's way of saying, upconverter (sorta). Turn this on in your Wega Gate menu and you should notice a marked improvement over the basic cable that you're inputting.
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I have switched to the 50" A10 from a Pioneer Elite 610 58" and I can say that I believe that the pic looked better for poor HD content on my Elite even though it was 8" larger. I switched due to gaming which was causing minor burn in on my Elite. This TV (A10) has a lot of good to it but I've found that solid 480p content looks FAR better than the upconverted 1080i stuff that MANY stations put out 80% of the time. When I'm feeling bad about my purchuse I just watch a DVD or a prime time show in HD and I feel better. Good HD feed looks awesome so I can be forgiving for the other.
One thing to thy is turning the sharpness down to 0 or almost 0. This gave me much more pleasing results all the way around. The picture is sharp enough without having sharpness turned up. I even did this with my Elite as many said it was calibrated to be too sharp from the factory. Turn down the sharpness and you should be happier. -
Just a comment on HD / analog: You are looking at a television that shows EXACTLY what it is supposed to. Analog signals (non-HD / non-Digital channels) are very very poor quality, and your new television is showing you exactly how poor they really are. I had the same issue with my HDTV 2 years ago. You just have to realize that you are just getting a "Really sharp look, at a really bad signal."
Keep playing with the settings and you will find something that you can tolerate over time. You just have to get accustomed to the analog channels looking worse than they did before.
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I don't think you can blame the TV for the shortcomings of non-HD broadcasts. Have you watched any over-the-air broadcasts (like Monday Night Football) and compared them to HD versions? I'd do that.
How close are you sitting to the set? If you're right up close to an LCD set, you're not going to be as happy as you would be farther back and you're going to notice pixels and the LCD grid. I sit about 12 feet from my set and the HD vs. standard definition contrast is still apparent but not overly annoying.
You could also try playing with the sharpness control in Wega Gate.
