HDTV Question
Dear Gary: I just bought a Toshiba TN50X81 HDTV-ready set. Although the picture is OK, it just doesn’t impress me the way my old analog set did. Sometimes the picture looks out of focus; sometimes it seems to enhance video noise from cable. I am very disturbed by this, considering the price tag of the set. My former set was a 46-inch UltraVision that was close to 10 years old when it died a few weeks ago. Up to that point, the set looked great. I did, however, have the old set calibrated by an ISF tech, who is no longer in this area. I was hoping you could give me some insight into what I can expect from a set of this type. Could the video noise problem be caused by the fact that the set uses a line doubler, therefore multiplying picture noise? Any input would be greatly appreciated, considering the folks at Toshiba Customer Service seem to know nothing about their set, including the size of the guns. So that’s the story.
Jeffrey Layfield, Concord, North Carolina
Video Equipment Review Editor Gary Merson Comments:
Since I have not seen the picture on your TV, I will have to base my answer on my observations of that model Toshiba and my prior experience of clients with poor cable signals. The Toshiba you purchased is capable of an excellent picture and has a good built-in line doubler. When I first arrive at a client’s house to do a calibration/optimization, I examine the quality of the signals and the sources they are going to use. The reason is that the better the television set and the calibration/optimization, the worse that a poor source will appear. To provide an analogy, if I photograph someone’s face with a disposable camera, their skin will appear quite smooth. If I shoot the same photograph with a 2 1/4-inch film-based Hasselblad Professional camera , every blemish, wrinkle and skin problem will show up. Your bad cable signal was smoothed over by the lower resolution old TV. In addition, noise and snow takes processing power of the line doubler and tends to make the picture degrade further. Turning down the sharpness control to zero should smooth it out some. I am willing to bet that if you hook up a DVD player to your set via S-video or component inputs, the picture will look good; and after a calibration/optimization the picture will appear outstanding. If the DVD picture appears the same as with your cable signal, then the set is not functioning properly and you should contact the selling dealer for service. Assuming it is your cable signal, the solution is to improve you cable reception. First, you must determine if the cable signal coming into your home is good or poor. Take the cable lead coming into the house and run it straight to the TV before any splitters. If the picture looks good, then you probably will need to obtain a high quality amplifier and splitters or a distribution amplifier if you are feeding the signal to other televisions in the house. Winegard makes some excellent amplifiers. If the picture is still the same running the cable directly to the Toshiba TV, call the cable company and get one of their field engineers to check it out. If you cannot get satisfaction from your cable company, I suggest an alternative source such as DBS or a terrestrial antenna.
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