Topic: Just How Sharp? (Read 102 times)

lesman · « **on:** January 23, 2006, 01:47:00 PM »

Hello, I revently bought an RCA HD52W59 52" HDTV CRT projection TV. The deal was good, and now I have a few questions:

1.) How sharp is the picture supposed to be on projection TV's? I sit about 8 feet from the TV, and a lot of the text looks blurry. Some whites bleed blue a little, and some yellows bled red a little. I've converged manually, and tuned the settings, but it doesn't seem to help much. Basically, is it possible to get a razor-sharp picture on a TV like this, or is it gonna be somewhat blurry, especially with the distance I sit from it?

2.) I've searched on the 'net about the best settings for this TV, but to no prevail. Can anyone help me out?

Some games look great in 1080i...most notably Kameo (like, stunning good) but some other games like PGR3 look pretty bad. I would like to get a nice, sharp picture, and colors that don't bleed. Please help me out, I would be very appreciative! Thanks in advance. I'll appreciate links, info, advice, whatever you can give to me!

Oldmanjoe · « **Reply #1 on:** January 23, 2006, 01:55:00 PM »

That does seem unusual, but if these are non-high definition channels then this is quite normal. I can't speak for you and say exactly how blurry the picture is, but I noticed the same when I bought my 51' Projection TV in November. I haven't had to do convergence yet, and the HD channels look superb. Standard definition on mine is not terrible, but definitely not the same as a normal TV.

C o s m o · « **Reply #2 on:** January 23, 2006, 01:56:00 PM »

First, set your 360 to output a signal that your TV supports natively.

Second, if you haven't already, buy an AVIA disc (I got mine from amazon.com). This will help take care of the blur/bleeding white. When you set your TV properly, it will probably look really dark at first.

lesman · « **Reply #3 on:** January 23, 2006, 02:05:00 PM »

Thanks so far, I will wait for more opinions.

BTW: I run the 360 at 1080i (it's the TV's native resolution).

Dasgooch · « **Reply #4 on:** January 23, 2006, 02:30:00 PM »

I have a Toshiba 57" CRT projection and I have Zero bleeding of colors. I play PGR3 mostly on my x360 and have had a great experiance, it looks just as good as it does on my 24" Dell LCD. I think the convergance on your TV might need to be adjusted.

kdx80boy · « **Reply #5 on:** January 23, 2006, 02:31:00 PM »

I thought I should add there is a breakin period for the tv's, at least for the smaller crt tv's. When I first plugged my tv in (sony 30" crt) everything smeared, but after 1 week it lessened, and after a month it looks really great.

twistedsymphony · « **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2006, 02:46:00 PM »

it sounds like you aren't converging the picture properly...

be sure to let the set warm up for a good hour before going through the converging process.

Also make sure you're converging while in the video mode you use with the xbox360 (1080i). Some projection sets don't have that option, some do.

Red, Green or Blue bleeding along edges on one side of white/black items is typically caused by improper convergence.

Red, Green or Blue bleeding along ALL edges of white/black items is typically because of improper brightness/contrast.

Get a contrast/black level pattern to display on your screen (some DVDs/games have these, otherwise get a "Digital Video Essentials" disc from Best buy/wherever).

Set the contrast all the way up and the brightness all the way down, then increment the brightness up until the image begins to bleed, then set it back until there is no bleeding.

CRTs have great pictures but these are the kinds of things you need to put up with when calibrating them.

lesman · « **Reply #7 on:** January 23, 2006, 03:47:00 PM »

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Jan 23 2006, 01:53 PM)

it sounds like you aren't converging the picture properly...

be sure to let the set warm up for a good hour before going through the converging process.

Also make sure you're converging while in the video mode you use with the xbox360 (1080i). Some projection sets don't have that option, some do.

Red, Green or Blue bleeding along edges on one side of white/black items is typically caused by improper convergence.

Red, Green or Blue bleeding along ALL edges of white/black items is typically because of improper brightness/contrast.

Get a contrast/black level pattern to display on your screen (some DVDs/games have these, otherwise get a "Digital Video Essentials" disc from Best buy/wherever).

Set the contrast all the way up and the brightness all the way down, then increment the brightness up until the image begins to bleed, then set it back until there is no bleeding.

CRTs have great pictures but these are the kinds of things you need to put up with when calibrating them.

Thanksa lot, yeah, it's a convergence issue. I've waited at least 2 hours before converging EACH input, and the color seems to bleed from one side. I think I have a picture setup DVD somewhere, I'll have to find it. Thanks a lot so far!.

colonel · « **Reply #8 on:** January 24, 2006, 07:36:00 AM »

QUOTE(Category 5 @ Jan 24 2006, 07:40 AM)

Plasmas have issues with burn in (YES STILL!) and premature aging (yellowing or browning). The picture is often not true HD, but for true HD viewing on HD sets the picture can be spectacular.

disagree. I have a plasma. First few weeks you need to be careful about burn. After that it makes no difference. I have seen restaurant plasma's left on fashion tv for a week and showing no image when the channel is changed. Also most plasmas, i.e. panasonic, hitachi, etc. are rated at 60,000 hours. That is 8 hours a day for 20 years. And that is not run time, but time before noticeable dimming.

For 30 inch or under LCDs are the only option as plasma cells are difficult to make below certain sizes. But over 30 inch LCD have an advantage of looking better in brightly lit environments, but otherwise have loads of disadvantages:
1. Motion blur due to low refresh (best LCD is 10x slower then worst plasma)
2. Terrible contrast at normal and low ambiant room lighting (some people say mounting a spot or flourescent light behind their tv actually makes it look better)
3. Dimming and wearing out of LCD back light, which can't be replaced.

All in all LCDs and Plasmas have about the same run time. Both are now very good. But in general for game playing and film watching (and cost) a plasma blows LCD out of the water. This is evidenced by the sales figures of wide screen tvs.

As for the future. There is a new technology that allows an OLED/LCD type light to enough so as not to need a backlight. Forgot what it is called but there is a screen that is being released this year.

This is a very interesting interview with Jeff Cove (head of tvs at Panasonic) who lays everything out:
http://gear.ign.com/...2/682536p1.html

twistedsymphony · « **Reply #9 on:** January 24, 2006, 09:38:00 AM »

do you want me to split this topic so you argue over display techs somwhere else...

If you're not properly trained to converge a CRT projector then it can be VERY difficult to do so properly. IMO if you buy a CRT projector as opposed to LCD or DLP then you're trading blub life for having someone come in every 6 months to tune your display.

Most people don't do that because they're either cheap or don't know better.

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