HDTV question. just bought a Samsung UN40C6300 40-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV

[OutHouse]

I have DirectTV with the HD package. when im viewing a channel that is HD and i click "info" on the TV remote the popup on the TV says

720x480 60hertz

shouldnt I be getting better resolution on channels that are HD?

 

[kalrith]

If you go into the settings on your STB (set-top box), you should see one that has resolution. Make sure that it's set to Native and that all of the resolution boxes are selected. That should make sure it sends the native resolution of the channel (720p or 1080i for HD channels and 480i for SD channels) to your TV without mangling it.

Another possibility is that you're viewing an HD channel that doesn't broadcast HD 24/7, and you're actually watching an SD show. In the channel guide you should see HD next to any show that's in HD. Play one of those and see what the resolution is then.

I haven't had DirecTV in over a year, so things might have changed, and my memory might be off. However, I think your problem falls under one of the above two situations.

 

[Muadib]

Which DTV receiver do you have?

 

[OutHouse]

Which DTV receiver do you have?

this one

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/equipment/hd_dvr_receiver

 

[OutHouse]

If you go into the settings on your STB (set-top box), you should see one that has resolution. Make sure that it's set to Native and that all of the resolution boxes are selected. That should make sure it sends the native resolution of the channel (720p or 1080i for HD channels and 480i for SD channels) to your TV without mangling it.

Another possibility is that you're viewing an HD channel that doesn't broadcast HD 24/7, and you're actually watching an SD show. In the channel guide you should see HD next to any show that's in HD. Play one of those and see what the resolution is then.

I haven't had DirecTV in over a year, so things might have changed, and my memory might be off. However, I think your problem falls under one of the above two situations.

i can see that the HD channel may not be showing a HD show i get that. but you are saying i have to tweak the tv settings to get my resolution and hz up to what the TV can do?

 

[Muadib]

this one

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/equipment/hd_dvr_receiver

That looks like an HR21 or the newer HR23. I've never seen the HR23, but the picture you linked to looks like it has 4 leds to the right of the box. If you go to channel 101, which of the 4 leds is lit?

 

[OutHouse]

That looks like an HR21 or the newer HR23. I've never seen the HR23, but the picture you linked to looks like it has 4 leds to the right of the box. If you go to channel 101, which of the 4 leds is lit?

i will have to check that when i get home tonight

 

[kalrith]

i can see that the HD channel may not be showing a HD show i get that. but you are saying i have to tweak the tv settings to get my resolution and hz up to what the TV can do?

By default your DVR should be set to display all the resolutions (480i, 720p, 1080i); however, it might not be. If, for example, only 480i were selected, then your HD shows would be sent as 480i to your TV.

It does seem more likely that it's just an SD show on an HD channel though.

 

[Muadib]

i will have to check that when i get home tonight

Ok, here is some other things to check:

Hit menu, then parental, Fav's & setup, then system setup. Then goto HDTV. Then goto Video, and change native to off. Go back to the HDTV menu, and goto TV Ratio. Make sure 16:9 is set. Go back to the HGTV menu, and go to TV Resolutions. I uncheck everything except 1080i here, which forces the receiver to send everything at 1080i. Your tv may be able to do 1080p24, so you can try it.

 

[kalrith]

Ok, here is some other things to check:

Hit menu, then parental, Fav's & setup, then system setup. Then goto HDTV. Then goto Video, and change native to off. Go back to the HDTV menu, and goto TV Ratio. Make sure 16:9 is set. Go back to the HGTV menu, and go to TV Resolutions. I uncheck everything except 1080i here, which forces the receiver to send everything at 1080i. Your tv may be able to do 1080p24, so you can try it.

The problem with that is with channels that broadcast in 720p. Your STB will take that 720p input, interlace it, and send it as 1080i, and then your TV will deinterlace it. It seems like that would really decrease the PQ.

When I used DirecTV, I left everything checked and chose native, which forced the STB to send the originally broadcast resolution to my TV, which then did a better job scaling the image to its native resolution.

IMO, processing an image once is always > processing an image twice.

 

[JoeBleed]

2 things.

1. I don't know what connectors that stb offers, but are you using hdmi? i would think so, but just checking to see if you are using composite, component, svideo, or even coax.

2. the 120hz is something the panel, i'm told, is always displaying at. When you hit info and it shows the screen resolution and hz, it is showing you the information it is receiving and not what it is displaying the content as. This is what i've been told and read several times on ...ah damn, that big av form that i can't think of the name even though i have an account there.

 

[Muadib]

The problem with that is with channels that broadcast in 720p. Your STB will take that 720p input, interlace it, and send it as 1080i, and then your TV will deinterlace it. It seems like that would really decrease the PQ.

When I used DirecTV, I left everything checked and chose native, which forced the STB to send the originally broadcast resolution to my TV, which then did a better job scaling the image to its native resolution.

IMO, processing an image once is always > processing an image twice.

Normally, I'd agree, but I cant tell a difference with my DTV setup, and doing it my way really speeds up channel changing.

 

[Muadib]

2 things.

1. I don't know what connectors that stb offers, but are you using hdmi? i would think so, but just checking to see if you are using composite, component, svideo, or even coax.

2. the 120hz is something the panel, i'm told, is always displaying at. When you hit info and it shows the screen resolution and hz, it is showing you the information it is receiving and not what it is displaying the content as. This is what i've been told and read several times on ...ah damn, that big av form that i can't think of the name even though i have an account there.

The 120hz can be turned off if he wants.

 

[OutHouse]

2 things.

1. I don't know what connectors that stb offers, but are you using hdmi? i would think so, but just checking to see if you are using composite, component, svideo, or even coax.

2. the 120hz is something the panel, i'm told, is always displaying at. When you hit info and it shows the screen resolution and hz, it is showing you the information it is receiving and not what it is displaying the content as. This is what i've been told and read several times on ...ah damn, that big av form that i can't think of the name even though i have an account there.

yes i have HDMI cables from the directv box to tv and HDMI from blue-ray to tv.

 

[kalrith]

Normally, I'd agree, but I cant tell a difference with my DTV setup, and doing it my way really speeds up channel changing.

Now I remember some complaints about slow channel changing with native turned on. I'm not a channel surfer and almost always watched things that were previously recorded, so it never affected me. It's good to hear that the PQ is still good with it forced to 1080i.

 

[JoeBleed]

The 120hz can be turned off if he wants.

everything i've been told is no it can't. the panel is 120hz. the motion blure stuff can be adjusted and turned off, but thats is not the 120hz. so i'm told.

The the forums i was talking about in my other post is avsforum. not sure why i couldn't think of it then. I can't even remember what samsung even calls their motion blur reduction stuff now and i have a samsung ln37b650.

 

[Muadib]

everything i've been told is no it can't. the panel is 120hz. the motion blure stuff can be adjusted and turned off, but thats is not the 120hz. so i'm told.

The the forums i was talking about in my other post is avsforum. not sure why i couldn't think of it then. I can't even remember what samsung even calls their motion blur reduction stuff now and i have a samsung ln37b650.

Samsung calls it motion plus on this set, and it can be turned off.

 

[Muadib]

Now I remember some complaints about slow channel changing with native turned on. I'm not a channel surfer and almost always watched things that were previously recorded, so it never affected me. It's good to hear that the PQ is still good with it forced to 1080i.

PQ is good on my 4yo DLP set. The OP should try it both ways, to see what he thinks.

 

[OutHouse]

Samsung calls it motion plus on this set, and it can be turned off.

yes and i turned that on last night. the motion blur was pissing me off. looks like that would be on by default but its not. why would somebody keep it off?

 

[OutHouse]

everything i've been told is no it can't. the panel is 120hz. the motion blure stuff can be adjusted and turned off, but thats is not the 120hz. so i'm told.

The the forums i was talking about in my other post is avsforum. not sure why i couldn't think of it then. I can't even remember what samsung even calls their motion blur reduction stuff now and i have a samsung ln37b650.

but why would i want to downgrade to 60hz when 120 is suppose to be a lot better at motion blur. I almost bought the 240hz but i just could not justify the extra 700 bucks for it.

 

[Muadib]

yes and i turned that on last night. the motion blur was pissing me off. looks like that would be on by default but its not. why would somebody keep it off?

Some people don't like the effect it has on films.

 

[OutHouse]

Some people don't like the effect it has on films.

which is?

 

[kalrith]

which is?

It makes them look digital and artificial by adding extra frames. Frame interpolation takes two frames and "creates" a halfway point between the two frames and inserts that in between the two frames. Some like the smooth effect it creates, but it seems that most people dislike it.

 

[OutHouse]

It makes them look digital and artificial by adding extra frames. Frame interpolation takes two frames and "creates" a halfway point between the two frames and inserts that in between the two frames. Some like the smooth effect it creates, but it seems that most people dislike it.

humm ok ill do a compare tonight.

so maybe with my tv showing 60hz when it should be 120 is why i see blur...

 

[kalrith]

so maybe with my tv showing 60hz when it should be 120 is why i see blur...

No. You're confusing two very different, yet commonly-lumped-together features. 120Hz is the refresh rate. Think of it like your TV's native resolution. Your TV will always display 1920x1080 resolution at 120Hz regardless of the source resolution and frequency.

The SD source you mentioned in the OP sent a 720x480 @ 60Hz signal to your TV, which then scaled the signal and displayed it at 1920x1080 @ 120Hz.

The real advantage of 120Hz is that it can display 24fps sources without a 3:2 pull-down, which can create artifacts. Since 120 is divisible by 24 but 60 is not divisible by 24, that's the main advantage of a 120Hz TV over a 60Hz TV.

If that were the only advantage, then people would look at a 60Hz and 120Hz, see no difference, and buy the less-expensive 60Hz TV. Because of that companies lump frame interpolation with the 120Hz TVs, which makes them noticeably different than 60Hz TVs (for better or for worse).

Frame interpolation is the feature that creates additional frames in order to smooth film. Some people like it; most don't and therefore turn off the feature. A 120Hz TV with frame interpolation off will look almost identical to a 60Hz TV with all other things being equal, except that it might have a slight edge with 24fps sources.

The one exception, again, is that manufacturers sometimes put extra features (such as better contrast ratio, more HDMI ports, etc.) on their 120Hz TVs, which obviously means that all things are not equal between the 120Hz TV and its 60Hz brethren.