Awful picture Sony KDL-40V4000 & SKY+: help neeed

[techstar*]

I just connected my Sony KDL-40V4000 to SKY+ by Scart cable (it works on AV1). i HAVE SET UP 16:9 / RGB / Scart on, but the picture qaulity is poor - fuzzy around lines and writing and extremely pixaly on dark / balck scenes (hard to watch), brigheter scenes are better but still not what i expected.

Please can somone advise how i can rectify this as i was expecting a very sharp clear picture

Many thanks

[Andy98765]

First off do remember you are watching a SD picture but you should get a fairly reasonable one all the same. Do make sure the Scart socket you plugged into on the Tv is RGB, not all Scart sockets on a TV are.
The only other weak link is the Scart cable and this can have a very adverse affect on picture quality.
A lot of supermarket "Gold" Scarts, or supplied ones are pretty rubbish to say the least.
Look for Scart cables from the likes of QED, IXOS, Thor etc.
BUT all said and done a Scart cable could cost £15-25 which is not too far short of of a new SKY HD box.
Your Freeview picture should be very good.

[techstar*]

How do i check if the the AV1 socket on the TV is RGB - The user manaul does not clarify this?

http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/3298969611.pdf

[StevieBuck]

As Andy said, remember that you're watching SD material. It's naive to assume that you'd get a perfectly clear image on an HDTV screen from an SD source. The TV is designed to give the best picture from HD material - and I'm sure if you hooked up a Sky HD box, PS3, xbox 360, etc that it would be.

Did you check out the TV first at a local Comet or whatever to see how it handled SD content? I just wondered if you'd seen the TV in action before, after saying how you'd expected a crystal clear image.

Also, have you tried changing any of the TV settings, or are you just using the factory settings? All the Sony's I've owned are set to the "LIVE" picture mode where the brightness and various other settings are cranked up to the max.

[techstar*]

Thanks guys,
I will play around with custom settings and see if this makes a difference.

PS3 and DAV DZ260 is being set up today so i will also compare picture on these.

Do you know what settings i should change on the PS3 / TV for optimal viewing and suuround sound for these?

Many thanks

[StevieBuck]

Originally Posted by techstar*

How do i check if the the AV1 socket on the TV is RGB - The user manaul does not clarify this?

http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/3298969611.pdf

Check out the specifications listed on p35 of that manual - it shows that AV1 and AV2 (i.e both scart inputs) are RGB capable.

As long as the Sky box is set to RGB you shouldn't have a problem.

RGB didn't seem to work on my Sky HD box until I enabled 'scart control' as well in the Sky box's options - not sure why though.

[stevenk4563]

Try using the settings as shown in the screenshots on this page. Should be a big improvement over the standard settings.

[StevieBuck]

Originally Posted by techstar*

Do you know what settings i should change on the PS3 / TV for optimal viewing and suuround sound for these?

You shouldn't need to change much for the PS3 - as long as it's connected with an HDMI cable the picture should look excellent. I'd make sure you have it set to 1080p in the PS3 options though. If it's the first time you're setting up the PS3 it will check what your TV can handle anyway and set this for you. Otherwise just go back into the options to set it manually.

The DAV-DZ260 has an optical input for 5.1 surround from an external device. If you don't have one, I'd suggest you buy an optical cable and connect the PS3 directly to the DZ260. Make sure you enable the optical output for in the PS3 menus. Again, it will ask you to set this up during the intial setup if it's your first time using it.

Also, make sure the audio output in the 'BD/DVD options' for the optical connection is set to 'Bitstream' as opposed to Linear PCM. Finally, check the audio output formats that are enabled, make sure that only the Dolby Digital, dts and the 2 channel Linear PCM options are selected. The DZ260 cannot handle multi-channel Linear PCM so all of the 5.1 and 7.1 settings should be disabled.

Edit: - I forgot you said you had Sky+. This has an optical output as well which you can also hook to the DZ260 so you can watch (well, listen to) TV through it. If you have Sky movies you will get 5.1 sound from movies this way, or stereo from the other channels. Since the system only has one optical input though it may be worth your while buying an optical switcher as well

[William YZF-R1]

Just to add, I have two Sony LCD TV's a 40" & a newer 46". Both TV's were hideous picturewise on the out of the box default settings.

[davepuma]

Every flat panel isn't that great on SD even £muchos Pioneers IMHO. LCD is especially poor. I used the settings from hdtvtest (or similar) for my parents Sony LCD (think it's same one as yours) and it did improve the pic but in the end, they're designed for HD not SD and blowing it up to 40" just highlights poor feeds even more.

[techstar*]

SKY also gives the option to change picture quality - contrast etc - should i keep this as standard or also adjust these as well as the tv's. If so please can you reccomend to what

Thanks again

[stevenk4563]

I keep mine on the default setting (contrast/brightness=medium I think) and then use the TV settings to fine tune.

[nik_kosy]

Originally Posted by davepuma

Every flat panel isn't that great on SD even £muchos Pioneers IMHO. LCD is especially poor. I used the settings from hdtvtest (or similar) for my parents Sony LCD (think it's same one as yours) and it did improve the pic but in the end, they're designed for HD not SD and blowing it up to 40" just highlights poor feeds even more.

Whilst this may be true in part, it doesn't really account for the fact that the OP's dark scenes are almost unwatchable!

I have a 50" Sony (Rear Projection) HDTV, and also have Sky+, and my picture is pretty good - obviously nowhere near HD quality, but still pretty good...

I suggest changing the TV settings until you get a better picture

[techstar*]

could it be that i am sitting too near the tv. i currently sit about 6.5 ft away from the screen? or could their be interefence from sound sytem / sky etc.
I also cinnected this tv to sky via rf and the picture wuality was worse - so prob not a scart lead issue.

odly though i have sky connected to a sony bravia 30" via rf in another room at the picture their is so much clearer?
Your advice is much appreciated


Many thanks

[nik_kosy]

It won't be that you're sitting too close, as I sit the same distance away from my 50"

I would still be looking at the various TV and/or Sky settings if I were you...