Panasonic TX-L32X15B poor picture quality - any advice?

[lather30]

Just changed from an old 28" CRT to this (not my choice, btw - I was perfectly happy with the old CRT set), and am VERY disappointed with the picture quality - especially when watching DVDs.

I watch a lot of motorsport, some of which I record onto DVD for later viewing, and the picture quality is so bad that the timing graphics at the bottom of the screen are often very difficult to read - They were as clear as anything on the old CRT set, so I know it's not an issue with the DVD recorder or cables.

Can anyone recommend a way of improving the picture quality and making the fine detail like the small text in the timing graphics more readable?

Also, how do you turn off the 100Hz feature? Is the it "Intelligent Frame Creation" setting in the "Setup" menu? I've noticed that seems to be causing quite a few image problems, like individual rocks in a dry stone wall moving up and down when the rest of the wall stays still!!

 

[Jon P]

Hi.
The Intelligent Frame Creation is intended to help improve motion but often it's found to have a negative effect. Part of the problem could also be the extra compression that DVD recorders introduce as this will make things like graphics less clear as well. the shorter the recording time used on a dvd the less compressed the image will be. Newer HD screens often show up more imperfections than traditional screens its often a case of a bit of a compromise on SD to enjoy the benefits of HD. How is the DVD recorder connected?

 

[Boostrail]

I have an earlier Panasonic LCD with 100 Hz and have no problems with material such as you describe. I also watch a lot of motorsport and cannot fault the motion handling which I would expect to be at least as good if un-imagineably better on your later model. If you search or read around on this forum you will see that the 100HZ frame interpolation on Panasonics is considered to be the best and possibly the only one that works without the problems suggested by Jon P .

The main factors I have found in picture quality in the digital world are original source, connection method, and settings.

Finally given good inputs the problems with the timing graphics you describe my first suggestion would be to look to your sharpness setting. This should be no higher than 20%.

They were as clear as anything on the old CRT set, so I know it's not an issue with the DVD recorder or cables.

Please specify yor DVD recorder outputs and the cabling. What suits an analogue CRT is not necessarily what suits a digital LCD.

Please respond with your sources, connection methods, and settings and I and other members may be able to point the way.

I can assure you that 100Hz/motion handling is not an issue with a Panasonic. I cannot turn this off but have never had reason to do so!

 

[lather30]

Thanks for the offers of help!

The DVD recorder is a Daewoo DRV-6700P DVD-R/VCR combi, and is connected via a generic Scart lead into the TV's AV1 input. I don't think the Scart lead is particuarly high quality, but it produced a very good quality picture on the old CRT set. Based on the past performance with the CRT set, I'm very happy with the quality of the DVD and cable, and have tried disks where I know the recording to be of good quality.

We've also got a multi-region DVD player connected via a similar generic lead into AV2, and the picture quality via that is just as poor, which would suggest to me that the poor picture quality is more to do with the TV than the DVD recorder.

As for the settings, the sharpness was at the default mid-point setting, and I've softened it off to around the 20% mark. I can't check how that's affected the timing graphics performance at the moment, as the recorder is currently in use recording something, but there's maybe a slight improvement with similar graphics when they're shown, and they don't appear to be as pixellated as before.

Having looked at the DVD machine's instructions, it makes a mention of using a "progressive scan (576p)" setting for better picture quality via the component video connection - but only if your TV supports that setting. The TV's instructions don't mention anything like "progressive scan", so is it worth trying that?

 

[Jon P]

Page 24 of the Daewoo manual shows that you can set the player to output an RGB signal. It's worth checking if this is set. I would also try doing a new recording in HQ mode ie 1hour a disc to get the best possible recording off the machine and see how this then looks. From My experience with the screens here I would still say I prefer the panasonic screens when IFC is turned off although. This years IFC is far better than last years incarnation.

 

[nenito2k]

i really don't understand why people get an hdtv to use it with scart !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
at LEAST get an upscale DVD player and USE HDMI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tvbox]

i really don't understand why people get an hdtv to use it with scart !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

at LEAST get an upscale DVD player and USE HDMI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... or a blu ray player?

But people buy it mainly because their CRT has broke (mine hasn't but i've just bought a new 42" plasma) or they want a bigger screen but can't afford to buy some posh HDMI equip straight away. It's much better to get some new equip of course, to squeeze the best out of your new TV. Even if the SD quality is good (my Pana X10is, see below my reivew) then that's just half the story, getting HD and it will be much better.

 

[lather30]

... or a blu ray player?

But people buy it mainly because their CRT has broke (mine hasn't but i've just bought a new 42" plasma) or they want a bigger screen but can't afford to buy some posh HDMI equip straight away. It's much better to get some new equip of course, to squeeze the best out of your new TV. Even if the SD quality is good (my Pana X10is, see below my reivew) then that's just half the story, getting HD and it will be much better.

As I indicated in my original post, it wasn't my decision to go for this new set, and I was perfectly happy to stick with the old CRT one for now. But, unfortunately, "she who must be obeyed" decided that we had to have a new TV because all of her friends now have flat screens, and so we had to have one as well in case they thought we were backwards or something!! And we certainly can't afford to upgrade to HD sources yet (I'm still working on transferring my hundreds of VHS tapes to DVD, and our next big spend has to be a "new" car, as the old one has just about had it ), so its going to be SD only for us for a while...

I've checked the DVD settings, and it was already set to RGB (I think I changed it to that when we first got it...). I've also tried a new recording, and the quality is still the same. I did go out today and invest in some leads for using the Component connection if that'll give better quality, but I've not tried them yet.

 

[PippaK]

Hi - this is my first post for a long time!

I have just bought my Viera TX-L32X15B and have been searching this forum as we have also noticed interference with the text and pictures on the screen - shadows and shaky colours. I have asked for the set to be replaced as this is not the quality I expected when replacing my 10 year old Philips. Did you have any success in solving your issues? I notice that there are no problems with the screen when displaying the Panasonic's own menu - so why so many problems when the displaying from external input? Any advice gratefully received as I have this nasty feeling that the replacement will be the same!

 

[lather30]

Hi - this is my first post for a long time!

I have just bought my Viera TX-L32X15B and have been searching this forum as we have also noticed interference with the text and pictures on the screen - shadows and shaky colours. I have asked for the set to be replaced as this is not the quality I expected when replacing my 10 year old Philips. Did you have any success in solving your issues? I notice that there are no problems with the screen when displaying the Panasonic's own menu - so why so many problems when the displaying from external input? Any advice gratefully received as I have this nasty feeling that the replacement will be the same!

It seems like it's a source quality issue, and the problem is that Standard Definition pictures do look like that. I'm currently using the set's PC monitor function, as the screen backlight on my laptop has failed, so I'm using the TV as a monitor until I can get the laptop fixed, and there's no problem at all with image quality there. I've also used the SD-HC card viewer function, and the pictures were as crisp as could be. However, Standard Def pictures do look a bit "muddy" and lacking in the fine detail I could previously see on my old CRT set, and there's other issues too, like the fine detail on objects moving differently to the objects themselves (which is a bit disconcerting at times!!!)...

I did improve things a little bit by tweaking the settings, but the improvement wasn't major, and was more to do with getting a colour balance I was happy with and that sort of thing. Try reducing the sharpness setting to about 1/3 (or even 1/4), making sure that P-NR and colour management are turned off, 3D-COMB is on, and that the viewing mode is set to "normal" with the colour balance to "cool". Those are the settings I use, and the picture quality is OK - but you will still get the "shaky" fine detail and stuff like that...

Sadly, it looks like you have to upgrade to Hi-Def sources if you want to get the best out of this set - I'm currently on the lookout for a decent upscaling DVD player with multi-region capability...

Hope that helps you a bit!

 

[PippaK]

Lather 30 - just received our replacement and it seems you were right - it is more an issue of the TV - not actually a fault! Used your suggested adjustments and it is not too bad as long as you don't sit too close!

Thanks again