Plasma Shifting Pixels???

C

CanadianPlasma

Guest
Hi folks,

First time poster here. I bought a new 42" Panasonic Plasma a month ago. I'm new to HDTV. It's the most recent 720p/1080i one in Canada that's not native 1080p. SKU TH42PX75.

I've noticed a few things when watching/playing HD games or HD TV stations.

Xbox 360 - looks fantastic, a big step up from my old 27" CRT. No issues.

HD TV show/movie channels - hit and miss. Some HD feeds look fantastic (no graphical issues), while some look mediocre. For medicore feeds, I can tell it's some kind of HD feed, since the resolution is higher, but I notice some TV shows/movies have weird shifting pixels. It's as if a thin layer of colour is moving around even when the screen is still. It's most apparent when looking at someone's face and cheekbone.

Is this problem my TV, maybe bad cables or HD box, or just the HD TV channel's weird feeds?

HD sports channels - these HD feeds usually look much better than a HD tv show or movie. I've been watching HD US Open Tennis and it look's phenomenal. I get shifting pixels in some sports (mostly the grass in baseball games), but by far not as much as tv/movies. Some HD feeds look perfect with no issues.

Thanks.
 
... some TV shows/movies have weird shifting pixels. It's as if a thin layer of colour is moving around even when the screen is still. It's most apparent when looking at someone's face and cheekbone ...

I see this on my 15 month old 42PX60 - but only on the poorer Freeview channels such as ITV3, FiveUS etc.

I think it's due to the inevitable difficult picture processing task when trying to upconvert the combination of low resolution (544x768) and low bit rate source material to 1024x768. God knows what it would look like on a 50" 1366x768 or any 1080p screens.

Gussie :)
 
Hi, CanadianPlasma... you haven't mentioned how you've got everything connected (component cables?) and how the TV is setup. Is it in Dynamic mode?

And are your sports broadcasts in 720p and your mediocre stuff in 1080i ? Or is it more random than that?
 
You haven't mentioned how you've got everything connected (component cables?) and how the TV is setup. Is it in Dynamic mode?

That's irrelevant of you can see it on the internal Freeview channels.

Gussie :)
 
Sorry Gussie, indeed. Wasn't referring to your post. Although the last point about Dynamic mode is still relevant in that case.
 
im getting exactly the same suspect quality on my hitach p42h01, watching soccer is unbearable, you can see the field moving in the background whilst the players run or the camera is following the ball, and yup, peoples faces look robotic, i watch everything through my digi box, aint got hd connected up, aint got an aewrial on my roof, everything is through my virgin media cable box, might be sending the tv back and get a 37 inch
 
Digital media technology is one of the biggest cons perpetrated on viewers and listeners.

When done well it's OK - but the temptation to stretch the technology beyond it's limits is now all too obvious!

TV and Satellite channels cramming too much into the available bandwidth, low bit rate mp3 etc and the seemingly ready acceptance of the Youtube generation means that things like this bite hard !!

Especially - when you've just lashed out hundreds of pounds on a large screen TV. The few quality channels out there are good - no doubt - the rest is rubbish and no amount of clever picture processing can rescue the PQ - despite the protestations of some.

Gussie :)
 
im unsure whether to send my 42 back and get a 37, im the same as canadianplasma, some channels are superb, some are bad, watching football is hard work, dunno what to do
 
Hi, CanadianPlasma... you haven't mentioned how you've got everything connected (component cables?) and how the TV is setup. Is it in Dynamic mode?

And are your sports broadcasts in 720p and your mediocre stuff in 1080i ? Or is it more random than that?

Hi,

Yes, I'm using component cables. I'm not sure what Dynamic Mode is. My plasma has "Standard, Cinema, Vivid and Custom" modes in the Picture options. I'm set on Vivid as that gives the nicest brightest colours I like. The others all seem darkish.

I have no idea what res the HD channels are. I always set my tv at 720p for games, tv, and movies. I'm new to HD and tried switching back and forth 720p vs 1080i and noticed no difference really at the beginning. But that was a month ago. I'll try out 1080i to see if there's any change though.

It seems random which HD channels and movies look good or shifty. I notice that HD sports seem better overall. Among the best quality I've seen is simply the daily ESPN/TSN Sportscentre news shows. The studio and sports reporters look awesome. No weirdness in visuals/colours at all.
 
Thanks for all your responses fellows. Nice to know some tech info and that it seems more the feeds and not my tv or my eyes!
 
Would you describe it as "fizzing pixels" at all? If that's the case, it sounds like what you're seeing is PWM noise, which is inherent to the technology. (it's to do with how the screen draws the image)

Yes. Fizzing seems like a good description! Thanks.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom