sagem HD56 arrived :thumbsdow

[dapex]

well the new set is in place and I have got my sky+ box connected. If i am totally honest I am a bit dissapointed with the picture quality , the wife has watched some emmerdale from sky+ and some eastenders and from the far end of the living room it aint that bad at all, but anywhere closer than 12FT and you really see blockiness etc etc, a good example is the sky menu, the yello wbanner looks terrible. Now let me add that this is out of the box settings so if anyone has any settings to suggest then please do so. Will try dvd etc tomoz and I expect that to be better, but if i am honest most our viewing is sky and not dvd....

Obviously sky HD will make a difference but seeing as most the tv wathcing is eithers kids channels or the wifes soaps then it aint going to improve that....


Any suggestions or advice will be realy cool, as it stands I would seriously consider selling and getting a cheap TV, maybe a 37" plasma or soemthing...

 

[pjclark1]

If the sky menu looks bad you are almost certainly watching composite output (it crawls, yellow looks bad) from your sky box, on RGB it is perfect.
Find out how to set the sky box to RGB output and you be amazed at the difference.

Reasons why it's composite.
1) only one of the two SCART outputs on the sky box outputs RGB (this is the usual problem) the other SCART is always composite.
2) pressing the "TV" button on the sky remote turns off the RGB output, switching it to composite
3) not having the output set to RGB in the sky setup menu (2 overrides this setting though)

 

[dapex]

pj, cheers for the info, I did turn on rgb on the sky box but I didnt realsie it made a difference which scart output i was using, I presume the TV output is the rgb capable one??

 

[dapex]

sat watching it a bit more and it is growing on me, that was until i saw a close up of someones face and it really did look like an oil painting.... will give it a while to settle in and see how we go from then.

Still, if anyone has any settings then i would appreciate them, also, where is best place to buy scart leads and a decent brand?????????

Cheers

 

[thfccambs]

, where is best place to buy scart leads and a decent brand?????????

Cheers

Put up a wanted add on the forum m8,i use QED and Ixos scarts.

 

[dapex]

the scart leads I have are bog standard things, but when I chnage my sky box to RGB the PQ doesn't chnage at all. is it possible that they still make modern scart leads that dont carry RGB????

Should i be able to tell a noticeable improvment when the box is set to RGB??

Cheers

 

[pjclark1]

More likely you are still not successfully watching a RGB source.
The difference between the Sky menu on RGB and composite is very obvious.

 

[dapex]

ok, swapped scart leads and its now RGB, see what you mean about the difference in sky menu, look sso much better now.

PJ and Dunsters , what settings are your sets on for normal tv viewing, I have tried them all and not really noticed much difference apart form the brightness in cinema mode..

 

[thfccambs]

If it's watchable i would leave in for a few weeks m8,i noticed a lot of diffrence in picture quality after 3 weeks.The Sagem seem to get better after a few weeks.
Great tv,picture quality is outstanding.

 

[DVD Connoisseur]

Quick question on this model (mine's on the way).
Am I okay playing NTSC R1 DVDs through my analogue, non-HD Yamaha amp? I noticed that there's no mention of NTSC on the input signal spec.

***Updated***

Sorry - found the answer here! http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=329681&highlight=ntsc

 

[pjclark1]

I'm using ECO

User
Contrast 41
Brightness 44
Colour 46
Colour Temp Neutral

Standard was way too bright
Cinema was way too warm
Studio was a funny colour
Sport was way too green

The settings out of the box were like a plasma on "dynamic" only a lot brighter IMHO, it felt like it was burning my eyeballs out. So my first job was to change it to ECO mode, that reduces the bulb output to 80%, then dim it a bit more with the user settings.

 

[arfster]

Not too surprising - at 56", 12 feet is about right for 720p material, maybe around 12mbit/sec MPEG2. Showing standard def at perhaps 2mbit/s, it's going to look terrible.

Ultimately, you're sending it a bitrate which is designed to be viewed on a TV with four or five times smaller a screen area. There's simply not enough data to stretch across a larger screen.

 

[GarryF]

Yeah, I'd also say your never going to be happy watching SD progams at 12" on this size, if all you ever do is watch SD programs then get a 42" tv, that'll be much better at that range.

What will blow you away is when you play HD footage on the sagem, after you've done that you'll decide you need to keep it even if SD looks crap

I recommend you go download some sample WMV-HD footage and hook it up via DVI, that'll set the benchmark of what the tv is capable of.

Personally I have a 4 year old plasma I use for watching most TV, I use the sagem for dvd's via pc and ffdshow, can give stunning pictures if you put the time in setting up a good pc.

Oil painting effect I also see, much more on lower end sources and can hardly see it at all on HD sources, seems to be dependent on the quality of the source.

 

[marscay]

GarryF is spot on reagarding SD picture versus HD on the sagem.

i was also fairly dissapointed when i first hooked up the 56" as the first 2 devices i used was my old dvd player and telewest cable box (not tvdrive box), both looked decidedly average.

my pioneer dv444 and the sagem do not play ball very well so i quickly rigged up the htpc and tried a few dvd's upscaled/filtered with ffdshow & dscaler. my face quickly went from to

then i played my HD stuff and it went to this

i'm also pretty close to the screen 8-9ft and would definitely be better off for SD with the 50" set but for dvd/hd/gaming there's no way i want to swap it so i'll put up with the SD. i think the tvdrive i'm getting installed next week should improve the picture considerably anyway.

like everyone else i would say stick with it.

 

[mray]

The best thing you can do for your Sky settings (IMO), is to turn DOWN the sharpness on the Sagem.

The picture will still look good, but you'll get rid of the jaggies.

 

[stu232]

Yup just wait until you start viewing HDTV on the Sagem, the difference is astounding.

 

[stegalv]

hi garyF i am umming and iiing about upgrading my SD 2year old sony 44" rptv to the sagem 50", but your reply to dapex has confused me, you are saying that it is no use veiwing SD material on a 50" screen.
I do'nt subscribe to any HD channels at the moment so would only be watching SD,but is'nt sky/telewst still showing 90% of it's programmes in sd?if so is'nt everyone who has bought the 50" sets watching a crap tv picture 90% of the time and have wasted their money, i assume the majority of people use it as their main source of tv veiwing, not just HD channels.
i am only asking as i am now wondering if i should bother upgrading

 

[dapex]

yea, in al lhonesty it was the amazing picture onHD that ade me want it in the first place, suppose its ironic really as I have no pc near the TV and I do begrudge giving sky £300 to install sky HD and have the wife still watch her crappy soaps on SD...

I have actually got the set all wired up and on its stand now, and if i sit on the sofa furthest away then it does look great. wathced a dvd via component on a crappy goodmans dvd player and it did look amazing...

Think i will look at getting a snazio box next as that upscales dvd and I can then also use my ethernet to stream hd stuff from the pc...

Cheers

 

[dapex]

panny 300, i think a lot of people buy these sets because thye want to sound good when bragging to their mates, not because they wanted a great picture. I loved this set on HD but I dont think i would have bought it if it were not for the insurance company paying most the money for me. Also, it does sepend on what you are looking for, I actually sat down expecting to be dissapointed wiht the PQ and so i was, today I have just sat and watched it and it looks fine now i have stopped looking for every smear going... In all honesty though, why bother upgrading from a 2yr old set just to get 6" more if you are not planning on getitng any HD material?? I knew what to expect from this set and I have already planned an upsacling dvd player, sky hd and an xbox360 to make real use of the HD features


The one thing that does puzzle me, is that people say there is not enough info in a tv picture to fill a 56" screen and so it looks bad, if thats the case then why does the 2meter picture from my projector look ok???

 

[Jordans Norks]

Is your projector SD?

panny 300, i think a lot of people buy these sets because thye want to sound good when bragging to their mates, not because they wanted a great picture. I loved this set on HD but I dont think i would have bought it if it were not for the insurance company paying most the money for me. Also, it does sepend on what you are looking for, I actually sat down expecting to be dissapointed wiht the PQ and so i was, today I have just sat and watched it and it looks fine now i have stopped looking for every smear going... In all honesty though, why bother upgrading from a 2yr old set just to get 6" more if you are not planning on getitng any HD material?? I knew what to expect from this set and I have already planned an upsacling dvd player, sky hd and an xbox360 to make real use of the HD features


The one thing that does puzzle me, is that people say there is not enough info in a tv picture to fill a 56" screen and so it looks bad, if thats the case then why does the 2meter picture from my projector look ok???

 

[stegalv]

thanks for the reply jordan. as usual probably because i want one not need one.
Everyone on this forum drools over the picture qualilty of the sagem, and i just assumed they were talking about the overall improved picture quality, better blacks etc,not just HD material.
So i will probably just wait until sky/telewest are transmitting a higher percentage of HD programmes before i take the plunge.

 

[Jordans Norks]

LOL - Nope, SD sucks on HD TV's (I'm sorry it does) but HD material is great...planet Earth was gob smacking on the BBC preview!

Also the output from my 360 keeps me more than happy.

If you only really going to watch SD, leave it!

...norks runs away before being flamed!

 

[Jordans Norks]

that said...if you get a XBOX 360 or have the cash for a HD-DVD player etc...........

 

[pjclark1]

or have a PC and a speedy internet connection .........
HD transmissions from the USA look great.

4400, stargate atlantis, rome, etc.

 

[Duncan Harvey]

I'd be interested to know how it compares to a 56 inch SD set. I've had a Tosh 56 incher for about 5 years now and its great - wouldnt want to go for anything smaller.

Had been thinking about the SXRD 70 incher, but frankly the cost is prohibitive. This Sagem seems a decent interim set to me.

I've always found the image from DVD on my Tosh 56 incher to be stunning - so if I think that, then presumably I'll have no probs with the Sagem with SD material - viewing distance is about 8 to 10 feet.

Any thoughts anyone?

Also - anyone tried hooking up a pc to this? I'd be using a mac mini.