LCD TV Picture

[toby99]

We have just had a new 37" LCD, HD ready TV and upgraded to Sky digital, Sky plus, HD etc. (can you tell I am not technical?)The HD picture is excellent, but we are very disappointed with the picture through normal TV and Sky. It isn't out of focus, nor could you say it is a terrible picture, but by no means could you say it was good and we had a better picture on our previous old style tv (and a portable tv with its own ariel) The TV has great reviews. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Thanks

[jake-the-peg]

Normal definition television has only a certain amount of information in it and if you display it on a large screen you don't get any more detail it just gets bigger.

Imagine a picture from a newspaper - it's made of dots - If you blow it up huge you don't see any more, the dots just get larger and it starts to look blocky.

There are things called scalers. They take a low resolution picture from terrestrial TV and try to make it look like a high definition. They can't add any more information into the picture so the kind of make a best guess and break it up.

In the past they've been very expensive but have come down a lot recently - things like this:

http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertainment/high- definition/news/ces-2007-three-1080p-upscalers -from-gefen?articleid=608051403

[toby99]

Thanks for your advice Jake-the-peg.

[Toureman]

AN HD TV is no better than an ordinary TV unless the programme you are watching has been made in HD.

Not many are HD and if they are you need to pay extra to watch them on Sky.

[s10driver]

I bought a 19 inch LCD a few weeks ago. Even with normal digital satellite, not HD, it's far more clear than my old tube TV.

[ELVIS68]

I was told that no matter how much you pay for the tv, it`s the scart leads that make the difference

[Toureman]

Your right there Elvis, Scarts supplied with the TV cost around �1.99 !
I upgraded mine with Exos leads around �30 each, the picture is much better.

[toby99]

thanks both for your help.

Toureman - was there a reason you bought a Exos lead or would any in that price range do? thanks