Do all HDTVs have fuzzy or blurry picture?

Question

Hi I just bought a samsung hdtv lcd a550 series. I noticed that it kinda of fuzzy and sometimes a bit blurry on regular channels but even on the HD channels its not 100% crisp. ESPN basketball is also a little fuzzy and definitly has motion blur. Is this how all HDTV LCDs are or is it just my TV. I plan on returning it either way and Im wondering whether I should buy a vizio or sony?

Answer 1

No HDTV should be blurry or fuzzy, unless it is broken. My guess though is your signal going to the TV. Make sure all the cables are connected properly and that there is no corrosion on them.

Answer 2

With a good HD signal it shouldn't be fuzzy, but there are some situations which would give a fuzzy picture.

1) If you don't have HD programming you will get what could be called a fuzzy image

2) If you have cable or satellite some channels are less crisp than others due to compression of the HD signal (it varies by supplier and channel so it's difficult to specify). This is one area where off the air (OTA = antenna) based HDTV can be better than cable/satellite.

3) if there are scaling or deinterlacing issues due to a poor video processor and inappropriate selection of input resolution (e.g. 1080i instead of 720p) the picture can look blurry.  This is difficult to predict and the right settings can only be determined by experimenting.

4) Some HDTV programming is really scaled SD material and looks worse than true HD.

Motion blur is a fact of life with LCD HDTVs -- particularly in 1080i.

The best way to find out if it is the TV or not is to feed a known good signal -- such as a Blu-ray disk via HDMI direct to the TV. Next best is an HD game or an upconverted DVD.

Good luck.