Is there something wrong with my HDTV?

Question

Ok, so we just bought a 50 inch 720p LG plasma. When we first got it, we had Dish Network. And they wanted us to sign another 2 year contract so we can get HD programming. So we got Comcast with HD DVR. Now, the picture looks great on the HD channels, but a little blurry. And when I press guide, the little picture that shows at the top right of the channel listings look better than when the guide isn't on. In other words, the picture looks better when it's smaller. So I was wondering if there was a way to change the settings on the picture to make it look like how it does on the guide instead of having it showed as a smaller picture? And also, the non HD channels look better on a SDTV.

Answer 1

What kind of cables are you using to connect your DVR to your HDTV?

If you are using a RF coax cable, s-video, or composite cables, then you are feeding your HDTV a plain old 480i analog signal.

You need to connect them with either a HDMI cable or component cables to actually transfer the HD quality to the TV.

As far as your non-HD channels, this is a common complaint. Just expanding a non-HD signal to 50" is going to magnify the flaws inherent in SD analog signals.

Answer 2

You should get a good picture on the full screen.  If the little "preview" picture looks sharper than the full-screen picture, then the source image (from the broadcast) is not sharp .  Not everything broadcast on HD channels is HD quality--some of it is "upconverted" standard definition.  However, the Olympics, sports on ESPN-HD new network programs should be sharp and clear.  Make sure you are connected to the cable box using HDMI or component (red/blue/green) cables.

If you have not made any adjustments to your set since it was unpacked, then I  would suggest going to the picture adjustment menu and take the control out of any "preset mode" such as "vivid", and go to "custom".  Then set all controls (picture, brightness, sharpness, etc) to the middle of their range, and then make adjustments from there to your taste.

Your SDTV is probably smaller, and may be set better.  It has limited resolution, and will not show picture defects you can see on your HDTV.  However, digital TV should look pretty good, and better than an analog picture on your old TV.