I need help with my Samsung LN46B550 HDTV

[robalister]

Hello there. I am a new owner of a Samsung LN46B550 HDTV. So far I have somewhat enjoyed my new HDTV however there have been problems. When I am connected to 1080p sources the picture is not very good. For example videos on my Xbox 360 don't look good and I just bought an upconverting DVD player (Samsung 1080p9). Now I know the upconverting DVD wasn't going to knock my socks off but the picture is not 1080p nor is it 720p. It looks like the SD channels that I get on my HDTV. Very blotchy. My cable provider (Cox Communications) has HD in 720p and I'll say that a good 4 or 5 channels look good SOMEtimes but even those channels have that bad blotchy quality. I don't know what to do. I've asked a few sites and they tell me to get the Aria or DVE calibration DVDs but tons of reviews say that the DVD is confusing and outdated. I'm not sure about getting that DVD unless I know for 100% sure that I will get a clear picture from using it. I refuse to spend money on more things just for the picture to stay bad. I don't care about the colors and black levels. I care about clarity, sharpness. Can someone please help me?

[tehboris]

You will only know where the problem is once you have tried all eventualities, you need to play a bluray on it to see what it can do.

HD over cable/satalight is compressed and will have compression artefacts just like SD TV. DVD's are compressed using a rubbish compression algorithm (MPEG) and will always have compression artifacts.

I'd say that your TV is working fine because you can see all the compression problems, on a old CRT TV compression artefacts are very difficult to see because the picture quality is low.

Bluray movies are also compressed, but use a much much higher bitrate (so a 2 hour movie is 40GB~) and use a much better compression algorithms.

[tehboris]

Idea: If you can, instead of going and getting a bluray player and what not, if you can connect your computer to the screen (must use DVI/HDMI, VGA is ok, but may be slightly blurry) and play a HD movie tailor and see what it looks like. Also compare it against how it looks on your computer screen.

[robalister]

I tried it and it looks quite nice. Compared to the computer it was the same only bigger.

[fookaroo]

I have the LN46B540 model and Blu-ray looks KILLER on my set.

[md2389]

Stupid question, but when you said you connected to 1080p sources, how exactly did you hook them up?

[robalister]

I have the LN46B540 model and Blu-ray looks KILLER on my set.

Did you have to do some sort of calibration?

Stupid question, but when you said you connected to 1080p sources, how exactly did you hook them up?

I use HDMI cables. Is that what you mean?

[md2389]

I ask, because I have the LN32A550, and I never had a problem. What you might want to try, is taking an FM antenna, twist the exposed wiring together, and insert it into the RF jack. Take some scotch tape, and tape the other ends to the top corners of the back of your TV. Then scan for digital TV stations by hitting your menu button, pressing the down arrow button twice, right arrow to select the antenna menu, and select "Auto Program". If you get any digital stations (which will be marked as x-1, where X is the channel number. ie: 3-1), watch those and see if you have the same problem. Those are about as good as you'll get for 1080 programming, next to blu-ray.

Also, if you have a USB flash drive handy, go here (http://www.samsung.com/us/function/search/espsearchResult.do?keywords=LN46B550&input_keyword=LN46B550), pick which version of the TV you have, and check for an updated firmware release.

[robalister]

Um... what if I tried a converter box instead?

[tehboris]

Um... what if I tried a converter box instead?

For converting what to what?

[robalister]

Hold on a second. I have to put this ---> http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/wp-content/uploads/files/2008/01/dunce.jpg on my head and stand in the corner for about 2 minutes.

Forgive me for that moment of slowness. I have an important question. Are you saying that right now Blu-Ray is the only "good" source for 1080p? When I was doing my so-called HD research I knew that HD was somewhat limited but I never knew I'd have to depend on one thing for it. Even if this Blu-Ray thing works what am I suppose to do all day, watch DVDs?

[fookaroo]

[QUOTE=robalister;564905]Did you have to do some sort of calibration?

As a starter i used the THX ones found on the star wars DVD's (Titan AE has a THX one too), they are very basic, but offer a good starting point.

[md2389]

In terms of image quality, it's the best option you can get. Over the air hi-def broadcasts are the next best thing however, since the signal isn't near as compressed as HD through your local cable or satellite provider. The best picture you'll see over the air would be on your local PBS station. You would be very hard pressed to see any difference between that, and a blu-ray movie.

By the way, you won't need a converter box for this TV since it has a digital tuner already built in, and ready to use. The FM antenna method may work, as far as picking up a few stations, but if you really want to use OTA stations you should consider mounting a proper UHF/VHF antenna outside, with an amplifier between your TV and the antenna.