TV picture adjustment - advice please

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jonathan18

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#250670 21-May-2019 10:06

So we recently got an entry-level LG 4k LCD TV - while I'm impressed by the resolution (being our first 4K set), I'm not so happy with the "blacks". That's in speech marks, as we're talking dark greys; I'm used to the far truer blacks of the Panasonic plasma in our HT, so it's a bit of a shock to the system!

The most annoying things with the TV are the bands when watching widescreen content, and also the LED bleed that spreads across part of the screen (the width of the content) when it's against a black background (credits are a classic example of this). As a starter I've adjusted picture settings to reflect those used in a review of the TV, but clearly more work is required.

Can anyone recommend a tried-and-true method by which to get an acceptable picture from a side-lit LCD TV, particularly in terms of blacks and contrast, but also in terms of colour?

I remember years ago THX had a video that walked through adjusting settings, and wondered if there's anything like this that's recommended. We don't need professional calibration - this TV is generally used for kids' content - but I still want it to look ok when I'm using it!

And, as a secondary question - when it comes time to replace the plasma, will a LCD with localised LED dimming offer anything like acceptable blacks , or will I be sorely disappointed (and should look to OLED)?

Thanks for any advice.

Oblivian

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#2242109 21-May-2019 10:10

I don't recall where I obtained it, but have a couple of those DVDs from an old HT forum I think. Has repeating scenes (true 80s style) with snooker players in white shirt with black vest etc to adjust the black levels etc as to not expose for either out of bounds (find good midpoint)

And sharpness with round and square balls etc

The THX ones are still found on a few 'trailer' sites

Rikkitic

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#2242226 21-May-2019 11:40

This may be way off base, but I remember real problems with colour bleed like you describe a few years ago on some older gear. I can't recall the details but it had something to do with the Sky signal on an old decoder and how different DVRs (through which the signal was routed) dealt with that. Only a Panasonic DVR could handle it properly. This was an analogue input being upscaled to HDMI so I don't know if it is relevant, but yours sounds a lot like what I had. I would suggest trying a different signal source just to see if you get the same result before trying to adjust anything. It may not be your TV.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

dafman

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#2242264 21-May-2019 12:04

Welcome to the world of ex-plasma owners discovering LCD.

I replaced my earthquake damaged plasma with a new Sony LCD (8500 series) and at first the grey bands when watching widescreen movies. They were grey, inconsistent across the screen and, most annoying, would brighten and darken with each scene change. I tried everything to try and minimise, but with no luck. And black backgrounds, say for end of movie credits, were a shade of light grey.

We've subsequently bought a Panasonic OLED and the difference is profound. Screen bars are inky black and never change. And black backgrounds for movie credits are pure inky black.

If you are used to plasma, and black levels matter, anything less than OLED will disappoint.

outdoorsnz

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#2242358 21-May-2019 14:24

dafman: Welcome to the world of ex-plasma owners discovering LCD. I replaced my earthquake damaged plasma with a new Sony LCD (8500 series) and at first the grey bands when watching widescreen movies. They were grey, inconsistent across the screen and, most annoying, would brighten and darken with each scene change. I tried everything to try and minimise, but with no luck. And black backgrounds, say for end of movie credits, were a shade of light grey. We've subsequently bought a Panasonic OLED and the difference is profound. Screen bars are inky black and never change. And black backgrounds for movie credits are pure inky black. If you are used to plasma, and black levels matter, anything less than OLED will disappoint.

I've recently also switched from a panasonic plasma to a panasonic LED ($100 from mate, 4-5 years+) and spent lots of time tweaking the settings. Darks not dark enough and motion blur! In the end, I've put it on dynamic picture, turned on ambient auto lighting and accepted it. There are so many settings that adjust the black to some detail, pays to try each one. Nature of LED / LCD. OLED best unfortunately. See this site for a basic summary of why: https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/lcd-vs-led-vs-plasma

jonathan18

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#2242362 21-May-2019 14:26

Thanks for the suggestion, Rikkitic - in this case, though, I'm sure it's a TV-related matter as it's present on all content irrelevant of source - so whether it's a Bluray via the PS4, or on-demand content via the built-in apps...

Is anyone aware of any contemporary equivalents of the THX calibration guide (or the snooker players!)?

I'm aware of how bright this new LCD TV is compared to our plasma, but I'm really happy to sacrifice much of that brightness if it meant actual (or closer to) blacks; but my current settings aren't that bright compared to the initial defaults, so I don't hold out much hope...

Luckily we still have the plasma for most of our own (as opposed to the kids') viewing; but I had been thinking (when I replace the plasma) whether I would sacrifice quality for quantity - so spend the same or less money on a mid-range 75sh" LCD as opposed to an entry-level 65" OLED. Going by what dafman reports, it looks like I'll have no choice but to go with the smaller OLED!

allio

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#2242367 21-May-2019 14:41

While only plasma and OLED will display "true black", not all LCD screens are equal. VA-type panels have much darker blacks than IPS panels. They have their own shortcomings, like worse viewing angles than IPS, but the blacks can be very good. Like the article says, the LG will be great at displaying sports to a wide group in a bright room, but won't be the best for movie watching in a dark room.

In terms of optimal calibration, you want to aim to lower the backlight level as much as you can while still getting a balanced picture. Usually TVs have a built in "cinema" or "film" preset that looks quite dim and yellow compared to the blazing white out-of-box settings - that's a good starting point.

tdgeek

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#2242417 21-May-2019 15:18

dafman: Welcome to the world of ex-plasma owners discovering LCD. I replaced my earthquake damaged plasma with a new Sony LCD (8500 series) and at first the grey bands when watching widescreen movies. They were grey, inconsistent across the screen and, most annoying, would brighten and darken with each scene change. I tried everything to try and minimise, but with no luck. And black backgrounds, say for end of movie credits, were a shade of light grey. We've subsequently bought a Panasonic OLED and the difference is profound. Screen bars are inky black and never change. And black backgrounds for movie credits are pure inky black. If you are used to plasma, and black levels matter, anything less than OLED will disappoint.

We have two Panny plasma's, they aren't going anywhere. I'm resigned to OLED when its time. I'll close my eyes when paying....

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bfginger

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#2251440 4-Jun-2019 19:14

Most LG LCDs have white pixel IPS panels so there is likely no way of getting great black levels out of them.

And, as a secondary question - when it comes time to replace the plasma, will a LCD with localised LED dimming offer anything like acceptable blacks , or will I be sorely disappointed (and should look to OLED)?

It depends on the model more than anything else. Most edge lit TVs advertised with local dimming don't have any. LG's full array local dimming LCD doesn't work very well. Something like the Sony X9000F with full array local dimming and a VA panel should get good blacks but there may still be blooming around subtitles which you shouldn't see on an OLED. A good model without local dimming should still get reasonable blacks if it has a VA panel.

Senecio

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#2251455 4-Jun-2019 19:28

If you've already set your TV using the calibrated settings from a review site like rTings or the like and you're still not happy with it then I'd suggest there's not much more you can do.

As for replacing your Plasma in the years ahead, if you want true blacks than OLED. If you don't want to stretch to OLED or are worried about screen burn then the top line Samsung QLED tvs are the only LED TV that currently come close.