UHF Freeview - how to improve picture?

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pukunui

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#56673 20-Jan-2010 18:38

Hi there,

I'm new to the forums.

I've just bought a new HD LCD TV (LG 37LH50YD). It's got a built-in Freeview decoder. I've hooked up my UHF aerial cable to my TV and I'm getting the Freeview channels, but they mostly don't look that great to me. A lot of the images look like low-res jpegs with ghosting and such. In some cases, it looks better than the terrestrial analog signal but not always. And even with the TruMotion 200Hz on, some moving images - particularly slow-motion ones - look jerky.

I understand that I'm not actually getting true HD with the aerial's coaxial cable. The only way to get it is to use an HDMI cable. But how do I hook up my UHF aerial to an HDMI cable? Is there some sort of little converter I can get or something?

Do I have to get a set top decoder and use a satellite dish to get true HD Freeview? If so, what's the point of having the UHF version?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Jonathan

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Ultimate Geek

#291611 20-Jan-2010 19:10

First of all because the decoder is built in to the TV it replaces the box and the wire that connects it internally will be the equivalent of HDMI.

Second of all your picture issues sound like a signal issue so could you put your address into the form on this: http://www.freeviewnz.tv/all_about_freeview/coverage website and tell me the answer it gives for FreeviewHD and if you can get the signal strength and quality percentages from the TV itself they would be helpful as well?

Third of all Freeview Satellite is NOT HD and the only way to get FreeviewHD is via UHF.

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sbiddle

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#291615 20-Jan-2010 19:15

First thing is to turn all the image processing off. 100/200Hz modes are nothing but showroom buzz that make many things look worse.

UHF Freeview|HD is the only HD broadcasts, Freeview satellite is not HD.

You are getting a HD picture, HDMI is only used for connecting an external box to the TV.

pukunui

42 posts

Geek

#291617 20-Jan-2010 19:18

"First of all because the decoder is built in to the TV it replaces the box and the wire that connects it internally will be the equivalent of HDMI."

OK thanks. I knew the built-in decoder was supposed to replace a set top box, but I hadn't thought that there might also be an internal HDMI connection. Thanks.

"Second of all your picture issues sound like a signal issue so could you put your address into the form on this: http://www.freeviewnz.tv/all_about_freeview/coverage website and tell me the answer it gives for FreeviewHD and if you can get the signal strength and quality percentages from the TV itself they would be helpful as well?"

I looked at that before. The UHF option was the recommended one and the coverage was "very likely". Obviously I get it because I can pick up the Freeview-only channels like TVNZ 6 & 7.

How do I get the signal strength and quality percentages from the TV?

"Third of all Freeview Satellite is NOT HD and the only way to get FreeviewHD is via UHF."

I didn't realize that either. Does that mean that the UHF version of Freeview is actually the better option in terms of picture quality? I would've thought it would be the other way around ... :S

tomgeeknz

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Ultimate Geek

#291619 20-Jan-2010 19:22

http://www.lge.com/au/support/product/support-product-profile.jsp?customerModelCode=37LH50YD&initialTab=faq#

Find the instructions in your manual - link above.

sbiddle

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#291622 20-Jan-2010 19:27

pukunui:

I didn't realize that either. Does that mean that the UHF version of Freeview is actually the better option in terms of picture quality? I would've thought it would be the other way around ... :S

Yes. UHF Freeview|HD is the primary platform and delivers the best picture. Satellite is primararily for those areas that will never have Freeview|HD coverage.

pukunui

42 posts

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#291627 20-Jan-2010 19:41

OK I figured out where to find the diagnostics.

I've got three groups of channels. The TVNZ channels are at 61%, the TV3 channels are at 62%, and all the rest (Maori, Prime, etc) are at 52%.

As for signal quality, all of them are at 100%.

I've gone through the picture wizard and I've turned off all the fancy display stuff like TruMotion. The picture wizard helped a little but the other stuff hasn't seemed to make any difference.

Does quality differ depending on what program is on? Because the TV3 news looked a little fuzzy but now they're playing a movie and it looks a lot better.

tomgeeknz

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Ultimate Geek

#291630 20-Jan-2010 19:47

Very similar to my stats on my Magic TV PVR so I don't think that is the issue so I don't think I can help much more. Sorry.

pukunui

42 posts

Geek

#291631 20-Jan-2010 19:51

OK. Thanks. I just don't like the digital blurriness. I think I'd rather just watch analog TV. But our analog TV is dying, so we thought we'd buy a new one and you can only buy digital TVs now ... (well, I suppose we could've found one second-hand but anyway ...).

Everyone always goes on about how crystal clear everything is with HD and I'm just not seeing it ...

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#291641 20-Jan-2010 21:01

I'm not a great fan of LCD TV's either, I much prefer the softer look of a Plasma.

robjg63

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#291646 20-Jan-2010 21:27

Freeview HD should look pretty good - Look for an HD movie - try TV3 - they use the highest resolution.
I'd have to say that programs like one news are pretty ordinary at times - dont know what type of gear TVNZ has in their studio - but 3 news (the studio bits should be sharp).

How is the Freeview preview channel - that should be very sharp and clear....
Something like Coronation street should look quite sharp too - you should be able to see a lot more detail than the analogue version.

Are you sure it hasnt got an analogue tuner in it as well? - quite a few TVs have both - the Panasonic plasmas certainly do...

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mentalinc

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#291649 20-Jan-2010 21:34

I agree with the above. press the TV button on your remote. should see it change from analog to Freeview|HD and back to analog.

See if that makes things better.

You may wish to "fix" the colour which will not be helping.

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pukunui

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#291655 20-Jan-2010 22:11

I'm sure a plasma is much nicer but they're a bit out of my price range.

I did notice that the smaller picture in the Freeview Guide looked nicer - but I just figured that was because it was actually smaller and wasn't blown up to fill the full screen.

I will attempt to see if I can switch between analog and HD. I'm not sure if I can or what it's on.

Also, I just watched Men In Black on the new screen. It definitely looked different, but I'm not sure I'd describe it as "better". And in a few spots I could definitely see choppy motion blur. Maybe it's just because MIB is getting to be an old movie?

The worst was sometimes when they'd move and there'd be this ghostly blur all around them as they moved but everything else was clear.

Basically, I feel like I'm watching something that's been blown up to a resolution it can't support so everything gets a bit blurry and pixelated and such.

richms

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#291663 20-Jan-2010 22:32

movies are 24FPS - anything that the display tries to do to make it "smoother" involves guesses and estimates. If its not the carefully selected showroom clips, you will see artifacts where things move the wrong place, edges get mixed up etc.

The news is SD with some obscene edge enhancement on the studio cameras that makes them look like cardboard cutouts with a halo around them. That is the studios choice, nothing you can do to undo the damage they do to SD stuff unfortunatly, just make sure your sharpness isnt up or you will be adding to the mess.

Richard rich.ms

pukunui

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#291666 20-Jan-2010 22:40

That totally sucks. How come when I watch a movie on my computer I don't have the same problem? Why does it only do it on the TV? Is it because it's trying to blow the image up so large?

I was happier with analog. :(

Also, I can switch between the digital channels and the analog channels, but I don't think I can switch between a digital and an analog display. Switching between the channels provides a negligible difference, if you ask me.

FWIW, my UHF cable goes through a "combiner" (the opposite of a splitter) before going into the TV. Basically, it's a little device with two plugs that lets me combine the VHF and the UHF cables into one cable that goes into the TV (my old analog TV only had one aerial input and so does the new LCD). I don't know if that will make a difference or not. Is it worth trying to see if the UHF cable will reach the TV on its own?

EDIT: It also goes through the DVD player, which does NOT have HDMI. So the UHF cable goes into the "combiner" thingie and the cable from that goes into the DVD player and then a different cable comes out of the DVD player and goes into the TV. I skipping the DVD player but I didn't notice any difference really.

Also, my DVD player uses RCA for the DVD/VCR output. Does that make a difference to the video quality? Should I be using a newer device that employs HDMI or something?

richms

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#291686 21-Jan-2010 01:33

If the RCA is component, then not much to gain going to hdmi other than freedom from worry about black or white crush on the input because of the controls being set wrong.

If by RCA you mean a composite video signal, then yes. That format should die, its evil and makes things look much worse then they are on a digital display. It was made in the 50's to add colour to black and white while being compatible so has many many limitations in bandwidth and colourspace available on it, and the display has to process the hell out of it to make it look presentable.

I think something must be wrong with your display, as there is no way in hell that analog FTA is even remotely comparable to digital. To start with you are missing the sides on analog and no TV I have used is even able to zoom it to full height without chopping the top and bottom off somewhat.

Then there is all the noise reduction crap that is on for analog in a TV to make it look smoother - that makes textures lag behind when things move etc..

Go to a shop and look at another and see how yours compares. Just keep in mind that most daytime tv is informercials and music vidoes which are pretty crap looking.

Richard rich.ms

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