BluRay Problems with LCD screen - any advice?

[TonyDA]

Hi,

Am having problems with the beginnings of my new A/V set-up, and am not sure whether this is due to faulty equipment or (more likely) by not having the complete equipment:

I have a Panasonic LCD 42" screen (TX-L42WT50)

http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p/panasonic-tx-l42wt50-42inch-3d-led-tv/tv-home-cinema_tv_37-42-inch-tvs_3d-led-tvs?pp=96&pp=96

And I'm running a Denon DBT-1713UD Blu-Ray Player through it

http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p/denon-dbt-1713ud-3d-blu-ray-player/tv-home-cinema_blu-ray_3d-blu-ray-players?pp=96&pp=96

I'm really unimpressed with the Blu-Ray playback. A common issue is a ghosting/pixelisation on certain scenes - it only happens on fast moving images, but will happen 10-12 times on an average 2 hr film. I'm not sure of the technical term, but it reminds me of how you can get a ghosting image on some TVs on things like football. Picture quality is also 'strange' - as if something is doing its best to remove grain. Watching Spiderman, Dark Knight Rises and Snow White & The Huntsman over the past few days has been fairly depressing - on certain scenes, faces looked DNRd to death, while other bits were stunning.

Any thoughts on this - I'm aware the Denon is a Blu-Ray transporter, so should be running through an A/V amp, rather than direct to the TV. I bought the player/TV recently, with a plan to get the amp/speakers just before Xmas, but cash flow problems mean I'll have to hold off on that for a few months. Is the fact that the player is a transporter an issue?

Would appreciate any advise, as I'm not sure whether I've got a faulty piece of equipment! I've changed from a four-year old HD Panasonic TV and ?80 Toshiba Blu-Ray player to equipment which has got good reviews, and has cost a lot more - at the moment, I'd say I was more impressed with my old set-up!

Thanks,
Tony

[smouty]

Have you done any calibration of the screen? If not there are usually some guides on AV forums and the like for 'ball park' settings.

[huxley]

A good thing to do before doing any calibration is to go into your tvs settings and turn anything that artificially changes the image off.
Auto colour inharnce, super black settings etc.

[tyjay]

Iv got the same tv but 55" version use true cinema
switch of
vivid colour
c.a.t.s
p-nr
intelligent frame creation

Give that a go it should be 24fps aswell on blurays. you running 1.4 hdmi high speed cable?? Shouldn't makes difference but you never know

[TonyDA]

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated. I'm running on the true cinema setting that tyjay mentions, uncalibrated. My intention was to pay to get the set calibrated, but only once I have the amp/speakers as well.

What I don't understand is why I'm getting the ghosting/pixelisation - I've never seen that before at all, and have been playing Blu-Rays for about three years.

I'll have a look at your settings tyjay (thanks) and will post back later.

[tyjay]

Also I'm running into hdmi 2 for ARC return as everything goes into my marantz amp with single output that might make a difference again don't think so

[EvilBoris]

You need to elimate whether it is a blu ray issue or a TV issue. Do you have another tv/monitor you can plug the hdmi into?

[TonyDA]

Well - I turned off the blu-ray at 24 fps setting on the TV, which was set to max, and this seems to have rectified it! The blocking, which was really noticeable on Spiderman and Snow White, disappeared; also, faces looked more natural...as if the grain had been put back in.

Will watch a film all the way through tomorrow to ease my mind! )

Thanks all.

[Lyris]

I'm really unimpressed with the Blu-Ray playback. A common issue is a ghosting/pixelisation on certain scenes - it only happens on fast moving images, but will happen 10-12 times on an average 2 hr film. I'm not sure of the technical term, but it reminds me of how you can get a ghosting image on some TVs on things like football. Picture quality is also 'strange' - as if something is doing its best to remove grain. Watching Spiderman, Dark Knight Rises and Snow White & The Huntsman over the past few days has been fairly depressing - on certain scenes, faces looked DNRd to death, while other bits were stunning.

Turn off any feature on the TV that does motion averaging. That includes [P-NR] and the motion interpolation modes, which by their nature will have a slight degraining effect (look for [Intelligent Frame Creation] and [24p Smooth Film] and make sure both are off for film content).

Edit: looks like you found it already.

Since film grain is a random pattern, it's very difficult for the TV to calculate motion vectors for blocks containing grain (one of the reasons why it can also be difficult to compress).

Any thoughts on this - I'm aware the Denon is a Blu-Ray transporter, so should be running through an A/V amp, rather than direct to the TV. I bought the player/TV recently, with a plan to get the amp/speakers just before Xmas, but cash flow problems mean I'll have to hold off on that for a few months. Is the fact that the player is a transporter an issue?

No. A BD player is a BD player.

BTW, make sure that Denon player is using the latest firmware. There is a nasty ringing fault I found on at least one of their lineup this year when I was out doing a calibration. They assured me a fix is/was coming and might already have been applied on new units at the factory (I discovered it in October 2012).

[TonyDA]

Lyris - Thanks. The only setting that yourself and tyjay mentioned that wasn't already set to 'off' by default was the 24fps setting, and that was set to 'max.' Turned that off, and all seemed fine. On the subject of calibration, are you aware of any people/companies offering the service in the London/Brighton area?

Will check out the Denon firmware later. I was so convinced it was the TV, I didn't think to double-check this....

[Lyris]

On the subject of calibration, are you aware of any people/companies offering the service in the London/Brighton area?

Me!

And in the interests of fairness you can find others through the ISF web site (click Dealers).

Are you experiencing ringing (looks like horizontal edge enhancement) on the Denon player?