I Just Bought My First HDTV!! I have questions...

[stypee]

Okay, so I decided to treat myself and as my personal birthday gift I bought a Sharp Aquous LC-32GP2U 32 inch LCD T.V.

After going to three different stores I landed at "Best Buy" and was really impressed with the picture quality.. What is driving me absolutely mad is the color settings. I've been playing with them for hours and can't seem to set the picture right when it comes to my cable box. The DVD'S (not blu-ray) look amazing even through the composite inputs. I have four dvd players (three are hooked up right now, one is a pioneer region free player, one is a sony 5 disc bravia home theatre system and another is a sony 5 disc as well, the bravia has an HDMI output which is all set-up, spent 90 bucks on an HDMI cable but that's another story. Two of the players are progressive scan, the one not yet hooked up is my samsung dvd recorder which is also HDMI compliant).. I don't have 300 bucks to spend on having someone calibrate the system and I don't have an HD cable box (the t.v. set tells me that it's an analog set up <it's a DVR> and I think it's only putting out 480p if that makes any sense), I have all my DVD players hooked up via a switcher as well as the player with HDMI, surprisingly, it looks great!

Does anyone have any tips on how I can calibrate the picture? I've been searching for a DVD with color bars and unfortunately, most of my collection is in boxes right now in the basement. The t.v. is 1080p and it has all the proper set-ups for picture...

I've also been trying to do a little more research on this model via the net but have come up with very little results. Does anyone at there own a Sharp Aquos that might be a similar or the same model? What are your thoughts? Are you happy with it? The information I could gather is the set was designed for gaming which is something that really doesn't interest me. It's got three HDMI inputs and a load of composite, as well as the Y inputs... Would the Y cables enhance picture quality? I do have some around here somewhere I think...

Any other tips you might be able to give? Anything at all would be much appreciated.. Thanks in advance..

[Shmoooooo]

No idea what you mean by y cables ... both component and HDMI cables will give you excellent picture quality ... both are capable of displaying 1080p ... however, most Blu-Ray players will only upconvert to 1080p through HDMI.

If you want to calibrate your television pick up a copy of Digital Video Essentials ... it's an amazing disk that will teach you all about calibrating your TV and will give you all the test patterns you will need in order to do so.


[url]
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Video-Ess ... 343&sr=8-3[/url]

I've been using it for years ... wouldn't get a new TV without using it.

[J.M. Vargas]

1.- First thing, do not ever buy another HDMI cable for more than ten bucks (even that is too much). HDMI cables in stores are a scam for the retail stores to pad their profits since prices on HDTV's have fallen so low profit margins are minimal. I've gotten six HDMI cables from http://www.monoprice.com for less than $50 bucks (total with shipping & taxes included) for me and friends/relatives/co-workers, all of whom report no problems whatsover. Yes, the brand HDMI cables sold on stores are a little better than the $5 HDMI cables sold online but they're not $85 better! HDMI is a digital conduit, it's either on or off (no in-between half-ass signals like analog). If there's a way you can beg your way into returning the $90 HDMI cable back to Best Buy I'd do it (assuming they'll take it since you already opened the package).

2.- I'm not sure if your model of HDTV does, but a good deal of HDTV's on the market have input-independent settings so what you do tweaking on whatever you have connected to S-Video 1 (for example) is different than the settings you'd have for what is hooked on HDMI 1. Read your Aquos' manual carefully to see if it mentions this. Calibrating the TV would mean messing with its inner circuitry and service menu (i.e. the menu that only technicians can access inside the TV's circuit board) but simply messing around with the settings is easy. Just remember that what looks good for a golf game in the afternoon will not be the ideal setting to watch "Alien" in the dark late at night. Don't kill yourself trying to find the ideal sweet spot that will make everything you watch on your Sharp look great because it doesn't exist. Hopefully, if your model has input-independent settings, you can tweak one input for games, another for DVD viewing, another for analog cable viewing (and yes, you should upgrade to an HD cable box ASAP), etc. Enjoy the TV but don't expect it to look perfect all the time.

3.- I've been to AVS Forum and other sites and you're right, not a lot of info on this Sharp model from actual owners. From what I've read this is a gaming-friendly HDTV model (hence the many composite inputs for the many pre-XBox 360 systems like PS2 and Genesis that were composite or S-Video only) so make sure to engage/activate 'Game Mode' to minimize lagging between controller input and on-screen movement. 'Game Mode' de-activates the TV processing so lag is minimized, but that processing is needed back when you're watching non-gaming material. Most HDTV's default out of their 'Game Mode' and into regular processing when switched to another non-gaming device, but make sure you read about this in your Sharp's manual so you know what to do. Just remember this simple rule: if you're gaming 'Game Mode' on, if you're not gaming 'Game Mode' off.

4.- The higher up the video connection chain you go the better the picture will look (for anything: DVD players, gaming, Blu-ray) so try the Y-R-B (i.e. component) and HDMI connections as often as possible, and only connect S-Video or composite when that's the only output out of the player. I have composite and S-Video cables for my older game consoles but went out of my way to find higher-than-SVideo cables for my pre-360 systems (VGA for Dreamcast, component for Gamecube/XBox/PS2/PS1, etc.) just to get that extra bit of sharpness and detail. This explains your cable box (analog non-HD) looking crappier than DVD. DVD is directly connected to the TV with HDMI (optimum connection) while the TV signals from the cable box have been compressed and gone through tubes, wires and now an inferior composite cable before getting to the TV. Remeber: your TV converts ALL the signals it gets into 1080p because that's the resolution of the panel. The better the cable connection (with component and HDMI being the best, followed by S-Video, composite and RF last) the better helped your Sharp is in converting old 480i analog signals into 1080p digital one's.

5.- Do you live near a city or TV station with an HDTV station? If you do connecting a rabbit antenna to your HDTV's back ($20 at most electronic stores, less in some) it might be worth it to see if you can get OTA HD TV stations. This is the 2nd purest and best (not to mention free) way to get the higuest-quality HD experience after Blu-ray. If you happen to get an ABC affiliate with the antenna make sure to watch the next "Lost" in HD: simply stunning (best high-def anywhere).

6.- At 32" you're barely getting the benefit of the 1080p resolution. If you're happy with your DVD viewing then maybe Blu-ray isn't worth the expense at 32" (most experts think you need at least a 46" or higher sized HDTV to truly appreciate high-def media). Before you buy, try. Ask a friend or neighbor with Blu-ray (somebody you know must own a PS3) to come over, hook up the machine with HDMI to the Sharp and watch some Blu-ray movies.

7.- At AVS Forum (the Mecca for AV enthusiasts) a lot of people report success using the THX calibration tests that come with all the "Star Wars" DVD's (and some Anchor Bay movies like "Evil Dead 1 & 2"). The 'Video Essentials' mentioned above is great but why not try the "Star Wars" DVD's (particularly "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith") as guinea pigs? They're as good as DVD's can possibly look on an HDTV without being HD-DVD's or Blu-ray's.

[stypee]

Thanks JM for all your advice, I had anticipated that you'd come through on this question, very, very much appreciated... I have another question... what "view mode" do you recommend? I find this feature very puzzling.

[J.M. Vargas]

... what "view mode" do you recommend? I find this feature very puzzling.

Cycle through them with (a) a 4:3 (full screen on a regular square TV) DVD/TV, (b) a 1:66:1/1:78:1/1:85:1 aspect ratio movie/DVD (should fill the entire screen from corner to corner, or leave a tiny little black bar for the 66/78 movies) and (c) a 2:35:1 or higher AR DVD/movie (should have black bars at the top of bottom, though much smaller than the one's you'd get on a regular tube TV). While watching each of these three different aspect ratios, cycle through the 'View' modes and see which fits better your tastes. Most people leave at '1:1' which means the picture gets passed unaltered to the screen, but sometimes that reduces a SD image to a postage-sized window. Just see which of these 'view' options suits the material you're watching and make a mental note of them (old videogames get 'A', newer videogame systems get 'Y,' widescreen DVD's get 'C,' cable gets 'X,' etc.)

[Texaseagle]

Thanks JM for all your advice, I had anticipated that you'd come through on this question, very, very much appreciated... I have another question... what "view mode" do you recommend? I find this feature very puzzling.

I have my HDTV set on Movie MODE.
If you have your HDTV set at Vivid or Standard MODE, you'll get a bright(er) picture, But the picture looks a bit grainy.
If you set your Picture MODE at Pro, then the picture REALLY gets Dark.
(imo)