I got a Mitubishi PD-5050. It's a 50" Plasma Monitor (no built-in tuner).
I have a just-released Sony HDMI DVD player, and a medium quality HDMI cable.
The TV is 1080i capable. I watch it from about 11 feet away.
I play DVD's at 1080i upconvert through the HDMI port.
It looks like crap. Sunlight washes out to total white. Dark images have no detail and are all black. Worse of all, most defined lines are pixilated and jaged (like an old 1980's Nintendo).
When I watch my cable (non-HD) frmo an s-video cable it looks the same - just lousy.
Your cable is going to look bad if you don't get HD because it needs 720p signal and all you are giving is 480p, so that is normal on the cable situtaion. Do you have it hooked up to a power conditioner...not a surge protect but a power conditioner because it helps filter out you picture and sound. As far as the DVD player goes I would strongly urger you to try another DVD player like a Pansonic or a Denon, Toshiba and also cable do make a difference so maybe upgrade your cabling. There are many different grades and brands of HDMI cables try Monster or Audioquest. Take it easy hope this helped out a little
Thanks,
I am gettgn HD cable on Tiesday and I'll try that. Also, I was thinking of buying an uber HDMI cable, trying it, adn if it makes a noticable difference - keeping it. (If it didn't make any diff then I guess I would return it immediately)
@jumbalia, Hello my friend. I have been involved with Home Theater as a hobby for over 10 years. I would definitely look at adding a power conditioner (My conditioner is the Monster Power Reference 3500) and look at trying a better HDMI (just to see!) But my biggest challeneg is to calibrate the plasma. There are two primary disks that I use to calibrate televisions, for myself and for many others...Avia and Video Essentials. They both allow you to dial in properly the brightness, contrast, colors, and really allows you to tap into a video monitors black levels...black levels are everything when it comes to a display...you can have bright colors and still the image looks washed out. Many of the THX Dvd's provide some user abilities to calibration, but when it comes to true calibration I prefer these disks (Avia and VE) because you also receive the little blue screens that you hold up to understand color and brightness of color. My Mitsubishi is a 55 inch 16X9 HDTV and the picture is stunning. Dvds (used with both Denon 2200 and Sony Progressive players with Component video out to 480 p) look simply amazing. I have compared to others setups and they don't even get close because they haven't calibrated the sets yet. The misubishi I have has perfect color which allows you to dial in color even closer to perfection.
Any other questions just ask.
Hope this helps
Rick
jumbalia, congrats.
I would still recommend you to calibrate your display. It will make a difference trust me. As far as line conditioners go, I recommend and use a Panamax, cost less and maybe better then a Monster of the same rating. Can't stress enough to use one, I learned the hard way during the big blackout here in the northeast a few years ago.
Enjoy your new toy!
