New setup, Help!

[menthel]

Right AV gurus! I have taken delivery today of a new TV. Its a panasonic 37" HD plasma, with a DVD recorder. I have Homechoice as the TV service and my 5.1 surround panasonic dvd player/amp etc. Now I need to know how to optimise the picture! I am happy to accept that it will never be fantastic until HDTV comes out, but a little help with optimising would be good. I have the panasonic supplied leads at present, would better ones help? At the moment the homechoice is going through the DVD recorder and the sound has ben routed through the auxillary channel of the dvd/surround system. The TV has scart, composite and HDMI connections. Any ideas peeps?

[Zak33]

1st point: Don't think that setting the Sharpness high is a good idea. It's not always. It's good on DVD's but pants on telly

[menthel]

Point noted!

[Howard]

I would leave the sharpness set to "0" or in the middle or whatever. DVDs especially won't benefit because they've usually already got edge enhancement to make them look (debatably) good and the sharpness will exagerate this and generally make it look pixelly and blocky.

If you have any THX-Optimised DVDs they'll have a picture optimisation menu so use that to set the brightness and contrast levels.

Zak edit: I did'nt know that about DVD edges...cheers dude

[5lab]

yeah i'd use a dvd disk that is designed to setup a system. you can get em from a hifi shop and use em to configure yer system.

[menthel]

Sounds like a good idea. I will try and get one this weekend!

[tillyoubreakit]

Get the Terminator 2 THX Edition.

[Nemeliza]

Lion King SPECIAL EDITION THX

[Howard]

Get the Terminator 2 THX Edition.

Chapter 60 *drools*

[Vimeous]

Does the DVD recorder have HDMI as well? If so then that's the connection to use to the TV.
Cables wise, yes you will get an improvement if you replace the manufacturer supplied ones. However it may not be immediately obvious.

I suggest you set your system to the best in your eyes (and ears) and then visit a quality hifi shop (Sevenoaks, AudioT/Audi Excellance etc) and ask to test a variety of cables. Often they will let you take them home and try them out. If you're lucky and ring ahead they may even have the same kit and you can book an appointment, take along your fave DVDs and make you you own mind.

[Nick F]

Get the Terminator 2 THX Edition.

forget that you need Saving Private Ryan special ed. The first scene is amazing in 5.1

[Howard]

If you want sheer belting sound then The Incredibles, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow and Top Gun (Remastered with DTS:ES) sound fantastic.

[Zak33]

and Monsters Inc has a supeb screen set up system in one of it's menu's

Good for contrast and brightness settings

[menthel]

Ah! We have monsters inc. However, am I right in thinking that this kind of setup will be suitable for dvd's but not for tv?

[Howard]

No the setup should affect everything...

Do you have digital TV?


Edit: Oops, my bad, noticed you've got HomeChoice.

In that case, the setup shouldn't be any different for TV. Don't adjust the sharpness and calibrate the brightness and contrast properly

[Jonny M]

If you didn't already have a DVD recorder, I'd have recommended you get a Denon DVD-1910, with the Faroudja DVD scaler:

http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_m...detail&Pid=143

This is the best image quality you will get on an HDTV until HD broadcasts and HD-DVD/Blu-Ray become more available.

What's HomeChoice like?