my parents have a new 42; lcd tv bought from tescos

i recently did a fdg in broadcast post production and currently work for a internet broadcaster so know about picture quality, lining up vtrs etc... and i must say, watching sd sky on it is like watching vhs! it just looks all smudgy and almost ntsc (orange flesh tones) have altered the picture settings but still has a smudgey look to it (despite sharpness settings)

I did tell my parents about a screen not too big - correct viewing distance etc... but they paid no attention and when for a big f-off screen - my mum sits about 3-4feet from screen, my dad around 4-5feet- i told them that 37" is the max (32 is sufficent)

is this view that it looks like vhs shared by any one else? apart from hd. is there another way to rectyfy it? Of course getting sky hd would make the picture quality on par with a 28-32" crt tv although, its funny that the best picture possible with sd is still with crt tvs. In most edit suites they have a crt monitor to ;see; how the edit will look on tv - some (like big buoy in soho-doning adverts etc..) use plasmas as there monitor.

Its sad that people are accepting this poor, blury, smudgy picture quality, i personally, when buying a new tv, would buy a crt tv. (although im actually using my i-mac to watch tv which i think is probably better than the 42i phillips-but im viewing it at just about the correct distance!)

oh but i do like playing sd zbox games on it!

Except no one makes CRT sets anymore, apart from the really rubbish manufacturers. But if you bought a 42 inch CRT and watched it from 3-4 feet away it would look rubbish as well.

A decent make LCD, viewed at the correct distance, is considerably BETTER than a cheap make CRT set.

I would make sure for a start that they are viewing via RGB, bear in mind that not all SCART inputs accept RGB, and it's absolutely essential that you don't watch Sky via RF or composite. The difference is HUGE!.

Sounds like composite video to me.

Go into the sky box picture settings and change it to RGB.

Also, Make sure the sky box is connected to the first scart socket (AV1) - any others will be composite only.

You will notice an immediate improvement. Also check its set to 16:9 widescreen while your there.

-Chris

yeah its now on ext 1 - looks exactly the same - i was wathcing broken arrow film when pff looks like vhs.

its basically too big a screen for the viewing distance, but hey, my parents are happy with it (if there eyesight is still intact)

Switching between RGB and PAL should make a HUGE difference in picture quality - if it doesn't then you're not watching via RGB - perhaps not a fully wired SCART lead?, or the SCART lead in the VCR socket on the Sky box, and not the TV one?.


If they are happy that's really all that matters.

Does the set have built-in Freeview and is that also as bad?

If it looks OK there's obviously something wrong with the way the external box is connected as others have already suggested.