Hi all...

I have a Philips 37" LCD TV, not sure the model number but i am fairly pleased with it, ive had it about 8months now.. However i have noticed when watching football games on Sky i often get blocks of pixels usually green where the pitch is but they dont refresh and just blocks move across the screen. I cant really explain it very well but i was wondering if anyone knows what i mean? and if it is because my TV cannot handle the football i.e refresh rate n all that crap or if it is a fault with the TV? Should i take it back for a replacement?

Also when watching sky sports new the ticker bar sometimes moves in slow motion? Anyone else experienced this?

Any input would be appreciated..Thanks.

so does anyone know what i mean? is it a fault??

hi ..im no expert but it sounds like poor reception ,has your dish moved or your cable got bad connection.

Well I assume you are watching a SD presentation and that is being sent vie RGB scart to the TV which is upscaling it to it's native HD resolution and that is rarely ideal given that SD broadcasts fall short of optimal and footy is very demanding.

The second aspect is that modern TV's have a range of digital processing functions which look great in advertising blurbs but don't always improve anything less than perfect source material.

A visit to AVF and search for your model number may help with specifics in regards to setup and known issues.

I think it unfair to criticise SD, more like heavily digitally compressed SD, which is the only SD available on Sky (and freeview of course).

The artefacts described by OP sound like the source material squeezed into an unsuitably small bitrate, which is basically the case for football shown on any SD digital channel shown in the UK at the moment. Constant rapid full screen updates such as required for football do not work on digital.

Whether or not your TV is making them look worse due to it's internal processing of the signal I could not comment, it would be worth tarting around with any processing settings you have, turning them all off for a start and working back towards all on, but I would say horribly broken TV would actually INTRODUCE blocking, smearing and raedy-brek effects into the material.

Sorry 'bout that, for me in this day and age it goes without saying the OP was using a digital source unless otherwise stated

You could quickly try turning off any kind of picture enhancement engine, and setting the sharpness right down to 0 to see what kind of effect that has.

As Jarrak has already mentioned, your best bet is to have a look around AVF.

Is this effect the same when watching footy on BBC or ITV on Freeview - if the same then likely to be down to general compression/bitrate etc - if better on Freeview then try this platform for 'main' channel transmissions of football.

ITV's coverage of Champion's League is probably the worst picture I have seen lately - just plain unacceptable in this day and age - possibly appears worse by the fact that I'm getting used to watching Sky's footie in HD .

Rgds,
Scorp

thanks for all the replies people, u will have to excuse me coz im not overly technical with TVs and things.. the model number is Philips 37PFL5522D/05. I wil head over to AVF to check for reviews now.

Generally i watch all the football on Sky and this is were i often see this problem. I 'think' i have noticed it before when watching footy on freeview, but not 100% sure as i hardly watch my freeview. I dont think there are any settings i can change other than brightness and contrast etc? My sky is brand new (wiring, dish etc) and every other program and channel is fine apart from sky sports news, often the ticker bar goes in slow motion for a second or two then back to normal.. weird... ive connected the sky box to the tv via scart socket.

I have a 42" phillips lcd. Not sure of the exact model right now but i think its the same as yours. I have the same slow motion with the bar on sky sports news if im watching through my freeview pvr but its fine if i use the integrated freeview on the tv. Im guessing there is some truth to the post mentioning RGB connection then.

jst played around with some settings, birghtness, colour, contrast, sharpness, colour temp, contrast+, and NR? not sure what some of them are or do, altering them about seemed to imprive a bit on the blocky greens but the image looked less vibrant... anyone know what each of these should be set at for ideal picture using sky via RGB scart??? i must say wen using HD via my ps3 the picture is superb..

Pretty much all SD football is terrible. You'll only match the PS3 picture by getting Sky HD.

i might buy sky HD then... 10quid extra a month tho... wonder if its guna come down in price anytime in the near future??