High def picture quality

[steveybaby]

I got the first two Bourne HD movies today and excitedly started watching them. I noticed that the quality is not what I expected. This is quite possibly the first time I have seen HD on this particular TV (a phillips 42" plasma
42PF9431D) so I do not know if its the TV or the VUDU. I have a photo of a freeze frame from the Bourne movie here:

http://sharpers.com/images/IMG_8221.JPG

It shows what appear to be strange color artifacts and blockiness. This is only really noticeable when the movie shows a large expanse of a single color and there isn't much movement on screen.

I'm using HDMI and have tried VUDU on both 720p and 1080i and AUTO video settings - all look the same. The TV supports 720p and 1080i.

I used to watch a lot of comcast highdef shows on a rear projection Sony and the images were flawless. So i'm wondering if this is a problem with plasmas or VUDU or my TV or my eyes.

Does anyone have any ideas on this?

[mebby]

Re: High def picture quality

If that picture is anywhere close to what you're actually seeing then that's not normal. Hell - it's not even acceptable.

I can tell you without a doubt that my picture looks nothing remotely close to what I just saw in your picture.

Are you using HDMI or component?

[NA9D]

Re: High def picture quality

Yeah, that's not good. It's not correct..

You sure you are watching the HD Bourne flicks and not the SD??

[steveybaby]

Re: High def picture quality

I am using HDMI and as far as I can tell, I'm definitely watching the high def versions of the bourne movies.

It looks much better when there are lots of details on the screen (I'll take another picture to prove it) but when there is a large patch of single color it looks like that picture. Also skin tones look terrible.

[Chopper]

Re: High def picture quality

I thought the HD content looked "OK". I didnt notice any weird colors or artifacts like you are describing, but the Bourne Identity didnt look as good as it has on HBO HD or other HD channels on my cable system.

It looks good enough for rentals though.

[steveybaby]

Re: High def picture quality

I just tried pluging the HDMI cable into my second HDMI port and I saw, just for a second, a message talking about HDCP incompatibility on some device...is it possible that the HDCP copy protection is kicking in and downsampling the resolution on me for some reason?

[NA9D]

Re: High def picture quality

I just tried pluging the HDMI cable into my second HDMI port and I saw, just for a second, a message talking about HDCP incompatibility on some device...is it possible that the HDCP copy protection is kicking in and downsampling the resolution on me for some reason?

Shouldn't. HDCP generally causes about a 1/2 second of the correct image to be shown followed by about 2 seconds of snow. This alternates back and forth. That's the way I've always seen it.

Not sure why you guys aren't seeing outstanding image quality. Yours are the first anyone has made where they weren't extremely impressed by the image. I watched very closely on the first Bourne movie as the first seen is very dark and shadowy and that is generally the worst type of image for digital artifacts. I was extremely impressed with how good it looked and didn't see any color banding.

What resolution are you running at? 720p, 1080i, or 1080p/24? What is the native resolution of your set?

[steveybaby]

Re: High def picture quality

1080i

If I switch the cable to component and the picture looks identical does that prove anything?

[NA9D]

Re: High def picture quality

1080i

If I switch the cable to component and the picture looks identical does that prove anything?

Well, try changing resolution to 720p. Do you have a 1080i compatible set? Some of the smaller HD sets are only 720p (my 27" Sharp LCD is that way).

[edit] - Oops you said you tried all that before....

Component video is only 480p and so anything out of HDMI should look way, way better than that...Something is not right...

If you display the signal info on your TV what does it say? Mine will report back the resolution of the current content. See if 1080i or 720p is actually being seen by the set...

[steveybaby]

Re: High def picture quality

The tv reports whatever I set the vudu to - 1080i or 720p - so the correct signal is getting to the TV. The VUDU interface looks pretty good right now, when I've tried viewing that through component or 480p it is noticeably crappier.

So it's just the Bourne movies that don't seem to be showing in the resolution I would expect. I took some more photos - after *renting* Bourne Identity in standard Def so I could compare...I can't say they look incredibly different..

Here is a beard in HD:
http://sharpers.com/images/beard_hd.jpg

and the same beard in SD
http://sharpers.com/images/beard_sd.jpg

Here is the same frame zoomed out a little in SD
http://sharpers.com/images/face_sd.jpg

and in hd:
http://sharpers.com/images/face_hd.jpg

If I hadn't labeled them I don't think you would be able to tell which was which. Maybe it's my pictures that are misleading, or maybe my TV is rubbish, or perhaps my Bourne movie isn't coming through at the correct rez?

I'm not sure what I can do to determine which it is.

PS any chance of a refund on the SD Bourne Identity vudu folks???

[redwein]

Re: High def picture quality

Isn't the video quality when paused always worse than when running at normal speed? That has been my experience.

[steveybaby]

Re: High def picture quality

Yeah but the artifacts and blockiness are noticeable when its playing too.

[Girardian]

Re: High def picture quality

He's using HDMI.

I'm using HDMI and have tried VUDU on both 720p and 1080i and AUTO video settings - all look the same. The TV supports 720p and 1080i.

[JohnA]

Re: High def picture quality

Hello,

Can you post your box ID so I can pull your logs to see what's going on? It's under Info and Settings and System Information. It looks like 0x12ab.

Thanks!

[steveybaby]

Re: High def picture quality

It is 0x2fbf

I'm also talking with my TV manufacturer to see if the problem is on their side.