DVD5 output
Posted by: Richard Adams on 04 June 2009
I'm currently connecting my DVD5 to my 40" Sony LCD via HDMI. Sometimes the picture quality wirh certain DVDs is very poor.
Will I be able to improve the PQ by using a 3 BNC-RCA component cable or would I be better off using a 5 BNC-VGA cable? I have neither cable and am unlikely to be able to borrow one, so will probably have to buy. Does anyone have any recommendations for any particular cable?
Are things likely to improve by changing from HDMI or am I just wasting my time. I think the model no. of the Sony is D3000
Cheers
Will I be able to improve the PQ by using a 3 BNC-RCA component cable or would I be better off using a 5 BNC-VGA cable? I have neither cable and am unlikely to be able to borrow one, so will probably have to buy. Does anyone have any recommendations for any particular cable?
Are things likely to improve by changing from HDMI or am I just wasting my time. I think the model no. of the Sony is D3000
Cheers
Posted on: 04 June 2009 by SC
Can you expand upon 'poor' PQ - in what way ?
I would be very surprised if any gain came from swapping to BNC cables... DVI - HDMI, being digital, is going to be the premier method of routing the picture signal to your TV (in fact, I think it's even listed as being the preferred option in the manual)
Steve
I would be very surprised if any gain came from swapping to BNC cables... DVI - HDMI, being digital, is going to be the premier method of routing the picture signal to your TV (in fact, I think it's even listed as being the preferred option in the manual)
Steve
Posted on: 04 June 2009 by Adam Meredith
quote:Originally posted by Richard Adams:
Sometimes the picture quality wirh certain DVDs is very poor.
If it varies then it is likely that .... the picture quality of certain DVDs is less good than others.
This is an annoying fact - especially, I have found, with old B&W films. These can be excellent or look like a bad VCR tape.
I have both 5m RGB and DVI/HDMI leads for my projector from the DVD5 - I cannot reliably establish a preference and would go straight for the digital connection if I needed to reposition my equipment further apart. If I have a slight preference for RGB it may be the different settings for the two inputs.
Posted on: 04 June 2009 by Richard Adams
"Can you expand upon 'poor' PQ - in what way ?"
Some DVDs look grainy and having ghosting on them. Is this related to the DVD itself then?
Sky HD and esp HD sport looks absolutely excellent, as does PS3 via HDMI and Xbox via vga and component. But SD via Sky and and some DVDs via DVD5 look very ropey in comparison.
I just wondered if trying an alternative output on the DVD5 may help.
Some DVDs look grainy and having ghosting on them. Is this related to the DVD itself then?
Sky HD and esp HD sport looks absolutely excellent, as does PS3 via HDMI and Xbox via vga and component. But SD via Sky and and some DVDs via DVD5 look very ropey in comparison.
I just wondered if trying an alternative output on the DVD5 may help.
Posted on: 04 June 2009 by Richard Adams
quote:Originally posted by Adam Meredith:quote:Originally posted by Richard Adams:
Sometimes the picture quality wirh certain DVDs is very poor.
If it varies then it is likely that .... the picture quality of certain DVDs is less good than others.
This is an annoying fact - especially, I have found, with old B&W films. These can be excellent or look like a bad VCR tape.
I have both 5m RGB and DVI/HDMI leads for my projector from the DVD5 - I cannot reliably establish a preference and would go straight for the digital connection if I needed to reposition my equipment further apart. If I have a slight preference for RGB it may be the different settings for the two inputs.
Worth trying an RGB lead or no significant improvement? If this is a disk issue then I can just live with it but if different disks are better with different outputs then I may consider playing around with a few cables.
Posted on: 04 June 2009 by SC
As you have highlighted the difference you notice between Sky HD (and PS3) and Sky SD, I think the answer lies here....
I'm not ever-so familiar with your screen as I have a Pioneer 50" for main use (although a Sony 32 V300 in a 2nd room), but I'm guessing you have a full HD screen..?
I'm thinking the difference you are noticing is down to the up-scaling abilities of your TV...The DVD5 certainly won't be upscaling (!) so is sending out a native 576px signal, which if your screen is full HD, is then having to be upscaled to 1080. Some TV's do it better than others, unfortunately....The Sky HD and PS3 sources you mention will be outputting at 1080 so is 1:1, or at the very least 720...
I agree with Adam, some DVD transfers can be shocking (same with BD - it all depends if they have mastered from the film transfer properly, or merely upscaled from DVD)....
Certainly, to answer your original question, I don't think a cable change is going to bring much difference to the situation....
Steve
I'm not ever-so familiar with your screen as I have a Pioneer 50" for main use (although a Sony 32 V300 in a 2nd room), but I'm guessing you have a full HD screen..?
I'm thinking the difference you are noticing is down to the up-scaling abilities of your TV...The DVD5 certainly won't be upscaling (!) so is sending out a native 576px signal, which if your screen is full HD, is then having to be upscaled to 1080. Some TV's do it better than others, unfortunately....The Sky HD and PS3 sources you mention will be outputting at 1080 so is 1:1, or at the very least 720...
I agree with Adam, some DVD transfers can be shocking (same with BD - it all depends if they have mastered from the film transfer properly, or merely upscaled from DVD)....
Certainly, to answer your original question, I don't think a cable change is going to bring much difference to the situation....
Steve
Posted on: 04 June 2009 by SC
I meant to add, if you do come to the conclusion it is a scaling issue and not a general variation in discs, and you want to explore a solution whilst keeping the items you have, you could look into external scalers - Lumagen being one of the main brands. Great devices, though not cheap...
Posted on: 05 June 2009 by Massimo Bertola
I'm not sure this can be of any help - but I only connect my DVD5 to a Sanyo PLV-Z1 (2002) projector with a component, 5 mt. cable, and not only have I a VERY good picture quality, but have never experienced significant differences in films. No ghosts (unless they're in the film, of course), no visible defects. I would be tempted to suspect that TV sets are less good at DVD replay than is normally believed.
Posted on: 05 June 2009 by Richard Adams
quote:Originally posted by SC:
Certainly, to answer your original question, I don't think a cable change is going to bring much difference to the situation....
Steve
I think that's what I really wanted to know. Are TVs inputs setup differently. Ie if the picture's crap on HDMI will it also be crap on RGB or doesn't it work like that?
Posted on: 06 June 2009 by karyboue
I can say that watching some DVDs with my BD player on a Sony 52W4500 TV, I sometimes have the same image defaults that you describe. It is more due to a bad DVD encoding and a poor upscaling.
My DVD5 is at Naim for the moment but I tried the 5 BNC - VGA on the Sony TV with a very good cable.
You must first know that the max resolution of my TV on that input was 1366 and not 1080 with the DVD5, so it is possible that it is the same on your D3000.
I tested the first season of "Six Feet Under" (encoded 8 years ago in 480 lines) on the 5 BNC output because the DVI output image was very poor. Despite the fact that my DVD5 displayed extra vertical lines for free, I can say that the image was a bit less precise but it appeared softer, almost not grainy, very nice to "watch" and deeper (?) than DVI's.
To me, the 5 BNC output can be a very good alernative when the HDMI image is too bad. When my player is back, I will use both outputs depending on what I watch.
My DVD5 is at Naim for the moment but I tried the 5 BNC - VGA on the Sony TV with a very good cable.
You must first know that the max resolution of my TV on that input was 1366 and not 1080 with the DVD5, so it is possible that it is the same on your D3000.
I tested the first season of "Six Feet Under" (encoded 8 years ago in 480 lines) on the 5 BNC output because the DVI output image was very poor. Despite the fact that my DVD5 displayed extra vertical lines for free, I can say that the image was a bit less precise but it appeared softer, almost not grainy, very nice to "watch" and deeper (?) than DVI's.
To me, the 5 BNC output can be a very good alernative when the HDMI image is too bad. When my player is back, I will use both outputs depending on what I watch.
Posted on: 07 June 2009 by Richard Adams
quote:Originally posted by karyboue:
I can say that watching some DVDs with my BD player on a Sony 52W4500 TV, I sometimes have the same image defaults that you describe. It is more due to a bad DVD encoding and a poor upscaling.
My DVD5 is at Naim for the moment but I tried the 5 BNC - VGA on the Sony TV with a very good cable.
You must first know that the max resolution of my TV on that input was 1366 and not 1080 with the DVD5, so it is possible that it is the same on your D3000.
I tested the first season of "Six Feet Under" (encoded 8 years ago in 480 lines) on the 5 BNC output because the DVI output image was very poor. Despite the fact that my DVD5 displayed extra vertical lines for free, I can say that the image was a bit less precise but it appeared softer, almost not grainy, very nice to "watch" and deeper (?) than DVI's.
To me, the 5 BNC output can be a very good alernative when the HDMI image is too bad. When my player is back, I will use both outputs depending on what I watch.
That's interesting. Which 5 BNC-VGA cable do you use? Was the picture better with this cable rather than RGB component?
Sorry for the questions, but if I can improve the PQ with a change of cable rather than a change of TV I'd much rather. I guess this maybe an itch I might just have to scratch!
Posted on: 07 June 2009 by karyboue
I am sorry, I forgot something.
I tested with a 480p @ 60hz NTSC DVD and I think that with a 576p @ 50hz video signal that is PAL your TV won't display anything because the VGA inputs are usually set for computer and refreshing rates > 56hz.
There's a way to go around this problem that is to set the DVD5 in NTSC only in the set up but in that case the motion won't be good.
(But may be, now that TVs are 24p compliant ? But I have really no idea and I can't test it before my player is back from Naim.)
Go for YUV, at least you are sure that it will work.
I tested with a 480p @ 60hz NTSC DVD and I think that with a 576p @ 50hz video signal that is PAL your TV won't display anything because the VGA inputs are usually set for computer and refreshing rates > 56hz.
There's a way to go around this problem that is to set the DVD5 in NTSC only in the set up but in that case the motion won't be good.
(But may be, now that TVs are 24p compliant ? But I have really no idea and I can't test it before my player is back from Naim.)
Go for YUV, at least you are sure that it will work.