What are the HDTV standards?

Why do all HDTV LCD's seem to look so grainy/blurry?

• Can someone please explain to me why LCD's are supposed to have such better picture quality than regular televisions? Cause I just got a 32 inch Sylvania LCD HDTV for Christmas, and a LOT of the stuff I've tried to watch on it really looks like crap. In fact, it seems to me like for watching most things, my regular old crap tv produced a much smoother picture! For instance, I have an Xbox 360, and the other day I tried to view a picture slideshow on it. When my xbox used to be plugged into my old standard def tube tv, which is the same size (minus the extra widescreen space on the LCD), the pictures looked great, really clear, good colors. Now, on the LCD, they all come up looking kinda pixelated, ya know? Like the colors aren't really all that smooth, they don't seem to blend into eachother seamlessly like on the old tv, and the image is kinda grainy looking. It looks almost like a painting or a drawing of a picture, as opposed to a real life picture! Is High Definition the only format that is actually watchable on an HDTV LCD? I mean, I've tried watching standard definition widescreen DVDs too, and they all look really grainy, and if you get up close to the screen you can really see how the little patches of pixellated color don't quite blend really well. And an old Sopranos Season 1 DVD looked nearly unwatchable, it was so pixellated and blurry. Does my HDTV just kinda suck, or is this a compromise with ALL LCD televisions? Cause of the pixels? I've also been to tons of stores and seen lots of these tv's, and they all seem to have the same image problems--even the HD channels in the stores come out looking grainy still. Even all the supposedly high end Sony's and Auos things had the same problem as my tv. Is this all HD is? Cause it doesn't look crystal clear to me, anywhere that I've seen it. I also pressed one of the store guys to come up with an answer. They had a basketball game playing in HD, and it was so pixely up close you could almost see little whiteish pixel silhouettes around the players. I pointed out all of the little pixel blurs on all the HDTV's, and after much arguing, he said it was the best I was going to get... He did show me a Blu Ray version of some animated film on HDTV, and that looked awesome. As do all of my Xbox games, when I play them on my HDTV. But is that really all it's good for? Also, are rear projection HDTV's any smoother looking than LCD HDTV's? I really can't stand how phony this thing is making everything I try to watch look. Any superior knowledge or opinions would be appreciated, as I'm thinking of returning the tv soon, or trading it in for a rear projection HDTV. Thanks guys.

• Answer:

  Garbage in Garbage Out! It's all about quality of source! Before I continue I must say a few words about TV resolution! Old analog sets were 480i ... meaning 480 lines Interlaced ... ie... 240 lines in each scan pass, each line refreshed every other pass. This scanning property is why a video of a TV picture always strobes. better resolutions namely 720i, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p are now possible. The best quality being 1080 lines Progressive. Progressive means that all 1080 lines are scanned in each pass. That's 4.5 times are much content per pass ... in addition to being 33% wider. Most content is 480i ... When you try to output it on a true 1080p HiDef HD set it can't help but look worse than on an old NTSC analog set. The fact is that set technology has far outstripped the sources that are available. Digital cable is just digital not necessarily HD. Cable and Satelite are adding more capabilities but I'm pretty sure that ESPN HD Football for example is only 720p. My local news station just upgraded to 720p which they call HD. DirecTV advertises its best output as being 1080i. A widescreen DVD is not HiDef although some very expensive DVD players will "upscale" their output to look "better" on HiDef TVs. Will there be "upscaling" technology used to improve your cable or satelitte output ... I have no idea, but right now I think they are still catering to the lowest common denomenator. It is possible that your XBOX has some output adjustment that may help, but never having owned or played one, I wouldn't know. Since PS3 has embedded Blu-ray it should be clear on your set assuming the software provider did a good job. BluRay and HDDVD are true HD at high resolution hopefully 1080p and thus should look good as was your experience. By 2009 ... all broadcast is required to be HD, but that still doesn't mean that the content will be of 1080i or 1080p quality. Personally I find a 720p LCD at sufficient distance is very pleasing to watch (I have a 37" and sit 12-15 feet from the screen. I wouldn't suggest getting a 60" screen and sitting 6 feet from it! 1080p plasmas exist but Best Buy and Circuit City don't sell them. They only sell 720p plasmas. 1080p LCDs have become so cheap that they do sell them but that doesn't mean that there is enough content for them yet. Hopefully the more they sell, the sooner content will improve. I'd get a 1080p like the Aquos or SXRD or DLP to watch Blu-ray disks or with a PS3 ... but not for everyday. It will be years for broadcast source quality to catch up with set technology. I just checked and your Sylvania is only 720p ... hmmmmm ... I don't know what to tell you ... get the projection (an older cheaper one might actually perform better for you than the better ones) ... or move farther away from the screen. Whatever you decide I hope this helps you understand your dilemma.