Redjake

Hey guys,

I just hooked up my DVD player for the first time with component cables. I went from composite (RCA) to component, with digital coaxial sound with my receiver.

All of the DVDs I play seem grainy! It's nothing huge; at some scenes in the movies, you can't even tell it's there. But there is some grainage going on. I have a 27" Samsung HDTV and a Philips DVD player. Could the quality be SO good that the picture is actually showing FILM GRAIN from the movie itself? Or is there something wrong? All I know is that with composite (red, white and yellow cables), the grain was not there, and it looked more vivid and colorful - not as sharp, but at least there were no grainy areas.

When I activate Progressive Scan on my DVD player, the grain gets even worse. Could it just be showing the imperfection of the film? Am I looking too far into it?

In videogames, it doesn't do it at all. Only on DVDs.


I'm using cheap Philips component cables. I read up too many reviews that said there was virtually no difference between Monster cables and cheap component cables.

I've tried many different DVDs, they all do it.

I used Photoshop to emulate what I'm talking about. It looks almost exactly like what I created.

What I expected DVDs to look like:


What my DVDs look like:




Any suggestions?

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shakran

I don't think you're looking too far into it. That grain is REALLY bad. Does your DVD player have any other connection options? I'm just wondering if there isn't a problem with either the DVD's connection or the TV's jacks. You should have a yellow video RCA jack in the back of your player as well. Try routing that into the TV - it's an older technology but it might help diagnose what's going on.

Check your TV's sharpness control (and your DVD player's too, if it has one) - that looks like it could also be a serious case of over-sharpening the image.

Unless I'm mistaken, nip/tuck like most modern cable shows is shot on HD, which means there won't be any film grain unless they digitally add it in.

Redjake

Well, I Photoshopped those Nip/Tuck wallpapers - just for an example. But it looks very similar in DVDs. I'll try going back to composite later tonight. I'm fairly certain the composite connection did NOT make it grainy, however. Thanks!

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ratbastid

In my limited experience, standard-def DVDs blown up to HD resolution just look like crap. There are hardware upsamplers that do a better job of scaling the image to HD resolutions, but without one of those, DVDs look at best jaggy, and at worst, "blown up" and grainy.

Redjake

By standard-definition DVDs, you mean everything that isn't HD-DVD or BluRay?

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ratbastid

Yep. Standard DVDs have the resolution of a standard screen. The two Hi-Def standards have higher resolution.

Take your TFP avatar and blow it up to VGA and you'll see the problem--not enough bits to smoothly cover the resolution you're trying to project.

Like I say, a device called an HD Upsampler tries to interpolate the "pixels between the pixels". Some of them are supposed to do okay.

Redjake

I just thought of a brilliant idea. I can take my Talladega Nights BluRay DVD that came with my PS3 and play it on my TV via PS3 and see if it does it.

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ratbastid

There you go. That would tell you something.

For that matter, I assume the PS3 can play standard DVDs too? The real test would be to see if a BluRay from the PS3 is clean and a standard DVD from the PS3 grains out. Eliminate all other variables.

Redjake

Watched Talladega Nights on BluRay. It still did the "grainage," just not as severe. But it was definitely still there. Perhaps it's the settings in my TV? Contrast or something?

PS, Talladega Nights sucked donkey dick.

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xepherys

Quick lesson in such matters that I've learned lately. Standard def pictures (including regular 480p DVDs) will not look good on many HDTVs over high quality cables. Keep your regular DVD player hooked up via composite/RCA. The reason is that the analog signal conversion that takes place pushing video out RCA makes it "smoother" and it will look less grainy. Digital outputs (HDMI, Component, et cetera) from SD to HD will carry along most of what doesn't look good in the picture. Many people experience the same issue with SD channels from cable. Some folk go so far as took hook their cable box up to their TV with both HDMI and composite cables, and switch inputs when they go from SD channels to HD channels.

Some HDTVs, however, do a much better job at intelligently altering the picture. Sharp Aquos sets and most Mitsubishi and Sony sets are known for making nicer pictures from SD. It's a mixed bag though, and everyone's results will vary based on equipment and cables. Also, BR-DVD systems, currently, will not upscale standard DVDs well, if at all. HD-DVD players, however, work within roughly the same standards, and the ASICs in nearly all HD-DVD players can help in this situation.

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Superbelt

Ok for standard definition quality DVD's, there is a difference between using the cheap Cracker Jack box quality component cables that came packaged with your DVD player and the quality you get from buying a real set of component cables.
You don't need to splurge on the Monster's. But the ones that come with your DVD player are only useful for tying things up.

A good brand is Acoustic Research. This may not be the solution to your problem, but if you are using the cheap bundled wires that came with your player, this is at least a part of the solution.

Redjake

Good suggestion, but these didn't come packaged with anything; I purchased them separate. They have excellent ratings on Amazon.


Doesn't matter though, even with my HDMI connection with PS3, the BluRay movies still have the granular effect, to a much lesser degree. I'm thinking it's the TV settings, possibly.

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