How does Standard Definition broadcasting look on this tv? I don't have HD cable in every room and was wondering how standard cable looks on the tv?
345053
It's awful without HD cable. I had this tv for a month before getting HD cable and it was not enjoyable. Don't get a 1080 tv if you plan to watch non HD programs.
1638549
Hi Tom,I've done everything you said and that I can think of and still no dice. So I'm done trying to figure it out. I used to get pretty good surround from the the TV programs that are broadcast HD 5.1 but it seems to be gone also. I have to say that the despite all this, it does sound pretty good if stereo is what I was going for. Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it.Take care,Dennis
1224712
is it possible that it IS hd but dimmed? when i got my satellite upgrade, i was horrified to see that the picture i was getting was about half the brightness of over the air broadcasts that looked absolutely beautiful. it took me a day or so to figure out that the tv comes from the factory defaulted to 'autoview' under 'picturemode' in the picture menu. put it on 'sports' or 'standard' to suit your taste. this tv is all about inputs, and i assume you have it set on 'antenna/cable'. if you do, i should think you'd be getting HD just fine. good luck. -dan
694607
My understanding is it is 720p. When looking at TV this size, 720p was still the most popular in my search. It will take 1080p in, but then down-scale it to 720.
410294
It looks as good as a non-HDTV.From the few times I've looked at SD tv though, it doesn't utilize widescreen (It's still 4:3 rather than 16:9). So that's something you might want to think about.
2241380
I have a Phillips 47" with "HD Natural Motion" and one of the first things I did was turn it off. Like you said everything looked "live". I don't know why anyone would want to watch their tv like that. I watched part an episode of Law and Order before changing it and it looked like it was on court tv. At first I thought it was some sort of special episode that they made look like that, as if they had a news crew filming them. Then I realized it was that setting.
410295
I'm interested in what people who've spent more time watching SD on the tv think. I'm thinking of buying the ln40a550, but currently I just have a non HD cable box from Comcast and a Playstation 2. Would I be happy with the picture?
479074
This TV has a "QAM" tuner in it. Many/most cable companies broadcast the local network channels unencrypted, in HD. Do a channel scan, the TV will find them if Charter is sending them. This doesn't cost a penny more than what you are paying, you just plug the cable from the wall right into the TV. The channels will probably show up as "3-1, 6-1, etc" and on my samsung says "DTV Cable" instead of "Cable" before the channel. And to the above post by D. Snope, LCD TV's don't have the issue of "burn-in"! No worries about leaving pillar bars on the sides.
2021752
Ignore the post about the Monster HDMI cable. The HDMI signal is digital and it pretty much makes it there OK or you'll see some obvious picture artifacts that don't include blurring. While Monster (mostly) makes good cables, their claims of higher quality video are mostly hype. Motion blur: It's most likely to be the source material with the modern offerings of good LCD TVs, but older or less expensive LCDs could definitely suffer from it due to the slow response time of the LCD panel. If you're wondering about it in regards to TVs that do 120Hz, I'm on the fence on whether the 120Hz processing does anything useful. I've seen some TVs where the 120Hz processing does some pretty ugly things to the picture. I'm yet to see one that does something to noticeably improve the picture, but maybe some do. Right now I'm leaning towards 120Hz processing being a marketing feature primarily created to make you think your current TV is obsolete.
669917
The picture on my set is nice and crisp. First off use only an HDMI cable. If you are using any other way to connect, you will not have the best picture. If you are using a cable box, make sure the resolution is set to 1920x1080I as many cable boxes default to a lower resolution setting. I had to adjust my setting even though it was a "high definition" box. Hope this helps.
2035167
After the Fix.. the SD channels look really good, and the HD channels are superb.. except for the PBS channel which is also in HD. The picture there look like a regular SD but it's still good.The DVD looks fantastic! Just make sure you have it in Movie mode. Well, it depends on your taste and how far you are from the TV. If you are more than 12 feet away.. Dynamic would be nice. If you're really close, 6 to 8 feet.. Movie mode will do the trick. I'm sure you'll love the T.V. It is really pretty. Good Luck!
197181
Actually, I disagree. I've had this tv for about a year now and every channel/input displays 60Hz. I have yet to see 120 Hz displayed as the frequency. Perhaps its only displaying 60 but utilizing 120? Just my two cents, sir.
2035168
are you sure that the cable box is HD? kinda sounds like it is SD? the other thing to remember is that not all stations are being broadcast in HD and even then some local channels might not be broadcasting certain shows in HD. for example, my local stations might broadcast a golf game that is in HD, but the local news is broadcast in SD.As for the tv itself, i'm not sure. I'm waiting to get my 4053 delivered and i'm having a hard time waiting! you might want to check your connections again though.
834399
Personaly because this tv is so revealing, it doesn't look very good. On hd contnet it looks realy sharp but on lesser stuff not so good. The other night I was watching my favorite actress jessica alba in the eye from 2008 and it really looked horrible because it was in standard def. If your going to get a tv like this and spend this much, you need to put the best quality input into it.
1219429
Yes, for the channels that air HD content you will see it in HD on your TV. Just make sure to connect the box to your TV via an HDMI cable to get the best picture.
1793232
You may want to purchase an HDMI cable, which gives you the best image resolution on the HD TV, but I just have the regular coaxial cable straight from the cable company plugged in (not even using the box) and I get a great picture.
909352
Regular (NON HD) TV always looks awful on the big screen HD TVs. Upgrade yourself to high def and never go back.