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People people people ! Set your HDTV up correctly for consoles/PC !

You're way off. Game mode turns off all post-processing in order to maximize response-time.

Turning on Game mode for my Sony Bravia makes the response time quicker.

This. I have a 40" Sony too however when I hook up my PC to it, I usually have it on game due to the faster response time. But I don't know what actual setting it's supposed to be on. I'm still trying to figure it out.
 
I've worked with TV's for 30+ years. Been working on HDTV's for gaming for the past 10 years+

Never once seen a set handle a gaming image better at +0 compared to 0.

Just leave it at 0. It may look blurry at first, but that is just how it is supposed to look with the AA at work. Setting to 0 lets the rendering engine of the game itself handle the image, not your TV sharping the edges. On one hand you have your TV sharping the edges of everything on screen, on the other you have the rendering image of the game blending the edges. It creates a very bad looking picture. I mean .. i guess 5-15 isn't horrible .... do what you like lol.

This isn't always true. On many Samsung TVs, for example, 0 sharpness = 20. Anything below 20 actively blurs the picture.
 
This isn't always true. On many Samsung TVs, for example, 0 sharpness = 20. Anything below 20 actively blurs the picture.

I have a Samsung 40' LED SMART and if I even turn it to 1, it looks off to me lol.

Guess working with this stuff for so long has given my eyes a completely different look on things. I will go to someone elses house and immediately start tweaking about those horrible TV settings most people use out of the box. I laugh whenever I see " movie " mode turned on.
 
This isn't always true. On many Samsung TVs, for example, 0 sharpness = 20. Anything below 20 actively blurs the picture.

exactly, for most sumsung tv's 0= 20-25.
I haven't been working with tv's for 30+ years like he mentioned, more like 20, but i'm almost certain that on a sammy anything below 20 for sharpness blurs the picture.
 
Unfortunately turning off smooth motion doesn't increase response time at all on my Vizio E3D470VX.

If anyone wants to look at the settings for it and take a crack at setting it up right, be my guest.
 

NinjaMouse

Gold Member
Another thing worth noting is that some TVs allow you to change settings per input, as well. I have a Samsung 7000 series in the basement and it does this, so you may get stuck making these settings multiple times, too.

Also, in the interest of "experience", be sure to pay attention to your audio setup, too (those of you that have home theater setups). Even if your console is set to output X, you may have some fancy decoder/simulated setting set on your receiver overriding that. Just another little something that bit me recently.
 
My Sony KDL-32S5600 somehow doesn't seem to allow me to select “Full Pixel” in “Display Area” for 720p (it works in 1080p). It's terrible.

'full pixel" means 1:1 pixel mapping without resizing, this can only be done with the native resolution of the display. that's why you need a 1080p signal for it to work on your tv.
 

arhra

Member
Also, in the interest of "experience", be sure to pay attention to your audio setup, too (those of you that have home theater setups). Even if your console is set to output X, you may have some fancy decoder/simulated setting set on your receiver overriding that. Just another little something that bit me recently.

And if you're using a 360, make sure that whatever indicator your receiver uses for Dolby Digital is lighting up correctly every time you boot it, as at least some models have handshaking issues occasionally and fall back to stereo (you can get it back by going into the settings and toggling it manually back and forth).

edit: regarding sharpness settings, checking this test through your TV (either hook up your PC, or it'll probably work in the XB1/PS4 browsers, assuming they don't screw around with scaling images oddly) is good.
 

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
For those that need a visual representation:
TV input as GAME:
hpuppID.jpg



TV input as PC:
4Pt1zLc.jpg
 

bidguy

Banned
the colors on my 32 inch tv look weird when i turn on pc mode but it displays the picture 1:1

when its off, the tv isnt outputting the pixels 1:1. its called overscan i think. no option to turn it off either.
 

Zafir

Member
the colors on my 32 inch tv look weird when i turn on pc mode but it displays the picture 1:1

when its off, the tv isnt outputting the pixels 1:1. its called overscan i think. no option to turn it off either.
Usually you can fix that by choosing "Just Scan" or "Screen Fit"(Name changes depending on TV) as the picture size on your TV.
 

bidguy

Banned
Usually you can fix that by choosing "Just Scan" or "Screen Fit"(Name changes depending on TV) as the picture size on your TV.

widescreen and unscaled are available

no difference between them. the picture looks really good in pc mode but the colors are trash.

its a philips tv from 09. pretty weird because its not a no name tv either.
 

th4tguy

Member
For those that need a visual representation:

That is pretty big difference. I have a Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR9 and struggling to get it set up. The only input that has game mode as an option has the ps4 hooked up and it won't let me change the mode from game. Every other input lets me change mode but doesn't list game as a mode, so I went through and manually set up the settings to match game mode. Basically everything is turned off. Wide color is set to wide and sharpness is set to 5.

I can see and feel a difference but I don't know if there is more I can do.
 
I have a Samsung C6000 from 2009 I think, and if I set HDMI 1 / DVI to PC, some settings are greyed out (Color set to 50, Sharpness set to 55, most of the "enhanced settings"). If I do this on the other HDMI inputs, they are not greyed out. Guess it just works for the HDMI 1 then?

And I have the feeling it looks kinda blurry, but that might be because I always set Sharpness to around 80 before.
 

Zafir

Member
widescreen and unscaled are available

no difference between them. the picture looks really good in pc mode but the colors are trash.

its a philips tv from 09. pretty weird because its not a no name tv either.
You should be able to still tweak the colours in the settings surely? Although it is a bit of messing about.
 

LordCanti

Member
My Panasonic ST30 won't 1:1 pixel map with my computer no matter what I do. It's been driving me a little bit crazy since I got it, but there's nothing I can do that I know of. I set the TV settings the way they were meant to be for 1:1, and my GTX 580 is set to not overscan, but no matter what I do it still usually leaves a pixel or two of black at the left side because it isn't properly taking in the 1080p signal and displaying it. It doesn't do this with other input devices, so I don't know what the hell (tried all inputs/different cables, etc).

I did get it into the proper color mode though, and the picture is great, so it's hard to complain.

No it's not; I want it to 1:1 pixel map properly dammit. I guess Panny's are notoriously fickle. My GTX 580 may be the culprit, but I don't have another VC to test.

Edit: Two years later and I may have fixed it by turning off the pixel orbiter. I'm not sure how wise this is, but I don't leave static images on the screen for long sooooooo......yeah.....
 
Best thing to do is use calibration tools, some if not all TVs nowadays have the capacity to view images on USB keys, so grab test pics online, jack the key into your TV, and have a look at how your TV fares.

And on Wii U, make sure you use the image size function in the settings to get rid of overscan so you can see everything.
 

Eiolon

Member
I've been PC gaming on an LG 32LN5300 for a couple of weeks now. Labeling the input to PC, then switching to game-mode is a must, especially if you intend to read anything. The fonts look so much better.
 

Moongazer

Member
It's a shame some of this information can be difficult to find as tv makers rarely ever reveal these things. It takes a lot digging around various tv forums to figure out whether or not a specific tv actually supports 4:4:4 chroma and whether it has low input lag or not. Settling on which tv to get is even more difficult when you finally find out this stuff.

I decided go for a Sony 32 W6 hdtv for pc/console gaming last year and now I don't think I can go back to using a pc monitor anymore after getting it correctly setup. Putting it in Game mode automatically enables 4:4:4 chroma for pc support and lowers input lag as well. I haven't had a problem using it as a desktop monitor, it looks as good as it did on my 24" monitor which I wasn't expecting as it was a very different experience compared to the last time I tried using a tv for pc gaming.

The last tv that I used as a pc monitor was a small Sony hdtv that I got back in 2006. I can't even remember the name and it was only 720p and trying to get that setup as a pc monitor was an absolute pain and nightmare as Sony at least back then made it as difficult as possible for you to do so. You couldn't use the hdmi input for pc, only the vga input so things looked liked ass and I don't think 4:4:4 support even existed then. I pretty much sworn off using tvs as monitors for years until now when I decided to get something bigger than the monitor I been using and I risked it with the Sony tv I've got now. I'm still genuinely surprised how easy it was to get the pc support working right from the off compared to shitty tv I used last time.

So basically all in all I'm just glad at least things have gotten better for those of us wishing to use our tvs for a bit of pc gaming.
 

Griss

Member
I'm a little bit confused here. Is the 'PC Mode' for HD TVs just useful when hooking a TV up or is it good for consoles too?

I've already calibrated my TV (Samsung 50' LCD) in game mode, so it looks pretty good. Would I get anything out of this?

Also, where is the 'Limited RGB / Full RGB' in the options? It's the one thing I have never been able to find. What is the option called?
 

Foxix Von

Member
Unfortunately on my P2770HD I'm unable to turn off sharpening. Drives me nuts.

Yeah I know about PC mode crap but labeling the input PC significantly screws the color balance and renders me unable to make adjustments to the brightness or contrast. Which means I can't properly calibrate it.

Generally a good set but that's the last time I buy anything from Samsung.
 

JimboJones

Member
Unfortunately on my P2770HD I'm unable to turn off sharpening. Drives me nuts.

Yeah I know about PC mode crap but labeling the input PC significantly screws the color balance and renders me unable to make adjustments to the brightness or contrast. Which means I can't properly calibrate it.

Generally a good set but that's the last time I buy anything from Samsung.

Have you tried setting it to Movie (GAME mode has to be off to do this on my set) rather than Standard or Dynamic?
Whenever I do that on my set it allows me into "Detailed Settings" which has the edge enhancment option among a bunch of other image enhancment options.

Mines kinda an old 720p set from 2008 though, dosn't do anything if you set the input to PC.
 
The problem I run into is that I have my PS4, XB1, PC, and Cable box all running into my receiver, then from the receiver into the TV. I want the smoothing and TV processing on when I'm watching TV and sports, but off when I play games, which means I'm constantly dipping into my TV options and changing them since everything is on the same TV input. Finding that settings balance that works for everything has eluded me so far. TV is a Samsung F6300 series.
 

neoemonk

Member
I need to revisit this thread when I get home and can see the model. It's an older Panasonic. I think I got it in January 2007 so it's probably a late 2006 model. When I output my PC to it, it looks godawful. I've played with the settings a little but have never been able to get it to look decent.
 

galvatron

Member
I need to revisit this thread when I get home and can see the model. It's an older Panasonic. I think I got it in January 2007 so it's probably a late 2006 model. When I output my PC to it, it looks godawful. I've played with the settings a little but have never been able to get it to look decent.

For my Panasonic Viera naming the source "Game" turns off post-processing, but the "Game" display settings are horrible. I usually play in cinema on my Game input and plugged in some color/ brightness settings from AV Forums to start, then tweaked from there. No complaints at all about the picture and I've had the set for 5 years or so. Out of the box it was way too red, but the settings fixed that up.
 
I just bought a Sony KDL-32CX400. Everything is in Japanese :( Anyone know what the US model # is by any chance? Not sure what part changes for the region. If I had that maybe I could look up the best settings for it.
 

Joeki11a

Banned
On a side note to this, make sure you've set your RGB range up properly. Goes a very long way to ensuring accurate image quality.

Choose 0-255 if you're using a PC monitor and Limited if you're using a TV. Getting these mixed up will give you crushed blacks or colour loss.

If you choose 0-255 for your TV because it thinks it supports it, double check with a grayscale calibration, because many actually don't.

Lies

If your TV its good you can put RGB Full
and still calibrate with the 1234 brightness
or squares slides( look for it online) to see all the information in super dark scenes.

RGB full takes away that washed out colors
Look PS consoles output and have always had and are infamous for having.
 

Midn1ght

Member
I have a Samsung 40" Series S 5000 and a PS3. I remember changing the picture size that was set by default in 16:9. Now I use the option "Fit Screen" and it's really better.

This with the HDMI Black level set to "normal" and the PS3 set to "Full RGB".

Do you guys play with the Dynamic Contrast setting of your tv ? When set to "Off", many games look washed out (PS3), I usually use Medium or even High sometimes. Overall I'm really happy with the IQ I get with those settings.

I just tried the PC setting from the OP and for some reason it make it worst for me. I let it on "TV".
 

Joeki11a

Banned
I'll never understand why all of this is so complicated.

Because in gaming their is not standard

For movies their is a very specific 6500K standard that if youre not watching the movie like that, you are not watching it as it was intended.

In gaming its whatever, you have gamers all
Into mega saturated gaming, others like it like an Iphone display low saturated colors,
others like it Blurry as hell....
thinking that erased the fact the game has horrible AA, others like it Sharp and dont care about jaggies, eft
 

H6rdc0re

Banned
A couple of things that are important:
- Use the proper RGB/YCbCr format, so if your TV outputs 0-255 select Full RGB/YCbCr and if your TV outputs 16-235 select Limited RGB/YCbCr.
- Sharpness is only an overlay to make things seem sharper but in reality creates false contouring, it should be turned down to the point where there's no overlay. In most cases that would be 0.
- Disable DNR, Wide Color Gamut or any extra picture processing for that matter.
- Run the THX optimiser on selected Disney Blu-rays for seting up basic picture settings like backlight/cell light, contrast, brightness and pixel mapping (overscan).
- Never use copied settings (including D-Nice's) because that will never give you a calibrated display or even improve picture quality. Some people without knowing how a calibrated display should look like might see an improvement but that's what we call placebo. Delta Errors will be increased in both grayscale and CMS resulting in worse rather than better image quality. Every TV is different no matter if it's CRT, DLP, LCD, PDP or OLED. Just to give you an example I've got two similar displays (Panasonic 50GT60 and 42GT60) that I've calibrated myself and all settings are completely different in both 2D and 3D display settings.
 

Joeki11a

Banned
For those that need a visual representation:

Silly because you can Calibrate the PC mode to look identical to game mode of you want
their is no one is better thant the other, its that clearly if you connect a pc to this it has that mode calibrated by the company already
 

Stoof

Member
I have a VIZIO M220MV 22-Inch from 2010 or something and I don't see some of the options people are talking about. :(
 
On my beautiful Panasonic S60, I have all image processing settings off, RGB full and contrast/brightness at the community recommended levels. Next gen gaming is blissful on this thing.
 

Klocker

Member
I'm a little bit confused here. Is the 'PC Mode' for HD TVs just useful when hooking a TV up or is it good for consoles too?

I've already calibrated my TV (Samsung 50' LCD) in game mode, so it looks pretty good. Would I get anything out of this?

Also, where is the 'Limited RGB / Full RGB' in the options? It's the one thing I have never been able to find. What is the option called?


yes I have ben running my consoles on my Samsungs for a few years in pc mode.

RGB settings are on the source (console) settings not on the tv. there is an HDMI black level setting on the Samsung tv options. If your source is set to limited (or can not be changed) set the tv to HDMI black "Low" . If console is set to full (0-255) then set tv to HDMI black "normal". you will notice one gives you black crush or wash out if not set correctly.


also PC mode disables all this crap because it is not necessary. it displays the images as the developers intended. it amazes me how uptight we get about graphics on the board and then people are playing with souped up contrasts, colors and added sharpening filter on our tvs and rarely see the result as intended.

once I set it to pc and got used to the image, I realized how unnatural my old settings were. overly sharpened and colored and darkened.

also ...do not judge the settings and go back and forth to the old modes... set it and forget it and after a while the brain will stop expecting the fake settings to be true and most games will appear better
 
I have an Aquos TV by Sharp and use HDMI. There even is a PC mode but when I activate it it just shows PC-RGB as an input.
Any ideas how to access the PC-mode?
 

Aces&Eights

Member
Christ,I always have my TV fine tuned to look great then I read a thread here and start second guessing myself and the next thing I know I am spending 2 hours fucking with my TV. I need to quit reading these threads.
 
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