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

Aces&Eights

Member
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


On my Sammy 54 inch LED the TV automatically sensed my PS3 and PS4 and actually named the source on its own. What I mean is when I hooked up my console, my TV named it "Sony Playstation 3" and "Sony Playstation 4". I also have my TV set to game mode and HDMI to low.

Can I assume that my TV knows (obviously) that this is a gaming console and has set the right parameters? Where can I go to see this "PC" naming option?

My picture looks great but my OCD kicks in when I start reading these threads.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Sharpening slider to 0, always.

Turn off any " HDMI Black " type stuff

Color to 49 / 100

" Smooth Motion " anything off

Game mode On

Color Range - Limited

Color - Warm 2

I tried that on my PS3 a while back when I was playing TLOU but seemed to lose some detail? It did get rid of a lot of pixel shimmering (think that's what it's called) though. Should I set it to 0 for my PS4?
 

Klocker

Member
On my Sammy 54 inch LED the TV automatically sensed my PS3 and PS4 and actually named the source on its own. What I mean is when I hooked up my console, my TV named it "Sony Playstation 3" and "Sony Playstation 4". I also have my TV set to game mode and HDMI to low.

Can I assume that my TV knows (obviously) that this is a gaming console and has set the right parameters? Where can I go to see this "PC" naming option?

My picture looks great but my OCD kicks in when I start reading these threads.

sounds like your tv is newer than my mine (self aware) . Im guessing they are optimal settings? and game modes have improved quite a bit over the years so it might be good but it's worth trying to compare. hdmi black low is fine if receiving standard RGB limited signal. Normal is if you have RGB full set on console.
if you go to -source list/edit name- on your tv, one option in list is pc. You need to have the hdmi input in hdmi1/dvi connector (or similar) to get the effects.
 

Aces&Eights

Member
I tried that on my PS3 a while back when I was playing TLOU but seemed to lose some detail? It did get rid of a lot of pixel shimmering (think that's what it's called) though. Should I set it to 0 for my PS4?

I'm confused on the sharpening too, Gribble. I keep reading to set it to zero but when I do it really blurs out the picture. In fact, I find I need it set to about 75. I have a Sammy 54 inch LED Smart TV with gaming mode turned on, HDMI to low, and most stuff set to native or off.

When I play a game it looks really crisp and sharp but it kills me to hear a lot of people saying that its a "fake" picture and not what the devs intended. When I set the sharpness to zero everything looks blurry and edges on my PS$ games look like a Wii game.

UGH, not how I wanted to spend ANOTHER Sunday, chain vaping my e-cigg and trying to set up a good picture for the 100th time.

Klocker--"sounds like your tv is newer than my mine (self aware) . Im guessing they are optimal settings? and game modes have improved quite a bit over the years so it might be good but it's worth trying to compare. hdmi black low is fine if receiving standard RGB limited signal. Normal is if you have RGB full set on console.
if you go to -source list/edit name- on your tv, one option in list is pc. You need to have the hdmi input in hdmi1/dvi connector (or similar) to get the effects."

OK, that makes me feel better. I was actually surprised when I plugged in my console and it named it on its own. The TV is not super new, bought it 2013. I don't have any crushed blacks in my games so I think that part is fine.See above in my comment to Gribble for the one that is really irking me. Sharpening. I don't get the set to zero thing and its driving me crazy.
 

Fbh

Member
Yep, as soon as I got my current TV I made sure to disable all the crappy extra effects.

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.

I've got a LG 32 LED HDTV and if I set the sharpening slider to 0 it looks incredibly blurry.
 

LtSerge

Neo Member
I have an LG 50PY3DF Plasma TV, is there a way for me to figure out what would be the best settings to use my Xbox 360 on the tv for HDMI and best picture quality?
 
I tried that on my PS3 a while back when I was playing TLOU but seemed to lose some detail? It did get rid of a lot of pixel shimmering (think that's what it's called) though. Should I set it to 0 for my PS4?

Try looking at something in the game with text. The letters should be good for detecting if your sharpening setting is going to blur it or not.

Set it to 50% and if the letters look sharp and there's no pixel shimmer in other areas of the game then that means on your TV 50% = no sharpening applied. Setting it to anything below 50% will apply blur.

If you set it to 50% and you still have some pixel shimmer then that means you need to set sharpening to 0%, because that would imply your TV associates 0% with no sharpening applied. Does that make sense?

Basically some TVs have the sharpening tuning be a standard 0 to 100 kind of slider while others will have a -100 to +100 kind of slider, EVEN IF the slider itself says 0 to 100. Negative values would cause blurriness.

You always want it to be at the neutral setting.

I think everything on my Vizio is set up perfect except for whatever is causing me input lag. I have all special stuff turned off, it's set to game mode, and toggling motion smoothing doesn't have any affect. So I decided to leave it on so I can at least benefit from any low frame rates I might encounter.
 
I tried that on my PS3 a while back when I was playing TLOU but seemed to lose some detail? It did get rid of a lot of pixel shimmering (think that's what it's called) though. Should I set it to 0 for my PS4?

Yeah that was the issue with " sharpening " in the last generation and previous generations. The sharper the edges, the more you will be able to see the rendering occuring and get all the shimmering and pixelation. You want to eliminate as much noise from the screen as possible. Eliminate as much aliasing and shimmering and jagged vertical lines as possible.

Those settings accomplish that. You are not losing detail though, especially on a 1080p screen. The outlines of the image just are not as pixel sharp as they were before, giving this odd illusion of a blurry image. Default sharpening could perhaps be the worst thing about television.

I've got a LG 32 LED HDTV and if I set the sharpening slider to 0 it looks incredibly blurry.

Yes, that is because it is not artificially sharpened anymore by the TV. Once your eyes adjust to the change, you will enjoy it. Especially in a game like AC4 or something with a ton of distance. The settings will clear up the background noise, all the moving lines and everything. When I do this for people playing AC4 next-gen, they are blown away lol. It does not clear up the shimmering completely, as it is horrible in AC4, but it is much better.

But, with everything, it is all personal preference. Do what you want, in the end.
 
Television calibration is extremely important as manufacturers like to often leave default modes with a plethora of ghastly image processing features turned on.

Game mode, while turning off a lot of these processing elements, usually keeps a few still on which aren't user adjustable (edge enhancer is forced on on my LG tv in game mode with no option to turn it off). It also has a colour temperature which is far too cool, making images appear washed out.

Best way to get the most accurate image is to select a custom calibration mode:

Adjust brightness and contrast with test images (this site works well http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/), and turn off any processing features which aren't already turned off

Turn sharpness off, it's an artificial means of 'adding' detail which isn't in the source. Now 'off' doesn't always mean 0, off can be at 50 on some TVs, such as LG, or around 10 on others. One again, use test images.

Aspect ratio should be on Just Scan/Full pixel/1:1 mapping. 16:9 might sound correct but in fact it isn't, it overscans cropping the edges of the source.

Colour should be at around 50

Colour temperature: Warm (or Warm2 if your tv has that option) - virtually all consumer content is produced with the sRGB colour space with the white point at D65, Warm gives you a white point which is the closest to this. (Professional calibration/colour management is usually needed to get it at that point perfectly). It may look yellowish at first, but your eyes will adjust and the image will begin to look far more pleasing and natural.
 

fred

Member
Another equally important thing you need to do is make sure you're sitting the right distance away from your telly. There's a calculation you can do to work it out. This is the reason why a lot of people can't tell the difference between 720p native, 1080p native and 1080p upscaled.

Edit: And on another note, as Gaffercake has mentioned above with regards to factory setups, I always get annoyed when visiting brick and mortar shops because - with the exception of Richer Sounds - they NEVER have their tellies set up correctly. It really winds me up tbh.
 

Clockwork

Member
Turn sharpness off, it's an artificial means of 'adding' detail which isn't in the source. Now 'off' doesn't always mean 0, off can be at 50 on some TVs, such as LG, or around 10 on others.

So true, which is why I often scoff at people applying a blanket "just set it at zero" statement.

On a good 1080p test image (black and white line/grid test) you should have it set so individual pixels can be observed and do not blur together, but before you start seeing ringing/halos.

On my Samsung (few years old) the sharpness setting is actually perfect at 20.
 

Ghazi

Member
My Vizio doesn't seem to offer options for RGB Full or Limited, how lame.


edit: How wonderful, there's nothing online about calibrating my TV, like at all.
 

Cynn

Member
Welcome to the glory of a pure image OP! A lot of us went through processing ignorance at the start of the HDTV era. PC mode on Samsung units are the way to go.

All "game mode" settings on all HDTVs add significant effects such as sharpening, black crush and etc for all asking.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Ok, so I just put PC mode on my Philips TV and it seemed to show more of the image! I'm now testing to see if it effects the way TLOU looks. Would putting PC mode on stop every other setting from having an effect?
 

joecanada

Member
Basically I can sum up this thread in one sentence. If you haven't at least checked avforums for your tv calibration, you better have had a professional calibrate your set.
My tv was giving me all sorts of grief actually was going to get rid of it until I checked those forums out
 

Vizzeh

Banned
So important to make sure you have the black levels adjusted, the correct brightness + all processing turned off, where appropriate label your HDMI input to PC + Game mode, Vital :)

Could also try getting a calibration disk.
 

Aces&Eights

Member
Ok, so I just put PC mode on my Philips TV and it seemed to show more of the image! I'm now testing to see if it effects the way TLOU looks. Would putting PC mode on stop every other setting from having an effect?

Where did you turn it to PC? On my sammy there is no where it lets me select the different HDMI imput types. When I plug something in it actually names it "Sony Playstation 4" all on its own. I am hoping that means my TV is smart enough to adjust setting for it. With game mode enabled it does turn off LED motion plus, and a host of other post processing so maybe I am over thinking this whole damn thing.
 
So true, which is why I often scoff at people applying a blanket "just set it at zero" statement.

On a good 1080p test image (black and white line/grid test) you should have it set so individual pixels can be observed and do not blur together, but before you start seeing ringing/halos.

On my Samsung (few years old) the sharpness setting is actually perfect at 20.

Yeah, tv manufacturers could make the job a whole lot easier by adding a simple 'disable sharpening' option, it's very difficult to tell without a test pattern at which point on the slider sharpening is truly off and you're viewing the raw, unadulterated image.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Where did you turn it to PC? On my sammy there is no where it lets me select the different HDMI imput types. When I plug something in it actually names it "Sony Playstation 4" all on its own. I am hoping that means my TV is smart enough to adjust setting for it. With game mode enabled it does turn off LED motion plus, and a host of other post processing so maybe I am over thinking this whole damn thing.

It's just in my setting with contrast/colour/tint etc. I'm still not sure whether it loses detail or not. It definitely showed me that I was losing some of the screen on my PS3 but it made no difference to my PS4.
 

Klocker

Member
Where did you turn it to PC? On my sammy there is no where it lets me select the different HDMI imput types. When I plug something in it actually names it "Sony Playstation 4" all on its own. I am hoping that means my TV is smart enough to adjust setting for it. With game mode enabled it does turn off LED motion plus, and a host of other post processing so maybe I am over thinking this whole damn thing.

do you not have a "source (input) list" or something like that? where you can edit the name of the input?

it is in the settings menu typically
 

Miguel81

Member
My PC is connected to my LG 55LN5200

(Expert1 Mode, Game Mode does not allow complete control over settings)
HDMI 1 labeled PC
AMD Catalyst = Overscan to 0, RGB to Full
Settings(Expert 1)
Backlight = 50
Contrast = 80
Brightness = 52
H Sharpness = 10
V Sharpness =- 10
Color = 55
Tint = 0

All post processing features turned off via Expert Control
Black Level = Auto(it switches perfectly between Limited and Full) or if you prefer set it on High
 

Sajjaja

Member
I have a Toshiba TV I'm using as my monitor and I have these labels available:
– – (default label)
Audio Receiver
Cable
Compact Disc
DTV
DVD
Game Console
HDMI Switch (HDMI inputs only)
Laser Disc
Satellite/DSS
VCR
Video Recorder

Which would I use for my PC? It's connected via HDMI.
 

GravyButt

Member
Its good for gaming on my vizio 47" via hdmi, but I cant web browse cuz everythings so tiny. Adjusting dpi or ctrl + just makes everything look junky :(
 

psychotron

Member
I have a U.S. panasonic ST50 which has a substantial amount of input lag on anything besides Game Mode. Game Mode has no gamma adjustment and it seems locked at 2.0, which makes dark scenes brighter than they should be. Compensating by lowering brightness creates crush. I've tried to just find a happy medium.
 

TUROK

Member
I tried that on my PS3 a while back when I was playing TLOU but seemed to lose some detail? It did get rid of a lot of pixel shimmering (think that's what it's called) though. Should I set it to 0 for my PS4?
Take some time to play with your sharpness setting. Set it to where you find it most pleasing.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I basically found that the TV was adding all sorts of processing to the image, with this crazy amount of sharpening that was making everything look like it had been through a Photoshop filter. The TV also didn't display the full picture, but i had changed that donkeys ago using the option "screen fit", so that wasn't an issue.

Somebody's been enjoying Tropical Freeze.
 
Is there a website I can browse to from the browser of my console to check if the full RGB mode I'm using is giving me crushed blacks? I've manually set both my TV as well as my console to full RGB mode, but I want to test it with a grayscale calibration, but not sure how to do that.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Take some time to play with your sharpness setting. Set it to where you find it most pleasing.

After setting it to PC mode on my Philips TV it still lets me adjust the sharpness. Does PC mode offer any value if I then up the sharpness? What does PC mode actually do? Does it send the signal directly to the TV and so make it a more 'accurate' setting?
 
I'm not able to check my TV right now, but I'll have a look at the options tomorrow night and see what I've got. I've got a Bravia, and I've played around with things in the past, but never felt that the image quality was particularly great.
 

Chabbles

Member
This is an interesting topic to me, as i recently went from a 32inch Panasonic tv (which was great) to a 40inch Samsung which i'm very disappointed with. The image blur is horrendous and the general crispness of the image is worlds away from pics I see post on the net. I first noticed it on NFS Rivals - the text on the screen was crisp and 'static', but on my first go with the Samsung I noticed there letters were flickering. Not a huge deal sure, but I never had that on my Panasonic.

I'm not technically minded so i've had my Samsung on 'Game' setting assuming it was the correct option. Looking at this thread i've just changed it to 'PC' and i'm not sure if I can tell any difference other than the colour has gone from vibrant to dull/washed out.

Gotta pop out briefly but i'll check back in a bit to see if you guys have any further info / help (or whether i've just bought a shitty TV!).

Do you have "motion plus" off ?, having it on can blur up the quality on my set.

Iv noticed the same thing too with washed out and dull picture quality on my new 40inch samsung (what model did you get ?). Renaming the input to "PC" makes the picture dull/washed out. On my older samsung renaming to PC looked no different then Game mode.. Putting it to PC shaves off abit of input lag too, best thing about the feature imo.
 

Irish

Member
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.

I'm using a Samsung UN55FH6030 and, man, it's so hard to figure out whether I prefer RGB full w/ Normal or RGB limited w/ Low using my PS4 and ACIV: Black Flag to determine the setting quality. I mean, in general, RGB Full w/ Low would look awesome if it didn't become totally impossible to see shit in the shadows.
 

th4tguy

Member
I'm using a Samsung UN55FH6030 and, man, it's so hard to figure out whether I prefer RGB full w/ Normal or RGB limited w/ Low using my PS4 and ACIV: Black Flag to determine the setting quality. I mean, in general, RGB Full w/ Low would look awesome if it didn't become totally impossible to see shit in the shadows.

That would be a sign that your tv doesn't support rgb full and you are getting crushed blacks. Stick with limited.
 

jsnepo

Member
My Sony TV made it really easy. Just select GAME mode and your done.

Same here. It took me more than a year for me to even discover that my LCD TV supports full range. Once I turned it on, the visuals have become the best I've ever seen. It even beats those LED TVs.
 

Hedja

Member
It's always worthwhile when using a new TV/monitor to just go through all the settings and adjust them one by one to your preference.
 
it bothers me to no end when visiting people that haven't set up their sets properly

remember people: when you switch to a different input, you need to recalibrate the set for that input-
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I had to do some of the stuff in this thread. When I upgraded to a Samsung 1080p TV and started playing Xbox 360 games they suddenly looked like ass. I had to turn on game mode and slide sharpness down to zero to mitigate the jagginess of 720p games. Now they just look tolerable.

When I hooked up my PC I had to do something (which I don't remember) to get the TV to match its resolution or something.

Even after all this, for my old consoles I still ended up digging out my old CRT.
 

Havel

Member
Guys, if you're confused about your sharpness settings use this test to make sure you haven't got it set too high or low. If it's correct, the blocks should blend together when you squint your eyes.
 

Alo81

Low Poly Gynecologist
I tried that on my PS3 a while back when I was playing TLOU but seemed to lose some detail? It did get rid of a lot of pixel shimmering (think that's what it's called) though. Should I set it to 0 for my PS4?

I'm confused on the sharpening too, Gribble. I keep reading to set it to zero but when I do it really blurs out the picture. In fact, I find I need it set to about 75. I have a Sammy 54 inch LED Smart TV with gaming mode turned on, HDMI to low, and most stuff set to native or off.

When I play a game it looks really crisp and sharp but it kills me to hear a lot of people saying that its a "fake" picture and not what the devs intended. When I set the sharpness to zero everything looks blurry and edges on my PS$ games look like a Wii game.

UGH, not how I wanted to spend ANOTHER Sunday, chain vaping my e-cigg and trying to set up a good picture for the 100th time.

Klocker--"sounds like your tv is newer than my mine (self aware) . Im guessing they are optimal settings? and game modes have improved quite a bit over the years so it might be good but it's worth trying to compare. hdmi black low is fine if receiving standard RGB limited signal. Normal is if you have RGB full set on console.
if you go to -source list/edit name- on your tv, one option in list is pc. You need to have the hdmi input in hdmi1/dvi connector (or similar) to get the effects."

OK, that makes me feel better. I was actually surprised when I plugged in my console and it named it on its own. The TV is not super new, bought it 2013. I don't have any crushed blacks in my games so I think that part is fine.See above in my comment to Gribble for the one that is really irking me. Sharpening. I don't get the set to zero thing and its driving me crazy.

People shouldn't say set sharpening to 0, they should say "turn off sharpening."

Some TV's have 50 be sharpening off, 0 be fully softened, and 100 be sharpened.

Basically just fiddle with it until your image doesn't seem overly sharp or blurry.

It's likely to be at either 0 or 50. If it's not one of those then perhaps some other square number, like 25 or 75.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Done this and it works surprisingly, colour adjustment is disabled (RGB Scart use to do this) and I have a new picture setting
Before it was dynamic,standard,vivid and movie
Now its standard or entertainment?!
Entertainment makes it more vivid, but I'm assuming as its disabled the colour settings standard is how its meant to be.
 
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