Widescreen Gaming Forum

I recently bought the above TV. Picture isn't bad, tuner works well, good on-screen menus. The problem is 1080P looks like it's interlaced(honestly looks like a CRT). The television claims it's true 1080P & when you hit options it says 1080/60P which I took to mean 1080res, 60 progressive.

It looks "okay" in desktop mode - WoW looks good, but Fallout3 looks just terrible. The colors mash together, screen is really dark, lots of lag, yadda yadda.

Now, on 720P Fallout looks great, but I didn't buy this just to use it in 720P.

As far as setup goes I have an ATI 3850 with the CCC and newer drivers along with a cheap DVI->HDMI cable.

So, has anyone else bought a TV as a monitor? And if so did you have problems like this, or is it just that I bought a cheap(er) TV that has crappy 1080P?

Welcome to the forum. :)

Hm.

It could be the 'cheap' DVI->HDMI cable, to be honest. Now, I'm not saying go out and buy a Monster cable (terrible waste of money) but my quick experience with a DVI->HDMI cable was not a favourable one. When they're cheap, they're not well shielded from external interference, quality of wiring is lower so signal degradation happens faster... and I spotted an HDMI cable the other day in Currys that specifically states it can't do 1080p.

Has the TV got a VGA connector? Try hooking it up by that and see what the picture looks like. I've currently got my HTPC hooked up via VGA, and the picture looks perfect at 1080p.

On cables, inexpensive, my preferred word, does not necessarily mean poor quality. You may not get features like silver shielding, but do you really need that? Truth be told, you can get a very good quality 1m HDMI cable at Monoprice.com for around $5. Monoprice is recommended by one of the most trusted and knowledgeable AV forums out there, AVS.

An HDMI cable that cannot accept a 1080p signal is in fact NOT an HDMI cable. There is such a thing as an HDMI standard and any cable made carrying this designation has to be of a certain wire gauge and capable of 1080p video and HD 8 channel audio. If someone out there is making cable that is labeled HDMI and cannot handle 1080p, it is a fraudulent (unlicensed, unapproved) or defective product and should be reported.

As far as 1080p, are you sure it's the manufacturer's claim/spec vs just that of the vendor you bought it from? I have seen countless false claims from vendors, reviewers and forums regarding 1080p and 120Hz on LCD TVs. Also, even some manufacturers will call a display 1080p when in fact it will only receive a 1080p signal and down convert it to 720p. This is usually regarding monitors though.

call a display 1080p when in fact it will only receive a 1080p signal and down convert it to 720p. This is usually regarding monitors though.

This is what I'm worried about. The TV manual, site, label, box whatever all claim 1080P w/1920x1080 native resolution BUT like I said, it looks terrible.

I'll try the VGA cable, my video card only has DVI plugs but I think I have a DVI->VGA adaptor around here somewhere.

As far as the cable I'm using, it says "supports all HDTV resolutions".

VGA is not going to be better than DVI/HDMI. It could be the mode your TV is in. Typically the mode that has the best looking text, often called Text mode, has the best image quality.

What brand and model of TV is this btw? Please include model number.

What brand and model of TV is this btw? Please include model number.

32LG70

Not sure how to put it in text mode, it has several different preset color schemes but that's about all I've found.

edit: found an option for underscaling in CCC, turned it to 0% & set the TV to "Just Pass" and now it looks much better. Icons don't have lines through them etc, still trying to get the color set to how I like it.

Hmm, well what I've found so far sounds both good and bad. I've read specs such as 4ms response and 120Hz, but Product Wiki had this to say about a couple of it's cons:

* Ugly contrast and blurring filter on digital inputs, makes computer and next-gen consoles look worse than component.

* Multiple versions of the same model number with different features (some have 4 hdmi, some have 120Hz, but not all)

I tried to get the actual spec for it off LG's site but gave up. Their servers are so slow I couldn't even get a 1MB PDF to download even after several times clicking refresh.

I have mixed emotions about this set. Some of it screams a lot of features for gaming at a good price, and LG is known for great TV tuners, but I detest poor filters and I can see how it might result in poor image quality.

BTW, looks like you're not the only one with this problem: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15183471

I have mixed emotions about this set. Some of it screams a lot of features for gaming at a good price, and LG is known for great TV tuners, but I detest poor filters and I can see how it might result in poor image quality.

BTW, looks like you're not the only one with this problem: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15183471

Yeah, the main problem I have with it now is poor color filtering/brightness. The backlight is just too damned powerful. Everything washes out. I have to turn the backlight way down, contrast way up, and then carefully fiddle with all the color, black, white and brightness settings to get it to look nice in a game.

I like having a huge TV as a monitor and all, but I feel kinda stupid sitting behind it. I may just take it back & get a 24/26" monitor instead.

My Google-Fu taught me that "just scan" is a 1:1 pixel setting, which probably explains why "Just Scan" and turning off underscanning in ATI options makes it magically full screen at 1080P.

So right now it looks okay, but I have 30 days left on return and I'm certainly saving the box.

Truth be told, it's buyer beware on lots of sets advertised as 32" 120Hz 1080p right now, esp the 120Hz part. I'm still debating the monitor or TV decision myself, and it's part of what's keeping me from building yet.

I really don't like the idea of something as big as 32" for a desktop display either. You may want to consider a 26" IPS like the DoubleSight DS-265W. It's actual size is 25.5, but IPS is the closest thing to CRT if you hate washout. I've seen them as low as $667.

I'm sitting 4 feet from mine. Any closer and I'll go blind, grow hair on my palms, get a headache, whatever.

It looks good for games, but like I said I feel kinda stupid playing WOW on this big huge thing when another 24" would work just as well for half the price.

My advice would be a 25.5/26" Samsung, they are cheap right now and Samsung is a decent name.

edit: 120hz sounds like BS to me, 1080P displays are all 24 or 60 (24fps, 60fps).

This one is most certainly 60hz, although it will display higher refresh rates 60hz is native.