new plasma... need some input

I just received my Plasma 50' S1 and currently have it hooked up via coaxial cable only. The dual receiver (dish network) is in the other room and hooked directly up to that TV. My problem is that the picture in SD is just horrible. I tried to watch ESPN (football game) and it is a very poor picture. My 24inch crt has a much better picture. I plan to upgrade this Saturday to HD. My questions are:
1. Am I doing something wrong with the settings or is it just entirely the fact that I'm watching SD on a big screen?
2. Can I expect the picture to be that much better once HD is installed and I hook the TV directly to the receiver via HDMI cable?
3. I am trying to keep contrast down to around 50. I increased the contrast to 75, just to see if the picture was any better, and I didn't think it did all that much to improve matters. Are there any other adjustments that I need to make? Thanks in advance for any input.

i own the 50s1 and it is on direct tv HD and the sd channels are junk ...the HD channels are unreal!

why buy a HD tv if you don't have HD? that would be like paying 500.00 for a hooker and just talk to her all night!

http://www.highdefforum.com/high-definition-lounge/2765-discussion-poor-sd-hdtvs.html

happy reading

Not only is SD kaka, connecting the STB via coax is about the worst connection choice you can go. As mentioned above, SD and especially the way it is connected, it is not going to look very good with any settings. It looks much worse than your 24'' CRT because it is a FPD HDTV and more than twice the size. So the weak 480i signal is going to be twice as bad basically. And Dish is digital.
Just wait until you finally get HD. It is night and day compared to SD. And sports will be amazing, trust me on that. And since many major channels are HD now, your SD blues will soon be over (mostly)..

I would wait to calibrate you get HD to calibrate your settings again.

It sounds like sharpness is set way too high and it should be on 50 for a neutral sharpness.

Check out the "SETTINGS" link in my signature for some info on good starter settings and some info on break in.

Viewing SD on a technology that was designed for HD will look horrible! That's like using low grade gas in a turbocharged engine, it just wasn't meant for it.

Thanks for all the comments. I feel much better after reading all the posts. I will have an HD upgrade as of tomorrow morning and I am now confident that I will be in much better shape. I have been watching a 24" inch screen for the last several years. This whole HDTV thing is brand new to me. Wifey was not excited about the whole "big screen" idea and when I plugged this baby in for the first time, I was looking for the "wow". I was thinking "wait till she sees this!". Obviously, it was more of "what the $%$# is that". Needless to say, I have been catching an ear full for the last couple of days. My ego was deflated. You have given me hope. Tomorrow I shall prevail. Thanks again for the help.

SD signals were never designed for screens bigger than 27", so naturally viewing on a 50" screen is not going to look as good since to fill that screen the TVs have to upscale the SD signal and basically guess what to put in all those additional pixels. Not all SD signals are the same either and not all service providers are the same with such signals either so it is one of those YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) also.

Did you try my settings which with my provider make SD look better than it looked with the other HDTVs I had before my 50" plasma. It is important to turn off all noise reduction and other "enhancements" because they cause more PQ problems than help because they cause artifacts trying to guess what is noise and what is detail. But most important make sure that the sharpness setting is at 50 since this is the neutral position on Panny TVs. When you put it up much more than 50 (mine is on 56 which seems to be the limit IMO) what happens is that it adds white edges on everything including noise so this is an important setting especially with SD signals.

Did you check out my SETTINGS link?

SD signals were never designed for screens bigger than 27", so naturally viewing on a 50" screen is not going to look as good since to fill that screen the TVs have to upscale the SD signal and basically guess what to put in all those additional pixels. Not all SD signals are the same either and not all service providers are the same with such signals either so it is one of those YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) also.

Did you try my settings which with my provider make SD look better than it looked with the other HDTVs I had before my 50" plasma. It is important to turn off all noise reduction and other "enhancements" because they cause more PQ problems than help because they cause artifacts trying to guess what is noise and what is detail. But most important make sure that the sharpness setting is at 50 since this is the neutral position on Panny TVs. When you put it up much more than 50 (mine is on 56 which seems to be the limit IMO) what happens is that it adds white edges on everything including noise so this is an important setting especially with SD signals.

Did you check out my SETTINGS link?

I did try your settings and it did improve the picture. Thanks. The screen just seems to be very dark. I think it is because I am so accustomed to the "bright" crt tv. I am trying to keep the contrast around 50 most of the time. Thanks again.

I did try your settings and it did improve the picture. Thanks. The screen just seems to be very dark. I think it is because I am so accustomed to the "bright" crt tv. I am trying to keep the contrast around 50 most of the time. Thanks again.

You eyes will adjust after time, I remember I had my first HDTV bright starting out, but after time I began going dimmer and dimmer with time.

You eyes will adjust after time, I remember I had my first HDTV bright starting out, but after time I began going dimmer and dimmer with time.
Not to make you out to be a prophet or such, but I turned on the TV this morning and I swear the thing seems brighter! Do these panasonic plasma's get better with age? Or, are my eyes just adjusting to it? By the way, I am having Dish upgrade to HD today. Hoping for the best. Thanks for the help.

Not to make you out to be a prophet or such, but I turned on the TV this morning and I swear the thing seems brighter! Do these panasonic plasma's get better with age? Or, are my eyes just adjusting to it? By the way, I am having Dish upgrade to HD today. Hoping for the best. Thanks for the help.

Most people have their TVs set too bright and colors to oversaturated trying to get that "pop" from it. What you need to do is look around your room, and everything you see in the real world and look for the "pop" in the real world. What you will find is there isn't as much "pop" in reality as there is on TV screens everywhere in homes.

I like it to look like it REALLY is and not overdone colors or brightness. I want a natural pic that matches the source material. Once you try this and realize THIS is the most accurate picture then you can adjust easily to it. Natural/accurate to the source. That is what we should all be looking for IMO. ;)

Not to make you out to be a prophet or such, but I turned on the TV this morning and I swear the thing seems brighter! Do these panasonic plasma's get better with age? Or, are my eyes just adjusting to it? By the way, I am having Dish upgrade to HD today. Hoping for the best. Thanks for the help.

I think it's time for a calibration disc, I bought mine before my TV arrived. You get to set the black levels perfectly and never have to guess again, it's in your best interest to get one.