Question on Toshiba 34hfx85

Someone mentioned that you can have different settings for different inputs. I tried to set film on the dvd input but when I went back to the hdmi setting I use for the cable box, I noticed film was also hilighted there. Also It does not appear that the Clear Cable feature can be accessed to turn on or off with HDMI connection for the motorola 6412. What is your advise on the SVM? Off on?

Sometimes when a program is broadcast in HD, the picture is too dark.

Right now I have the following settings..

Contrast all the way up
Color 18
Brightness about 32
Tint about -1

Is there a thread on proper adjustments of this TV?

It looks pretty good overall, I just want to get it it as best as it can be.

I had to set the motorola box at 720 because 1080 had too much fluttering on action scenes. But I am ok with that, Cabinet challenged and the olympics looked great. Am in San Francisco Bay area. Don't know if calibration is worth it. Anyone done it here.

Have not experiienced any of the other problems I have read about.

One other thing, I would like to have a way to get a hard copy of the recordings the motorola box makes with the DVR. The TV manual says output is tuened off if you use component or hdmi inputs. So will the Box allow me to connect IT directly to a Digital Video recorder or VCR?

Thanks

You shouldn't have contrast all the way up. I made that same mistake, it looks good with contrast up all the way, but it's not good for the TV, and calibrated settings look even better. Look at your DVD collection and try to find a DVD that says THX on the front of the case. This can be found on such DVD's as Star Wars Episode 3, and most Disney DVD's. If you go to the set-up menu on a THX DVD there will be an option that says THX Optimizer, click on it and start the video tests. These tests will help you calibrate your TV.

SVM should be off or low. Sharpness should be fairly low, say 10. Make these changes before you use the THX Optimizer - better still, order a copy of Digital Video Essentials from Amazon for about $20. My TV differs from yours because all the adjustments go from 0 to 100.

When you adjust an input, say HDMI, and are happy with it you have to scroll down to Save - when you save it, it renames itself to Preference. You should be able to do this with all the inputs individually but you have to start from scratch each time and set up each one individually.

On my tv I use only the Component inputs - I set it up with the DVD player input (with the DVE disc) but then found that the settings were too dark for the cable box so I increased only the Brightness (on mine from 37 to 50; yours will be different).

Good luck