Dell W3201C 32" LCD question

yokochamas

Hello. I have a friend with a 32"Dell LCD, model W3201C, which was bought last year I believe sometime around when the model first released. Since that time, I have been amazed at how poor the picture quality is. I've seen a number of Plasma and LCD televisions at stores and have an idea of how it's supposed to look, but this TV has a glaring problem with picture quality.

The problem is that it lacks any sharp edging, and edges are distorted by what would look like poor JPEG compression. When cycling through the program guide, the icon displays for the particular channel being searched are pixelated and sloppy with the aforementioned appearance of JPEG compression, and sometimes almost completely unrecognizable, like with Comedy Central's display icon. Larger text isn't so noticeably poor, but small text, like fine print on a car commerical, is saturated with sloppy, blurred and compressed edges.

The picture is bright and colorful otherwise. I have aggressively messed with picture settings but none change this problem. I was suspicious that it was the cable TV connection, but the problem remains during DVD playback and on videogames.

I am desperate to know why this is, or if it's somehow the accepted quality of this TV. I am incredibly frustrated by Dell's claims of how bright, clear, and sharp this TV is when all I'm seeing is that mess.

Thanks for any information.

ecat

How are the dvd and game player's connected?

yokochamas

The DVD player has two cables running from the 'DVD Only' connection area of the DVD player to a stereo system. Those two are 'Line Out' and 'Audio'. It also has the three component cables which are connected from the 'Line Out' column on the DVD player, to the TV's 'AV 1' connection. Lastly, there is a single coaxial cable from the DVD's 'RF Out' connection (labled 'to TV') connected to the TV's 'NTSC/Analogue' connection, which is right next to the 'HDTV' connection that the cable TV line is connected to.

The videogame system has connected, with component cables, through the DVD player's 'Line 2 In' connection, or connected directly to the TV's component connection located on the left edge of the TV.

I should also note, though I'm not sure if it has to do with the TV or the cable connection, that when observed closely, the picture has a sort of fuzz to it, but a fuzz made up of what look like short, thin lightly colored horizontal lines flashing and jumping around. This is also seen on HD channels like HBO.

Also, there is something else about the text problem, which is that with thin, medium sized lettering there is a shadow effect, only the shadow is bright white, like a bright background replication of the regular lettering. This is most evident with the text that gives the show name in the program guide, and all text elsewhere of similar size.

ecat

I think you have a connection problem,try just using the component(red green blue) connection from the dvd player to the tv and choose that input,I think you said av1,on the tv.This will give you the picture quaility you are looking for.disconnect the other connections and we'll take it from there.For quality video you need component,dvi or hdmi connection's to the tv,you seemed to have doubled up your connection's and are perhap's viewing the rf connetion.

yokochamas

I realized I was using the wrong name for the cables. They are AV cables (red, white, yellow), not component. And, if it matters, the DVD player is a DVD/VHS combo, which the AV cables are for I imagine.

ecat

This is your problem my friend,you are connecting sd connecters to a HDTV,which will leave you wondering why I don't have a nice picture.You need to use the correct connetion's to enjoy HDTV.Dell makes a quality lcd, they back it up with a 3 year warrenty.Take a look on th back of your friend's tv,If it has RGB good,Blue d sub better, dvi or hdmi best connection for HDTV.You will need a box from your cable company,or if you live near a big town you can buy an ota antenna to get free hdtv.

yokochamas

All right, I'll tell him to use HDMI. There isn't an HDMI connection on the DVD player though, which seems strange since it's a fairly new Sony model. The highest quality connection it has seems to be S-Video.

Thank you for your help.

ecat

The dvd should have Red Green and Blue video output, this would be better than s-video.

yokochamas

I realized something that's puzzling me. When a videogame system is connected directly to the TV's composite connection, the picture quality remains the same as it has been with the TV and DVD picture. Shouldn't the picture quality in this case at least be equal to that of a tube television? Without all the problems originally mentioned?

ecat

You need component cable to make an hd connection,if you are using your yellow red and white cable to do this,your picture quality will not be what you want.Go and get yourself a RGB cable,you don't need the monster cable,check an electronics surplus store in your area you should be able to pickup a set for less than 20$.

leeoverstreet

From the description, there's more to this than simply the difference bewtween composite video and component video. A functional composite cable for video will give you a softer picture with some "dot crawl," but nothing horrific like you describe (e.g. the "almost completely unrecognizable" icon). There is a dramatic problem here.

Your description of the connections is hard to sort out, but clearly not ideal. Unhook everything, and hook only the coax cable (screw on type) out of the wall from the cable company directly to the coax input on the TV. If it has two coax inputs (analog and digital cable inputs) use the analog one. Go thru the menus and put everything to default settings, then in the setup menu run the channel search function. When done, you should at least have analog cable channels 2 thru whatever (78 around here) with a fair to middlin' picture quality. The TV probably has picture quality setting names, with one being something like "vivid." Take it off that and put it on something like "movie" or "cinema." This will be darker but more accurate. Turn off any noise reduction or or other picture enhancements like "accurate color corrector" or other such nonsense. Use the aspect ratio settings to take the TV off of "stretch" or "16:9," and put it on "4:3" or "standard." This will put black bars on the side and show the old fashioned analog cable channels in their proper proportions.

At this point, if you still have a grossly deficient image (beyond the expected limitations of good ol' NTSC), then you're looking at a defective and/or simply crappy TV. If it's ok, then you move on to other components, which I don't have the typing stamina for tonight. :-)

yokochamas

My friend bought a HD cable box from Cox, and Component cables were included. I did some tests, but the results are the same. I disconnected all the cables except the Digital cable connection... same problem. I did the same with the Analog, same problem. I also disconnected all cables from the DVD player, then connected it with Component cables to the TV. This was slightly better than the Composite cables, however the same rough low-quality JPEG look was there, along with washed out colors if that makes a difference.

So, now I can't think of any reason the picture should be like this after these steps...

yokochamas

I have also tried your method lee, and there was a change in picture quality, however not very much. All it changed was the JPEG-like compression distortion, but left the picture a blurry mess, with channel icons as distorted as they were before.

yokochamas

Bump.

yokochamas

Bump...