Sharpness

[rfa]

It has no effect when watching tv, but when playing PS2 (& x-brix i assume too) it either gets rid of "Milky-ness" of the picture (when increased), or adds to it to it (when decreased).

This also goes for watching DVDs, but not as noticabley.

[laurie]

rfa

Sharpness should always be set to minium because it adds artifacts to the picture like a halo effect

cheers laurie

[Digicruiser]

Erk that!!! The Sharper the better - it's a quality display issue and electronics. You only do that for poorish equipment playback like VCRS's and other low quality formats. On HD, you could afford to "milk-up" the picture because of the High Res and to make it "fluid" when fast motion is happening - as you know already, it also depends on the display unit.

[Mr.Bitey]

IMO On the sets iv used (toshi 57" HD rptv, ge 46" rptv, teac 66cm WS SD CRT), increasing the 'sharpness' increases most noticably edge artifacts and only adds in noise without adding in any detail. I see a 'perceieved' detail increase (through edge enhancement) but at the xpense of real detail. I set it low on the toshi (13/100), or at 0 on the other sets.

Cheers,

Bitey

[Digicruiser]

Yep, I have seen some new Sonys with Sharpness up full and it looks shocking actually. Many out there would still be atuned to their old TV's where the focus had gone off adjustment and when they buy a new telly, they tend to see much more sharpness and leave it at the "standard" setting. Also many VCR owners wouldn't have known about their sharpness control on the remote etc.

[laurie]

Rest assured your eyes will soon accept sharpness turned down and you will notice it more when you see it turned up

cheers laurie

[Digicruiser]

As one does when one turns down the treble control on car radios etc without an equalizer. You get comfortable with that also until you turn it up again. Ain't humans good that way. Same thing. But there are some like me who like to have to dirtiest, most powerful bass around on their stereos (whihc I do have anyway) where moving cups on tables at the other end of the house just ain't good enough!

I must admit though, I had an old amp that new nothing but booming type of bass. When I watch a DVD or tape way back then, you hardly could hear the speech when the bass rumbled because of the background music or a tank drove past. When I bought the Sherwood Digital Amp, I complained bitterly over the lack of bass but that has been rectified!

[Santa1503559644]

I think DVE has some pertinent comments about "sharpness" controls, from memory. Something like "Bollocks!" (aka "sharpness functions should be shut-off if possible, as they simply add noise to the image - adding false edges to give the appearance of sharpening the image. Some sets will produce a worse image with sharpness turned right down, however*." (or words to that effect). I think they have a little schematic graphic that shows the video chain, and explain that the sharpness control was added to make up for deficiencies in the early broadcasts (or NTSC in general!)).

On my Loewes I have always had sharpness at 0. Same with any other good quality display (well, those that allow for modification - usually source dependent).

__________________

*IE: They "go the other way" and start modifying the image to soften it.

[Digicruiser]

For CRT types, the focusing control on the High-tension side really should be it as long as it adjusted to it's best position but you also need a way to smooth the image and on these CRTs, zero position is all you need and should match roughly an older TV in it''s peak conditon with the focus adjusted correctly. On me Sharp older 68cm unit, the sharpness control accessed via remote actually enhances without the crap halo effects and harsh edges near full setting but my range may be limiting but the picture looks razor sharp compared to other models and brands - that's why I still have it.

[alanh]

All,

As far as CRT TV is concerned there is two aspects

The number of lines in the picture is going to determine the maximum sharpness of horizontal edges in the picture.

The internal focus control if mal adjusted will blurr both horizontal and vertical edges in the picture. So it should always be adjusted on the horizontal edges in the picture. BEWARE of High Voltages.

The sharpness of vertical edges in the picture is controlled by the frequency range presented to the picture tube. This will be restricted by all but S VHS machines.

In the early days of audio they put on a control called tone. It gradually reduced the strength of the high pitched sounds according to their frequency.

It was typically used to remove noise from AM radio and dust on discs. Unfortunately the high pitched sounds were removed as well.

This is the video equivalent of this is the sharpness control except it only works on the vertical edges in the picture. It is possible to use boost as well. Unfortunately it stuffs up the phase response so you end up with ringing. Ringing produces multiple parallel lines near each vertical edge in the picture.

Either use digital or get a strong signal. Clean & if necessary fix the video heads in the VCR, and leave the sharpness control in the zero position. If the sharpness is not good enough go to HD TV.

AlanH