HDTV question/help

[brose]

I'm pretty new to the whole HDTV setup, but have had a 42" 1080P television for a couple of months now. I use my PS3, hooked up via HDMI 1.3a cable, for both gaming and watching bluray movies.

My question is, when watching bluray movies is the background supposed to look "funny"? By funny, I mean it looks almost pixelated or noisey especially in very dark scenes but only in the background....like a dark sky behind the actors in the foreground. Faces and such look very clear, and the colors look fine.

So is this normal, or does it have to do w/ my black settings or contrast? I'm not great at this sort of thing, so keep it simple:action-sm

Thanks

[Razor Roman]

you might have your brightness turned up too high, and are seeing something called "Macroblocking"

Short of getting the set fully calibrated by a professional, you might want to check it with a disc called Digital Video Essentials, or look for a movie that has a picture Optimizer on it. (I know the Blu Ray of Wall-E has it, as well as I think the other Pixar movies on bluray.

[brose]

Thanks, I'll try fiddling w/ the brightness and see if it fixes things a bit. If not, I'll look into the other options you gave.

[CousinDave]

yea you need a set up disc, TVs rarely come properly adjusted, and what you see on display in the stores, has the brightness turned up all the way to counter the store lights.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FMBadQJeL._SS500_.jpg

at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Video-Essentials-Basics-Blu-ray/dp/B000V6LST0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1228714716&sr=8-1)

[weeniewawa]

all THX discs have a video set up program in them

Lucas says so

and so it shall be