fucking jaggies
 

So, black friday I got up at 3am and stood in line at Sears. It was worth it. I got a 46" LCD 1080p sharp aquos for $1100 +tax...the new slim model that they dance around with in the commercial.

I got home and hooked it up. Running the HDMI from my 360 elite. Color is great, text looks clean and crisp, but what's with all the jaggies in the background? I know Halo3 had problems (lack of AA??) but I'm seeing it in COD4, Forza2, Everything on the Orange Box, DOA4...pretty much every game I play except for table tennis and Gears of War. I got online and searched for lcd TV calibration guides and I tweaked the color, the contrast, the sharpness and still no dice. And yes, I do have my 360 settings set to 1080p widescreen.

Pissed off, I said fuck HDMI and hooked up component (isn't HDMI supposed to be better?). The component cables look slightly better, but there's still very noticeable jaggies. I mean, it's almost bad enough to be compared to first gen PS2 (even PSX) jaggies. It's BAD. And I'm PISSED. I read that maybe I'm just sitting too close; about 3 1/2 feet away. But shouldn't my picture be just as crisp up close as it as at a distance?

Should I go try to exchange it? This is my first HDTV, and it just doesn't look as clean and crisp as I was expecting. I've got a modded xbox running through S-video and even the roms I run have smoother lines than most of my 360 games. So is this a 360 problem? Am I just being too picky? Any of you guys/gals got a good online calibration tut. you use? Any input will be greatly appreciated.

I played a bit of HALO 3 on my HD TV a week or so ago and it was pretty ugly. The reason is that Halo 3 runs at only 640p (1138x640) while your TV has a native resolution of 1080p (1920x1080). The low resolution in addition to the complete lack of anti aliasing in Halo makes for all the jaggies.
It does sound as though you are sitting too close to the screen though. You should be around 6ft away from a 46" to get best results.

Best thing to do would be to try and get a good picture as it's hard to tell from your description if there is actually a problem.

thanks MM. I only have a shitty cell camera but I'll see what I can do.

on a side note, that new rocket race playlist is fantastic.

Before you go replacing anything, first you should check if the problem is noise. Electrical noise can cause artifacts in audio and video. There is no easy way for you to check for noise (it is not usually audible) without at least an oscilloscope, but there are things you can try.

1.) Move speakers (especially big ones and bass) away from the cables.
2.) Unplug other electronics that are on the same circuit with the TV and XBOX. Especially look for things with motors or large vacuum tubes (such as refrigerators or old CRT type monitors). You can't just move them to another plug, they need to be on a physically different circuit (breaker).
3.) Move anything with a wireless transmitter away.
4.) If you use an RF-modulator for coax then get rid of it, they create tons of noise.

On analog signals noise usually shows up as snow, but HDMI uses a digital signal so it would do something unexpected when it has a bit error due to noise (like make jaggies maybe?). Try out what I said and let me know if it helps or not.

still can't get it :( I even have jaggies on the 360 guide menu.

Also, I notice that when I watch standard definition DVDs I get really bad jaggies and terrible ghosting. I'd hate to pay some asshole just to come calibrate my fucking TV, but I'm seriously considering it...

After playing hours of COD4 I'm kind of starting to think that maybe I'm just being too picky. I will borrow a decent camera and take some pictures when I can. Maybe you guys can tell me if anything's actually wrong. Thanks Russ and MM.

Maybe there is something wrong with the graphics processor on your XBOX360 or your TV. Have you tried using the XBOX360 on another TV to see if there are still jaggies?

This is kind of a hard to diagnosis because there are many factors that could be contributing to the problem. So the best thing to do is to narrow the problem down as much as possible. The first thing to do is figure out if it is the TV or the XBOX360 that has the problem (or if there is really a problem at all).

By the way, with consumer electronics it is almost always better to just replace the broken device then to try to repair it yourself. The only reason I ever do repairs on my stuff is because I am an electrical engineer and it presents a fun challenge to me.