DVI-Red dominates the picture

[pacman99]

Hi,
I have a computer hooked up to my HDTV (1080i) via Radeon 9250's DVI port and I get picture but there's some problems with it.
First of all, the picture is a bit shaky unless i reduce it down to 480p, which isn't a problem for me since I don't really play HD content on the computer anyways. It's all SDTV.
The thing that bugs me the most is that the picture has too much red in it. I tried playing around w/ the image settings with no luck. I also tried hooking up my cable stb to it using its dvi output and I get the same problems, interlacing lines and too much red. With component input the picture is fine and displays the normal colours, except of course, with more sharpness and quality
Any ideas what could be causing this? Bestbuy's 'extended warranty' technicians seem to be doing nothing about it. They've "seen this for the first time" on my TV.

Thanks~

[Chewy]

after some googling, I was skeptical of that old cheap card

http://www.ati.com/products/hdtvadapter/specs.html

[pacman99]

i don't understand? i know it has an adapter to output into component video but it has a built in DVI port so shoudln't that be able to do it?
I would blame the card too if this problem wasn't happening on my digital cable set-top box as well. I get the same problems if I don't use component with that terminal.

[Chewy]

same cable both problems?

[pacman99]

yes and I've also tried a different cable (both were bought new, one was DVI-D and one was DVI-I)

i was googling some more and found that it could just be my TV producing too much red? I was reading about a Dell plasma doing the same thing. But then again this is a rear projection and that's a plasma. I don't know, just shooting ideas here.

[Chewy]

I know just recently vid cards(better) ones started advertising
HD output, there's a vid geek from downunder anony..... who
should really know this field, I'll drop him a line, he's probably asleep.

[pacman99]

I wasn't as interested in the actual HDTV signal but the clarity. Even in 480p, I don't see the blurriness and wavy lines that I see with S-video or composite video. It's just that this clarity was coming with too much red

Thanks, I'll be waiting for your reply.

[Chewy]

let's hope a real vid geek can reply, it's all greek to me

[anonymez]

Hi pacman, i don't believe it has anything to do with your graphics card, as you say the same thing happens with your STB, so its likely an issue with your TV. could you describe the effect a little more? is red the ONLY colour you see, or do you see all colours correctly, but just with a reddish hue over them?

1. a very very very long shot, but try decreasing the 'colour temperature' setting on your TV if it has it.

2. i'd say the dvi port in your display is not working properly.

picture quality (from worst to best) goes from composite, s-video, component, then DVI, in that order. composite transmits the entire image through one wire. its quality is crap. s-video uses one wire as well, but the output contains 2 signals, luminance and colour, so its image is better and more accurate, or 'true to the source'. component has 3 wires, and 3 separates colours, red, blue and green.

now if you had plugged in ONLY say the red and green, red will be dominant, and the image will be reddish. the blue is needed to correctly 'balance' the levels.

now DVI works generally the same way component does in terms of colour, but its all done conveniently in 1 cord. your tv might not be getting one of the colour channels, possibly from damaged pins or something more internal. when you use component, all channels are making it through. you wouldn't see much difference between dvi and component if you're watching SD stuff anyway.

3. this probably won't help solve your problem, but its generally a damn good thing to do: find out you're display's native resolution and use it at all times.

@chewy: 'vid geek from downunder?' i resent that!

[Chewy]

it's an accurate description
ok vid nut Extraordinaire from downunder

[pacman99]

anonymez:
thanks for your response!
all the colours are correct except red is too bright. Instead of getting, for example, orange, I'll get a bright red. Other colours are fine BUT I do notice that if I open up windows (through my graphics card) and try to move them around, I see bands of colour. So in the middle of the screen I'll see a band of green, top will be normal and bottom will be greyish.

1) I've tried this, didn't work.
2) This is quite possible. I was reading reviews for other TVs though and was actually talking to someone whose friend had a plasma, both with the same problems and they said that the TV itself was manufactured this way and that there's a discrepancy between how the TV decodes the DVI input and how the graphics card/stb *thinks* it will be decoded. Both concluded, one after talking to the company that manufactured their display, and the second (the person who reviewed a different brand TV) that it was uncorrectable and that component was the way to go for now.

3) hmm yea that's going to be quite hard to find heh. Philips doesn't even list my model # on their site.

Thanks again~

[anonymez]

sorry the problem still exists, but rest assured that the only difference you will notice between the image quality of component and DVI on your display and source is the reddish hue, you will not suffer any disadvantages

[pacman99]

hmm guess i'll take the component video route then. Thanks~

[toomanycats]

I could not discern the model TV you have from your posts, but I did read Phillips. If that is the case it probably is your TV. I had a TV repair shop for 8 years and found that pPllips/Magnavox were the worst TV made. Sony had the best picture, but not as reliable as JVC. Panasonic had horrible circuit protection and the boards would burn all the accross. I agree with Anonymez that the problem is in the DVI input. If is still under warranty, I would return it, you do not know what else is lurking in there. Do a gGogle search on your model TV and you will probably find similar posts as problems with TV's often happen in batches, from my experience.

[anonymez]

Sony had the best picture

can't argue with that

as much as i hate sony for their recent disgraceful behaviour, i might just be buying another HDTV of theirs, either a 42" sony, or an LG that i like...