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sonicboom · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2018, 21:22

Regarding newer 4k TVs, specifically Sony brand...

I used this site as a starting point for my settings: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/x810c

They have extensive information and tests for calibrating your TV/monitor. Where a lot of the info you see online is questionable I trust these guys due to the level of detail and extremes they go to with product testing.

Anyway, I've been tweaking settings back and forth for a while on this TV and feel like I've found the ideal settings for LD on this display (Sony XBR55X810C). This TV has memory for each input so you can set the Composite input correctly without affecting other inputs.

Aside from the actual picture settings which I made with Video Essentials, there were a few settings that I had not initially utilized until recently. Those settings being the "Motion Flow", "Cine Motion", and any kind of Noise Reduction.

Re-visiting the site linked above I was drawn to the section on 24p playback and motion interpolation. I had avoided these settings previously because I don't like the soap opera effect (SOE) and don't want to be adding fake frames that don't exist.

Then, after reading the individual sections by clicking on the "learn more" links I realized what this was; an inverse telecine circuit! As you can see in the review, my TV handles 24p over 60i. It is a 120Hz display so it will deal with anything you throw at it.

Basically, by setting "Motion Flow" to "True Cinema" and the "Cine Motion" to "High" you are detecting 24p content that has been telecine-ed to 60i, it reconstructs the original 24 frames and then uses the 120hz refresh to do a 5:5 conversion also preserving the original 24 FPS of the film. This has made a significant improvement in clarity and motion for me.

Sony has used these terms in previous models and they have not always had the same effect. They have, in the past, been synonymous with the SOE. Depending on your model the above info may not be accurate. I can tell you that on my display I'm not seeing the SOE and watching a LD feels normal.

In addition to that, which is huge, there are built-in noise reduction circuits for "Random Noise" and "Digital Noise". I've set "Digital Noise" to "High" and that has greatly improved titles that aren't as clean as some of the latter releases. Cleans them up really nice without artifacts. I don't notice any improvement with the built-in VNR on the CLD-D704 but I think that only applies to S-Video output anyway, which this TV does not have. If I toggle it on/off it doesn't seem to negatively affect a title that already looks decent so I leave it on for now (I'm watching the Connery Collection, Goldfinger and it looks great zoomed in).

Blacks are like midnight.
Colors and resolution are insane.
Motion is accurate.
SW zone plate is clear when still.
Zoom works great.

My only complaint is that there is overscan. I can't see the edge of the SW test plate in any direction. Feels punched in. Has nothing to do with the bezel (at least on the L/R sides). It isn't terrible but it ain't right either :(

Here is a cell phone photo of the screen so you can draw your own conclusions:

Sony XBR55X810c Composite Input.jpg

I hope that has been informative and maybe even helpful.