Color Profile to use when connecting to a TV via HDMI?

[CorporateFelon]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this or not. Also not exactly the Color profile either, just not know what else to put in the title.


I've noticed that when I use my tv as an external monitor the picture looks much better when I connect via VGA as opposed to HDMI.

Via VGA it looks completely normal. Almost as if it were a laptop screen.
Via HDMI things look way too sharp. Text and windows do not have the same soft edges, they appear way too sharp almost as if anti aliasing had been turned off. I don't know how else to describe what it looks like. Watching video it is not as noticeable.

This happens on multiple computers and multiple TVs combinations. So think I can rule out connectors and TVs as the issue. I'm hoping it has to be something within OSX that I can hopefully adjust. When I open up the Display Profiles in System Preferences I can adjust the color settings, but that doesn't affect the sharpness of what is on the screen. Is there some place that I can adjust what I am experiencing? Or should I go back to the TV settings and try to adjust things there?

 

[sevoneone]

Hmmm. I don'd think that there is anything you could change on the mac side other than making sure that resolution you have selected matches the native resolution of the LCD panel in your TV. Most LCD TV's over 32" that should be 1080p (1920 x 1080). Though plasma and some smaller LCD sets are usually lower (1280 x 720 or 1366 x 768). If you're set to something other than the native, you'll have a degradation in image quality. Even if your TV isn't native 1080i/p it may still take the signal and process/scale it. Depending upon how it scales the image, that could be the cause the trouble. Try setting the output resolution over HDMI to the exact same resolution that you select over VGA.

On that same note, TV's do all kinds of other processing to HDMI inputs that they wouldn't do to the VGA input. 120Hz overcranking, picture mode enhancements, contrast boosts, and other BS so they can put more stickers on the box. Those "enhancements" are made to work on full motion video and will likely mess up your already sharp digital image from your mac. I'm willing to bet the problem is not in your Mac, but in one of the settings on your TV.

So, if adjusting the resolution on your mac doesn't fix things, sit down with your TV remote and start playing around with the different settings under 'PICTURE' or 'IMAGE' in the menu. Turn off anything that says it 'enhances' the image or smooths motion first and go from there. For a lot of TV's, the changes you make to those settings only apply to that particular HDMI input, so you shouldn't have to worry about messing up the image on your other devices.