ATSC input dramticly lower pictyre quality

[Darth Paris]

I picked up a 47" Toshiba off Craigslist for $350. While you always take a risk with these sort of things, the only thing I have found disappointing is the quality of picture from any ATSC source. The picture looks fine over HDMI and Component, whenever I use the digital tuner, the thing looks like someone has applied a blur filter in Photoshop to the image. Skin tones are especially bad. I didn't realize this was the case when I picked it up as the guy had it plugged into the wall and when I tested it, it was using QAM. Has anyone seen such a dramatic difference in quality between inputs like this? I certainly haven't.

[usually_quiet]

Unless the problem occurs with every program on every channel, the issues you are complaining about may be related to the individual channels or the individual program.

I watch a lot of TV using an antenna, and some using digital cable. Anything shot in HD and broadcast in HD looks great to me. However, I have noticed that older standard definition programming frequently looks bad after undergoing the analog to digital conversion process, especially if upscaled to an HD resolution. Some broadcasters also use a bit rate that is much lower than ideal.

[edDV]

I agree on SD but a 1080i or 720p channel should be sharp. Normal weak signal failure is pixelation or larger blocking. I can't think of an ATSC failure that results in blurring other than poor blend deinterlace in older HDTV sets.

Maybe the TV is in an odd picture processing mode. Try to reset the firmware to factory presets.

It could be poor processing at the TV station but network shows should be clear.

[MOVIEGEEK]

My HDTV's have an excellent picture using the ATSC tuner.
Did you calibrate the picture? Most TV's have different settings on each input.