Black level issue?

[Hi Ho]

I watched the Bourne Identity standard DVD on my HD-A2 tonight. I'm watching the Bourne movies in sequence and the it's the only one of the trilogy that I don't have on HD-DVD. Anyway, instead of setting up my projector I watched it on my Panasonic PZ77u plasma. This was the first time I've watched a movie on the plasma and I noticed a glaring issue. The black level was absolutely terrible! The blacks were pretty much gray. The top/bottom bars were glaringly light and the contrast was horrible. I tried tweaking the picture settings to no avail. I tried turning on "Black Level Enhancment" in the HD-DVD player setup but the just crushed the blacks without making them any darker.

Now, when watching TV using my Dish HD DVR the picture is worlds better. The blacks are actually black, right up close with the new Pioneer Kuro panels (not quite though).

Why is it so much different? When I watch movies on my DLP projector the black levels are better than what I saw tonight. What could cause this? Both the DVR and the HD-DVD player are connected through the receiver via HDMI.

 

[Nomo]

Have you done the 2.7 firmware update?
I don't know if it will make much of a difference but it gives one more setting(don't recall the name) under the picture category that deals with the RGB setting of the TV. Standard and enhanced as I recall. My TV seems to have better black level response when set to standard.

 

[j_garcia]

Because you have two different sources and each of them is different unfortunately. My DVD player is MUCH different from the levels needed for the A2, however the A2 is pretty close to my PS3.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Your A2 black level settings are for 0 Ire and 7.5 ire. I found that when I calibrate black at 7.5ire the setting is to high for my Sat box. Using the 0 ire setting with the A2 seems to match my sat box and my BlueRay player. However, my Denon 1920 is way different then any of the others. I only use it for DVD A and SACD now anyway. If I am not mistaken HD should be set using 0 ire anyways.

 

[Hi Ho]

The problem is that no amount of adjustments could make the blacks any darker. I do have the latest firmware.