DVD settings for HTPC?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I built myself a quasi-HTPC about 4 months ago, and have it hooked up to my HDTV. The problem that I can't solve is that DVDs and any movies in general just look bad. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not DVD quality picture that I would expect on my HDTV. I've tried both Windows Media Center and Cyberlink PowerDVD, quality looks to be about the same.


Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, relevant specs are below:

GPU: HD 5970
Connection: HDMI (tried the cheap cable and the overpriced monster cable, makes no difference)
TV: Samsung 46" HDTV, 1080p, 120 Hz

Did you set your screen resolution to 1920x1080?

Those movies are 1080p?

Try a DVI cable, many people complain about the HDMI on some monitors.

Ok ok, so it's really a gaming machine plugged into an HDTV. The 5970, though overkill right now, made sense given its price point and overclocking potential. I wanted a machine which I wouldn't have to upgrade for many years, and would still have the oomph to deliver 60+ fps on high settings 4-5 years down the pipe.

We are talking about real DVDs. In a standard DVD player they look absolutely stunning on this TV, but when played from the computer they look bad by comparison. My goal when I built this machine was to simplify my home entertainment system. Just the cable-box, a stereo system, and this beast. I can stream netflix, pandora, play games in full 1080p at stunning graphics levels, and play (and store) movies. The real icing on the cake will be an HDMI capture card sometime down the road.

At any rate, my problem still remains. Games look absolutely terrific in 1080p, but movies just look like trash. It's not the TV. It's not that my computer lacks the power. There has to be some kind of setting or something that I'm still missing.