HDTV Movie Quality Question

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I have a HDTV and Progressive Scan DVD. I also subsribe HDTV movie
channel from my cable company. I'm wondering is there any picture
quality (resolution) difference for the same movie which plays from my
DVD and from the cable HDTV channel? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Thanks Alan. So for the newer movies like spiderman 2 and lord of the
rings - return of the king which played from the cable HDTV movie
channel should be a true HD movie and have a higher resolution than the
movie played from the progressive scan DVD player. Right? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

eho wrote:
> I have a HDTV and Progressive Scan DVD. I also subsribe HDTV movie
> channel from my cable company. I'm wondering is there any picture
> quality (resolution) difference for the same movie which plays from my
> DVD and from the cable HDTV channel? Thanks.

Yes - provided the movie channel is showing a true HD movie and not an
upconvert. A lot of older titles on HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc are
still in SD and shown upconverted, sometimes a widescreen upconvert.

The short answer is that DVDs (US NTSC format) are encoded to 480i
resolution which a progressive scan player or TV with 3:2 pulldown can -
for film sources only - turn into a 480p picture. A true HD movie
broadcast will be 1080i or 720p (if ABC or Fox).

Alan F

 

[Tim]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

eho wrote:

> Thanks Alan. So for the newer movies like spiderman 2 and lord of the
> rings - return of the king which played from the cable HDTV movie
> channel should be a true HD movie and have a higher resolution than the
> movie played from the progressive scan DVD player. Right? Thanks.

Not necessarily. Depends on their source.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Thanks Dave. I'd think that if it's a HDTV movie channel, then it
should be playing a HDTV copy of the movie. Not sure how to tell though.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"eho" <ericmho@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1117945970.119933.288870
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

> I have a HDTV and Progressive Scan DVD. I also subsribe HDTV movie
> channel from my cable company. I'm wondering is there any picture
> quality (resolution) difference for the same movie which plays from my
> DVD and from the cable HDTV channel? Thanks.

There should be, IF the channel is actually playing an HDTV copy of the
movie and not just running the DVD.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.
God is an evolutionist.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"eho" <ericmho@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1117948012.106683.169110
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> Thanks Alan. So for the newer movies like spiderman 2 and lord of the
> rings - return of the king which played from the cable HDTV movie
> channel should be a true HD movie and have a higher resolution than the
> movie played from the progressive scan DVD player. Right? Thanks.

I could see a difference on the Lord of the Rings movies when they were
played on Movie Central here. And I have the DVD's for comparison. The HD
version was definitely sharper....not a lot on my TV, but my TV isn't that
big.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.
God is an evolutionist.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"eho" <ericmho@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1117948012.106683.169110@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks Alan. So for the newer movies like spiderman 2 and lord of the
> rings - return of the king which played from the cable HDTV movie
> channel should be a true HD movie and have a higher resolution than the
> movie played from the progressive scan DVD player. Right? Thanks.
>

A movie played from a HD channel with true 1080i or 720p resolution should
be astoundingly better than a movie played from a progressive scan DVD
player at 480p. You do need to have a TV capable of displaying high def.

See http/www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5107912-1.html
A little box on the right half way down the page shows resolution. Hover
mouse over words to change the image.

noone

 

[THUMPer]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Sun, 05 Jun 2005 16:10:13 GMT, "nonone" <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:

>
>"eho" <ericmho@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1117948012.106683.169110@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> Thanks Alan. So for the newer movies like spiderman 2 and lord of the
>> rings - return of the king which played from the cable HDTV movie
>> channel should be a true HD movie and have a higher resolution than the
>> movie played from the progressive scan DVD player. Right? Thanks.
>>
>
>A movie played from a HD channel with true 1080i or 720p resolution should
>be astoundingly better than a movie played from a progressive scan DVD
>player at 480p. You do need to have a TV capable of displaying high def.
>

This is true. Keep in mind that Most movies, although shot at a
higher resolution , are filmed to achieve a certain look. It may have
a "grainy" look, or shot day for night etc. They often don't look
anything like say a football game at 1080i. This is what confuses
people watching some movies on HDTV.
Thumper
>See http/www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5107912-1.html
>A little box on the right half way down the page shows resolution. Hover
>mouse over words to change the image.
>
>noone
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"eho" <ericmho@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1117987509.857583.323560@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks Dave. I'd think that if it's a HDTV movie channel, then it
> should be playing a HDTV copy of the movie. Not sure how to tell though.

If your eyes cannot discriminate the difference, you wasted you money on an
HDTV! ;-)

Seriously, after you get used to it, there is no question. For example,
TNT, in their HD coverage of NBA basketball, actually have a few SD cameras
they use (only) for closeup shots. They convert those shots to widescreen
(I suppose by cropping the SD picture). For most viewers, they may be
getting away with it. But I notice that the resolution is down, even though
it is a closeup shot. Eventually, more folks will be noticing such things.

When I go to record a Showtime movie, I first check on their HD feed to see
if they are actually showing it in HD. If not, I record the SD feed because
it takes up substantially less space on the DVR's hard drive and it does not
display any differently. (When watching upconverted SD stuff from an HD
feed, I use a feature of my 4:3 TV set to zoom the 4:3 middle of the HD
picture out to full screen. It still looks the same as the equivalent
digital SD feed. But it usually looks considerably better than the
equivalent analog SD feed.)

Regards,
David V.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I'm not using DVI/HDMI. I just use component cables. My TV and my cable
HDTV box should be set up OK because I can see a big difference in the
picture quality comparing to the regular digital TV programs. My TV is
a 32" direct view HDTV. So I might not see a big difference in the
picture quality for movie played by DVD and played by HD movie channel.
Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"eho" <ericmho@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1117945970.119933.288870@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> I have a HDTV and Progressive Scan DVD. I also subsribe HDTV movie
> channel from my cable company. I'm wondering is there any picture
> quality (resolution) difference for the same movie which plays from my
> DVD and from the cable HDTV channel? Thanks.
>

I get Directv and all movies/show in HDTV are listed in the guide with an HD
logo.

Also for local channels, I found these schedules showing which shows are in
HD.

http/www.cbs.com/info/hdtv/index.php
http/www.nbc.com/nbc/header/TV_Schedule/index.html

Note that you have to get an ASTC tuner and a good antenna to watch the over
the air high defintion local channels.


Also be aware that there are a bunch of setups on both the TV and the
Directv box that need to be adjusted to be able to see high definition. Most
importantly, you should be pumping the signal through a DVI or HDMI cable
from the box to the TV. The box should be setup for viewing at 1080i or
720p. Depending on your TV, you should set your TV to view at 1080i or 720p.
Then there are setups for which cable you are using. I was getting weird
signals with the HDMI cable until I found a switch on the box that needed to
be set to DVI/HDMI. There are setups for screen size. It is ever so
confusing.


Hope it helps
noone

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

X-No-archive: yes

"nonone" <noone@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:1Q_oe.291001$cg1.35306@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...

>
> I get Directv and all movies/show in HDTV are listed in the guide with an
> HD
> logo.
>
=============================
But that is NOT always accurate.
I have seen many shows where the "HD" is highlited and it was not HD.
===============================

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

We previously had the old Directv box hooked up to the new TV with the
yellow, red, white cables. We noticed a huge difference between the new HD
Directv box with HDMI/DVI cables and the old setup. I think we actually
experimented with an S-video cable versus the HDMI/DVI cable and there was a
big big difference. So the moral of this story is that the HDMI/DVI cables
make a big difference.
noone

"eho" <ericmho@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118099676.110702.12170@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I'm not using DVI/HDMI. I just use component cables. My TV and my cable
> HDTV box should be set up OK because I can see a big difference in the
> picture quality comparing to the regular digital TV programs. My TV is
> a 32" direct view HDTV. So I might not see a big difference in the
> picture quality for movie played by DVD and played by HD movie channel.
> Thanks again.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Watched "Lemony Snicket's" on HD PPV. Wow! That movie looks fantastic!
What an amazing HD transfer! Pretty good film too!.



Steve