Fuzzy Hi Def
While Optimum is expected to roll out some additional hi def channels in the next few weeks, I have to say I'm not that impressed with some of the channels they already offer in HD. This week I watched "Saving Grace" on TNT, which is one of the few channels that comes in HD. I have to say that the picture was not sharp, and quite pixelated on many scenes. The 1080i was lit on the box, but I've had sharper images on standard def content. I did notice when I switched to a sports channel that the image was much clearer.
C'mon Optimum, not all of us are sports fans, and we want real hi def goodness too!
Jonas
C'mon Optimum, not all of us are sports fans, and we want real hi def goodness too!
Jonas
Labels: Digital Television, HDTV, Optimum
posted by digitaldoc at 10:26 PM
4 Comments:
Those people that talked about sat service must have been spot on in their observations, huh *whistles*
;)
Mike
Cable does NOT have the bandwidth necessary to transmit HD to all the channels it tries to offer! No ifs ands nor butts about it. Directv and Dish arent shooting satellites into space just to see how much junk they can fit up there. 8o) Ah, the young shall learn...lol
I subsequently watched "The Closer" on the same channel, on the same night, and this was DVR'd on standard def. I have to say that the quality on standard def was higher than what I saw hi def.
It remains to be seen who can roll out the necessary bandwidth for HD channels. So far, satellite is winning for most channels, and Fios for highest quality which leaves cable out in the cold. Hey, I don't have a contract so stay tuned after the next round of channel roll outs...
Jonas
I'm a Monster HD (Cablevision channel 777) and I routinely get "Channel Unavailable" messages when I try to watch. Accorcing to Garblevision, it's because the box isn't synching with the signal and that's because they're having bandwidth issues. One tech went so far as to note that if I do latch on to the channel it might be best if I perhaps didn't change channels after that.
Just because you are watching an HD channel on cable, satellite or over-the-air, does NOT mean you are getting HD content.
In the case of Saving Grace, if it's shot electronically on tape, is it shot in HD? If so, does TNT have an HD copy? Or was it shot on film? If so, did TNT pay for an HD transfer of the film original?
Most of the HD content these days is live events. That is easier, and probably cheaper than transfering film based programming to tape or a file for playback. No one airs film directly anymore.
Bottom line is, just because your TV says 1080i, does NOT mean the content you are viewing is HD. Last year, 2007, NBC did Wimbleton in 16x9 standard def and upconverted it to HD. Didn't look too bad. It was wide screen but not HD wide screen. Even the Today show in the morning has a mix of HD and SD content.
The other issue is what the cable and satellite boys are doing to the HD signals they receive. In our market, Comcast has not done anything to compress the bit rates broadcast by the local HD stations. Don't know what, if anything, they do to the network HD signals they get via satellite.
If you think that next February, everything you see on TV is going to be HD content, you will be disappointed. It will take local stations years to ramp up to full HD local origination because it is very expensive and they don't make any extra revenue from the conversion to HD. And the cable networks have years of legacy material in standard definition that they will continue to use, albeit upconverted.
It took years to get converted to color, so expect the same for the conversion to all HD source material.
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