The Joy of HD
 

I'm finally figuring out where all the HD programs live and am enjoying the HD version of MTV, only they play music videos and convert footage - kinda like the original MTV. The Picture is great, I can read all of Amy Winehouse's tattoos - of course I wonder if I really need to see Kieth Richards in HD.

Some things are better not seen in HD.

I am a big fan of HD so far. It's almost difficult to go back. In particular, I'm partial to the History Channel and Discovery Channel - though others have proved to be quite good. Though some stations just seem off now, I appreciate it, even on the non-HD channels.

And you know, after watching Ratatouille on Blu-Ray... Wow.

On that note... Amy Winehouse on the Grammys in HD... Hrmmm... She seems okay... but... maybe I'm noticing random sh!t because it's in HD. I still like her, damn it. In her own words... she's cheated herself...

We're watching an Amy Winehouse concert at the moment and she's wonderful. Damn.

Beyonce and Tina aren't quite as hot as Anne Margaret and Tina, but it's close.

Oh, I don't mean to say she's not wonderful, but I've have never seen her so nervous. Congrats to an HD Amy Winehouse on her win. Even though this is totally off topic.

To continue on my off-topicness, I'm also glad to see non-musician influentials get some posthumous pats on the back, like Hilly Kristal. Though I was never able to catch a show at his famous club, he changed the face of music as we would know it.

Grammy seem especially good this year. Maybe it's the HD. ;)

Damn, I think we missed Daft Punk - someone should have told me

I guess we missed Daft Punk. :(

Best news blurb today:

I missed Daft Punk?? :(

WHAT?!?@?!

Hi. Welcome to LoT. The home of many huge and clueless Daft Punk fans.

Stolen from another site:

Here's to the French Robots!

Kid Rock and Keely Smith?

One way or another I'm gonna mop you. I'm gonna mop you mop you mop you mop you.

Then I'm going to dance to Thriller with a bunch of Lizards.

WTF? Is this want getting old is all about?

Aretha.....

Loved the robots and Prince looked fabulous (wish he'd performed)

I missed the first 20 minutes or so.

The Daft Punk piece (with some other guy ;))

Sorry to derail the Grammy Awards thread with HD TV........

;)


I wonder how the actors feel about all of their imperfections being exposed on HD? After having seen it, I have got to get it! I finally got a DVR box, and I made sure I got HD so I'm on my way. Now I just need the TV and Blue Ray.:snap:

Airbrushed make-up, I would think.

We watched Ratatouille in Blu-Ray HD over the weekend. It looked wonderful, but I still found it to be a boring movie.

Oy, that would have been awesome to see in HD. Gah!

To Ratatouille, J was completely uninterested in seeing the movie until someone told him it was amazing in Blu-Ray. So, we picked it up (YAY!) and afterward he said it was his favorite Pixar to date. I was a happy gal...

I was really tired last night. Is it obvious?

Seeing Keith Richards in HD would be like seeing cracked mud up close.

Yes, that's about what it looked like.

Can I assume that the Amy Winehouse song is actually longer than just "They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no no no..." And that she actually has another song she sings?

I still haven't heard that song in the four months since I first heard of her I have heard that particular clip about 4 billion times, including 1 billion in the various news reports of last night's Grammy's.

It's funny, I consider Rehab to be fairly unrepresentative of her album as a whole. The bulk of the album leans much closer to classic jazz vocal vs. the somewhat hip-hop edge the Rehab has.

Rehab is actually my LEAST favorite Winehouse song.

Back to Black, You Know I'm No Good, Tears Dry On Their Own....so many other really great songs.

I'm curious... I may have to hear some other Winehouse stuff at someone's house in case I like her enough to go get the album. Rehab is catchy. Annoyingly long, but catchy.

I loved loved loved her reaction when she found out she won. That's about the only part of the whole show that I caught, but it was fun to see.

Breaking news Bulletin:

This just in from Netflix: For Tue: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Blu-Ray)

Oh yeah! A dark room, HD Goodness, Kickass sound, and HAL.

All the makings of a perfect evening.

Yeah, I thought it was actually humorous... (read this with her accent) "My Blake, incarcerated..."

Hey, how do you guys feel about older movies being re-released in Blu-Ray/HD? Are they any better? I'm figuring unless it's a movie I love and they've added something amazing, there's no sense in replacing my DVD.

For the most part, upscaled DVD's look good enough that I don't feel the need to purchase a new copy in Blu-Ray.

The Blu-ray versions are usually noticeably better but not always so with a movie like 2001 for example, I'm netflixing it first to see if it measures up. Then if I like it I'll pick up a copy in a year or two when I'm ready to re-watch it and the price has dropped.

You're figuring correctly. Are you using a good upscaling DVD? Then really, there's no reason to re-purchase the films unless they've significantly added something....and for me personally, I only watch the special features once, so special features are NOT a reason to make a duplicate movie purchase, ever.

The way I'm figuring it right now, is if I want to buy a movie that I don't already own, I'll spend the extra $5 on the Bluray version.

Some older movies don't look THAT much better on Bluray (there's too many factors to go into on that subject as to why that is). For instance, "2001" looks FANTASTIC on Bluray, whereas "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" does not. Really, I would go online and read some reviews before making an "upgrade" purchase.

The only movies I would consider doing this for, personally, are the Lord of the Rings movies, which I already own in extend-o-fabulous versions. They look great on a 50" set with a DVD upscaler, but the HD would give it more oomph, for sure. I haven't heard any announcements for this set though (yet).

Though I'm not 100% sure on our Blu-Ray player, I believe it is upscaling. If it isn't, I know our other DVD player does upscale to 1080p.

I have to say, a month after living here, and I wish I could make love to the TV. Don't watch it often, but wow, what a difference. Now if only Utah would get more Wii systems in stock. I wonder if there's a list I can get on that would give me a heads up.

Oh, and in other Utah randomness, I was told a while back that Utah has the highest DVD consumption per person in the country. I wouldn't be surprised.. Lot of families, not a lot of places to burn your money, so you get toys.

I've found myself watching entirely boring programs on Discovery HD. A show about some Irish castle. A freaking sunrise, in real time.

Preeetty.

I'm anxious for baseball season to start. It's still unclear whether I'll be able to see most of the HD broadcast Dodger games or not. I've learned that Time Warner, while not carrying Fox Sports Primeticket HD outright, has some weird deal where they do broadcast some of their HD content on Time Warner's special events HD channel. But I get the feeling that where I am, it's going to be mostly Angels games, not Dodgers. That will make me unhappy.

Chernabog turned me on to the song "Tears Dry on their Own." It's wonderful.
(And it's still in my head. Even post-Blast!)

I guess USA doesn't broadcast in HD - at least for me.

Actually, I can't find USA at all and Westminster starts tonight.

By the way, my favorite website for Blu-Ray to SD comparisons (and a ton of other good movie stuff) is dvdbeaver.

Hrmm... site name cracks me up, mp.

I'll be crossing my fingers and toes in hopes that you'll get your Dodgers in HD, GD. I know I've been stoked to watch football in HD. Pretty grass.

I welcome older movies being re-released on Blu-Ray. Since most movies were shot on film, they generally start with a pretty decent image quality (film deterioration not withstanding). This is not a hard and fast rule, but a decent rule of thumb.

Not all upscaling is the same - it depends on the engine being used. There is a quality difference, albeit slight. The Faroudja engine is a standout in that crowd, but I am not sure which brands use this one. I know the Oppo does (which MousePod turned me on to)
Why not just order it from Amazon, or some other online retailer? Or eBay (just make sure you buy from someone reputable!)

USA DOES have an HD channel, but I can't seem to locate information on it right now (I saw a reference to it on Wikipedia). That is one of the channels that I really want to see in HD.
I think you are on Time Warner (strictly a guess: I think I remember seeing a TWC box in the Thurston photos). If this is correct, you should have it. For us, it is 103 and another channel in the "under 100 range."

I found USA in reg broadcast (we're on Verizon Fios now) but I see no HD. How am I going to see all the little individuals hairs on the puggies?

We recorded Lawrence of Arabia in HD and I too a sneak peak at it. SOOOO PRETTY!!!!!

Because they are asking $379 for a $250 system.

You do know they've already had the show. I won't say who won, but supposedly it was an upset.

I was just bummed because I couldn't watch the Superbowl in HD. Our local Fox station is on the sales block - and the cable company won't negotiate with a lame-duck owner.

Am I the only one who keeps seeing the thread title and thinking "The Joy of VD?"

WTF?!?

I caught part of it in HD, then they switched off to CNBC, which isn't available in HD. :( All because of some stupid wrestling.. RAW or whatever. pFfffFFffttt...

Oh, and I think I know who won, because he was a real charmer - and it would be the first for his breed AND for his group. They made a lot of talk about him.

Ahh. and the Superbowl in HD was pretty nice. Didn't make the commercials any better, though/

Patriots by a landslide.

I'm not sure Thurston is going to let me watch Westminster. He keeps barking!

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt tttttyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Cross posting from YouTubery since there was a lot of Winehouse discussion here...
Finally Got My Ass to Rehab

Yeah, that's gonna help her. Let's make fun of other people's misery and disease.

I think I'll go make a video about bald people on chemo, about how much their wigs itch, or how often they have to spend vomiting into the toilet, isn't that just HILARIOUS? Oh oh oh even better, I think I'll make a video about how much Parkinsons people shake, like everyone will be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner and I can flail around and knock things off the table because of the PARKINSONS hahahahaha oh my god that's just the funniest!

Sorry but this crap has crossed the line. When people go from "party girl" into what is clearly full-blown addiction, it is very bad taste to spend time and effort doing stuff like this. Those people should be ashamed.

Umm, she has made millions of dollars off a song about what an unrepentant addict she is/was. Fair game as far as I'm concerned.

I agree that it's absolutely fair game. Even those who believe that addiction is a disease (and I am among that group) can find humor in the pain. I find that when sober people share their stories with other sober people, there's a lot a laughter - maybe it's gallows humor, maybe it's the relief at how close we got to self-annihilation. Whatever.

My problem with the linked video is that it's not funny. They got a chick that they can make up to look vaguely like Amy and then went for the obvious stupid joke. Weird Al would be spinning in his grave if he were dead.

In HD.

Sorry, I have to agree with GD on this... you write a song encouraging or at least arguing for, refusing to go to rehab. Then you go to rehab. It's inevitable.

If they were writing songs about Britney in rehab, it'd be different. Because she never did any songs about refusing to go.

Yeah, but what does all of this Amy Winehouse stuff have to do with HD?

It's not a bad vocal impression either.

No, it wasn't comedy genius, but it's got some gems. I liked this one:

I must've popped too many pills
Cuz the doorbell rang
And there was Dr. Phil

It's funny that you mention that line, because I thought that one was the nail in the coffin of the bad video. Her impression of Amy was free of any British accent (that Winehouse actually has - even when she sings), and when the Dr. Phil line came up, I just thought "We Americans are sooo funny. And US-centric."


In HD.

Thread drift!

Patriots by a landslide.


In HD.

Hey, is it the spoofer's fault that we Americans are far more fvcked up than the Brits are and have a much more accessible pool of public train wrecks to reference?

I agree. Dr. Phil is a uniquely American public train wreck.

Zzzzziiing

in HD

Emphasis added. This isn't Amy sharing about how much of a mess she was/is with other sober people (honestly the actual "Rehab" song has a number of red flags about her quasi-denial of her own addiction, which is sort of heartbreaking considering how talented she is) . The youtube thing is a parody about how funny full-blown addicts act when they're all f'd up or how much crack they use. In that context I do not find the video funny at all.

She thinks she isn't an addict! Ha, ha, we know better, she really is an addict, look how messed up she is, let's point and laugh, ha ha ha! She's going to kill herself, ha ha ha! Look at those needle marks on her arm, oh, her denial is so funny, she's shooting heroin again, ha ha ha!

The line between fair game and bad taste isn't in HD. ;)

I'm sorry, but the moment she decided to build a career around making her issues a public spectacle, the subject became fair game. This isn't a matter of people prying into her private life because she's a celebrity and forcing her personal problems into the open. She made the choice to put it out there as if it was something to be proud of.

That's because she's in freaking denial about what is happening to her. I don't find it funny to point out how wrong or messed up she is. See my last post. And I'm not interpreting the actual song in the same way you are, having listened to it about a gadzillion times in the car :)

I think I'm going to just say "... in HD" as a sentence capper from now on.

In HD.

Sort of like adding "in bed" after you read your fortune cookie.

"Good things are on their way"..... in HD.

That video was really dumb.

See, I thought the video was funny. The writing was actually pretty good.
:)

Maybe it was just stupid because it wasn't in HD.

It wasn't HD?
Feh, stupid video.
:D

David Beckham needs to be more naked in HD.

^^ Pants cleanup, aisle 4! God I love that picture.

I'm currently watching IMHO, the most delicious movie ever - "Chocolat" in HD

I think I'm gonna add about 4 lbs. by the time this thing is over.

We recently watched it in HD. Sooooo DELISH!

Funny, I just watched Chocolat last night.
Not in HD...
:)

Chocolat always makes me hungry, much like Babette's Feast does.

Now I want to watch them both.

Ooh, speaking of chocolate, I just learned a friend in bringing me some Jeff de Bruges chocolat when he visits in April. Yum!

One half of my office's building is a chocolate factory. I don't know what they were doing yesterday but the neighborhood smelled great (which kind of sucks since I'm not a big chocolate person and really don't care for so-called "good" dark chocolates which is what this place mostly sells in their little store).

I love dark chocolate in HD

HD challenged no more
 

A friend is parting with his Sharp Aquos 26" LCD TV for a mere $300. It's not even a year old, at this price how could I resist?

Yes, I do want a 42" model down the line, but this was far too tempting to pass up.

All the dirt, scratches and dust from the silent movies should be really clear and apparent now!
I forgot to mention the nitrate deteriorazation, too!
:D

That's an amazing price. How COULD you resist? Congrats!

They sell brand new for $900: a decent deal.

Yeah, I'm chuffed.

I think I pick it up this weekend. Whee!

totally stupid HD TV question
 

Okay, we've got it. Will I need a new DVD player or will the DVDs I have currentl be like seeing them for the first time? I have regular Nemo and Cars and Incredibles, etc. Will my socks be blown off with my regular DVDs?

You can pick up an upconverting (aka upconversion) DVD player for pretty cheap (under $100). DVD movies start showing digital artifacting (i.e. jaggy edges) when they're blown up past a certain size, and an upconverting DVD player will help minimize that.

Make sure it's connected to the TV via a component video cable (it's a 5 plug deal) or HDMI cable (if your TV has one).

Congrats on your purchase!!

This is somewhat true, depending on your set. Definitely hook up your regular DVD player and have a look at one of the Pixar films. Our TV does a jaw-dropping job with our old player and old DVDs. At least, jaw-dropping in comparison to the old TV.


We'll all get a new player eventually, of course :)

Thanks Cherney. Okay, I just looked up the DVD player that got tossed in for free and it is an upconverting DVD player. I've got all the cables, too, so we're good to go. Sweet!:snap:

And you got the whole thing for $300? YOU SUCK!;)

long and hard for this deal, my dear. :p

Truth be told, the HDTV is older than I thought, but still damned pretty to look at!

Finally got the new TV cabinet put together and the TV and DVD players and other electronic paraphenalia hooked up.

WOW

Yeah, just seeing an anamorphically enhanced DVD on a 16:9 screen is already a noticeable jump up in quality. (That's what I've got now, thanks to a nifty native widescreen projector.) It just gets better from there, I'm sure. I expect most of my DVDs will give satisfaction for a good long time, even after I make the switch. (Some time from now.)

You will find yourself watching programs that you would not otherwise be interested in simply because they are in HD and have pretty pictures.

I just bought my first HDTV. A 37" Vizio (1080P) on sale at Sam's Club for $575.00

Question: I keep hearing about setup DVD's to optimize HDTV settings. Are these things really necessary? If so, who has the best one?

Also, is Blu-Ray worth the money?

Congratulations on your new HDTV!

First of all... if you want to get a setup DVD for your HDTV, it needs to be in HD... so you need a Blu-Ray player anyway. There are a bunch of great mid-range blu-ray players out there, and they are really worth it, particularly if you're going to watch movies. Currently, that's the only way you're going to get a 1080P signal into your TV anyway, as you're unlikely to see anything better than 1080i or 720P from cable or satellite.

Once you get your blu-ray player, the best calibration disc is "video essentials". Obviously, you'll want the blu-ray version.

BTW, I just ordered our 1080P projector. While the den/media room won't be ready for a couple of months, we're planning to debut the projector in the living room on the 4th of July.

...Or you could buy a PS3 and have a game system that plays blu-rays :)

Day two and I ran into a snag.

SDTV looks fine. When I switch to an HDTV channel, the screen is letterboxed. It should be full screen. There's a "wide" command in the menu that fixes this, but I have to change that setting everytime I go from SDTV to HDTV or back again. It's a pain! There should be a way to save this setting so I only have to do it once for each mode.

I did some googling on Blu-Ray. It appears that most people can't tell the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD on screens smaller than 50". I have a 37" set. Do you agree?

Sure, but I will have to take your word on it.

We've got a calibrated 37" CRT HDTV, and it's VERY apparent when there's a Bluray on vs. a DVD.

Just upgraded and super-sized from a 26 inch HD to this Sharp Quattron 40 inch Big-O-Vision.

It's Netflix ready (yay) so I won't need to stream via the blu-ray player (which has been wonderful on the old tv)

I figure I should also get a new HDMI cable for the new thing. Anyone got any recommendations? The prices vary wildly from $12 to $250 and I'd prefer to keep in the rango of $50 or less.

Halp!

Do NOT PAY MORE THAN $15 for an HDMI cable.

Hell, don't pay more than $5 (unless you need a longer one)

http://www.monoprice.com

On the other hand I have never found myself simultaneously in need of an HDMI cable and willing to wait to have one shipped to me. So just let Best Buy butt rape me since they're across the street.

Thanks GD and Alex.

I'll go with our old one for now, then go to Best Buy over the weekend.

I think monoprice's warehouse is in Rancho Cucamonga, so the shipping is pretty quick.

Wait, if you have an HDMI cable, why would you want a new one? The one you have should be fine unless there is something faulty with it.

Well, been a few years and maybe there was a faster cable now? I dunno.

Nope. Remember, HDMI is digital. It either passes the signal or it does not. If you plug it in and it works (which it should) then you are good to go. A newer/fancier/ more expensive cable won't do squat beyond what you already have.

True to a point. It is possible to increase the speed of a digital protocol such that it exceeds the capabilities of earlier cables (witness the existence of cat-7).

But in the case of HDMI, no, the data rates have yet to exceed the cabling specs.

Okey doke, I defer to those who know more about this than I do. Just swap out TVs and all should be well.

The hard part is trying to decide which CinemaScope or VistaVision to test out the new tv as we calibrate.

I needed a new HDMI cable when I reconfigured our living room. Ordered and received it the same day from Monoprice.com.

I want to know if I would look as turkey neck as Annette Benning in HD. :D

Ih please don't - there has to be something nearby that has them for MUCH less than Worst Buy.

Also, if you order tonight from Monoprice, the chances are pretty good you will have the cable by Saturday.



ETA: if you already have an HDMI cable, don't bother with a new one

Well, the thing arrived last night. I'm setting it all up this afternoon when I get home from work. All I can say right now, man-O-man is this thing shiny!

Thanks for all your help everyone! :)

Okay, hooked up the monster last night, OMFG, I may never leave home to see a movie again. I did a test run with several movies, old, new, blu-ray and netflix streaming. Absolutely fantastic.

The old films, b/w, the clarity was astonishing, the films had incredible depth and looked almost 3D.

Pixar, Ratatouille, was mind-blowing. During the few minutes of Rataouille, Tango sat up, bolt upright and stared at the TV, cocking her head, totally mezmerized. It was hilarious. I should have tried out a Planet Earth DVD to see how she would have reacted.

Turns out I will need a new HDMI cable as the one I have is a little short. Ordering now!

Now you can enter into the grain/no grain discussion with authority when it comes to high definition restorations.

Dear God, no. :D

Thanks to a REALLY good connection, I just ordered up this bad boy, Yamaha RX-A1000 AVENTAGE Series Home Theater Receiver. I am not paying anywhere near the MSRP shown (and the deep discount is the only reason I went so high up this food chain).

I've lived just fine without it, but now that it is a "go", I want it NOW!

And prey tell what speakers will you be powering with this bad boy?

Wimpy little Inifiniti speakers for now - the Big-Ass TV® already takes up too much room in our tiny living room (seriously: why the hell did I get a 65" for an eight foot viewing distance?!? Sure, I justified it by saying we would need it when we moved into a bigger place, but that ain't happening any time soon). Also, living in a condo discourages being able to use much horsepower.

Basically, I was looking for a single point of control for everything and when the opportunity to get this unit so cheap, I decided to splurge.

I'd hope because a 75" physically wouldn't fit. That's the only good reason I can think of.


Technically 8.5 ft is the farthest you can sit from a 65" and still get the full benefit of HD so your 8' room is about right.

Thanks for the tip about Monoprice. Cables ordered and received.

Another rather stupid question. I have an older DVD-R that I still like to use. Silly me, there is not an output for S-video Red/White/Yellow jacks. Is there an adaptor I can use that will plug in the S-video and upconvert it to a HDMI to plug into the television?

Check the manual on your TV. What model did you get? There should be other inputs besides HDMI.
There should be a compatible input for S-video.

Well, there is one, it's got 5 spots, I suppose I can plug it in there?

Yep, then you'll need to use the remote to select the proper input.

Okay, thanks!

It's here! It's here! It's here!

Leaving work now (early if you can believe that!) to go pick it up. Won't really do anything with it until this weekend, but at least I can touch, smell and taste it!

You do understand you can't have sex with it right?

Or at least you shouldn't.

It's perty!
Hooray for new gear!

Sez you

Well, you can understand the confusion, Moonliner requires at least a VHS-sized slot.

So, Kevy posted about his new toy on Twitter:

K: New toy acquired. Is going to be difficult to go home and not want to play with it tonight

Me: Hitachi?

K: Yamaha

About 3 hours later I get an email:
HitachiMagic is now following you on Twitter.

Their profile:
HitachiMagic Hitachi Magic Wand A fun collection of tweets about the Hitachi Magic Wand. Created and run by The Magic Wand Shop

In doing some research on my new toy (not Hitachi), I came across an article that seems to indicate that Yamaha has figured out time travel.