HD? Are we being misled?
OnexOne
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Hi folks, was in looking at tv's the other day and what struck me most was this whole HD picture promotion thats going on at the moment! there i was watching a split screen being promoted on all tv's showing 1 half HD and the other not! Now my eyesight aint that bad but the half that wasnt HD was like a tv with the settings for sharpness and contrast turned down to the lowest you can get! The pic i have on my tv was more like the hd pic although it aint hd!
anyone else feel the whole HD picture fad is a bit misleading!
anyone else feel the whole HD picture fad is a bit misleading!
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Yes, I'm inclined to agree. I think that when digital tv arrived it got rid of ghosting and certain imperfections in the picture caused by bad weather and such like but also softened the picture quite a bit and now HD is being touted as the great new hope whereas it is only the sharpness of old analogue but with the old aerial imperfections and susceptibilities removed.
I have some video recordings from the 1980's that have been transferred onto DVD and the colours are great and the picture quality in terms of sharpness is as good as any tv coverage I have seen today.
HD broadcasts often aren't up to the same standard though.
There are some programmes that seem better than others but overall I'm glad I got it.
BBC HD always seems to be great and the football on ITV HD is just awesome
The idea is that compression technology will prevent this. The jump to Mpeg 4/H.264 was what made broadcast HD a practical possibility, the next generation is waiting in the wings.
Can I ask - what is the big difference? I mean does it look brighter, bigger, more colourful, etc?
well you could hardly read the writing on the CRT, but it was crystal on the HD tv.
also a mate of mine was watching Life on HD and said how fantastic it looked on his facebook status, and someone asked a similar question, he replied that if you flicked back to normal and then to HD it was like having your eyes polished!
Can you see each blade of grass on a football pitch?
HD is infinitely superior to SD, although I agree that HD quality will decline as more bandwidth is used up. Some HD channels are better than others. For me, Luxe TV & Sky Arts One seem the best. BBC HD has definitely declined in the nearly 2 years I've had HD.
I'm pleased to have now loaded ITV HD onto my Sky platform, as officially is is only available on Freesat.
What source were they using?
How was it connected to the TV?
Did they give you the remote so you could see what settings they had applied?
In no way is a quality HD source played into a quality full HD TV a con.
With HD, you literally can, yes. No exaggeration.
...don't make the schoolboy error and be misled by the HD demonstration in shops. There are so many factors to consider.....is the source being shared, is the TV set-up properly, is the TV any good, is the viewing distance right? Basically, HD is much better than SD. It's not a 'fad', it will soon become the norm.....and eventually only really seen as being the new SD.
With HD, can you see every blade of blue?
"TV Coverage" - assumption = SkyHD
You are saying your VCR plays TV as good as SkyHD into a 1080p Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung, or Sony TV (model less than 1 year old)?
That said, the used of 720p and 1080i generally involves H.264/AVC compression, which means that, compared side be side with an MPEG2 576i broadcast, it does look considerably sharper (less macroblocking and therefore 2D filtering required).
I've seen the demos in the shops, and they are running off Blu-Ray, using the highest quality streams - the "SD" side is emulated (because you can't combine two different formats in the same frame!), and I think they've been a little heavy with the filtering, but it's actually not too wide of the mark.
The people in charge of SD broadcasts obviously believe image quality is not important so why would they suddenly think differently with HD broadcasts?
The pattern is clear. First it's the best that can be acheived. Then it's a compromise. Then it's "the public don't care". Then it's cram 'em in whatever the quality.
A big 1080p TV is always going to show the imperfections of SD. Maybe down to that.