High Definition

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LancelotSA

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OK not really sure which section this falls under, and I have seen talk of it on here before, but with all the adverts on TV now what I am wanting to know is how good is it really?

How much of a difference does it make? Now bear in mind I am the type that is quite happy to watch a movie that is compressed to 700Mb without concern for quality. Will I really go "wow" if I see HD?

Also what makes it HD? The decoder? The TV? Both?
 
LancelotSA said:
OK not really sure which section this falls under, and I have seen talk of it on here before, but with all the adverts on TV now what I am wanting to know is how good is it really?

How much of a difference does it make? Now bear in mind I am the type that is quite happy to watch a movie that is compressed to 700Mb without concern for quality. Will I really go "wow" if I see HD?

Also what makes it HD? The decoder? The TV? Both?
Click to expand...

You will most definately go 'WOW' and maybe even have a few expletives of choice added on to that 'WOW' :D The media is captured/recorded at a higher rate (1080 instead of 780 or whatever it is) .. this makes for more visual quality. For the HD Mnet, you will need the HD PVR and a HDTV ...... :D
 
For the WoW factor is what I experienced reading this info. The page just have such a nice feel to it. Not the content so much.
http://www.xbox-360.co.za/forum/hdtv-discussion/8627-pace-supply-hd-pvr-multichoice-africa.html

I saw some nice comparison pictures on the net but cannot find them so quick again. Half the TV was shown in standard and the other half in HD. Made a HUGE difference. Then there is the HD TV's in Incredible corruption and others with nice Demos. The Blurr when moving is a baddy but I suppose you need to spend more bucks to get rid of most of it.

Here is some mouseover comparisons.

http://www.cornbread.org/FOTRCompare/index.html
http://hd-discs.mbmg.de/bladerunner_1080ibroadcast-vs-hd/02.html
http://hd-discs.mbmg.de/bladerunner_1080ibroadcast-vs-hd/03.html
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6139690/p-2.html
http://www.stesoft.com/hdvsdvd.html

I downloaded the Gladiator HD 720p version recently. I do not own a HD TV. I played it in my HT system with Superb sound DTS ES and I was most impressed where the Gladiator walks through the corn field in the beginning with the detail of the corn head as compared to the Standard version I own. That was on a normal TV. What would it look like on a HD TV with the correct resolution.


Some thought.
The major reasons why many AV geeks, myself included, purchased an ED plasma are still as valid today as the day when we made that decision.

1. Picture quality is largely determined by color accuracy and color contrast - two traits where plasma currently beat LCD
2. DVD looks great on ED plasma with no upscaling required - and for those who extol the benefits of upconverting, please go and upconvert a 0.5 megapixel picture (480p ED ) in Photshop/iPhoto/Picasa look to a 2 megapixel picture (1080 HD). Does it look much much better? The real answer is no as you cannot invent any more detail than what you already have. A similar analogy would be to 'upscale' your 128kbps MP3 to FLAC.
3. Downsampled HD looks superb on an ED plasma. ED content, which is the majority video content for 99% of us, does not look great on HD.
4. After a certain distance, the benefit of increased resolution becomes immaterial to human eyes. For many people, TV viewing remains a 6-10 ft affair. Contrast and color, however, remain crucial at any distance
Click to expand...

http://digg.com/hardware/A_Real_HD_vs_DVD_comparision
 
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Mephisto_Helix said:
You will most definately go 'WOW' and maybe even have a few expletives of choice added on to that 'WOW' :D The media is captured/recorded at a higher rate (1080 instead of 780 or whatever it is) .. this makes for more visual quality. For the HD Mnet, you will need the HD PVR and a HDTV ...... :D
Click to expand...

720p is HD as well, 1080p simply offers a higher resolution. Also, progressive scan >> interlaced.

@OP: yeah you will most definitely notice the difference.
 
LancelotSA said:
OK not really sure which section this falls under, and I have seen talk of it on here before, but with all the adverts on TV now what I am wanting to know is how good is it really?

How much of a difference does it make? Now bear in mind I am the type that is quite happy to watch a movie that is compressed to 700Mb without concern for quality. Will I really go "wow" if I see HD?

Also what makes it HD? The decoder? The TV? Both?
Click to expand...

HD picture is picture with more detail in it. Standard PAL is at 720by576
pixels. High Definition comes in 1280by720 (720p) and 1920by1080 (1080i or p) flavours
although there are a few offbeat formats such as the old Japanese
1035i format which was analog HD.
As is DSTV will only go up to 1280by720. However BluRay discs, HD-DVDs,
some downloadable content and an older format known as HD-VHS which
was the only way to get HD before the advent of HD-DVD/BluRay disks all
offer full HD.

The HD picture is sharper and can be shown on a much larger screen before
it becomes as blurry as Standard Definition (SD) picture. This is the
chief advantage of HD - getting that cinema big screen effect at home.
So screen sizes play a big role here. It seems that to really benefit
from high definition, you should sit, within 3 heights of your screen,
ie if you have a big screen you can sit further away, if you only
have a 24 inch, you need to sit quite close to it. If you move too
far away, you won't be able to tell the difference between HD
and SD. So you should think about where you'd watch your
HD movie. If in the living room on the sofa, and you
own a big living room, you'll need a BIG set (46 inches
or preferably 60-72) to get the full benefit of HD or
a full HD projector. Those things are expensive.
If you own a small living room, a 32-40 inch monitor may suffice.
If you watch at your pc, a 24 inch and up will suffice too.

To get a quick idea of the difference between HD and SD, if you
have a 2Megapixel and higher camera, take a picture, then
save it as 1920by1080 and subsequently make a copy and save
that as 720by576 pixels. Now compare the two side by side,
note that you can enlarge the bigger picture to your
whole monitor and it stays sharp, while enlarging the smaller
resolution picture to full screen, makes it very soft as lots of
detail is lost.

As for whether you will be wowed by HD it all depends on why you
watch movies. If special effects and detailed scenes wow you,
ie IMAX like movies and sci-fi/action flicks, then HD will probably
wow you, if you have a full HD TV/monitor.

If you're more into substance, then yeah you may still be wowed,
but high resolution will not make up for the script/screenplay/direction/editing and photography of the movie. You may find yourself distracted by
the hair follicles on an actors face instead of focusing
on the film - that may happen too. All in all HD is great but I think
that as someone else said, contrast and saturation are important
and for me at least, the actual content is probably the most important,
after all if I wouldn't watch a soap opera in SD, why would I want to
see it in HD?

Is HD the final deal? Well it isn't. Its the new standard but there are
more advanced standards in the pipeline. For example most
films when shot in digital video get shot in a format called 4K and another
format called 8K also exists. 4K refers to the horizontal number
of lines, and if we know the aspect ratio (widescreen) one can work
out the total number of pixels. Basically with an aspect
ratio of 1.33:1 its 4096 x 3112 pixels. Full HD is just under 2K.
NHK has been developing 8K aka Ultra High Definition TV
7680x4320 pixels apparently looking at a demo screen
was like looking out of the window - the picture actually looks REAL.
Imax runs at 5616x4096.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/digital/en/super_hi/
 
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Lance - Is most of your TV watching from downloaded TV? If so, a number of stuff you are downloading is probably 720p. Which means it has some benefit if you are currently watching on a CRT.

Tell us what your TV make and model is so we can then understand where you are.

Are you thinking of HD PVR?
 
Thanks for the responses guys and in particular PeterCH. That made a lot of sense. You also grasped what I was saying in that I really do not have a problem watching movies that have been compressed. It is more the script that interests me rather than the scenery.

So it will originally only be DSTV that will be HD? I suppose terrestrial TV will follow eventually? Can it or is this why they are talking about the switch over to digital?

@milomak, I do download some stuff, mainly movies, don't tell anyone! :) But most of them are movies for the kids. We are thinking about DSTV and I am wondering if the cost is worth going HD? I assume the set up costs more?

Also am I correct in my thinking that it will only be some programmes or channels that will be HD? Can sport be HD?
 
LancelotSA said:
Thanks for the responses guys and in particular PeterCH. That made a lot of sense. You also grasped what I was saying in that I really do not have a problem watching movies that have been compressed. It is more the script that interests me rather than the scenery.

So it will originally only be DSTV that will be HD? I suppose terrestrial TV will follow eventually? Can it or is this why they are talking about the switch over to digital?

@milomak, I do download some stuff, mainly movies, don't tell anyone! :) But most of them are movies for the kids. We are thinking about DSTV and I am wondering if the cost is worth going HD? I assume the set up costs more?

Also am I correct in my thinking that it will only be some programmes or channels that will be HD? Can sport be HD?
Click to expand...

Olympic Sport channels will be "HD" during the Olympics. Thereafter only Mnet will be HD until further notice from DSTV. BUT the HD PVR do upscaling of standard to say 720p which will improve even the normal DSTV channels to some degree as well as DVDs, downloaded or original to some degree better. Download a 720p movie like Gladiator in both standard and HD and see the difference for yourself before spending the cash. I know I will be spending mine for sure.
 
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The DSTV HD channel will only be broadcasting at 720p. It is the only HD digital broadcast standard available (worldwide).
 
Personally i don't like HD because i watched transformers on HD and it shows how computer animated the movie really is, when i watched on big screen it looks good but on HD all the robots look computer generated. :)

In saying this, HD is awesome. I wont go buy an HD ready tv just for one dstv channel.
 
Thanks again, guys.

From my perspective then it seems to be the usual sit and wait until the technology becomes more widely used, and cheaper, before going that route. I suppose you'll eventually be able to pick up old PVRs for a song when this does become available. Or in fact you may get paid to take the old single view decoders off people's hands! ha ha

I actually have a dish and a single view decoder lying a store room that my brother gave me.... just toying with the idea of whether it is worth the almost R500 every month to watch a bit of TV.
 
LancelotSA said:
Thanks again, guys.

From my perspective then it seems to be the usual sit and wait until the technology becomes more widely used, and cheaper, before going that route. .
Click to expand...

I think that's the wisest choice. Prices are dropping continusly and the
later you buy your HD monitor/TV the better the features on it will
be and the cheaper the price. Its the same with all tech.

If you think that 1080p LCDs were not even available in
SA 2 years ago, and last year sold for R40.000, today
you can buy a full HD Samsung for R12.000 for 40 inches,
a set which probably has better contrast and other parameters
than those R40K monsters from a year ago.
 
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