TNT-HD: Worst HD channel ever?

[M Sparks]

But Tom, if it's only "certain movies", than chances are you would buy a DVD of it.

That's how I feel...I would never buy a DVD that wasn't OAR. But if I'm just watching a movie on HBO, it doesn't really bother me unless it's a really bad chop job.

 

[FreddyvsJasonvsAsh]

I'm just wondering where HD DVD and Blu-Ray DVD gonna fit into this. What will be the main AR for these new formats?

 

[goaliebob99]

I prefer 16 x 9 but if it came down to watching a letter boxed movie i would wrather watch it on my 16 x 9 screen than a 4 x 3... I think it looks alot better

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Well, I "might" buy a DVD of a movie that I want to see in OAR, but I would rather see it in HD than 480p.

I do own something like 80 DVDs, everyone of them is OAR.

I used to be more tolerant of 4:3 P&S, and still watch some stuff in that format, but I don't like it at all. If one is paying any attention at all, you will notice dozens of times where key information is off-screen. And watching 4:3 P&S artifically stretched into 16:9 to fill an HDTV screen is just not natural. I look forward to the day when this will end (or largely end).

 

[Satch0922]

They Definately get a "Half Assed" award.

I wish all the channels on satellite were at least "half assed"

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I have mixed feelings on this. Sure, more HD channels would be great. But if a good portion of their content is not really anything near HD, then that would be a terrible trend to support.

 

[M Sparks]

I'm just wondering where HD DVD and Blu-Ray DVD gonna fit into this. What will be the main AR for these new formats?

Huh?

The aspect ratio is determined by the source material. It could be 1.33:1, or it could be 3:1. The medium has nothing to do with it.

HDDVD and Blu-Ray players will work exactly like DVD players- just at a higher resolution.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Ack!

I caught an episode of Angel on TNT today, from Season 2 when it was originally aired in 16:9. TNT was showing it in Stretch-O-Vision. It was horrible.

Perhaps we should chip in and buy TNT a DVD Season 2 set, which was released in widescreen. They could upconvert it to 1080i. It would be much better than what we are getting.

 

[dbfruth]

I'll admit that I hate the stretched SD content that TNT tries to pawn off as HD but my vote for the worst HD channel goes to ESPN. Why the hell am I paying for a HD channel that almost never has HD content (except for sports center) If they are going to have an HD channel do it like Discovery and run only HD content from all the ESPN channels, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, Maybe some original content that only HD subs get. Now that would be cool. Sorry ESPN, bars next to 4:3 content that say HD don't make it HD

 

[FreddyvsJasonvsAsh]

Huh?
The aspect ratio is determined by the source material. It could be 1.33:1, or it could be 3:1. The medium has nothing to do with it.
HDDVD and Blu-Ray players will work exactly like DVD players- just at a higher resolution.

So these 2 new formats will still sell FS and WS seperate? I think they should only sell WS and drop the whole FS crap. Only sell FS if that's how it was filmed

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I would be surprised if there is much 4:3 FullScreen on HD DVD. For one thing, most of the market audience will have 16:9 sets.

However, you might see some 16:9 FullScreen Pan & Scan releases. Look around the various HD forums and you'll find a number of people complaining about still having the horizontal black bars when they watch a 2.35:1 movie on their 16:9 set.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

"Jaws" was on TNT Stretch-O-Vision tonight. I have the Jaws DVD, so I took the opportunithy to compare the two.

The DVD was the hands-down winner on image quality.

The stretched picture was terrible, it was easy to see the aspect ratio of objects changing as they moved across the screen.

If they had aired it in 4:3 P&S, at least I could have used my TV's variable settings to enlarge the picture.

I continue to believe they are doing this because they don't want to show 2.35:1 movies with horizontal bars, and they don't yet have 16:9 P&S versions, so they apply S-O-V to their 4:3 versions.

 

[M Sparks]

So these 2 new formats will still sell FS and WS seperate? I think they should only sell WS and drop the whole FS crap. Only sell FS if that's how it was filmed

"Full screen" and "Widescreen" are not aspect ratios. They are marketing terms. In the case of "fullscreen", it is a highly inaccurate term...after all, it doesn't fill MY screen. But anyone dumb enough to purchase a "fullscreen" version won't understand what "pan & scan" or "cropped" means.

In the film industry, 16:9 (AKA 1.77:1) isn't even called "Widescreen" 1.85:1 is the standard format...Widescreen is anything wider than that (usually 2.35:1). Most 1.85:1 films are trimmed or squeezed slightly to fit 1.77:1 (16:9) TVs.

I highly doubt anyone would release 4:3 BluRay discs, since it is a HD format. While there are some 4:3 HD-Ready TVs, HD is 16:9 by definition. However, as "widescreen" becomes the norm, I fully expect some 2.35:1 films to be P&Sed to 1.77:1...which will become the BluRay version of "fullscreen".

To get back on topic, TNT showed Wizard Of Oz in OAR this Saturday...which means they actually used side bars- no stretching! (Wizard Of Oz was shot in 1.37:1). I couldn't tell if it was true HD, but the few minutes I saw looked good. They followed that up with one of the LOTR movies in true HD.