Comments on: Does Mari Need HD?

By: Zatz Not Funny. . .»Blog Archive » Happiness is a DVR in Election Season

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 13:16:09 +0000

[...] This isn?t my first November with a DVR, but it is for a lot of people. And while I know analysts aren’t predicting it yet, I believe DVR penetration will start to have an effect on the way politicians spend their ad dollars in the coming years. Despite the general bemoaning of political ads, they have historically been very effective. Intellectually I’ve known this, but it was disheartening to hear from a certain professor recently just how much his students credit ads for their education on specific political races. [...]

By: lutton

lutton — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:52:16 +0000

I often watch HD programming downrezzed on a 17″ widescreen 480i TV. So it’s not just the higher quality (but if you do have a giant TV, you really need it!) but the widescreen format.

I think you’ll enjoy the widescreen format on a smaller screen/computer monitor as well as the higher quality on a bigger screen.

But if you can figure a way to ‘try’ the format out before shelling out for a big TV, I’d suggest it. Usually you can connect a cable box or HD DVR to a widescreen computer monitor via DVI/HDMI (which I mention since widescreen non-HD tvs are basically impossible to find).

Yeah, you can try it letterboxed and stuff, but you get the best feel for it when it fills the whole screen in a widescreen format.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:40:21 +0000

Point taken… But I have HD and didn’t see the DHARMA shark logo until I came across some screen grabs online. Maybe I need to re-calibrate with AVIA or pick up one of those Sypder thingies. Though I did see the people carrying torches surrounding the Lostaways last season, whereas my SD counterparts thought it was mechanical.

By: tedbill

tedbill — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:22:16 +0000

I think Phil has hit on the most important point. Most content today is being created specifically for HD, so if you are watching an SD image you are likely to miss parts of the show.

Here is a great example. Last year in one of the episodes of Lost there was a scene with a shark swimming through it. On my HD set I could clearly see that on the bottom of the shark there was the image of the Darhma (sp) project. I was talking with several friends that also watch the show and they did not notice it on their SD sets. For those that watch Lost they would immediately realize that this little difference has major implications!

And of course the additional resolution on the screen does make sporting events much more compelling giving you the feeling that you are really there.

By: alexi

alexi — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:20:32 +0000

I’m so addicted to HD content that I now only watch the local CBS affiliate’s evening news broadcast, as it’s the only one that’s offered in HD. Sign up, already!

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:48:11 +0000

I’m spoiled now. I only watch whats on HDTV these days. Admittedly that’s because all of my favorite shows (except The Daily Show and Colbert Report) are in HDTV like Lost, Jericho, Heroes, Discovery Atlas. It’s so hard to go back to SDTV after seeing HDTV, it’s like watching bad internet video. Sports is actually watchable in HD…well, baseball still isn’t, but the other ones are

By: Angel

Angel — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 23:22:29 +0000

I don’t think that HD will change your TV viewing as much as DVR, but it will be a vast improvement. You get spoiled watching that crystal clear picture. Once you pair the HDTV with a HD DVR, you’re in complete TV viewing heaven.

By: Scripting News for 10/24/2006 « Scripting News Annex

Scripting News for 10/24/2006 « Scripting News Annex — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 21:45:48 +0000

[...] Dave Zatz wonders whether it’s time to get HD. Yes, yes, yes. If you want to help figure all this stuff out, we need you to have the new eyes that you get from HD. Think about it this way. If there was an upgrade available for your eyes that gave you 3D vision when you just had 2D, would you pay $1500 for that? Yes, it is that big a difference, imho. [...]