HD not always HD

[dude2]

I have noticed lately that some of the voom channels and others in the hd package do not look like hd even though the screen is filled out. then when you press guide the description of the event does not include the letters HD at the end.
Is this a trick on the channels part to make people think it is HD but not? Usually the channels are honest and put non HD with side brackets and if you want you can expand the screen, but this expanded screen but no HD can be confusing to the majority of people who think they are watching HD>

 

[Sean Mota]

Let me clarify a few things:

1- All Voom Movies are re-mastered from either 35mm film or 16mm film depending on how the movie was shot. Most of the time the mastered are on 35mm film.

2- Depending on the original mastered (how well was kept) is how the HD version will look. There are few things that can be done to enhance the HD version but most of the time the original master will dictate how good the HD version is.

3- There are various formats that do not completely filled your 16x9 Widescreen (1:85:1) and yet these are re-mastered from a 35mm film. The formats could be 1:33:1, 1:37:1, 1:66:1, 2:35:1, etc. Some of these will display as pillar boxes (1:33:1, 1:37:1, 1:66:1) while others like 2:35:1 will display with Black bars top and bottom. Even though these formats do not completly filled the 16x9 widescreen they are HD re-mastered from the original 35mm film. They are aired in their OAR (Original Aspect Ratio).

4. Now that we have movies out of the equation all other voom channels are shot with Original HD cameras. The format is 16x9 WideScreen. This happens on HDnews, RushHD, GalleryHD, WorldSportHD, etc...

5- If the quality is not up to part there could be a few reasons for it.

a) HD Lite on Dish Network is a fact of life that degrades the quality of HD. All Voom channels plus others on Dish Network are HD lite. HD lite has two components that will degrade the picture. One is bitrates and the other is the resolution. Picture quality is dependable on both. The Higher the bitrates and the resolution the better the picture quality is. The lower it is the worse the picture is. It is a well-known fact that Dish Network is feeding us with HD Lite on both variables.

6-This also is important and could affect picture quality. If you HDTV is not calibrated it could have an impact. Assuming it is calibrated properly then you have to look at #5 for most of the PQ degradation.

7- Also, the size of your HDTV can show you how bad HD Lite is. on 42" WideScreen TV HD Lite will be noticeable but not that much depending again on how well your HDTV is calibrated and brand of TV. I can only testify on a DLP 42" I have. I can hardly see HD Lite on it. But if I go to my Sony 60" HDTV (calibrated) I can see HD Lite a mile away.

I hope that helps.

 

[NABRIL]

Sean
How do you calibrate a Panasonic HDTV? What settings?

Thanks,
N

 

[Sean Mota]

Sean
How do you calibrate a Panasonic HDTV? What settings?

Thanks,
N

Thats not an easy question. I am not qualify to answer this since there are more people with more experience on the subject in here. You can have it calibrated professionally and that costs money. The other way will be to calibrate your HDTV based on the simple color settings of your TV. There are DVDs available that can give you an idea on how to do it. It varies by HDTV, settings and inputs on your HDTV. Lots of TV had hidden system menus that allow you to go beyond the simple settings but most of the time it is not recommended to go into these settings if you do not understand what they represent.