I've seen alot of promo's for the "SLEUTH" channel. I'd like to see this one. Looks like some good content. HD version would be awesome. As for Universal, I agree with everyone here. They need to add more content. The Frighteners was nice to watch. They still have a ways to go with this channel.
Universal HD - Gone Next Week?
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Actually, BSG looks to be shot on film. I imagine that they just are just not spending much money on the transfer.
waltinvt said:
At least in terms of content vs. upgrade costs I think you're probably right. I looked over the UNI-HD schedules for a few weeks prior to the 2/1 upgrade unveiling, and really didn't see anything that exciting. In terms of ESPN2-HD, I already now how disappointing ESPN-HD can be at times, so I had already chalked that one off. And, after hearing all the complaints about VOOM!, the upgrade just really didn't seem to make sense.
Some people like to get the stuff as it comes out, which is cool. For me, however, I don't watch HD just because it's HD, the content has to be compelling.
It looks to me like BSG is shot in low lighting. This is one way to save money. But, since it is low lighting both film and video cameras will have a lot of grain/noise and lower effective resolution.
I seem to remember reading that BSG was shot using HD cameras. But don't quote me on it. The DVD I have of the first season looks very good. Watching BSG on UHD I would say the quality is close to what appears on the DVD, but not quite. Leads me to believe something else is going on there with the source.
BTW, one thing I have noticed in my limited viewing of ESPN2HD is the games so far have been in HD. Unlike ESPNHD that constantly shows NBA games in SD, which drives me nuts. For instance, the Lakers were on my local channel in HD a couple of nights ago, I switched over to ESPNHD who was also showing the game and of course it was SD. ESPN2HD seems more consistent in that area.
BTW, one thing I have noticed in my limited viewing of ESPN2HD is the games so far have been in HD. Unlike ESPNHD that constantly shows NBA games in SD, which drives me nuts. For instance, the Lakers were on my local channel in HD a couple of nights ago, I switched over to ESPNHD who was also showing the game and of course it was SD. ESPN2HD seems more consistent in that area.
I thought it might be the lighting too, as a lot of the scenes are in low light. But even in brightly lit scenes in last night's episode, the detail wasn't there. At least not in the sense of good quality HD detail. There was also a fair amount of "highlight blooming" in the brightly lit scenes.
I did confirm that it is shot in 1080/24p. So either the original recording is being purposely (for artistic reasons) shot with more grain & bloom or it is not being shot very well or what we are seeing is not a good transfer.
In any case, I would want UHD solely for this series alone if I had a pay a buck a month to get the channel. It's a shame what the overcompressed Sci-Fi channel does to this series ... and many more. I wish Dish would give S-F more bandwidth.
I did confirm that it is shot in 1080/24p. So either the original recording is being purposely (for artistic reasons) shot with more grain & bloom or it is not being shot very well or what we are seeing is not a good transfer.
In any case, I would want UHD solely for this series alone if I had a pay a buck a month to get the channel. It's a shame what the overcompressed Sci-Fi channel does to this series ... and many more. I wish Dish would give S-F more bandwidth.
UHD does not have as much variety as any of the Voom channels. The same old four or five series over and over again.l Any of the 15 Voom channels has more variety.
Stargate SG-1 is filmed for 16:9 so it could be transferred to HD eventually, but so far it hasn't appeared in HD anywhere. Stargate Atlantis has been shown in HD in Canada.[/QUOTE]
Stargate SG-1 was filmed and shown in HD for the first 5 seasons when it was originally on Showtime. The only reason I subscribed to Showtime, it looked great back then.
Stargate SG-1 was filmed and shown in HD for the first 5 seasons when it was originally on Showtime. The only reason I subscribed to Showtime, it looked great back then.
That's pretty sad. When you have less content than a voom channel, it might be time to re-think your programming.
Well, they have a lot more content than the typical VOOM channel. They, UHD, are running a limited number of series, but within each series lies a lot of episodes.
Lets stick to the point of the thread. UHD is a decent channel even though I hate Knight Rider. What is sad is that a person cant have both UHD and Voom channels. Lets not make this a D* vs E* debate.
I know this is way off Topic but the problem with Bravo HD + (used be called) and now Universal HD is that Universal has so much rights to movies and programming and yet we have to endure repeated programs for months and minimal new programming each months. Look at a series like Monk which I liked. First season was made available on UHD but they have been running the same season for almost a year now. Where the heck are the other episodes for the other seasons? Does it take a year to do the transfer? I do not think Universal HD is serious about HD. This is an experimental channel at best.
I was pleasantly surprised to see UHD running BSG episodes that aired as recently as summer 2005. A former E* customer, now with cable, Sci-Fi SD channel is just as bad on Cox. Though UHD's presentations of BSG might not be the best HD I've seen, it is 100 times better than the SD version, which is compelling me to luxuriate in watching UHD's repeated episodes that I've seen as recently as six-months ago.
I also agree with Sean. Why can't UHD draw more from their extensive library of movies? Do they not want to spend any money on making the transfers? And why choose to only air what I consider second or third tier movies rather than the classics? Do they make more $$ selling the exclusive rights to the better movies to the networks, superstations, and premium channels?
I also agree with Sean. Why can't UHD draw more from their extensive library of movies? Do they not want to spend any money on making the transfers? And why choose to only air what I consider second or third tier movies rather than the classics? Do they make more $$ selling the exclusive rights to the better movies to the networks, superstations, and premium channels?
Bravo is not the channel it used to be either. It seems that everything I check it nowadays they have something named "Project Runway" or celebrity poker on it. Back when they aired movies in their OAR with no commercials, it was a great channel.
It would be nice if UHD aired some of those movies. Right now they have a movie slot late at night. It would be a nice place to run some good movies in HD for HD DVR subscribers.
It would be nice if UHD aired some of those movies. Right now they have a movie slot late at night. It would be a nice place to run some good movies in HD for HD DVR subscribers.
I will miss the channel until my 622 hopefully someday arrives. I've had it on order from Dish Depot since February 9th, but unfortunately they haven't been able to get many 622's yet so I am still on a waiting list hoping that someday before long it will ship. 
I was thinking I would probably receive my 622 before Universal was taken back away, but alas it doesn't look like that will happen. (I liked having Universal-HD when I had Voom, and had been missing the channel for a long time.) Do wish they would use some of their extensive library to bring us some more good shows to the channel, though!
I was thinking I would probably receive my 622 before Universal was taken back away, but alas it doesn't look like that will happen. (I liked having Universal-HD when I had Voom, and had been missing the channel for a long time.) Do wish they would use some of their extensive library to bring us some more good shows to the channel, though!
