HBO HD Question

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

What's the HD resolution presented on this channel?

Thanks.

--Phil

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

1080i

"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
news:ktlgv0tpmpoupf3apfsecova26io4ht1on@4ax.com...
> What's the HD resolution presented on this channel?
>
> Thanks.
>
> --Phil

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 03:52:02 GMT, "Brian K. White"
<nospam@foxfire74.com> wrote:

>1080i
>

Why does this channel appear to be nothing but less than DVD quality?
When I watch Leno/Joey and shows like these in HD, they look
incredible. HBO does not look incredible. I even made a bet with my
friend that is was only 720p quality. I guess I'm wrong. Are these
movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD? I'm confused.

--Phil

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Phil R. wrote:
>
> Why does this channel appear to be nothing but less than DVD quality?
> When I watch Leno/Joey and shows like these in HD, they look
> incredible. HBO does not look incredible. I even made a bet with my
> friend that is was only 720p quality. I guess I'm wrong. Are these
> movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD? I'm confused.
>
> --Phil

How are you getting HBO? Satellite or cable? The two main satellite
carriers will compress the HD channels to squeeze them into their
bandwidth.

Secondly, many of the movies on HBO HD are upconverts. And some of the
HBO shows are HD - Carnivale, Deadwood, Sopranos and some are not -
Inside the NFL, The Wire, and so on. The HD shows look pretty good to
me. Same goes for the movies which have been remastered as HD. HBO, on
the other hand, is notorious for cropping 2.35:1 movies to 16:9.

Go to the schedule on the HBO website. They will list which movies and
shows are true HD and which are not. I will give some credit to Showtime
because their schedule specifically says whether a movie is an upconvert
or not.

"Are these movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD?". All movies
filmed on 35mm are inherently HD, although the quality of the film stock
for older titles may limit how good an HD transfer will look.

Alan F

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:16:03 -0500, Alan Figgatt
<afiggatt@comcast.net> wrote:

>Phil R. wrote:
>>
>> Why does this channel appear to be nothing but less than DVD quality?
>> When I watch Leno/Joey and shows like these in HD, they look
>> incredible. HBO does not look incredible. I even made a bet with my
>> friend that is was only 720p quality. I guess I'm wrong. Are these
>> movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD? I'm confused.
>>
>> --Phil
>
> How are you getting HBO? Satellite or cable? The two main satellite
>carriers will compress the HD channels to squeeze them into their
>bandwidth.
>

Satellite. And I would figure there would be compression involved. It
doesn't look good to me.

> Secondly, many of the movies on HBO HD are upconverts. And some of the
>HBO shows are HD - Carnivale, Deadwood, Sopranos and some are not -

These shows look great, I know. I was mainly speaking of the movies
they air.



>me. Same goes for the movies which have been remastered as HD. HBO, on
>the other hand, is notorious for cropping 2.35:1 movies to 16:9.
>

I think I'm seeing these "remastered" movies. Me no like.

> Go to the schedule on the HBO website. They will list which movies and
>shows are true HD and which are not. I will give some credit to Showtime
>because their schedule specifically says whether a movie is an upconvert
>or not.
>

I will do that.


>"Are these movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD?". All movies
>filmed on 35mm are inherently HD, although the quality of the film stock
>for older titles may limit how good an HD transfer will look.
>

I see. Thanks a lot.

--Phil

 

[curmudgeon]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Because it's FILM....not videotape. Film has always had a warm soft look.
It doesn't look like the 6 o'clock news.
Thank God!! And it doesn't look like the Discovery Channel HD.
HBOs film transfers are among the best and the high resolution detail is
there. But it isn't like "looking thru a window" effect you get with live
sports or videotape.


"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
news:moqgv05nuo0cihterseagdjbsa069iiie8@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 03:52:02 GMT, "Brian K. White"
> <nospam@foxfire74.com> wrote:
>
>>1080i
>>
>
> Why does this channel appear to be nothing but less than DVD quality?
> When I watch Leno/Joey and shows like these in HD, they look
> incredible. HBO does not look incredible. I even made a bet with my
> friend that is was only 720p quality. I guess I'm wrong. Are these
> movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD? I'm confused.
>
> --Phil
>

 

[tdti1]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

To see HBO in the highest quality possible, you would need a big dish,
if that is not possible I would think cable would look good, depending
on who provides it. Small dish uses to much compression on all there
feeds.


--
tdti1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was posted via http/www.satelliteguys.us by tdti1

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

> Why does this channel appear to be nothing but less than DVD quality?
> When I watch Leno/Joey and shows like these in HD, they look
> incredible. HBO does not look incredible. I even made a bet with my
> friend that is was only 720p quality. I guess I'm wrong. Are these
> movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD? I'm confused.

Some of what HBO runs, such as "The Wire", is good SD, not HD. Most is
available in HD. "Carnavale", for example, is in HD. I think "Carnavale"
looks great.

I would not put too much into that comparison between 720p and 1080i. There
seem to be other factors in an HD broadcast a lot more important to the look
of the final picture than whether it is 720p or 1080i, anyway. Native
resolution on most of the sets watching those programs is around 720p,
anyway.

mack
austin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Mack McKinnon" <MckinnonRemoveThis@tvadmanDeleteThisAsWell.com> wrote in
message news:7t8Kd.72423$Ta2.31762@fe2.texas.rr.com...

> Some of what HBO runs, such as "The Wire", is good SD, not HD. Most is
> available in HD. "Carnavale", for example, is in HD. I think "Carnavale"
> looks great.

I forget the other category -- BAD SD. "Inside the NFL" is in terrible SD.
Maybe by next year they'll do something about that.

mack
austin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Since film emulsion is a random pattern, not a fixed number of scan
lines and pixels,
plus the mechanical nature of the cameras means there will always be
some slight
side to side and up and down motion between frames, film has a
different
look than video. Unfortunately, since film is much more expensive
to shoot than
video, the blurry look of film psychologically spells "quality"

This company

http/www.filmlook.com/process.html

takes video, throws away 60% of the fields to make it jerky like
film, blurs the
picture, and overlays a fake grain pattern.

Some of the shows they have ruined are:

The Two Hundredth Anniversary Special on West Point - History
Channel

Founding Fathers (EMMY award-winning mini series) - History Channel

Founding Brothers (an EMMY nominee) - History Channel

The Ponderosa - Pax TV

Untold Stories of the Navy Seals - Learning Channel

Special Forces - Learning Channel

That's So Raven - ABC Family and Disney Channel

Taina - Nickelodeon

New Unsolved Mysteries - Lifetime

Military Diaries - VH-1

SportsCentury (three-time EMMY AWARD winning series) - ESPN Classic

Monica in Black and White (plus many other documentaries) - HBO

Crossed Over (an EMMY nominee) - CBS

The Bear (plus other one-hour specials) - CBS

Welcome to Death Row (plus other documentaries) - PBS

The Power of Play - Discovery Channel

Haunted Hotels - Travel Channel

It's a Miracle - PAX TV

The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne - Sci-Fi Channel

Vet School Confidential - Animal Planet








"curmudgeon" <curmudgeon@buzzoff.net> wrote in message
news:QJbKd.11973$ud3.7892@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
> Because it's FILM....not videotape. Film has always had a warm
> soft look. It doesn't look like the 6 o'clock news.
> Thank God!! And it doesn't look like the Discovery Channel HD.
> HBOs film transfers are among the best and the high resolution
> detail is there. But it isn't like "looking thru a window" effect
> you get with live sports or videotape.
>
>
> "Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
> news:moqgv05nuo0cihterseagdjbsa069iiie8@4ax.com...
>> On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 03:52:02 GMT, "Brian K. White"
>> <nospam@foxfire74.com> wrote:
>>
>>>1080i
>>>
>>
>> Why does this channel appear to be nothing but less than DVD
>> quality?
>> When I watch Leno/Joey and shows like these in HD, they look
>> incredible. HBO does not look incredible. I even made a bet with
>> my
>> friend that is was only 720p quality. I guess I'm wrong. Are
>> these
>> movies filmed to be eventually presented in HD? I'm confused.
>>
>> --Phil
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:03:22 -0500, "curmudgeon"
<curmudgeon@buzzoff.net> wrote:

>HBOs film transfers are among the best and the high resolution detail is
>there.

If IBC's film transfers are "among the best", then why don't they
bother showing us the other 33% of 2.35:1 titles?

I am quite sure IBC doesn't do its own film transfers; it takes the
transfer it's given on D5 or HD-CAM or something, and then zooms into
the chunk in the middle, actually reducing the high resolution detail
that it receives.

I'm pretty profoundly unimpressed with IBC's "fill the screen!"
policy, as you may have guessed, and I find it risible that they would
be praised for having "among the best" transfers and "high resolution
detail"!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
news:ktlgv0tpmpoupf3apfsecova26io4ht1on@4ax.com...
> What's the HD resolution presented on this channel?

technically, HBO uses 1080i... but they also often use low-resolution
transfers of movies

much like serving a cold McDonalds burger on a fine china plate

so the actual viewing quality is highly variable

I suspect there may be some kind of under the table with Hollywood behind
this as SHO-HD does the same thing.

But StarzHD seems to be better across the board to my eye.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 12:40:33 -0500, "Randy Sweeney"
<rsweeney1@comcast.net> wrote:

>
>"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
>news:ktlgv0tpmpoupf3apfsecova26io4ht1on@4ax.com...
>> What's the HD resolution presented on this channel?
>
>technically, HBO uses 1080i... but they also often use low-resolution
>transfers of movies
>
>much like serving a cold McDonalds burger on a fine china plate
>
>so the actual viewing quality is highly variable
>
>I suspect there may be some kind of under the table with Hollywood behind
>this as SHO-HD does the same thing.
>
>But StarzHD seems to be better across the board to my eye.
>

Thanks.

--Phil

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Jason Wells" <spinmaster@nospam.com> wrote in message news:CYvKd.17513
> Try watching boxing on Saturday(Gatti v. Leija). It seems HBO has recently
> updated their equipment(last few months) and it looks like 1080i.

The fight looked great here in Sactown on HBO via Comcast.

 

[pravin]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
news:37snv018b70s25pbtmrkhkld1pbjtljli6@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 12:40:33 -0500, "Randy Sweeney"
> <rsweeney1@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
> >news:ktlgv0tpmpoupf3apfsecova26io4ht1on@4ax.com...
> >> What's the HD resolution presented on this channel?
> >
> >technically, HBO uses 1080i... but they also often use low-resolution
> >transfers of movies
> >
> >much like serving a cold McDonalds burger on a fine china plate
> >
> >so the actual viewing quality is highly variable
> >
> >I suspect there may be some kind of under the table with Hollywood behind
> >this as SHO-HD does the same thing.
> >
> >But StarzHD seems to be better across the board to my eye.
> >
>
Starz has a list of true HD movies on its website. you will be surprised by
some of the movies that dont have the HDTV moniker. I read another poster
here who complained about movies on starz. They claim the 16:9 broadcast of
kill bill and some other miramax movies are not in true hidef. The quality
looked fine to me, but then i watched it on a 36inch sony that displays a 33
inch hidef image. Maybe the lack of true hidef transfer will be exposed on a
bigger tv. Starz doesnt show as many horizontally letterboxed upconverts of
SD movies.


> Thanks.
>
> --Phil