musikone
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Posts posted by musikone
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RazorX wrote that musikone wrote:
"Occasionally I check up on the situation. However, every time that I make an A-B check of a movie on both HD and SD channels, I can see no significant difference between the two, except that, on my TV screen, the HD picture is 50% of the size (area-wise) of the SD picture!
So this shrunken image is the improvement that we are being promised on the HD channel?"
RazorX then responded:
"It should be just the opposite. A widescreen film on the SD channel will be shrunken down to fit in a 4:3 space, while on the HD channel it should fill the screen from side to side, and may have some slight letterboxing on the top and bottom of the screen, depending on the aspect ratio.
I DVR most of the films I watch on TCM. If something's being shown in the Academy ratio, I try to record it from the SD channel to save DVR storage space but anything wider I record from the HD channel, so I have a decent-sized image that I can actually see.
In the case of Robinson Crusoe, it looked much better on the SD channel than on the HD channel. I suppose HD revealed more of the print's shortcomings."
Here we go again! :-)
When I refer to a "shrunken" image, I am referring to the fact that, *for the same aspect ratio (i.e. width/height),* the area of the image in TCM's HD channel is just 50% of the area of the image in TCM's SD channel.
For example, if I view a 4:3 picture in HD, the image area will be 50% of the image area of the *identical 4:3 picture*, but viewed in SD.
Every time that I broach this subject (it somehow or other keeps reappearing), someone always confuses apples with oranges. So let's stick to apples this time around, and hopefully this point will finally sink in! But I won't bet on it.........
musikone
Edited by: musikone on Feb 23, 2012 11:39 PM
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RayFaiola wrote:I looked at my DVR'd copy last night. One of the reasons it looked so lousy is that it was heavily overscanned. I suspect this was done for HD viewers.
Until TCM can demonstrate convincingly, *in advance of its showing,* that a title which is scheduled for showing in HD is a definite improvement over that same title to be shown in SD, then, in my opinion, it should be viewed on the SD channel.
Currently, and I expect this practice to continue indefinitely into the future, I view *every* TCM movie on the SD channel. Occasionally I check up on the situation. However, every time that I make an A-B check of a movie on both HD and SD channels, *I can see no significant difference between the two,* except that, on my TV screen, the HD picture is 50% of the size (area-wise) of the SD picture!
So *this shrunken image* is the improvement that we are being promised on the HD channel?
There may be exceptions to my general observations, but I do not know what these *very few* movies are -- nor will I particularly care until TCM cleans up its HD act.
And yes, my eyesight is *very* good, thank you.
musikone
Edited by: musikone on Feb 23, 2012 12:48 PM
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Sprocket_Man wrote:No, "Hello, I'm Robert Osborne" is the only statement Osborne makes in his introductions that you can count on to be accurate.
Wasn't he born in Australia?
musikone
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Sprocket_Man wrote:I'm annoyed by yet another of Bob Osborne's flubs, referring to director Luis Buñuel as "Looie."
It's Spanish, Bob -- pronounced "LOO-eess" -- not French.
It's your job, Bob, one for which you're being paid money to inform, not misinform. Why can't you do your homework?
*I* thought that he wath lithping.
This was Robert's slip.
Now here's yours. In Spanish, Luis is *not* pronounced "LOO-eess". It is pronounced Lweess. The vowel combination "ui" is a Spanish diphthong, which is a continuous, gliding sound, rather than being in two syllables as your post indicates. This is the same diphthong as "uy" in the Spanish word Muy, which is pronounced Mwee, *not* MOO-ee. Hearing you say it this way, a Spaniard would probably wonder where the cow is :-).
Remember, your duty is to inform, not misinform. Why can't you do *your* homework?
musikone
Edited by: musikone on Feb 22, 2012 7:55 PM
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ValentineXavier wrote:The only thing Ben's "telltale marker" says to me is that he is of Polish extraction. The few people I have known with that suffix on their name were Polish, and most decidedly not Jewish, but Catholic.
I do not doubt that you have known a few people whose name ends in wicz that are Catholic. However, I think you will find that more than a few thus-marked individuals are Jewish, rather than Catholic.
Musikone
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darkblue wrote that musikone wrote:
I often put two (or even more) movies on a single disc, using a DVD recorder. Gloria was the second movie on this one disc, and it tightly fit
darkblue further wrote:
Sounds like a problem that will occur from time to time. There's a tremendous benefit to having HDD - you can record hundreds of hours, dozens of movies, in XP quality and do all your editing and exact timing preparation before burning onto the disc in whatever mode you like. I usually go with SP as most movies will fit onto a single disc at that speed. When a movie is longer than 1:59, alternate decisions are made - whether to go with LP quality or to split onto 2 discs (or go with the expense of dual layer, which I've not done yet).
If I had to plan my recording to burn directly from broadcast onto a disc, I'd undoubtedly run into the same frustrations as you now and again.
I am quite aware of all of these advantages. However, I have owned two high quality DVD recorders of different makes for a long time, have become thorougly familiar with them, and am very reluctant to give them up. I have also become highly proficient in fitting one or more movies within the limited space of a single, rewriteable DVD. I also enjoy the small challenge which this provides, as well as the much more difficult and demanding challenge of "perfectly" editing a DVD *after* it has been recorded. My edited DVD's cannot be distinguished from the original movie, sans TCM hype and self-promotional material, apart from the quality reduction from trying to cram too much video material onto a single DVD. I normally limit myself to four hours of video per DVD, although I can get about five percent more with my recorders and VR recording.
And finally, I have issues with Cox Communications, the only cable service provider in my locality. I refuse to rent a DVR from them, and do not care (at this stage of my life) to buy a new recorder containing a hard drive, although price is now no object. Furthermore, there is a very small choice of hard drive recorders now on the market, since all of the potential manufacturers are waiting for the Blu-Ray market to firm up before they invest any more money in new recorder designs.
In my youth, I would have waited out this game, planning to plunge ahead after the new round got under way. Today, however, this is no longer an option for me. But I do not sit around and lament the fact that I am not using a hard disk drive to record TCM movies.
After all is said and done, I can still enjoy a huge (an *understatement* :-) ) DVD archive of TCM recorded movies, which take up an absolute minimum of storage space. I keep track of my archive in a database; this allows me to locate any recording quickly and have it ready for viewing in just a few seconds.
What I lose, of course, is the convenience to which you refer, along with the frustration of losing an occasional recording due to TCM's error. I also occasionally will lose a recording due to careless, althouth this does not happen very often. I have come to terms with these things and accept them, albeit not always graciously.
So be it.
Musikone
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GONE!
Edited by: musikone on Feb 13, 2012 7:56 PM
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casablancalover wrote:I was asking the question.
I had reached no conclusion, but I had in my life a positive experience that seemed to relate.
Why do you ask that?
I couldn't believe that you were really serious :-).
But now that you seem to be, I will tell you. Certain names, such as those of some countries (like Portugal), as well as names containing the metals gold or silver, as well as names containing the word "stein" or ending in the letters witz/witcz/wicz, or consisting of the words "levy" or "levin" or "levine", or words containing the consecutive letters "hudi" or "huda", etc., etc., etc., are almost certainly of Jewish origin.
And of course, I am referring only to ethnic origin, not to religious belief or practice.
And guess what? Ben's name (which is not that of a Kosher wine), for better or worse, contains one of these telltale markers!
Musikone
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jamesjazzguitar wrote:Well Jonny, if we are going to go there, the instrument I play is spelled G-U-I-T-A-R and not Geetar!
Those who cannot play the piano are so terribly, terribly unfortunate. Perhaps a mite of piano training would clear up your head a bit. This is at least what is claimed in those educational studies that describe the benefits of studying music. And as we all (except for one, that is) know, there is no instrument better suited to this purpose than the piano.
Musikone
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casablancalover wrote:Oh, is Ben Jewish?
Who could guess this from his name?
So how did you ever come to this conclusion?
Musikone
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DuryeaForHollywood wrote:
Re: "Wouldn't it be worthwhile for you to record these movies as they come along? Then you wouldn't have to wait for them to come along so you could watch them a second or third or fourth time?"
Holy cats! You mean the technology for that actually exsists now?
Thanks for the heads up!
Thank you so very much.
However, "heads up" should be replaced by a popular four-word phrase with the acronym HITS, which I will leave you to figure out when you don't have something urgent to work on.
You too can immediately start practicing this new technology! I understand that it was recently invented in Lower Slobbovia under the tutelage of Li'l Abner, who is an expert in such matters. Perhaps this movie will be shown again sometime soon, notwithstanding TCM's great reluctance to repeatedly show its movies. Then you will be able to follow the development of this new technology to Full-Fledged-Fruition. No, there is no fourth F.
It's so exciting to be at the cutting edge, isn't it?
Musikone
(always willing to help out those poor souls who are less fortunate)
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ValentineXavier wrote:Well, my TCM monthly schedule had it right, but my Comcast OSG showed a correct time, but much too short a time slot. So, I posted a thread to warn people. You replied to that thread while Gloria was in progress. You should have heeded my warning, and adjusted your recording time. Gloria is one of Cassavetes' best.
Edited by: ValentineXavier on Feb 12, 2012 8:26 PM
You are right! I was simply careless and failed to followup your warning with the necessary checkup, both in Now Playing and at the TCM website, which unexplainedly disagreed by some ten minutes!
Hopefully I will not miss the next warning, if I am here to see it.
Musikone
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darkblue wrote:The TCM schedule had the movie as starting at 2:30 am and the next movie scheduled for 4:45 am. So I set the timer for 2:25 am until 4:50 am. I got the entire movie and then just edited off the unwanted portions at either end. Perfect.
It's probably easier for me to make these allowances as I have an HDD component with my DVD recorder.
I often put two (or even more) movies on a single disc, using a DVD recorder. As it happens, Gloria was the second movie on this one disc, and it tightly fit into the space that the TCM schedule provided, with a conservative space allowance to bit to account for normal variations in timing. Due to the tight fit, I set this program for these two movies very carefully, making sure that it would fit with this type of recorder, and then recorded them as I usually do, without watching to monitor the recording's progress. I have done this so many times before that I am very confident how much can be fit onto one DVD when recorded at a particular speed.
But I missed this one by a mile, due to the incorrect timing in the schedule from which I was working. I do not make a practice of going to the TCM website to check up on each movie before I record it. This would be totally impractical for me to do, particularly since I do not hang around on this website day and night, as some individuals on this message board seem to do. In fact, I am rarely here.
Musikone
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jamesjazzguitar wrote:
I don't think TCM has a duty to help people record movies so they can make them part of their collection.
In fact simple logic would say otherwise
This is a very peculiar interpretation of what I said. I do not understand the relevance of simple logic to this issue, which seems to be troubling you. I shall now attempt to set you straight on this matter.
Whether or not TCM approves of my recording any or all of its movies and therefore not purchasing the movies that I have recorded, I have the right under US copyright law to do exactly this. I may make any number of copies *for my own personal use.* If you understood the copyright laws, you would know that it is the *use* to which a copy of of material that is made available for public viewing over the airwaves or by cable is put that distinguishes legality from illegality.
Apart from issues of copyright or the abortive DRM (which does *not* reflect the copyright laws), it is incumbent upon TCM, assuming that it prides itself in showing these movies, to *let viewers know when a movie begins and ends* (not including the time devoted to commentary), without regard to whether or not it is being recorded.
If I have a tight schedule and want to fit the movie into my viewing schedule, I need to have the *correct* information about its showing. If TCM cannot provide this information, with a timely correction if later found necessary, it might as well close up shop and take up some other endeavor. So what is troubling you about recording a TCM movie, as any number of viewers do regularly, day in and day out?
Your concern is nonsensical! If you wish to discuss my inability to use simple logic, I would suggest that you start practicing what you preach.
Musikone
(one who understands logic, simple or otherwise)
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In the month's schedule which I printed out on February 1 and am using for my recording, it states that the duration of the movie Gloria (apart from Osborne's beginning and ending interesting commentary) is 102 minutes. Not knowing any differently, I programmed (with very ample extra time on both sides of the start and ending) this movie, without watching it during its showing.
However, when I later reviewed its recording, I found that the end of the movie was seriously chopped off. So I came back here to the TCM website, which *now* has this movies listed with a duration of 122 minutes instead of 102 minutes. For some unknown reason, TCM programmers did not find a way to inform me that what they originally told me about the duration of this movie was *extremely* far off the mark.
Not only is it far off the mark, but its duration in Now Playing, which I did not cross check against my schedule printed from the TCM website, is listed as 132 minutes!! I am on TCM's mailing list, so why weren't they able to send out a correction of this magnitude?
Is it necessary to check each movie against the website schedule to ensure that this type of thing does not wreck a recording, particularly for such a movie as this, which can benefit greatly by repeated viewing?
TCM keeps on degrading its good work by neglecting to take care of its bread and butter schedule corrections, with surety and in a timely manner.
Musikone
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RazorX wrote:Sepiatone,
Changing the TV settings to 4:3 would have worked if they had done a stretch-o-vision thing with the film, but they actually zoomed in on it, causing the edges to be cropped out of the screen. There's no way to get what was lost back, and no way to get back the lost resolution from the zooming. The only thing to do in this case would be to watch it the standard definition channel where it was presented properly.
I always watch TCM's so-called "high-definition" movies in standard definition in order to utilize more than 50% of the TV screen. I hate these badly shrunken images. So far at least, I appear to have *lost nothing* by doing this.
Musikone
(keeping them honest)
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ValentineXavier wrote:At 2:30am tonight TCM is showing Gloria. TCM and the IMDb list its running time at 122m, but it's slot is much shorter. Be sure to extend your running time to allow for it!
Are you claiming that someone in TCM programming made a mistake?
This is of course impossible!! But then again, there is always a first time for everything.
Sorry, but I'll have to take this back. Now that I think about it, I do remember that The Commandos recently struck out when they started their striking three minutes and fifty-five seconds after they were scheduled to. And I seem to remember that the title of the movie as it flashed on the screen was simply Commandos, rather than The Commandos, as listed in the TCM schedule. Oh well, there is a second time for everything.
Musikone
(counting them up)
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DuryeaForHollywood wrote:It did occur to me, as well, that the Eastern Europe and Germany blocks were a bit heavily-weighted toward World War II films, but I didn't mind much. It was a joy to watch "Judgment at Nuremburg" again. What a marvellous film that is! It's astonishing how quickly the 182 minutes fly by -- testimony to the extraordinary velocity of Stanley Kramer's direction. This stakes a solid claim to being Kramer's finest film, I think.
It was also a treat to watch "Decision Before Dawn," (TCM premier, by the way. I'd never had the chance to see this picture -- the fifth of the 1951 Best Picture nominees. I'd have to rank it last in its field (somehow the story never caught fire like I expected), but the film boasts a very fine performance by Oskar Werner -- I simply was staggered at every close-up how young he looked here. Almost baby-faced; it's depressing how soon that was to change.
Don't agree at all, BTW, that this month has been a waste. As many have noted, there's no shortage of TCM premiers this month, and there seems to have been a concerted effort to note the complaints of some long-time posters, and skew the films this month toward older titles (i.e. titles pre 1970). Thanks to the programming department for that.
P.S. I can't wait to watch Wait Until Dark tonight. Long time since I've seen that one! I've seen "The Apartment" a few times, and will almost certainly be watching again. It's hard to get tired of a film that so boldly and seamlessly mingles comedy and pathos, and which stands easily as one of the 10 or so best films ever to claim Oscar gold as the Academy's Best Picture!
Edited by: DuryeaForHollywood on Feb 11, 2012 2:55 PM
Wouldn't it be worthwhile for you to record these movies as they come along? Then you wouldn't have to wait for them to come along again in order to watch them a second or third or fourth, etc., etc., etc., :-).
Just a thought.....
Musikone
(always thinking)
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denislaug wrote:Your Playing Classical music is just great, "Strauss Festival" is just great and all others like it ... Thanks for the great interludes between Movies.. I [l]ove it . Sincerely, Capt. Dennis Slaughter
I heartily agree with you, Captain. Unfortunately, the reality of USA culture is that very, very few people (percentage-wise) have any serious interest in so-called "classical" *music*. Even among TCM fans, who are much more culture-oriented than the American masses, this interest is apparently minor, as you will see when you check for the number of replies to what is admittedly an off-topic post, if one deems on-topic to be only the discussion of so-called "classical" *movies*.
To each his/her own idea of what constitutes "classical".
Musikone
(all kinds of music and their inter-relationship)
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> {quote:title=jamesjazzguitar wrote:}{quote}I don't depend on TV as my primary source of entertainment. For example, I'm not one that turns on the TV as soon as I enter the house (like most Americans). So I think it is good you are watching less TV. Everyone should watch A LOT less TV.
>
> So I highly recommend that all of those people that feel TV has let them down find other hobbies and ways to entertain themselves. The Internet even makes this more easy to do, but there are many, many other activities one can do besides watching TV and most of those are commercial free to boot.
You are right. No doubt about it; people should turn off the TV and learn to the play the piano. Great suggestion, Jonny.
Musikone
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> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}Decision Before Dawn has been shown before and recently. Because I remember recording it and watching it as I'd never seen it before. I'm pretty sure Pete Kelley's Blues has been shown too. TCM doesnt keep good statistics!
I don't think that they know how to keep good statistics; here today, forgotten tomorrow. There are, of course, many things that the TCM programmers do not know how to do. Just when we think that they have learned something, they once again repeat the very same error. Etc., etc., etc.
Musikone
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Here is the February list of Premieres:
02 Lies My Father Told Me
03 The Invisible Woman
04 Holy Matrimony
06 The Firemen's Ball
Voice in the Wind
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
07 Decision Before Dawn
08 State Fair (1933)
09 Pete Kelley's Blues
Second Fiddle
11 The Best of Everything
12 Hester Street
13 The Kansan
16 The Desert Rats
21 The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1954)
24 Bless the Beasts and Children
Pieces of Dreams
25 The House on Telegraph Hill
Harry and Tonto
27 The House of the Seven Gables
Come to the Stable
Goodwill Hunting
28 Blockade
29 On the Riviera
Arabian Nights
This list is compiled from Now Playing. I count only 25 entries, not 27. However, I may have missed a couple in my scanning through all of the pages to find them. They are not listed in the manner that I have presented them above, which is a shame.
I have started marking them in red ink on my recording schedule, so that I will not miss any of them in the future. I have been subscribing to Now Playing for about four years, and I would strongly urge you to do so. It is cheap and well worth it. I have not missed an issue in all of this time, and I keep them in order (year and month) for quick reference.
Musikone
Edited by: musikone on Feb 7, 2012 1:07 AM
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exapno wrote:
I quite frankly have never had this problem with TCM....they have been usually VERY good about adding 'extra' to their slots if a movie even runs 'over' - i.e., if it runs 121 minutes they give it a 135 slot - that 'extra' quarter hour.
In the past, mostly YES. But in the last several days, often *NO*. The recent "Strike Up the Band" is a perfect example of *NO*. Someone at TCM programmed the 120 minute movie in a space of 120 minutes!! This does not leave any space at all for commentaries, both at the beginning and the end of the movie. Worse yet, the existence of commentaries and their lengths is unknown. And perhaps by the programmer?
exapno wrote: As said before, it is always better to be safe than sorry, and MANUALLY program.
Unfortunately, this does not always work.
I always program MANUALLY. Yet when confronted with a can't-win situation by TCM's careless (the nicest thing that can be said about it) programming, I lost. I ended up with Ben's commentary at the start of the movie but lost it at the end (I record both commentaries as a matter of course, even though they may be repetitive; I can edit them out after the recording), since I was committed to recording the movie which immediately followed.
I keep a database of all of the movies that I have in my TCM archive, in order to avoid repeated recordings. I mark these "omits" on my recording schedule. Among other benefits, this gives me extra programming space to soak up the slopover when it occurs. As much as I dislike all of these repeats, I can at least get something good from them :-).
Musikone
Edited by: musikone on Feb 1, 2012 8:44 PM
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lanceroten wrote:
I've noticed this. I've been setting the DVR times accordingly
This is much more difficult when using a DVD recorder, since the video must be accurately programmed in order to avoid overrun.
Not only that, but a movie which runs over into the scheduled time for the next movie presents a very serious problem. I consider this situation to be unacceptable, and it is time for TCM to stop this. It appears to me to be inexperienced programmers who are doing this, without control of their activities by somebody who knows better.
Musikone
Hello. I'm Robert Osborne
in General Discussions
Posted
misswonderly wrote:Right, they always get everything wrong side up in that country.
This is not exactly what I meant :-)
So here's a clue, just for you. Try pronouncing Robert's last name.
musikone