HD for TCM

[Palmswede]

When is TCM going to HD? I have seen old movies (i.e. To Kill a Mockingbird) in HD and it is like watching these movies at the theater. The crispness and sharpness of the movie is excellent. And with a large screen tv it is even better.

[DougieB]

There's a down side, though. My cable company just added TCM in HD but, as someone who is used to recording at will, I was dismayed to find that the HD channel is encoded. For special viewings, I'll go to it, but mostly I'm going to stay put where I can record my favorites.

[talkietime]

When you say that TCM HD is "encoded" perhaps you mean that your cable provider "scrambles" TCM HD.

 

Our local Comcast service "scrambles" TCM SD and TCM HD. Locally, a converter box is necessary for either TCM feed.

 

I record either TCM feed with my DVD Recorders or HDD/DVD Recorders.

[DougieB]

Sorry. I meant encoded with copy protection. I get a screen saying I can't record on the HD channel, whereas I have never (except that one Sherlock Holmes movie a while back) had trouble recording from TCM.

[talkietime]

It's likely that your service provider has implemented copy protection on TCM HD. Contact your provider concerning that.

 

TCM doesn't put copy protection on its feeds. If they did the problems would be widespread and mentioned frequently.

 

So far I've had no problems recording TCM HD or TCM SD with Panasonic DVD Recorders or Philips and Magnavox HDD/DVD Recorders.

[lzcutter]

At the TCM Panel at the Film Festival last week, the VP of Programming talked about this. Currently, TCM is offering an upconverted signal to HD and TCM HD is offered on a number of cable providers.

 

It will be at least a year, perhaps longer, before it will be true HD.

[filmlover]

I've now been watching TCM in HD (upconverted) on DISH and it's great improvement over the standard signal. And out of curiousity, I tried recording something and it worked fine.

 

It's so great seeing widescreen movies now filling out the edges of my widescreen TV on TCM HD. The standard signal doesn't do that (unless I use my remote to magnify the image, which makes a standard image look worse).

 

One thing that people have to remember is that it will take TCM quite awhile to get a lot of the films in true HD. It's an expensive project.

[markfp2]

> {quote:title=talkietime wrote:}{quote}

> It's likely that your service provider has implemented copy protection on TCM HD. Contact your provider concerning that.

 

Could also be his recorder. Certain brands are notorious for blocking recordings. SONY is one. I use Panasonic and Toshiba exclusively and have never had trouble. We had Magnavox where I use to work and that was fine too.

[Liltawen]

Congratulations on becoming HD. I realize that most of TCM movies will probably never be converted but it is still nice to see these films in what ever clarity Ican get.