DVDPhreak Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Some TCM viewers claim they have seen true HD broadcasts from TCM, such as the recent showings of "Gypsy" and "The Time Machine", both of which have had Blu-ray releases. Next Tuesday's showing of "Out of the Past" will be on prime-time 8pm, and this is a film that also has had a Blu-ray release, making it a prime candidate for a HD broadcast. So we will see if it will actually be so. I'm posting this so more of you will be witnesses to this potential HD showing. And yes, I own the "Out of the Past" Blu-ray, so I will be able to tell for certain if next week's broadcast will be in HD or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Doesnt matter to me as I'm still watching an analog TV. (LOL). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElCid Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Don't care. Have an HD TV and SD TV and can't really see a lot of difference, particularly in old movies such as shown on TCM. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primosprimos Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Don't care. Have an HD TV and SD TV and can't really see a lot of difference, particularly in old movies such as shown on TCM. Amen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDPhreak Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 Another thread on the subject was already made earlier this week so apparently many people do care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDPhreak Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 Don't care. Have an HD TV and SD TV and can't really see a lot of difference, particularly in old movies such as shown on TCM. True HD is 1080p, but most TV shows are shown in 720p only, and that's why we don't often see the benefit of full HD, especially on smaller TV screens. 1080p uses more bandwidth, and TV networks only use it for the important programs, such as the Olympics, World Cup, Super Bowl, and the likes, the kind of programs that get big ratings, obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieMadness Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Don't care. Have an HD TV and SD TV and can't really see a lot of difference, particularly in old movies such as shown on TCM. In order to tell the difference you have to watch the SD and HD channels on an HD TV alone (IMHO of coarse). If you do it that way you should see about a 25% improvement with HD over SD. What does that mean? Well, with one movie i noticed in SD the cars looked beat up and old, in HD they looked new. The blacks are darker in HD giving B&W more contrast. Overall I saw a great improvement between the two. Now, if you mean that the SD broadcast of this movie won't make much difference on an SD TV even if it is from an HD format I think you are right. I would like to know what format the movies are myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElCid Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 As I said before, I have watched same movies/TV shows on an HD set and an SD set. To me, no appreicable difference, especially in old B&W movies. In fact, I believe the colors in older movies are better on my SD set than on my HD (and it is a top rated model). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDPhreak Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 As I said before, I have watched same movies/TV shows on an HD set and an SD set. To me, no appreicable difference, especially in old B&W movies. In fact, I believe the colors in older movies are better on my SD set than on my HD (and it is a top rated model). They may look the same on TCM, because TCM normally doesn't show movies in true HD. If they show "Out of the Past" in HD next week, it will be exception rather than the norm. But If you are debating whether HD in general looks better than SD or not, then you have no debate. HD does look better; that is a mathematical certainty, since HD has 4 times the pixel count more than SD. I have the movie "Laura" on DVD and Blu-ray. Now click here, then click to open one of the screen captures of "Laura". Then press the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to switch back and forth between the HD and SD picture. See the difference now? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElCid Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 They may look the same on TCM, because TCM normally doesn't show movies in true HD. If they show "Out of the Past" in HD next week, it will be exception rather than the norm. But If you are debating whether HD in general looks better than SD or not, then you have no debate. HD does look better; that is a mathematical certainly, since HD has 4 times the pixel count more than SD. I have the movie "Laura" on DVD and Blu-ray. Now click here, then click to open one of the screen captures of "Laura". Then press the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to switch back and forth between the HD and SD picture. See the difference now? Not just TCM. These include premium channels that show older movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieMadness Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 It sounds like you are comparing the regular TCM channel on two different TVs. That is not the same as comparing the TCM HD channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDPhreak Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Not just TCM. These include premium channels that show older movies. Some channels do use old, non-HD video masters for broadcast. But there are many channels, even in basic cable, that show movies in HD. Our PBS channel shows old movies in HD every weekend, but once in a while they use SD masters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDPhreak Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Just want to be technically correct: TV networks don't show 1080p. They show "1080i", a slightly less good-looking version of 1080. 1080p picture is only available on Blu-ray discs and online videos (Vudu, Netflix, etc.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Rogers Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 To the OP, thanks for the heads up. Tivo has been set. Been wanting to see this one for a while. I considered buying the blu-ray, but now I'll get a viewing to see if I like it. Big fan of classic noir, and I've heard this one is a founding classic in the noir genre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 To the OP, thanks for the heads up. Tivo has been set. Been wanting to see this one for a while. I considered buying the blu-ray, but now I'll get a viewing to see if I like it. Big fan of classic noir, and I've heard this one is a founding classic in the noir genre. Hope you like it. Its one of my all time favorite noirs. I never tire of watching it (and probably will be watching again!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Well, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDPhreak Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 Well, is it? It looks like 720p, so technically it is HD. But 720p is a lower-resolution version of HD (the higher resolution for broadcast is 1080i), and it looks nowhere close to the Blu-ray, which is in 1080p. Click here for the screenshot comparison. Click open the first screenshot, then press the right arrow key on your keyboard. The first shot is from the Blu-ray edition of "Out of the Past, which I own, followed by a corresponding shot of tonight's broadcast, followed by an SD broadcast from 2009. As they clearly show, TCM HD broadcasts are much improved over SD, but still a distance away from Blu-ray. But then again, very few networks show movies in the highest quality of 1080i because (1) It requires higher bandwidth to show the higher resolution, and (2) studios want you to pay for the Blu-rays or online videos (from Netflix, Vudu, etc.) with true HD picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDPhreak Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Upon further examination, tonight's broadcast may not even be 720p. I downconverted my Blu-ray screenshot to 720p resolution and it STILL looks much better than tonight's broadcast. Later, I will bring out another set of comparison to better illustrate this. (Moments later...) On closer examination, tonight's broadcast may not be true HD after all. In order to see true HD picture, the video SOURCE has to be in true HD as well. Click here for another comparison. The first picture is the 1080p Blu-ray shown earlier. The second one is the 720p version of the same image, which I created by downsizing the 1080p image. The two shots may look identical on your small computer monitor, but on a large TV screen you would see the difference. The third shot is from tonight's broadcast, which you can plainly see is not even close in quality to the 720p shot. In order to be HD, a picture has to be at least 720p. Therefore, I have to conclude that the underlying video source simply doesn't have enough detail to look HD, and some sort of upconversion was used to broadcast it in 720p. Edited December 3, 2014 by MovieMadness2014 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Regardless of whether it's True HD or not, Out of the Past is still up there with the 1946 version of The Killers as one of the two greatest Hollywood noirs. Trivia quiz: What prolific character actor was in both The Killers and Out of the Past? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Regardless of whether it's True HD or not, Out of the Past is still up there with the 1946 version of The Killers as one of the two greatest Hollywood noirs. Trivia quiz: What prolific character actor was in both The Killers and Out of the Past? Wally Scott? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I forgot it was on and missed the first 15 mins. but watched the rest of it. Now, Get Out! I have to sleep in here! (so many great lines........) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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