HD A Bug's Life on ABC (1 Viewer)

[Grady Hollums]

WOW! I have only had a HD Decoder/receiver since November, and I must say that was amazing. Since I only get OTA I have really relied on PBS and their great shows to really show off Hd (well and football on CBS and ABC!) But man that was really great! I just wish I could have seen Toy Story or Shrek in HD now. heh

Anyone else think this was one of the best HD show offs OTA that have been on?

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Did they crop 2.35:1 to 16:9, or did they show it boxed?

 

[GregK]

It was letterboxed at or close to 2.35:1

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

If you can stand the commercials, these are the HD movies ABC will show over the next month:

1/26: Armageddon
1/31: The Parent Trap
2/1: Notting Hill
2/2: Gladiator
2/7: Lion King Special Edition
2/8: Pearl Harbor
2/9: The Mummy Returns
2/12: The Princess Diaries
2/21: Cast Away
2/28: Forrest Gump

 

[KevinJ]

those are good movies on that list...the only negative is castaway for the 2nd time in a month...why can't they pick another movie instead?

 

[Marc_Sulinski]

It is not the commercials I mind so much as the editing for time and/or content. While A Bug's Life may not have been edited, I would suspect that Armageddon, Gladiator and some others will be edited.

 

[Garrett Adams]

I don't watch all of them, especially when I own a DVD of the film. When do watch I'll record them using a MyHD card which allows me to FF through the the commercial breaks in a second or two.

 

[Wes_B]

It looked good.

 

[DaveBB]

But wasn't Cast Away just on and not in HD?

 

[Hanson]

Don't know about you, but the HD version looked no better than the DVD via MyHD. I don't have a 720p native set so that may have had something to do with it, but there was no extra detail or color, or anything, In fact, it looked a bit softer than the DVD.

 

[Grady Hollums]

Hanson:

I have not put in the DVD and compared it yet, but I was getting the feed over the air on my TV that is not 720p native either.

I wonder if I am getting a better not degraded signal because I am getting it over the air instead of through satellite or cable where they some times compress the signal?

I am just trying to find an explanation. I really am not sure.

 

[Hanson]

Digital signals like HD are by nature either optimal or not working. Degredation of the signal will cause drop-outs and blocking, but it will not affect the picture quality as such.

I will say, I am extremely impressed by MyHD's DVD playback. I can barely stand watching DVD's with my STB anymore.

 

[Bill Williams]

Funny, when I caught it on my local ABC affiliate, it was in "foolscreen" format. Thankfully I have the DVD, so I can go back and watch it in its proper widescreen format.

 

[Hanson]

I remember when Bug’s Life first came out to DVD, John Lassiter was saying that the master was created straight from the hard drives. This was in contrast to Antz, which was mastered from the film print. When BL first came out, it was non-anamorphic. Even so, the picture quailty was so impressive that it looked better zoomed on my non-HD widescreen, 2.35 ratio and all, than Antz did even though that DVD was 1.85 and anamorphically enhanced. When the anamorphic SE came out, I was surprised that it looked incrementally better than the non-enhanced version and not leaps and bounds better.

I think the digital to digital transfer is the reason why the HD version is not eye-poppingly better than the DVD. The DVD is reference quality and would only be incrementally better looking in HD even though the there is 50% more resolution. The softness I saw in the HD picture was probably due to the 1080i “upconversion”.

Also, let me add again that the MyHD card has a lot to do with it. The HD version probably beats the pants off of my STB.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I caught the start of it before flipping over to watch something else after Hopper comes to collect the food that wasn't there, thanks to Flik, but the video looked nice and crisp to my eyes on my setup. It was definitely in a wider aspect ratio than 16x9 because there were black bar on the top and bottom of the frame.

 

[GregK]

If you were seeing a full screen version, there's a few possibilities:

(1) You were accidentally watching the NTSC version or an alternate DTV (NTSC) subchannel (2) Your local ABC affiliate, by accident or due to technical difficulties, was upconverting the NTSC version.

 

[Grady Hollums]

Hanson:

What is the MyHD Card you are talking about? Thanks!

 

[Lew Crippen]

I caught a bit of Armageddon last night to check out the picture quality, etc. It was letterboxed during the credits, but cropped to 16:9 otherwise.

 

[Hanson]

MyHD is a PCI card based hi-def decoder and recorder. It allows you to timeshift over the air HD programming on your hard drive (does not work with cable). The biggest bonus feature is the recent ability to play and upscale DVD's to 1080i. It is not hi-def Tivo, however, since you cannot record and watch at the same time. It is more like a hi-def VCR.

You will need an HTPC setup and you will need a hi-def compatible set. As most PC based solutions go, those with weak stomachs and lack of PC know-how need not apply. On the plus side, because MyHD is hardware based and self-contained with respect to audio and video outputs, you won't need much horsepower. You could probably put together a MyHD dedicated system for under $800 (more if you want a really spacious hard drive -- hi-def records at a constant 9GB/hr).

Go to the HTPC section of the AVS Forum and search for MyHD for more info.

 

[Garrett Adams]

In my case it was easier as my desktop computer is only a few feet away from my home theater setup, thus no need for a dedicated HTPC.