HD television on demand (1 Viewer)

[David Deeb]

Comcast is now offering HD on demand. I was impressed. I saw Chronicles of Narnia in HD for free! Before an HD or Blu-Ray disc ever showed up.

There were several other HD movies (Terminator, Men in Black, others), concerts and shows all available on demand. While the choices are not huge yet, I'm sure it will grow over the next year.

I'm curious to people's thoughts. How do you think this will impact either HD on disc (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray)?

 

[KevinJ]

IMHO the more HD VOD there is the less the need'll be for HD-DVD/BLU RAY[as long as the VOD is kept at full bit rate that is].

 

[TonyD]

too bad starz crops the movies.
narnia should have been 2.35 but it was widefull screen.

only movie i could find on starz hd on demand was national treasure, that wasnt cropped.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I'm enjoying this feature, I watched The Terminator in HD the other night and it looked beautiful. But as was said, I will only watch if the film's are presented in their OAR's, afterall, a turd is still a turd even when it's in 1080i.

 

[Dave Mack]

Yeah, you know what sucks too is that the preview for Narnia seems to be in OAR but the film is cropped. The Incredibles isn't though...
Armageddon was OAR for the first 12 or so minutes until all the credits finished, then jumped to being cropped...

 

[Brian Little]

It seems to depend on the studio and what they send to Starz for broadcast use... or at least that's from my understanding.

 

[David Deeb]

I think for many casual fans, being in "widefull" (to borrow TonyD's good term) may be absolutely acceptable.

I think it will be perceived as ok since it is in HD, it fills the screen, it is widescreen and it may be (and I could be wrong), it may be closer to the OAR than a pan and scan.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Close, but no cigar.

For films composed for 1.85:1 certaintly I would agree, however for 2.35:1 and wider, 1.78:1 (naitive HDTV) won't do. I watched Star Wars Ep III in HD on HBO the other day in full 2.35:1, there's no reason why any other film shouldn't be shown that way also.

But, like was said, it's got something to do with the studios decision.

 

[JediFonger]

david, i hope you know it's merely a "trial". it isn't permanent =). the only thing that might be fairly permanent is a deal cbs inked w/Comcast to put all the CIS/NCIS and all the N's, C's and IS's ondemand for free... but with ads. so, AOD (ADS ON DEMAND) will start to creep in! that's the wave of hte future. unless you fork over $, you will get ads. we see it on web contents... we're used to it on radio and now it's coming to ondemand.

you can click over to the CBS offerings now but HD versions are $2/ep. the SD versions are already "free".

on a related note, there are many HD content "on demand". i saw the birdcage for the 1st time. it was fairly tame compared to what's going on today. the discovery shows were just awesome. they really shine in shots that veer off into the horizons. if you have a front projector, you can make out so many details in the far corners of the earth... when you pause it, it's like a nice painting.

re: fiction movies. it's funny to take a look at these transfers because you can spot the same prints on HD-DVD/BR (but with higher bitrate and no macroblocks... on the HD-DVD . plus it's all DD2.0 =(. i thought some of it was going to be 5.1. anyway, the specific print i'm referring to is the 5th element. i'm willing to bet the copy they duped on BR is the same exact copy i glanced on via on demand. it's got the same dirt marks in the same place =). boy they're all so lazy!

those who subscribe to movie channel in HD. do most HD movie broadcasts resize to "fill" 1.78 regardless of original aspect ratio (OAR)? i'm just curious.

PS what do you guys think about recording HD as a permanent copy from premium channels? just doesn't exist unless you circumvent the STB... but it's a continuous battle because if you defeat it today, comcast will just keep uploading new firmware to combat new circumventions. the good ole' days of recording premium channels to VHS is gone =(.

 

[David Deeb]

What's a trial? HD video on demand? I don't think so. It is here to stay.

I'm not saying it is all free. Certainly some shows will be free, some won't & others by subscription (Starz, HBO, etc). That wasn't my original question.

My question is how much of an impact will it have on HD discs. Box sets (IE: a multi-disc LOTR HD box set) won't be impacted much, but certainly, I'd think twice before plopping down $30 for a single HD movie when I could watch it once in HD in my living room for a fraction of that price.

 

[MarkHastings]

If I calculated correctly, you will lose more image when zooming a 2.35:1 to 16x9 screen, then zooming a 16x9 to 4:3 screen.

Zooming a 1.86 to 4x3 screen is approx. the same amount of loss as a 2.35:1 zoomed to 16x9 screen.

Actaully, like I said before, if I did my numbers correctly, I found something even MORE disturbing. It appears when you zoom a 2.35:1 image to a 4x3 screen, if you were to view the part of the image that gets cut off, the width would actually be LARGER than the height!!!


Here are my numbers:
2.35:1 = (in easy to define numbers) 235x100 pixels
4x3 (1.33) = 133x100 pixels

235 (width) - 133 (width) = 102

So the amount of image loss on a 2.35:1 pan and scan job = 102 width x 100 height

 

[Dave Mack]

All those freebies from Starz are gone. Now it says "Free with subscription"
Only 4 free HD films on comcast...
Terminator, Men In Black, Birdcage and one other..

:frowning:

 

[Jordan_E]

I've tried to watch those HD movies on Comcast, but they are cropped and essentially ruins any enjoyment I can get out of them. Even free, I can't get past 10 minutes. And the one other is Cliffhanger.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Not every HD movie is cropped, Terminator and Men in Black aren't at least, can't say about the other two.

 

[Dave Mack]

Any film shot in 1:85-1 won't really appear cropped as HDTV is native 16x9...

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yep.

 

[Brad P]

In my area, Comcast also has an Encore and MoviePlex HD OnDemand section. Try and see if you have it. Look under "HD On Demand."

 

[RolandL]

On my FP it's 1280 x 720 pixels = 1.77:1 aspect ratio

A movie that is filmed anamorphic is projected at 2.35:1 (some say 2.4:1) which is about 1280 x 545 pixels if displayed properly on my FP.

When a channel broadcasts a 2.35:1 film at 1.77:1, your still seeing 75% of the image instead of about 56% if it's shown at 1.33:1.

There is an exception. Some movies are filmed in Super 35 where the 2.35 image is extracted from the 1.33 negative. So, when these films are shown at 1.77 you are actually seeing more (in some scenes) than was shown at the movie theatre - check the sixth scene from the bottom of this page - http://www.widescreen.org/examples/l...ip/index.shtml . You are missing a little from the sides but gain picture information on the top and the bottom. Of course this is a comparison of 1.33 to 2.35.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yep, and this extranious visual information on the top and bottom is just that...extranious, it was never meant to be seen at the theater.

Now, i'm not saying that your suggesting that's a good thing, just merely pointing out that even though you are gaining visual info, your still not seeing the film in it's theatrical dimensions and thus, IMO which isn't shared by many when it comes to Super 35, it's just as bad as any other form of alteration and is considered unacceptable to me.

Plus, you do lose info on the sides, info that you WERE supposed to see, so that in and of itself nulifies any notion that seeing more at the top and bottom is a good thing, again not saying that that is what you were saying, just merely pointing it out that's all.

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL - Kind of like taking 12 ounces of beer, pouring only 10 ounces into a 16 ounce glass, then filling the rest of the glass up with water and then charging me full price for a 16 ounce "Beer"