HDTV makes film look like video

Dufu Syte · February 29th, 2008, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

You can just see every little detail in everything

HD brings out the fine details, and it also shows the flaws in makeup, fake sets, and all the other things that go into the illusion of creating a film's fictitious world.

Move makers are accustomed to having the final output blurred by standard TV sets. Even theaters are blurry compared to an HDTV.

HDTV is upping the ante for realism. When you can see fine details, it's easier to see that the fictitious worlds of films really are fictitious. It can break the illusion. You always have the option to turn down the sharpness on your HDTV so you don't notice the makeup on the actors, and the fakeness of the sets, and the pasting of the cgi.

Fine details are great for footage of real things, like sports, documentaries, or anything real. But movies are fictitious, and everything and everybody is "made up" quite literally. Therefore, for the best viewing experience, it's best not too see fine details when viewing movies: it breaks the illusion. And movies are an illusion. Illusion is the way they tell their story.

Yi Fong Yu · March 3rd, 2008, 11:35 AM

thank God for filters and post processing =P (see Stardust)

Josh Bass · March 3rd, 2008, 02:33 PM

Problem is, in HD, you can actually SEE the star dust. . .it's all over the floors fo of the set, on the actors' clothes. . .just looks messy.

Greg Hartzell · March 3rd, 2008, 06:46 PM

I'm not completely schooled on DVD specs, but I do know that DVD is a natively progressive format, and that most hollywood DVD releases are released in 24P with a pull-down in place to get 60i. That's how I understood it at least. So either your DVD player, broadcast box, or TV has to convert these progressive images to interlaced, scaled from 480 lines of verticle resolution to 1080 lines. It seems to me that HDTV isn't the problem here, it's bad scaling and bad pull down implementation.

Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but for "film" looking like "video," that would seem to be the issue. I find this ironic, because I have seen lots of video that looked very much like film.

As for bad displays, I've seen them everywhere. I wouldn't expect blockbuster to have a great video display set-up. If you want to complain that your $700 HDTV isn't the most fantastic picture you have ever seen, well, thats what you should expect. Also, hollywood doesn't spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a movie to have things look "cheap." It's going to look like a $300,000,000 illusion on a good HDTV, trust me.

Josh Bass · March 3rd, 2008, 07:20 PM

Thing is, it looked video-ish on whatever $2-5K displays they had at Circuit City, last time I was there.

Greg Hartzell · March 4th, 2008, 12:16 PM

Yeah, it's probably their feed more than anything. Don't forget the lighting inside these stores is less than ideal for viewing monitors.

Jon Braeley · March 5th, 2008, 12:18 PM

I have a blu-ray player and HD1080 TV with a Sony receiver sending HDMI video and un-compressed audio.
I have had this for 12 months now, and I am just getting used to the picture and no longer notice.

It also depends on the director - movies by Ridley Scott, even Bladerunner from 1982 look incredible. His movies look good on HDTV because he knows his craft visually. HD will certainly show up the sloppiness of many directors.

March 3rd, 2008, 11:35 AM	#17
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	thank God for filters and post processing =P (see Stardust) __________________ bow wow wow

March 3rd, 2008, 02:33 PM	#18
Josh Bass Slash Rules! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 5,472	Problem is, in HD, you can actually SEE the star dust. . .it's all over the floors fo of the set, on the actors' clothes. . .just looks messy. __________________ The Bass' camerawork The Bass on IMDB

March 3rd, 2008, 07:20 PM	#20
Josh Bass Slash Rules! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 5,472	Thing is, it looked video-ish on whatever $2-5K displays they had at Circuit City, last time I was there. __________________ The Bass' camerawork The Bass on IMDB

March 3rd, 2008, 06:46 PM	#19
Greg Hartzell Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Columbia, CT Posts: 168	I'm not completely schooled on DVD specs, but I do know that DVD is a natively progressive format, and that most hollywood DVD releases are released in 24P with a pull-down in place to get 60i. That's how I understood it at least. So either your DVD player, broadcast box, or TV has to convert these progressive images to interlaced, scaled from 480 lines of verticle resolution to 1080 lines. It seems to me that HDTV isn't the problem here, it's bad scaling and bad pull down implementation. Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but for "film" looking like "video," that would seem to be the issue. I find this ironic, because I have seen lots of video that looked very much like film. As for bad displays, I've seen them everywhere. I wouldn't expect blockbuster to have a great video display set-up. If you want to complain that your $700 HDTV isn't the most fantastic picture you have ever seen, well, thats what you should expect. Also, hollywood doesn't spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a movie to have things look "cheap." It's going to look like a $300,000,000 illusion on a good HDTV, trust me.

March 4th, 2008, 12:16 PM	#21
Greg Hartzell Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Columbia, CT Posts: 168	Yeah, it's probably their feed more than anything. Don't forget the lighting inside these stores is less than ideal for viewing monitors.

March 5th, 2008, 12:18 PM	#22
Jon Braeley Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 528	I have a blu-ray player and HD1080 TV with a Sony receiver sending HDMI video and un-compressed audio. I have had this for 12 months now, and I am just getting used to the picture and no longer notice. It also depends on the director - movies by Ridley Scott, even Bladerunner from 1982 look incredible. His movies look good on HDTV because he knows his craft visually. HD will certainly show up the sloppiness of many directors.