civilized ku # 345 ~ now I get it
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:24PM 
Kitchen table, chairs & floor • click to embiggenActually, I don't really "get it" but I do think that I now understand from whence it comes.
Yesterday, as scheduled, the cable guy showed up and installed the HD cable boxes. Consequently, last evening the wife and I were able to watch our first HD NHL hockey game. We samples a few other HD programs and, to be perfectly honest, we weren't all that impressed. The wider screen was nice enough but our lives did not change and things went on as they always did/do.
One thing that I noticed was how HDTV has a similar quality to my HD HiFi - it has reached a stage of definition that mercilessly reveals the all flaws in the material. With my HiFi, the difference between a really good recording and a mediocre one is very apparent. So much so that some music that I used to like now sounds like crap. And, downloaded music (ala iTunes, et al) sounds exactly like the down-sampled dreck that it actually is.
The same is true with HDTV - camera technique, exposure and white balance variations, switching from HD to SD cameras during a broadcast (happens regularly with sports stuff), to mention just a few things that I have noticed so far, are readily and, at times, annoyingly noticeable.
And then there is the extremely annoying fact that the broadcast material - programming and commercials - are produced in multiple formats and consequently, during most programs, the presentation switches from full screen to the 4/3 format to letterbox and even to "super" letterbox - black bars top/bottom and left/right.
But, sure enough, and as advertised, the HD stuff was very detailed and very sharp. After working the settings, I was able to obtain a pleasing blend of detail /sharpness and color saturation that did not cause my eyeballs to bleed or require the use of sunglasses. It is nice enough but it does leave me with a kind of "yawn" feeling - nice, but I'm ain't gonna be writin' home about it any time soon.
All that said, here's what I think I have begun to understand - after viewing the detail / sharpness / "grainless" quality of HDTV, it's no wonder that the picture making rabble out there are so obsessed with pixel-peeping when it comes to making still pictures.
I'd be willing to bet the farm that the overwhelming majority of "serious" picture makers out there are way more influenced - consciously or not - by the quality of an image on their HDTV when it comes to their picture making standards than they are by anything "photographic". Like, say, a stunning C print from any of the "masters" of color photography.
And this makes perfect sense because, once again, the majority of "serious" picture makers are viewing and processing their pictures on a HD computer monitor, which is, in essence, an HDTV.
So, I'll let you in a little secret, re: my picture making. From my digital day one, I have been devoted to making digital pictures that do not look like digital pictures and that's one of the primary reasons I have never been in hot pursuit of "state of the art" digital cameras. IMO, as those cameras have become more and more "perfect", re: sharpness and noise, the images they produce have become more and more sterile - so "clean" that they seem lifeless.
The people on my HDTVs - newscasters, talk / entertainment show hosts, et al - have the look and feel of "plastic" androids. Although it is worth noting that they look a little more "human" on the smaller screen HDTV than they do on the big one. This "plastic" quality should come as no surprise in as much as televsion has always been considered a "cool" medium (and I don't mean, "hip").
As I see it, state of the art digital still picture wise, the difference between "digital-standard" pictures and traditional "film-standard" pictures is much like the difference between film-based movies and digital-based made-for-TV movies / programming. In most cases, the digital stuff has no warmth. It comes across as rather cold and sterile - a look that is not very much to my liking.
Reader Comments (4)
The feelings expressed above might have been different if the Penguins were able to make something happen on their power play.
The wife steals the puck,... shoots... SCORES!!!
Do you regret getting the new TVs? I'd be interested in your reaction to movies if you watch them. I observed in an earlier post that watching pro football on a (I guess) standard cable feed simply stretched the full screen image to fit the widescreen which I thought looked bad.
Movies AND the hi-fi surround dennis. The HD format for regular television shows is nice and the clarity is refreshing, but put in a great movie (HD format of course) with amazing cinematography and turn up the tooth-rattling, window shaking surround sound and you soon realize that that is what these home entertainment systems are really for. No sticky floors, overpriced snacks and uncomfortable chairs for me anymore. I'm hoping the home IMAX system comes out next. 120,000 watts and movies shot on 70mm film... oh my.