Are The Movies Shown on Freeview Actually HD?

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1gkar

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#24530 26-Jul-2008 18:41

Question: are the movies we are seeing on TVs 1,2,3, etc. genuine high-def? Or are they upscaled from DVDs? Just curious as there must be a heck of a lot of HD movies dating from years ago for them to be real.

This is not in any way a criticism or anything negative, as they are far superior to my old analogue viewing. I'm just curious.

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#151650 26-Jul-2008 18:44

Are not all of the programs they show in HD, showing the HD symbol? Just like X-Men will tonight?

sbiddle

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#151652 26-Jul-2008 18:50

Firstly TV3 are the only network screening in true HD at present. Both TV1 and TV2 are only upscaled SD.

As for TV3 I know they have had some movies in HD and as Ross mentioned X-Men is in HD tonight.

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#151654 26-Jul-2008 18:57

Here is where you can see what is in HD for TV3's movies.

lchiu7

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#151676 26-Jul-2008 22:20

Xmen 3 tonight was certainly HD. Watching it now on my PCH. Date Movie was (but not a great movie alas) as was Just My Luck the week before.

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#151678 26-Jul-2008 22:30

TV companies do not playout from DVDs or bluray. They playout from digital tape (or equivalent on server) that is recorded at vastly greater bitrates than the former. DVDs and bluray are consumer media hence the low birates.

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lchiu7

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#151680 26-Jul-2008 22:34

Spyware: TV companies do not playout from DVDs or bluray. They playout from digital tape (or equivalent on server) that is recorded at vastly greater bitrates than the former. DVDs and bluray are consumer media hence the low birates.

While they are unlikely to be using Bluray, the bitrate from a BR movie is much higher than anything that would be transmitted OTA. And many are 1080p which has no current broadcast standard.

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charley

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#151687 26-Jul-2008 23:07

This got me wondering, couldnt any movie that's been played at the theaters be setup as HD? In terms of resolution?

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lchiu7

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#151694 26-Jul-2008 23:39

charley: This got me wondering, couldnt any movie that's been played at the theaters be setup as HD? In terms of resolution?

Slightly more complex than that. Up till the advent of HD-DVD or BR (and to a certain extent broadcast HD in the US), the max resolution available to consumers was SD. So when a film was scanned for digital release, it would be scanned in a resolution that is unlikely to be high enough for HD release. That is how most of the DVD's out there were produced.

With the more common availablity of HD formats (HD-DVD RIP and BR) the studios have to make the call whether or not to go back to the back catalogue and re-scan for HD. For newer titles they can scan in HD formats and and release in both BR format and reduce resolution for DVD. It's about the return on investment for them. And scanning for HD means more resolution and flaws in the original print etc. might be much more obvious.

A good example of this was the first The Fifth Element on BR. Sony didn't re-scan for BR or they took an older print and did a quick scan job for the BR release. This caused a major outcry in the US as folks noted that the BR release wasn't much better than the Superbit version and didn't do BR an favours in terms of its competition against HD-DVD. Finally Sony gave in, found a much better print and re-scanned the film and probably applied better correction etc. and produced a new BR release, this time adding Dolby TrueHD audio. They then offered a free exchange for those who had purchased the original version.

In the US the larger TV companies like HBO might commission a HD scan of a film for their cable TV release. They might not take as much care for this as for a BR since it's only going to be an one off event.

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charley

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#151717 27-Jul-2008 09:34

That was stupid of sony. There's no point releasing a film in hd or br if it doesnt look the part. Would be great if all films that could be transferred to hd/br would be transferred. Make it alot more appealing for consumers to switch over to hd/br.

lchiu7

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#151721 27-Jul-2008 09:55

charley: That was stupid of sony. There's no point releasing a film in hd or br if it doesnt look the part. Would be great if all films that could be transferred to hd/br would be transferred. Make it alot more appealing for consumers to switch over to hd/br.

It's all to do with the dollars. It costs upwards of $100K to scan, correct and master a new HD title. And if it's a catalogue title how much market is there for that? Now if they offered a tradein on a previous version (like a DVD) that might be more appealing so you would not have to duplicate titles. For example I own Hunt for Red October on laserdisc :-), DVD and BR. I also have many titles on DVD that I would not replace with BR but if I could exchange and pay say 50% of the cost, I might do that.

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#151724 27-Jul-2008 10:01

lchiu7: Xmen 3 tonight was certainly HD. Watching it now on my PCH. Date Movie was (but not a great movie alas) as was Just My Luck the week before.

While it did appear to be in HD I've seen allot better in the form of WMV HD and HD DVD and Blu-ray samples.. Also some of the 720P program downloads of say Stargete Atlantis appear to be about the same PQ. One thing I did note is that the sub channel of the 5.1 sound is way too loud compred to normal DVD and HD samples that I have.. I did consider last lite turning off the subs..

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1gkar

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#151726 27-Jul-2008 10:05

Also upon thinking about it, for all of...5 seconds after posting, would be the legal restrictions governing the playback of DVDs OTA. Shame as an upscaled DVD (ie. widescreen) with Dolby Digital audio would be great viewing on LCDTVs. Still, if the powers wanted to get it done, it would be.

Wonder if it's done anywhere in the world.

Also, USA is the only country to broadcast 1080p. If Europe can't acheive this, we won't ever get it, still, 1080i is massively superior to anything we've ever seen & I'm very happy with the status quo.

lchiu7

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#151736 27-Jul-2008 10:33

old3eyes:
lchiu7: Xmen 3 tonight was certainly HD. Watching it now on my PCH. Date Movie was (but not a great movie alas) as was Just My Luck the week before.
While it did appear to be in HD I've seen allot better in the form of WMV HD and HD DVD and Blu-ray samples.. Also some of the 720P program downloads of say Stargete Atlantis appear to be about the same PQ. One thing I did note is that the sub channel of the 5.1 sound is way too loud compred to normal DVD and HD samples that I have.. I did consider last lite turning off the subs..

Good point. I was in HN yesterday and they were playing HD Freeview loops from a Zinwell receiver to a few plasmas. Can't say I was that impressed with the PQ - a bit pixellated I thought! Shows were Bringing Up Daisies(?), Criminal Minds and Cold Case. TVNZ is going 720p from what I recall. Not a good advertisement for it!

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#151750 27-Jul-2008 11:19

1gkar:
Also, USA is the only country to broadcast 1080p. If Europe can't acheive this, we won't ever get it, still, 1080i is massively superior to anything we've ever seen & I'm very happy with the status quo.

Who in the USA is transmitting 1080p?

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#151764 27-Jul-2008 12:10

The ATSC standard includes 1080p but only at 24-30fps not 50 or 60fps, to my knowledge its not currently used by any broadcasters, however would make good sense to circumnavigate 3/2pulldown that does not apply in 50Hz contries.

1080i50 can and does convey 24/25fps progressive (ie film) material without any loss of spatial or temporal resolution (just speedup). Deinterlacing film source material from 1080i broadcasts is very easily handled by all modern displays with no issues, its simple weave deinterlacing.

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