I feel like an idiot.

I bought the HD-A2 more than a month ago and I had never really been happy with the PQ.

After reading all the reviews of the player and of particular HD DVD discs (Batman Begins and King Kong), I felt underwhelmed by the A2's lackluster crispness.

Of course it looked better than SD DVD.

It just didn't have the unbelievable clarity I had imagined HD DVD would exhibit.

I went to have a check-up last week.

Before I knew it, it was revealed to me that I was nearsighted and I would need glasses.

I wore my glasses for the first time today.

I popped in Batman Begins for the hell of it.

HOLY ****! Batman Begins actually looked HD!

HD DVD actually looked like the HD DVD of my dreams!

HD was HD!

HD!

To make a long story meaningful: Vision correction, whether through glasses or surgery, just may cure those HD-blues. :cool:

Funny, but not the first person to find out that way. I am an ophthalmologist and have had two patients that experienced the same thing.

Now that's funny.

Don't feel foolish, for a lot of AVS members, vision issues creep up by the time we can afford HT toys.

Your about the 6th person I've seen a similar story from.

Glad you are enjoying HD now!

I feel like an idiot.

I bought the HD-A2 more than a month ago and I had never really been happy with the PQ.

After reading all the reviews of the player and of particular HD DVD discs (Batman Begins and King Kong), I felt underwhelmed by the A2's lackluster crispness.

Of course it looked better than SD DVD.

It just didn't have the unbelievable clarity I had imagined HD DVD would exhibit.

I went to have a check-up last week.

Before I knew it, it was revealed to me that I was nearsighted and I would need glasses.

I wore my glasses for the first time today.

I popped in Batman Begins for the hell of it.

HOLY ****! Batman Begins actually looked HD!

HD DVD actually looked like the HD DVD of my dreams!

HD was HD!

HD!

To make a long story meaningful: Vision correction, whether through glasses or surgery, just may cure those HD-blues. :cool:


I'm surprised to hear you haven't met any telephone poles lately... :D

I have glasses and contacts, my glasses are an older perscription that isn't as strong as my contacts and my HD discs look alot better wearing my contacts.

Same happened to me. Lasik corrected that for me last month.

I have glasses and contacts, my glasses are an older perscription that isn't as strong as my contacts and my HD discs look alot better wearing my contacts.
I'm the exact same way with my glasses vs contacts. Every time I watch HD with my contacts in, after wearing my glasses for a while, it's like HD is brand new again. I really need to get my prescription updated in my glasses but just don't want to spend the money. I wish I could afford Lasik.

The same thing happened to me, and it doesn't take much for a weakness in the eye to drastically effect your HD viewing. I never wear my glasses because I don't really need them. I got them to give me a litle extra when I play pool, but it is a very small correction. I can't even get contact lenses because the prescription is so minute nor will they do surgery. But one day I put them on for some reason and it was like going from my xga projector to 720P all over again. So, if you haven't had your eyes checked recently, get it done, even if you think your vision is fine.

The same thing happened to me, and it doesn't take much for a weakness in the eye to drastically effect your HD viewing. I never wear my glasses because I don't really need them. I got them to give me a litle extra when I play pool, but it is a very small correction. I can't even get contact lenses because the prescription is so minute nor will they do surgery. But one day I put them on for some reason and it was like going from my xga projector to 720P all over again. So, if you haven't had your eyes checked recently, get it done, even if you think your vision is fine.

LOL, the EXACT same thing happened to me back when DVD came out. I immediatly jumped on the DVD bandwagon at Xmas 97 because I never got into laserdisc. I wasn't really that impressed with DVD. Until I go to get my drivers licence, and fail the vision test horribly. Got some glasses, plugged in a movie, and suddenly, OMG this rocks!

Now I just need to grow the balls to get lasik.

LOL. Me too. I wear graded trifocals. To watch my TV, I had to shove my glasses down to the end of my nose and watch with my head at an uncomfortable downward angle. Finally, after a few stiff necks, I had another pair of glasses made with only the distance script. Problem solved...well kinda...now I can't read the remote control or see what I'm eating! One day last week, I wore them to work by mistake and couldn't read the &%&*&%$% computer screen. My secretary couldn't stop laughing.

Yeah same here. I thought my wife was just breaking my chops all these years by telling me that I had a long nose hair sticking out until I got the Lasiks done.

Plucked it out the day after.

John

So I guess not only can HD-DVD bring happiness to people it can also tell you to get glasses thats just amazing lol.

At least you found out you need them and now you can enjoy film much better!

Don't feel foolish, for a lot of AVS members, vision issues creep up by the time we can afford HT toys.

Your about the 6th person I've seen a similar story from.

Glad you are enjoying HD now!

What I don't understand is, what about day-to-day activities such as driving, reading etc? People can't tell that their eyes are (more or less) failing them? :confused:

What I don't understand is, what about day-to-day activities such as driving, reading etc? People can't tell that their eyes are (more or less) failing them? :confused:

Because it happens VERY VERY Slowly. Its not like you wake up blind one day.

How do we all know that something is the way its supposed to look? Like How do i describe red to you if you have never seen red anywhere before? What you see and what I see are very subjective things.

but still, at a certain point you'll have trouble seeing. It has nothing to do with how "things are supposed to look". A person reads, there is nothing wrong with the print, but the letters he sees are blurry, brain working and processing: something must be wrong with my eyes. It's not about colour accuracy, it's about sharpness plain and simple.

I wear prescription glasses and I can always tell when I need a new prescription (anywhere from 1 year to 3 years, but I know that from looking at things being less-sharp, and not wait until things being blurry).

What I don't understand is, what about day-to-day activities such as driving, reading etc? People can't tell that their eyes are (more or less) failing them? :confused:

Not really. Changes are so gradual you don't notice any difference, and you can still function.

The first thing that got my attention was fuzzy fine print, so I got glasses just for reading and computer work. For years I never wore glasses for walking around, driving or watching TV from across the room.

Then one day a few years back I was in the opto-office and told the doc I'd just bought an HDTV that showed an amazing amount of detail.

"How far away are you when you watch it?" she asked.

"About 10 feet."

"I think I can help with that."

She gave me a distance-only prescription that I took to Costco with an old pair of sunglass frames. I spent $35 for single-prescription plastic lenses with no frills, and all of a sudden my $3,000 TV went from looking like this ...

... TO LOOKING LIKE THIS!!!!"

It's amazing to me that some people spend a fortune on Hi-Def gear and are too vain or clueless to make sure their aging eyeballs work well enough to appreciate it.

but still, at a certain point you'll have trouble seeing. It has nothing to do with how "things are supposed to look". A person reads, there is nothing wrong with the print, but the letters he sees are blurry, brain working and processing: something must be wrong with my eyes. It's not about colour accuracy, it's about sharpness plain and simple.

I wear prescription glasses and I can always tell when I need a new prescription (anywhere from 1 year to 3 years, but I know that from looking at things being less-sharp, and not wait until things being blurry).

Thats true, but your also used to wearing them, and have experience to draw from. When I was a teenager and I didn't have glasses it took me a while to figure out that I needed them, and that was only because I had to sit a certain distance from the board. I thought everything else in life looked fine up until that point. I had no idea things were blurry.

After getting glasses it made a world of difference. When my perscription changed, I looked back on my past experience from when I was a kid to try to figure out if I might need a new perscription. I think once you have experiences with needing glasses and getting them you have that to look back on and notice when things aren't as clear as they should be.

Or maybe I'm talking out of my ass, and they should have known they were blind :-)

ahhhh! Thanks for reminding me of that. Yes, I've been wearing glasses since I was 10. I guess that's where I get my reference point.

Now, for people that are blind as a bat... I still don't understand that (one of my friend can't read the roadsign anymore and she blames that "todays roadsigns are unclear") LOL!

I would love to hear about the lasik experiences that people have had. been thinking about it as i am sick of having to get glasses and am sick of not being able to wear sunglasses. sure i could swap them out but bringing two pairs of glasses with me wherever i go just sucks. is lasik a permanent fix or would i have to keep going back every 3 or 4 years for a new lasik perscription? the other thing is just how much of a correction can you get? does it correct to 20/20 or is it just close? how much does it cost? how are the doctors? anyone have any bad experiences? do you get glows around objects at night after the lasik? does it hurt? any complications? how do they keep your eyes open while they cut you apart?

Maybe not the best forum to pose this particular question. How about www.webmd.com

I only use my glasses for watching HD, since MSNBC SD on a 50" plasma looks like crap even without glasses. :)

Geez,I wonder if people watching BD all need glasses?? :)

Geez,I wonder if people watching BD all need glasses?? :)

Haha.

I was blown away by the PQ of the Superbowl today.

With an over-the-air CBS signal (Dish's signal wasn't as sharp) and my new dandy "HD-Enhancement" glasses, I couldn't stop reminding myself how great it looked.

Then slowly but surely, my vision became blurred again.

The HD was becoming a foggy mess.

Oh no, this couldn't be happening!

I almost lost it.

Until a buddy commented on the foggy, rain soaked camera lenses.

I switched over to HD Discovery Theater for reassurance.

Ah, that was much better!

Stupid Floridanian rain.

:rolleyes:

Great post. It's now making me think about going back to my eye doctor and getting glasses. I went for a check up several months ago and found out that I have a very slight case of near sightedness. It was so slight that he recommended that I not bother correcting it since I hadn't even noticed a problem anyway. Now I'm thinking that it might be worth getting the glasses just to see how different my HD projector experience could be with clear vision.

I had a new light engine installed in my TV the day before I picked up my new glasses...old glasses the screen looked amazing...I was so excited with the sharpness. I picked up the new glasses the next day and turned on the TV...fuzzy. :confused:

It took me almost a week to determine that it was NOT the TV but the prescription. I just assumed the LE shifted or something. I will be getting a new pair corrected in a couple weeks. :D

My 24 year old friend always complained that I spend too much money on HDTVs and she can't see the difference between HD and SD... until recently...literally!

When she got glasses she said to me "OHHHHHHHHHH! NOW I see the difference" :rolleyes:

Rotflmao!

I only use my glasses for watching HD, since MSNBC SD on a 50" plasma looks like crap even without glasses. :)

Well, your first problem is that you watch MSNBC. :p

Yes, watch FOX NEWS like the texans!! :rolleyes:

Yes, watch FOX NEWS like the texans!! :rolleyes:
For the record, this is one Texan who would not be caught dead watching Fox News. ;)

What I don't understand is, what about day-to-day activities such as driving, reading etc? People can't tell that their eyes are (more or less) failing them? :confused:

it creeps up on you. when I found I needed them at the start of third grade I hadn'trealized anything was off, but teacher noticed that i seemed to sometimes mess up stuff written on the board. and even later, you can tell to an extent but you tend to forget just how far off they slide before you up to the next prescription. also telling 1080p from 720p is a finer increment than being able to get around and drive.

If I had a choice between only seeing real life or my 1080p DLP screen in HD, I'd choose the screen.

:D

Yes, watch FOX NEWS like the texans!! :rolleyes:


So you assume that because I'm Texan and the president is from my state I'm automatically a Republican and watch FOX news? :rolleyes:

So you assume that because I'm Texan and the president is from my state I'm automatically a Republican and watch FOX news? :rolleyes:

The mentality comes from news channels painting maps of the US after elections with solid red and blue colors. It takes a lot of thought I guess to figure out that not everyone in the entire state votes as a block.

John