This question is based purely on ignorance on my part. I have never viewed either format in a store/demo/home etc.. My question is, if the movie is not filmed in HD, how realistic or how much better is the picture?

Also, what movies out there were filmed in HD?

Alot better. The goal of the home theater experiance is to feel like your at the Movies isnt it?!!! so take my work for it it looks great and some times better than hd content.

Athansios

This question is based purely on ignorance on my part. I have never viewed either format in a store/demo/home etc.. My question is, if the movie is not filmed in HD, how realistic or how much better is the picture?

Also, what movies out there were filmed in HD?

Film (movie) resolution would be considerably higher than HD video right now (1920x1080). So you don't have to look for movies "shot in HD" to have hidef movies on HD DVD or Blu-ray. Now video is different, to really see the difference a video would need to be shot in HD video to take better advantage of HD DVD and Blu-rays capabilities.

Film = higher resolution
Video = Look for "shot in HD"

Film (movie) resolution would be considerably higher than HD video right now (1920x1080). So you don't have to look for movies "shot in HD" to have hidef movies on HD DVD or Blu-ray. Now video is different, to really see the difference a video would need to be shot in HD video to take better advantage of HD DVD and Blu-rays capabilities.

Film = higher resolution
Video = Look for "shot in HD"
In fact, much movies shot on film will look better than "shot in HD" material - since the film is often telecined at "4K" resolution these days, which is four times higher than HD, then it is downconverted to HD, which allows the final product to have a lot more detail.

"Shot in HD" material does not look as sharp as this material, and "shot in HD" can be more prone to the ill-effects of video noise in low-light situations.

Contrast a new movies like "Click", which was "shot in HD" and contrast it with even a very old film movie like "Grand Prix", which was telecined at 4K then downconverted. "Grand Prix" also had three negatives, so it is the perfect example to show how even older film material can still look better.

Thank you for your input. I never took the time to look into the technical aspects of HD vs Cinema filming. Makes me even more curious. I think I'll go out and buy one. Once my ex-girlfriend pays me back the $5k I loaned her. Yea, and monkeys will fly out of my but before I see that money.

Once again AVS to the rescue.