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Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in HDTV! - Page 57

post #1681 of 1720
3/13/13 at 1:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post

I know it is discussed in the thread but I never got to a definitive answer after reading through several pages, so maybe someone can just answer:

Why the narrow pillarboxes on widescreen (i.e. 1.85:1) material? I gather that these are probably upconverts but, still, why the windowboxing?

Thanks!



For example:




The Way We Were, today. Why is it windowboxed?

mad.gif


That was a custom presentation/aspect ratio, specially created to accommodate Streisand's Schnozzle.

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post #1682 of 1720
3/13/13 at 5:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NetworkTV View Post

Yeah, but it's getting to the point where it's like a gas station claiming to sell you premium, but only pumping regular.

It's like going into the grocery store and seeing a bottle full of what looks like fruit juice - it even has grapes, apples and other fruit on the label. However, when you look closer, you notice it claims to be some ambiguous "juice drink". A peek at the ingredients shows it to contain water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, MSG, "natural and artificial flavors, cow hooves, pig ears and about 2 tablespoons of apple and grape juice from concentrate.
Probably not even that much!
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post #1683 of 1720
3/14/13 at 1:52pm
Hello ,

" La Fille de Ryan "

Csat/Kuro :





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post #1684 of 1720
3/14/13 at 1:53pm




wink.gif
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post #1685 of 1720
3/14/13 at 3:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NetworkTV View Post

Yeah, but it's getting to the point where it's like a gas station claiming to sell you premium, but only pumping regular.

It's like going into the grocery store and seeing a bottle full of what looks like fruit juice - it even has grapes, apples and other fruit on the label. However, when you look closer, you notice it claims to be some ambiguous "juice drink". A peek at the ingredients shows it to contain water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, MSG, "natural and artificial flavors, cow hooves, pig ears and about 2 tablespoons of apple and grape juice from concentrate.
But TCM never refers to themselves as an hd channel and they never have an hd logo anywhere on the screen. It's only the cable and satellite distributors that call them tcmhd.
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post #1686 of 1720
3/15/13 at 3:39am
Csat 2 channels for TCM France :

TCM SD Chanel 27
TCM HD Chanel 519

wink.gif
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post #1687 of 1720
3/18/13 at 2:01pm
My goodness, Urga, that is beautiful television.
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post #1688 of 1720
3/19/13 at 10:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stan54 View Post

My goodness, Urga, that is beautiful television.
Hello ,

It is HD native 1920x1080i Mpeg4 H264 ...

the film " La Fille de Ryan " is the restored HD version ... wink.gif
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post #1689 of 1720
3/31/13 at 9:19am


This is the info from this morning's presentation of Ben Hur. Video bitrate is 6.9Mbps - lower than many standard def DVDs.



notice the windowboxing present as well. when both the tv and source are set for overscanning the image fills the entire set.
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post #1690 of 1720
3/31/13 at 9:45am
BH is Letterbox dts MA 5.1 on Blu
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post #1691 of 1720
3/31/13 at 10:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SanchoPanza View Post

BH is Letterbox dts MA 5.1 on Blu

And looks and sounds absolutely wonderful at that! wink.gif
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post #1692 of 1720
4/1/13 at 10:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pittsoccer33 View Post



This is the info from this morning's presentation of Ben Hur. Video bitrate is 6.9Mbps - lower than many standard def DVDs.



notice the windowboxing present as well. when both the tv and source are set for overscanning the image fills the entire set.
Hello ,

TCM HD Has not yet released the restored HD version in france ...

Tonight " The Night of the Generals " :

http://tcmcinema.fr/films/fiche/the-night-of-the-generals-1967_84918/

Version unreleased HDTV in France ... cool.gif
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post #1693 of 1720
4/7/13 at 5:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aliens View Post

Recorded LOA on my Dish 622 via Sony Movie Channel. TV is a Panasonic TC-P65GT30 that was professionally calibrated in May of ’12. Top photos of each pic are mine; Urga's the bottom.


This was on last night. i'll add my screen caps as the third image.





This is also a lower bandwidth video than the one I recorded about a year ago in April. That was 8.559Mbps, last night's was 6.76 - almost a 25% reduction in quality. Curious if thats on TCM or Comcast.
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post #1694 of 1720
4/7/13 at 1:35pm
It is very possible that Comcast is squeezing the bitrate down as I'm pretty sure TCM is one of the channels they distribute via their Comcast Media Center in Colorado. Most of the cable-TV channels that are distributed there are "3-packed", meaning they are sent 3 per QAM and that means you have 3 channels "fighting" for 2 channels worth of space. It's more involved than that but that is the basics of it.

Older HD channels such as their flagship TNT-HD channel were usually full bitrate although today that may have changed, I haven't looked at TNT bitrates in a few years.

CMC not only distributes channels to their own cable systems but to other cable companies across the country with their HITS system of CMC, I believe Charter and Mediacom are among the cable companies that use CMC-sourced channels.
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post #1695 of 1720
4/10/13 at 10:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NetworkTV View Post

I still say it's a rights issue and the downconvert and upconvert process is a way to get around not actually airing HD transfers while still having an "HD" channel.

This makes sense.

I've just been using a high definition TV for a few days, and the grim reality is slowly sinking-in: the cable company is delivering a hot mess. Ya, you get to see every pore on Brian William's face, the popular network TV shows are sent with a high bit rate. But the movie channels I care so much about are sucking the hind teat, digitally speaking.

I watched "Sleuth" on TCMHD tonight. The movements were jerky, I had to switch to the standard definition channel.
Edited by Richard Burger - 4/20/13 at 11:11pm
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post #1696 of 1720
4/24/13 at 7:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Burger View Post

This makes sense.

I've just been using a high definition TV for a few days, and the grim reality is slowly sinking-in: the cable company is delivering a hot mess. Ya, you get to see every pore on Brian William's face, the popular network TV shows are sent with a high bit rate. But the movie channels I care so much about are sucking the hind teat, digitally speaking.

I watched "Sleuth" on TCMHD tonight. The movements were jerky, I had to switch to the standard definition channel.



Mankiewicz's "Sleuth"? What does it look like? Like a true HD or upconvert? Thx smile.gif
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post #1697 of 1720
4/24/13 at 2:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noach Kowalski View Post

Mankiewicz's "Sleuth"? What does it look like? Like a true HD or upconvert? Thx smile.gif
Well, it looks like a poorly done upconvert. I occasionally get this problem of jerky movements on the TCMHD channel. I'm fairly certain it is a problem at their end, but I suppose it could involve video format conversions in my DVR or TV.

(BTW, I occasionally see the same jerky movements with video clips that I convert from one format to another using software on my PC. I never have figured out the exact source of the problem, but it looks like frames are being dropped.)
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post #1698 of 1720
6/8/13 at 9:24am
TCM has had static pops in its audio via. DirecTV the last couple of days.

Its not on all movies...yet a few had the sound pops.
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post #1699 of 1720
6/8/13 at 9:27am
Same pops on Comcast.
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post #1700 of 1720
6/8/13 at 9:28am
On the other hand, memorial weekend movies looked pretty good.
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post #1701 of 1720
6/8/13 at 1:31pm
It doesn't appear that anyone mentioned the following article, with more quotes from George Feltenstein.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/movies/homevideo/warner-archive-instant-a-streaming-service-for-movies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&
Apparently Warner sees a lot of promise in the Warner Archive Instant streaming. A fair number of titles are now available in 1080p HD on that service, including 1930s stuff, and they are adding more each week. A list of available titles is available here. It also lists which titles are 1080p.

“That’s the thing I’m most excited about,” Mr. Feltenstein said: “Hundreds of titles in HD that people haven’t been able to see.”

Seems like a direct competitor to TCM, only without the intros. Could it be that this is the main reason why we haven't seen true HD programming on TMC? The highest profile stuff will be released on Blu ray, and the rest of the HD stuff will be made available on Warner Archive Instant. So much for TCM "HD".
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post #1702 of 1720
6/8/13 at 1:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarod M View Post

It doesn't appear that anyone mentioned the following article, with more quotes from George Feltenstein.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/movies/homevideo/warner-archive-instant-a-streaming-service-for-movies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&
Apparently Warner sees a lot of promise in the Warner Archive Instant streaming. A fair number of titles are now available in 1080p HD on that service, including 1930s stuff, and they are adding more each week. A list of available titles is available here. It also lists which titles are 1080p.

“That’s the thing I’m most excited about,” Mr. Feltenstein said: “Hundreds of titles in HD that people haven’t been able to see.”

Seems like a direct competitor to TCM, only without the intros. Could it be that this is the main reason why we haven't seen true HD programming on TMC? The highest profile stuff will be released on Blu ray, and the rest of the HD stuff will be made available on Warner Archive Instant. So much for TCM "HD".
It's what I've suspected all along: someone else has the HD rights, so TCM does its "HD-SD-HD" path to avoid violating that.
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post #1703 of 1720
6/9/13 at 6:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SanchoPanza View Post

Same pops on Comcast.
And U-Verse...
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post #1704 of 1720
6/9/13 at 9:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NetworkTV View Post

It's what I've suspected all along: someone else has the HD rights, so TCM does its "HD-SD-HD" path to avoid violating that.
Yup, that was my assumption way back when as well, it was never an equipment problem, that's just silly. And given the above news I don't expect this channel to ever have any real HD content, not when TW can make more from it through other outlets - why give it away? Besides, they're still getting their subscriber fees whether they show HD or not.
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post #1705 of 1720
6/9/13 at 11:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NetworkTV View Post

It's what I've suspected all along: someone else has the HD rights, so TCM does its "HD-SD-HD" path to avoid violating that.
But the someone else is really THE SAME COMPANY. Using a phrase like "someone else has the HD rights" sounds like a misleading excuse Warner or TCM would provide. It might be a legitimate excuse for the non-Warner properties on TCM, but not the Warner stuff. And we've seen classic movies for years in true HD on other channels. TCM HD has been in existence for 4 years now-we know it's no longer the case that ample HD product is unavailable. It's available, it just isn't available for TCM to show. Warner has played its hand, and the winner is Warner Archive Instant. TCM HD is a fraud that is only worthwhile because it looks better than the SD channel-but that is apparently "good enough" for its intended audience, as we've seen by some of the comments around here. Still, I'm surprised Warner hasn't been called out on this by a prominent publication. How many other "HD" channels show absolutely nothing but upconverts?

Warner had the option of turning TCM HD into an ala carte premium channel and reaping more revenue that way. Instead it chose to keep things as-is with TCM and look toward the future with Warner Archive Instant. This irks me, but I'm not really that mad because I plan to cut down on my package subscription anyway, if not entirely cut the satellite cord within the next two years. Clearly streaming is going to the be way to go as the infrastructure, hardware, and programming gets better and better.
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post #1706 of 1720
6/9/13 at 3:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Burger View Post

Well, it looks like a poorly done upconvert. I occasionally get this problem of jerky movements on the TCMHD channel. I'm fairly certain it is a problem at their end, but I suppose it could involve video format conversions in my DVR or TV.

Just want to mention that I solved this problem. Although it oddly only happens on the TCMHD channel, the fix is to stop and restart the DVR, sometimes several times, until the video frames are back in sync. There's something peculiar about TCMHD upconverts that sometime confuses my motorola dvr, but all's well-enough that ends well-enough.
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post #1707 of 1720
6/9/13 at 3:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarod M View Post

But the someone else is really THE SAME COMPANY. Using a phrase like "someone else has the HD rights" sounds like a misleading excuse Warner or TCM would provide. It might be a legitimate excuse for the non-Warner properties on TCM, but not the Warner stuff. And we've seen classic movies for years in true HD on other channels. TCM HD has been in existence for 4 years now-we know it's no longer the case that ample HD product is unavailable. It's available, it just isn't available for TCM to show. Warner has played its hand, and the winner is Warner Archive Instant. TCM HD is a fraud that is only worthwhile because it looks better than the SD channel-but that is apparently "good enough" for its intended audience, as we've seen by some of the comments around here. Still, I'm surprised Warner hasn't been called out on this by a prominent publication. How many other "HD" channels show absolutely nothing but upconverts?

I share your disgust with TCM. Maybe the answer here is simple. What does TCM do all day long between movies? They run ads for DVDs and Blu-rays sold at their website. The glorified SD video on their "HD" channel is a teaser to buy their high profit merchandise.
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post #1708 of 1720
6/9/13 at 9:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarod M View Post

But the someone else is really THE SAME COMPANY. Using a phrase like "someone else has the HD rights" sounds like a misleading excuse Warner or TCM would provide. It might be a legitimate excuse for the non-Warner properties on TCM, but not the Warner stuff. And we've seen classic movies for years in true HD on other channels. TCM HD has been in existence for 4 years now-we know it's no longer the case that ample HD product is unavailable. It's available, it just isn't available for TCM to show. Warner has played its hand, and the winner is Warner Archive Instant. TCM HD is a fraud that is only worthwhile because it looks better than the SD channel-but that is apparently "good enough" for its intended audience, as we've seen by some of the comments around here. Still, I'm surprised Warner hasn't been called out on this by a prominent publication. How many other "HD" channels show absolutely nothing but upconverts?

Warner had the option of turning TCM HD into an ala carte premium channel and reaping more revenue that way. Instead it chose to keep things as-is with TCM and look toward the future with Warner Archive Instant. This irks me, but I'm not really that mad because I plan to cut down on my package subscription anyway, if not entirely cut the satellite cord within the next two years. Clearly streaming is going to the be way to go as the infrastructure, hardware, and programming gets better and better.
Same company, but different divisions.

That means, the stuff ends up where the most money can be made.

Just look at ESPN vs. ABC. The same is going to happen with NBC and the NBC Sports Network. Fox, too.

The rule now is you don't put your valuables where people can get them for free. The future maybe be ala carte, but it's also going to be PPV or multiple services to get all the content. In the end, the source might change for it all, but the content companies will still get their money and the consumer will own less and pay more.
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post #1709 of 1720
6/9/13 at 10:52pm
Warner Archive Instant has a loooooong way to go before it can even be considered a competitor to TCM. Right now, it's just a rather small collection of "B" movies, and some TV series. From what I'm hearing, that may be all it's ever going to be. No "A" list stuff ever. You'll have to get that elsewhere. And before too many people get excited about all the 1080p stuff they're streaming, let me tell you that it doesn't look any better than the upconverts on TCM HD. I sampled quite a bit content, during the two week trial, and I kept saying to myself "This is supposed to be HD'? Doesn't look like it to me. The HD on Netflix, Amazon, and Vudu blow this away.
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post #1710 of 1720
6/9/13 at 11:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bruin95 View Post

Warner Archive Instant has a loooooong way to go before it can even be considered a competitor to TCM. Right now, it's just a rather small collection of "B" movies, and some TV series. From what I'm hearing, that may be all it's ever going to be. No "A" list stuff ever. You'll have to get that elsewhere. And before too many people get excited about all the 1080p stuff they're streaming, let me tell you that it doesn't look any better than the upconverts on TCM HD. I sampled quite a bit content, during the two week trial, and I kept saying to myself "This is supposed to be HD'? Doesn't look like it to me. The HD on Netflix, Amazon, and Vudu blow this away.
Why do you think they have to game the system?

If you can't compete head to head, you eliminate the competition.
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