Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in HDTV! - Page 15

With TCM premiering "Alexander's Ragtime Band" this evening, I'll be able to get two Irving Berlin musicals on the same DVD - this, and "Blue Skys" that was aired about two weeks ago.

Next week TCM is airing Svengali for the first time in more than a decade - don't miss this 1931 classic starring the great John Barrymore.

They should follow it with the Three Stooges short with "Svengarlic."

The funniest part of "Flagpole Jitters" was when they were pasting a poster to a wall. Larry was on a ladder and Moe accidentally hit him with a mop full of paste. Larry got angry and Moe, out of character, said he was sorry. Larry continues to yell "well you ought to be more careful" whereas Moe returns to character and says "I said I was sorry, now shutup" and hits him with the mop once again.

Well, without turning this into a 3 Stooges thread. I had to dig out my old TCM uncut collection and watch this episode, what a riot!!! Always been a big Shemp fan. One of the funniest lines, (and I have yet to remember what episode it came from), was where Shemp asks Moe, "Moe, does Marshmellows have pits?", Moe answers, "No, they're empty like your skull!!"

On another topic, how come TCM isn't airing any Martin Scorsese classics this month during their 31 DAYS OF OSCAR? If I remember correctly, last year only days before TCM went HD, they aired Raging Bull, The King Of Comedy, Goodfellas and Mean Streets. I got Taxi Driver though. Is it possible they've lost the rights to air some of these? I noticed Goodfellas on AMC a few nights ago, (can't watch anything with commercial interruptions), and HDNMV last aired Raging Bull on April, 19th of last year.

I was so annoyed at myself for forgetting about The Graduate last Friday. Now I have to wait until April 24th.

Thank goodness Breakfast at Tiffany's is airing on the 19th at 8 PM, (hopefully in HD this time.)

Humerous story about "Mean Streets". Just recently lost my cousin, Michael, who was an international journalist for the New York Times and author of eight books. After the film came out, he was asked to adapt it for novelization, so he took the script and turned it into book form. He didn't actually write anything but the book says "Mean Streets by Michael T. Kaufman". The book was banned in Uganda and so his name appears on the list with others, even though he never wrote it.

That would be from "All Gummed Up" (remade later as "Bubble Trouble").

I would tell you what I think but that would weaken the nation.

Gee, mentioning the Stooges was the slickest thread hijack I ever initiated...

Nyuck, Nyuck.

I was thinking of writing a biography of the Stooges, to be called There's No Business Like Schmoe Business...

Then you better learn to spell it first...

It's Schmo.. The plural is Schmoes...

Well, I can bring you all back to reality cause Felix Unger just cleared his ears in postage stamp letterboxed format. Fmuh! Fmuh! Fmuh! Fmuh! Fmuh! Fmuh!

Just saw that. Thought TCM had finally resolved the situation for I hadn't noticed windowbox problems for a while.

Anyone know if the OAR is correct on Turner's SD feed?

While Schmo is the proper spelling, we're dealing with Mr. Moe Howard so in this unique situation it is Schmoe!

Is AMC still airing Stooge shorts? Would be great to see them uninterrupted on TCM instead, although they are now all available on DVD.

I knew it was only a matter of time till things got screwed up again. We have no SD feeds anymore on any channel that has gone HD, so now their measly 25 hour capacity DVR fills up in no time wasting precious space capturing programming that is not HD on HD channels.

Thank you Cablevision, in addition to the 16 HD channels that no longer decode via firewire since their August 3rd, 2009 faulty firmware update.

Window boxed on 16x9 screen.

Yes. Usually Saturday mornings and in HD.

Damn! Dan Quayle could have gotten it!

I was going to plead the point Joe made, so thanks Joe!

Also, I wouldn't want anyone to confuse it with schmoo...

"I was going to plead the point Joe made, so thanks Joe!"

Kj,

There is nothing I wouldn't do for a fellow member of the Amalgamated Association of Morons, Local 6 and 7/8's!

While tonight's "Moonstruck" was again windowboxed, this time it was only slight - sort of like 15x8 instead of 16x9.

Watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on TCM HD. I'm just not impressed with it at all. The colors just seem off and everything seems a bit dark/faded. Watching it in 480p on DVD is better than this. I'm just not impressed by it at all. Something just seems very off about it...

HONK!!!! HONK!!!!! HONK!!!! HONK!!!!

That sucks! When I saw The Odd Couple on TCM it was in regular 16:9 letter box format. What's up with that? Do they have two copies of The Odd Couple? Or is it an HD transfer problem?

I feel bad when I DVR a show on TCM's HD channel and that happens! Extra DVR space, WASTED! You almost have to watch things in SD to prevent the possibility of Window Boxing from occurring!

I am going to write a letter about this!

Jack

Today's broadcasts of "Bridge On The River Kwai" and "Dr. Zhivago" were also slightly window-boxed similar to that of "Moonstruck" a few nights back. Zhivago looks a little bit better than it did a few months back.

Is TCM continuing their admirable practice of not displaying the channel bug/logo 24/7?

That's funny, cuz even HBO/Cinemax show that one in the proper aspect in HD.

I was very excited when my local TWC affiliate recently added TCM-HD. Most of the films I've seen have looked very average, but I had high hopes for these two David Lean classics. Framing issues aside, the image looked well short of true HD resolution. Is this the best they can do? I've seen a number of films on HDNet and MGM HD that, while not BD quality, were pretty close. My dvd of Dr. Zhivago has detail similar to the TCM-HD broadcast with much better contrast.

TWC-HD has the library to die for, yet what from I've seen so far the quality is disappointing. Lawrence Of Arabia looked stunning on HDNet. What happened with Dr. Zhivago on TCM-HD?

Zhivago looked great the other night on HDNet Movies, so a good print is out there. I don't have TCM HD on Dish, but from Turner's point of view, I guess you could say there really hasn't been a full rollout of the HD channel. Maybe they're working up to a point where they can publicly stand behind it. Is there any mention of it at all on their website even?