IS HBO HD movies better pq than DVD's? Yes.  

If you have to ask this question, then you obviously need to have your TV calibrated. The picture quality of true HD blows away anything you find on DVD.

Yes, it is higher quality. In some cases, the HD transfers are only a small improvement over the corresponding DVD; in other cases, it is a vast improvement. On average, the HBO transfers are a fairly significant quality improvement over the DVDs of the same film. The transfers vary widely in quality, depending on the film source HBO was able to obtain.

Generally, the larger the display you have, the more improvement you will notice with the HD transfers.

The only problem with hd movies is knowing you're going to have to replace your favorite dvds with hd dvd when it finally happens. Yes the difference is huge. Sort of a good news , bad news thing. Yes some hd transfers aren't a huge difference but some are MUCH better in hd. A place to read comparisons is widescreen review where they compare the dvd version with dvhs (when available).

I hate snotty answers like this. It's very possible he doesn't have two identical movies to compare, or that his DVD player does some up-conversion beyond 480p, or any other possible number of explanations. There's no need to attempt to diagnose the calibration of a TV over the Internet, especially where there was an indication that the quality of the HD did appear better. :rolleyes:

The question was a legitimate question, where the concern was that the opinion of quality was just based on HD through Comcast being new (something akin to a placebo effect). Explaining that the resolution of HD movies exceeds the resolution of DVD would be the appropriate response.

The downside to HBO HD movies or HD movies in general, is that quite a few of them do not have DD 5.1, and none of them have DTS soundtracks. Forced to choose, i'd opt for a 480p widescreen movie with DTS over 1080i with DPLII. Agreeing with bftvd, some of the older ones especially do not look near as great as you would think they should. With 480p widescreen, you're getting at least half of the benefit of HDTV (a widescreen picture, and ~ a picture quality midway between 480i, and HDTV)

Also, very few (IMHO) HD movies match the PQ of HDNet and some of the newer programs on DHD.

I have a calibrated Hitachi 51S500 which is especially good with dvd input.
Generally speaking excellent dvd's such as Gladiator are better than most so called HD movies on HBO and SHO. The 2 exceptions I have found are the new Bond movie and Moulin Rouge in a direct comparison with the dvd.
The real strength of HD is in live broadcasts such as sporting events,quality tv HD tape such as CSI;Miami, and the artsy stuff on public tv and INHD,

I feel that there is little difference between a good DVD and the same movie on HBO-HD.

I agree the real magic of HD is in live stuff, and stuff recorded in HD. Just like the CBS shows and the CBS "It's All Here" demo are two different things.

Same "thing", both HD, but way different quality.

I agree with bfdtv and Azanon. On my 53" Pioneer Elite movies on HBO-HD are, more often than not, nothing to get excited about. Gladiator was better than the dvd but the broadcasts I caught were always cropped to 16x9. I'd like to hear comments from members with big front projection set ups on this issue.

No matter how good your input is you still have only 480i or 480p and if 1080i doesn't look much better than some thing is wrong (such as the display's lack of HD ability, bad STB, etc.). I have yet to see one DVD that was close to HD (not to mention better) via my projector or HDTV.

I certainly wouldn't want to guess as to what is missing but you sure are losing a lot of HD performance - though on a smaller display at least to a lesser degree.

The clarity of CBS shows will blow away a "good" DVD. If you want to see the potential difference between DVD & HD, do a comparison of Star Wars AOTC on both.

Apologies to Karyk, and not to sound snotty, but I think it is appropriate to assume some of these comments are being made by people with a problem with their setup.

I happen to have seen Gladiator on HBOHD and own the DVD and there is no comparision. On my 57S500 the HD version wins hands down. You can compare captures in the file attached.

 

hdtv.zip 400.5185546875k . file

If you are watching on a true HDTV, and assuming everything is calibrated correctly, the HBO hd movie at 1080i will always beat out a DVD at 480p.

Some exceptions: there are some DVD players that upconverts a DVD above 480p by adding some lines (not quite sure), and connected via DVI to a HDTV, will improve it to close to HD. Also, if you watch HBO hd on a Plasma EDTV, it's down converted to 852x480 pixels native resolution, and will be just barely better than DVD.

Gentlemen,

Remember we are talking about movies shown on HBO-HD compared to the dvd. Nobody is saying dvd compares to hdtv in general. HBO-HD movies, in most cases, simply don't really show HD in it's best possible light. HDTV is vastly superior to dvd, but the movies generally shown on HBO-HD are several steps below optimal which waters down the difference.

Lets stop saying it's someone's set, it's not the set when Discovery HD looks out of this world and HBO-HD is a small step up from the dvd.

Just to make myself clearer. The only realtime dvd vs HD I ever compared was Moulin Rouge and the HD was better. I watched the Bond dvd and the HD movie at different times and I never even saw Gladiator in HD.
The point I am trying to make is that many upscaled movies look pretty ordinary.
For example, Gladiator the dvd, looks sharper than most of the run of the mill so called HD movies on Comcast HBO, SHO and CIN. It is going to take awhile before the production of movies for HD cable get it right for the average broadcast.
I don't think it is my set because the productiion variations on live broadcats are immediately evident. My stb is pretty ordinary too ( SA 5100)

Just to make myself clearer. The only realtime dvd vs HD I ever compared was Moulin Rouge and the HD was better. I watched the Bond dvd and the HD movie at different times and I never even saw Gladiator in HD.
The point I am trying to make is that many upscaled movies look pretty ordinary.
For example, Gladiator the dvd, looks sharper than most of the run of the mill so called HD movies on Comcast HBO, SHO and CIN. IMHO it is going to take awhile before the production of movies for HD cable get it right for the average broadcast. Just as it took CD production years to get it right for the average cd. Digital and HD transfer is still an art .I know the original HD broadcast of "Fosse" blew away the dvd.There is no comparison. But I have to think that the dvd transfer was not as good as it should be.
I don't think it is my set because the productiion variations on live broadcasts are immediately evident. But my stb is pretty ordinary ( SA 5100) as are my component cables.

There is no comparison. After watching HD, including the movie channels, dvds begin to look "fuzzy." Yes, these are the same dvds I drooled over two years ago.

The difference between your post and the one I complained of is that you actually provide some useful information (a suggestion of a movie to compare), not just an opinion that one always blows away another.

I think it was in this forum that I compared Notting Hill HD to DVD. It was the first HD movie I'd recorded (actually only about 10 minutes of it) and I then rented the DVD for comparison. The HD was by far the best, and my Sony PS DVD the worst. Somewhere in the middle was my DVD-Rom using PowerDVD and MyHD.

For the most part, however, I wouldn't necessarily say that the HD blew away the DVD. When doing direct comparisions the differences were fairly obvious (especially the scene involving him walking to his shop, where there were nearby bricks and distant bricks), but at least through DVD-Rom I don't think you could watch that one month and HD the next and say for certain that the HD was significantly better. If DVDs were all of the same quality, you might be able to do that, but there's just too much variation from DVD to DVD. I haven't watched enough movies in HD to say whether the same variation exists there.

I find myself on the side that says that HBO HD is usually not night and day better then a DVD and even with a movie like moulan rouge I would rather watch the DVD with DTS and OAR then DD and cropped on HBO HD. I think movies or maybe the way HBO has them transfered makes then not as good as HD can be for some reason.

Which Samsung DVD player to you have--the one with DVI? If so, that would probably be comparable to what I'm seeing with DVD-Rom (better than regular PS DVD.

It can also depend on what size picture you're looking at. The difference is going to be more noticable on a 100" screen than a 35" screen.

It can also depend on your source for HBO-HD...

ron

Heres a page with some DVD to HD comparisons

DVD to HD

The Right Stuff in HD is definately cleaner.

Yes, IF you are on a system that has good HDTV.. VOOM and TWC do. I can't speak for other cable companies. I can tell you that DirecTV HDTV is lacking and compression is horrible.

Also, if it's true HDTV and not an upconvert.

Diana
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HDTV movie vs DVD is true HD(1080i or 720p) vs ED(480p). The best way to notice the difference is to switch between Fox ED wide screen programs during prime time with HD programs in NBC, ABC or CBS. Your eyes can easily see the difference on the same display!

DVD is actually 480i native resolution (sd). Players and sets upconvert this but actual quality of picture is based on native resolution(ignoring quality of scaler for the sake of comparison). So with dvd vs hdtv you're talking 480i vs. 1080i...more than double the native resolution. Where this shows up in movies is detail ...usually of the background but faces as well.....far greater in hd.

If you're talking about actual pixels (which is what you should consider)...

DVD (720 x 480) = 345,600 pixels
HDTV (1920 x 1080) = 2,073,600 pixels

HDTV is actually SIX times the quality of DVD.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong ;)

wait til you see live sports!