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HBO HD annoyance  

post #1 of 15
5/28/01 at 2:09pm
Thread Starter 
I really like HBO-HD . . . I probably watch it more than any other channel. However, I really wish they would "split" it from the main HBO feed. Is there really any point in showing Standard Def shows like Sex in the City, Dennis Miller, Real Sex, etc. on HBO-HD? I think it is a waste of the bandwidth. I think just about everyone with access to HBO-HD can also view the standard HBO channel, so why the double coverage? What does anyone gain from it?

I'd *much* rather have them show re-runs of other *HD* shows than show SD material available on their other channel. Since most HDTV viewers can *not* record, reruns are very important. I'd love to see "From Earth to the Moon" in HD, but it is only show on weekdays daytime or at some unGodly morning hour on weekends. I'd also rather see Springsteen, the Matrix, Fight Club, etc. in *HD* than some SD dreck. Heck, I'd rather see bad shows in HD that duplicative shows in SD.

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post #2 of 15
5/28/01 at 2:14pm
The SD shows have better picture quality for me on the HD channel.

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post #3 of 15
5/28/01 at 4:35pm
Well, I'd sure rather see SD shows upconverted than seeing the same show on the usual HBO channel. Yes, I watch things like Sex and the City on HBO-HD. Art
post #4 of 15
5/28/01 at 5:31pm
I guess it's all a matter of personal preference..

I would prefer to only have the Widescreen, HDTV content on 509.
post #5 of 15
5/29/01 at 10:39am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by dpgreene:
I'd also prefer an all wide-screen, all 1080i channel. There's so little HD on that I use HBO-HD as a demo channel.
Yeah, me too . . . especially since I switched from 61.5 to 148 that doesn't have the really nice Dish Network Demo Channel. I miss that channel since it was di riguer to switch to that channel any time a new person came to my house and I showed them what HDTV is all about. Now when a new person come over I switch to HBO-HD and it is really annoying to get Dennis Miller. Besides what ever he is whining about, it is not real HD. ;-) Then I switch to CBS and hope they have some HD on.

Quote:
Originally posted by dpgreene:
One possible benefit would be that as a totally independent channel, we might get a separate listing in the TV columns of various guides, which would improve the visibility of the service.
That is a good point . . . If I were HBO, I'd push that channel like crazy. I'd think that most HDTV purchasers would sign up for HBO-HD if they knew about it since it does provide more HD content than any other channel. And some of it is actually pretty good. Seperating the channels would give them more free press for the HD channel.
post #6 of 15
5/29/01 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Bill:
The SD shows have better picture quality for me on the HD channel.
Well . . . sure they do. They get a whole transponder all to themself instead of being shoe-horned onto a transponder with 5 other channels. Don't confuse the over-compression issue with the waste of precious HD bandwidth issue. If your SD HBO doesn't look good you should complain/switch services . . . or perhaps pick up a Si Image line-doubler.

But:
1) Do you really need to see Dennis Miller in HD? His jokes are just as funny/unfunny in SD.
2) Sex in the City should either a)Be shot in HDTV and left on the HD channel; or b)Left off the HD channel if it stays in SD.
3) Bob Costas? What's the point of having that in HD? That could just as well be a radio program. Leave it off the HD channel.

etc.
post #7 of 15
5/29/01 at 9:06pm
I'd also prefer an all wide-screen, all 1080i channel. There's so little HD on that I use HBO-HD as a demo channel. One possible benefit would be that as a totally independent channel, we might get a separate listing in the TV columns of various guides, which would improve the visibility of the service.
post #8 of 15
5/31/01 at 8:15pm
Quote:
Do you really need to see Dennis Miller in HD? His jokes are just as funny/unfunny in SD.
I would say my only beef with Dennis Miller in SD is that every HBO HTDV demo you see in every store you go into touts that show as one of the reasons to GET HDTV. Then the intellegent people down at HBO don't give it to you.

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Director of US Operations
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post #9 of 15
5/31/01 at 9:39pm
dagman,

Why should I buy a piece of equipment to get SD programs still not as good as watching them on the HD channel (my TV and HD receiver already have a line doubler)? The color quality is superior along with the resolution. I vote for leaving it as it is. I don't need more repeats of HD, there are already plenty of repeats. Where are you watching your HD? I have Directv and their demo channel is on till 9pm. It has alot of excellent HD scenes.


[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 06-01-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 06-01-2001).]
post #10 of 15
6/1/01 at 1:01pm
What I've found is that the folks that run these companies barely even watch what they put out. If they have a home theater system they probably only have it to show off to guests (the $250,000 trophy home theater system they can't even run). I would be the only time they see their content is during a boardroom meeting and 10 minutes at the most.

The decision to trash these films for HD is due to their rather lame business sense. If they give us a 1080i source they won't allow the audio to be DD5.1. If they give us DD5.1 they muck with the image either truncating a 2:35:1 source to 16:9 or even just giving you an upverted 480 line source. They are trashing the medium just like they did broadcast TV.

- Brian
post #11 of 15
6/1/01 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Bill:
dagman,

Why should I buy a piece of equipment to get SD programs still not as good as watching them on the HD channel (my TV and HD receiver already have a line doubler)?
I can't quite parse that. I'm not sure what you mean . . . but let me ask you this . . . Why buy pieces of equipment to view HD programming (your receiver and HDTV) only to get upconverted SD programming? (Dennis Miller, Sex in the city, etc.) Wouldn't native HD programming be better?

If you like all this upconverted SD programming, get Dish Network so you can watch lots of upconverted 4:3 material on the the Showtime HD channel. I'm even more annoyed at that channel since they have so little real widescreen HDTV programming. :-( They say they have trouble getting rights to material.
post #12 of 15
6/1/01 at 7:58pm
dagman,

Why buy equipment that won't give me as good of a picture as I'm already getting from SD/HD-HBO. When you say upconverted I assume you're referring to- from an NTSC source. I believe most of the SD on HBO is not from NTSC. My Fox affiliate is a perfect example of how good 480p ATSC (Film or HD-Cam source) can look when upgraded to HD. Of course native HD programming is better but I am happy with HBO's efforts so far and am certain they will continue to add HD programming.




[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 06-01-2001).]
post #13 of 15
6/3/01 at 5:01pm
The non-HD programimg (which is everything that is not 16:9)on HBO-HD is simply NTSC that is upconverted to 1080i.

FOX is unique with their native 480p digital feed, which is soon to be 720p downconverted to 480p digital.

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post #14 of 15
6/3/01 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Bill:
I believe most of the SD on HBO is not from NTSC.
I don't think so. Why in the world would someone have HD source material and then lower its resolution before broadcasting on an HD channel?

I believe Dennis Miller, Sex in the City, Bob Costas, etc. is simply NTSC material that looks better on the HBO-HD channel and your HBO (SD) channel for 2 reasons:
1) It is being processed by a studio grade upconverter as opposed to your consumer grade line-doubler in your HDTV.
2) It is being transmitted on its own transponder with no additional compression other than who HBO does to encode its HBO-HD signal.
post #15 of 15
6/4/01 at 12:01pm
I agree. Only HD stuff on HBO HD. Also, they need both feeds; east and west. This is flat out unfair. It is discrimination. Sex and the City and Dennis Miller should be shot in HD and maybe will be soon.
HBO is always cutting edge, so congrats to them for their efforts and for forging ahead before anyone else had the cojones to do so. That's balls in Spanish.

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