American Idol on Fox  

I guess a thread could be started about CSI. It looks good and sounds great every week and we could talk about Marge Helgenberger and how hot she is.

After a while, how many ways can you say, something looks and sounds great? (MORE TASTE! LESS FILLING!)

Favorites:
* Bo Bice (versatile range, stage presence)
* Carrie Underwood (All-American looks, very good voice, red state favorite)

Worst:
* Constantine Maroulis (very limited vocal range)
* Mikalah Gordon (The jap act got old very quickly)

Coverage:
Fantastic HD picture and DD 5.1 sound

Thank you FOX :)

im sick of this show

...."seacrest out"

My favorite to win is the heavy set black fella... think his name is Ruben (not really sure) :)

There is a thread already about AI in HD started by Ken H:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...highlight=idol

I watched this show once with my girlfriend. Never again; what a waste of time. Pick any kid at random from one of the many theme parks, cruise ships, etc. where talented kids go to perform and they'd just wipe the floor with these people on this show. Its popularity astounds and mystifies me, but much of what happens in America these days astounds and mystifies me as well. We live in strange times.

I'm watching FOXHD via DirectTV...

I find that the audio mix during the songs lacks gain, depth and forward staging. It appears that the vocals are spread across all three front channels equally , where it would be better if the center channel carried a little more of the vocals...

Then the commercials come on and bam...run for the remote to turn down the volume...

Growing up in the 70's and being sort of a "anti commercialism" "AOR rocker" I can see where you're coming from with all these sappy Stevie Wonder tunes etc...

I'm showing my age - I now have two children - ages 13 and 10, and I must admit that its one of the few shows which, as a family, we will all sit down and watch... I cringe sometimes, but its mindless, family entertainment...

When its over, I quickly revert back to my old self, and rush everyone out of the room so I can watch 24 or House by myself ;-)

Seeing that Im one of the "I only watch because my girlfriend removes the batteries from the remote when its on" viewers, that Bo guy is the first contestant that I would actually listen to without being forced.

Amanda Avila is hot. Hot on HD is hotter.

Here's how I watch this show.

I send this show straight to disk. I click over all the Ryan Seecreast (or whatever his name is) commentary. I click over the interviews and extra blah blah padding. I listen to the first ten seconds of each performance and the last ten seconds. If they sounded good (rarely), I'll click back and maybe listen to the whole thing. I always listen to the judges comments, possibly clicking back to find out what they're talking about. By doing this I can easily get through this hour show in fifteeen minutes. DVR's were made for this show.

Not to mention the pause function for Amanda Avila.

one problem with the show is you pretty much know who'll be top 2,3 after 1,2 weeks, then it's a long slow death march. this year looks like it's a battle b/t rocker guy and blonde country girl.

Amanda is a BABE, but I fear her days are numbered. But I'll enjoy the eye candy while it lasts.

as for the talent level, well, if you have real talent, would you want to be on this show? they've written the contract so that they own your a**. I mean when you hear people like Elton John, who's made zillions, bitch about what thieving scumbags the record companies are, you can imagine what a number they're doing on these kids.

I agree that AI looks great in HD. My favorite to win is Carrie Underwood. I think Constantine just insured getting voted off with his dreadful interpretation of that Black Crowes song. I disagree with the judges, he did a much better job with his odd choice of Seal's "Kiss From The Rose" last week. The blonde dorky kid who sang the foreigner song really surprised me this week. He deserves another week. As for tonight's show I really hope Lindsey Cardinale picks a better song than she sang last week or she may get the boot early. It'd be unfortunate as she's easily got the best voice IMO. Not to mention she's a real cutie! I also like Mikalah Gordon though I agree with Simon's comments that half of America finds her very annoying. I welcome her personality among some of the dull performers on this year's AI.

Oddly, my wife and I had no idea this show was even in HD until last night. I guess we've always missed the beginning of the show, and never thought to check if it was in HD.

Great PQ, great sound. The only issue we have is with the audio, the singers voices sometimes seem to be overwhelmed by the band and/or background. Of course, our system could be a big part of that.

-JR

My wife and I love this show :) I don't think she has any clue that it is in HD - one of those shows that I'd watch in SD if I had to.

Constantine and that Mureno dude have got to go (and they know it)

Michael.

I've noticed that as well.

That actually has more to do with the singer. The performances come across as weak, because they are weak performances.

Are you sure your name isn't Simon Cowell?

I thought Constantine would do well. His voice has a great tonal quality to it, but his performance last night of "Hard to Handle" made it painfully obvious how limited his range is.

Going to be an interesting season for sure. There's relatively good singers in lots of different niches (compared to previous seasons anyway).

Same here:(

And the AI producers agree with you. I'm sure those votes will be skewed to keep her around until the final 12. How many times did they show her last night ? Unbelieveable.

I like Kelly Clarkson myself. ;) BTW, is it just me or do the normal plants in the studio audience act more obvious than uaual. It's almost laughable.

Wolfie

For all sports fans:

In case you missed it in the AI auditions, Nikko Smith (very good song last night) is the son of Ozzie Smith (former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop - Baseball Hall of Fame member).

Yup, I remember that. Also, he is Bobby Brown's look alike :)

I'm continually amazed by the AI PQ, especially since my 6412 is presumably converting Faux's 720p signal to 1080i. The NFC football games looked pretty bad in comparison, but AI is live too, and looks fantastic. What's the explanation for that?

I'm thinking Bo is going to win, at which point he'll have a rude awakening as he is required to sing treacly pop ditties for the remainder of his "career." No more Allman Brothers, Bo. Enjoy it while it lasts.

???
The only way your 6412 is doing that is if you have it set to 1080i.
Go to the menu and change it to 720p

That wouldn't be a good idea, since my Sony 30HS420 doesn't do 720p.

My point, anyway, was how great AI's upconverted 720p signal looks -- far better than many native 1080i broadcasts I've watched. (Though that probably has more to do with the network broadcasting it than is does with the source.)

That's not always true, see if your Sony does a better job of upconversion than the 6412.

Okay, I'll switch it to see if I can see any difference in PQ; I'm guessing no. Though if there is a difference, it would be annoying to have to go down to the 6412's menu to switch back and forth; a button on the remote would be nice. So would a million dollars.