[mulesqb]

I finally broke down and bought "The Ring" last night. My wife and I watched the 5 minute preview and decided to keep it going. Any time time my wife shows interest in HD I jump in head first. To my surprise the movie was in in 5.1 althought it said in the preview "Dolby Surround". The pq was excellent. The movie started off as a great "white knuckle" horror flick, the likes of The Sixth Sense with the exception of the ending. The last 10 minutes killed what was a very pleasurable HD experience. In hindsight, $4.99 was a lot for that movie, except for Naomi Watts, who is now at the top of my list. Watching her in HD was awesome. But as someone who has been dead set against the bandwidth being used for this channel, I am now a little more open minded, as they appear to be getting more movies on the schedule. Any one else try it lately???

 

[David F]

I wish there was a schedule somewhere of upcoming movies or what's showing right now. I looked around the DirecTV web site but couldn't find anything. If anyone knows where I can find that info I'd really appeciate it.

 

[jrichards]

Quote:

Originally posted by David F I wish there was a schedule somewhere of upcoming movies or what's showing right now. I looked around the DirecTV web site but couldn't find anything. If anyone knows where I can find that info I'd really appeciate it.

Look here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=249457

 

[David F]

Thank you! I'd tried TitanTV a while ago and it didn't work. I'll give it another shot.

 

[Paul_Seng]

I think that all of the email's that have been sent to directv's Stephanie Campbell's office has worked. They are listening to us and realize that money can be made if they get more PPV HD movies with 5.1 out there. I watched Road to Perdition a few days ago and it too was 5.1 (even though the info said dolby surround).

 

[Infominister]

I, too, lost my HD PPV Channel virginity with Road to Perdition. It looked and sounded great, especially with the Dolby Digital 5.1. Well worth the extra buck as compared to renting it on DVD. I just wish they had kept the 2:35 OAR, but this isn't the biggest deal for me.

 

[scottsfs]

You can find out all of the HD PPV movies by using the search programming feature on the directv web site. Search for (HD) for the next 12 days and you will get a nice list.

 

[Thebarnman]

Quote:

To my surprise the movie was in in 5.1 althought it said in the preview "Dolby Surround".

Thanks for letting me know. I could have seen the five free minutes yesterday to find out, however I forgot to change to that channel. Now that I know this, I will try to find the time next weekend to have friends over to watch this. I was going to rent the DVD, however because of the 5.1 AND OAR, it's well worth the rental price.

 

[jautor]

I watched 'The Ring' last night on 198, too... PQ and 5.1 were both good, but there was an inch tall "letterbox" bar on the top of the screen throughout the film - was this intentional, or a transfer error? The DirecTV bumpers before and after the film filled the screen...


And the film wasn't bad, although a lot of the style and imagery were lifted from Se7en and Six Feet Under's opening sequence. Not a bad film, but not great either... But it's definitely better than the first 5-10 minutes lead you to believe - it's not a stupid horror film...


Jeff

 

[PVR]

Letterbox bar suggests an OAR transfer... Many on the forum will tell you that it is a good thing!

 

[DennisMileHi]

Go to TitanTV and set up a favorites list. Add channel 198 with the station being DIR198. When you visit your favorites list, click on that channel and you will get a list of the programming for the next 7 days. You can click on any movie and then Other Airtimes and get a list of all the times that movie is showing. The list appears to be accurate. There is no mention of the audio format.

 

[h2ofun]

How do you know if this stuff is true HD, or upconverts?


Dave

 

[AreBee]

I watched "The Ring" lasts night on 198 and I don't think this was a great choice for the HD channel.


My wife gave me crap about paying $4.99 vs. $3.99 on the SD PPV. I said "What's the big deal about $1.00?"


She came back with "You're the one complaining that you don't want to pay extra for ESPN-HD!"


DOH!


I really liked the movie though. Creepy....

 

[Thebarnman]

Quote:

Originally posted by jautor I watched 'The Ring' last night on 198, too... PQ and 5.1 were both good, but there was an inch tall "letterbox" bar on the top of the screen throughout the film - was this intentional, or a transfer error

Something may be wrong here. Since the movie is 1.85:1, you should not notice any black bars on the top and bottom unless you have your overscan at 0%.


Was this black bar also in the 1st 5 minutes of the movie?

 

[Thebarnman]

Quote:

Originally posted by PVR Letterbox bar suggests an OAR transfer... Many on the forum will tell you that it is a good thing!

That would be fine if the movie is 2.35:1, however "The Ring" is 1.85:1 and most people should not see black bars unless there is no overscan on the display.


The part that disburbs me is he mentioned that there was a black bar on the top, not that there was one on the top and bottom. It could be that his display is not centered (ajusted much lower than it should be) and that he is really seeing the top of the screen, and in that case, all movies that are 1.85:1 would show the thin black bar at the top of his screen and not on the bottom. Then again, I do not belive that to be the case.


If it's a problem, I hope it's fixed soon.

 

[mulesqb]

Quote:

Originally posted by jautor but there was an inch tall "letterbox" bar on the top of the screen throughout the film - was this intentional, or a transfer error? Jeff

I didn't have any bars when I watched. It was 1:85:1.

 

[Thebarnman]

Quote:

Originally posted by mulesqb I didn't have any bars when I watched. It was 1:85:1.

What did you think of the quality of the transfer? Do you think that the movie looked dark on your screen? I only saw the first 5 minutes of it and at least in the begining it was kind of green, grany and dark. Not that that's bad, it's just the way it looked on my set.


I'll be watching it next Sat when I have some friends over and I'm thinking of bumping up the black level by one so it won't be so dark.

 

[mulesqb]

Barnman - It was a little dark, but I thought it was an effect they were trying to achieve, and when you see the movie I think you'll understad that a little better. Overall I thought it looked and sounded fantastic. And again, for the first hour and a half, I thought it was one of the best horror movies I've ever seen. I have the 50" GWII that I calibrated with the Avia disc. I didn't see any need to adjust anything, especially with my wife in the room who would have just ridiculed me anyway. I think the quality of the 5.1 was the thing that really stood out. I have the Onkyo 797, so my 5.1 is converted to 6.1 There isn't a crazy amount from the rears, but when it comes, it's great!! Enjoy it.

 

[Ernie Smith]

My first venture into HD PPV was with MINORITY REPORT. I was pleased with the sight and sound even with that "look" that SS gave it.

They sure don't make it easy to buy. I am set up to subscribe via the DTV website with my credit card. I tried to get GOLDMEMBER fifteen minutes before it was to come on but was not able to. I think that $4.99 is reasonable to view a decent film in 1080i and hopefully they will have more DD 5.1 as time goes on.

 

[Vaggeto]

I also got that and it thought it was pretty good. The sound was great, but the HD picture didn't impress me nearly as much as Goldmember.