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[opendtv] One viewer just says no to the high of high-definition TV

From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 13:55:10 -0400

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
One viewer just says no to the high of high-definition TV

By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff | June 8, 2008
The Boston Globe

I lost my high-definition virginity to "The View."

I'd seen the morning cluck-fest a hundred times before, but never
like this, as crystalline and bright as a chandelier. In the table's
mirror-like sheen, I saw reflections of the ladies' heads, like trees
on the surface of a lake. I could almost smell the Lemon Pledge.
Above the table and its happy coffee mugs, I could precisely locate
the gap between Whoopi Goldberg's front teeth. I could isolate each
of her dreads. I clearly saw that Joy Behar's mouth had been very
freshly smeared with red, and that Elisabeth Hasselbeck had wisely
put lines of mascara under her small eyes, to define. Look, there, in
Hasselbeck's cleavage: a teeny, tiny cross.

My eyes tingle just remembering it all. Unaccustomed to the full
disclosure that comes with HD's very many lines of resolution, its
onslaught of visual data, I was blown away. If TV is like a drug, as
some say, then I think HDTV must be like crystal meth, delivering a
rush of hyper-clarity and sharpness straight to the head. "The View,"
the tennis players in the French Open, the gang on "How I Met Your
Mother" - in HD, they all seem to be in "Toy Story," or some other
Pixar animation. They appear more real than real. The phrase "eye
candy" should have been invented for this TV delivery system, as it
adds a sheer glaze of sugar to every image it conveys.

But I wonder: Is high-definition TV Too Much Information TV? When we
watch a boxing match, do we really want to see every single drop of
blood and sweat glistening in the klieg lights, sailing across the
ring? Do we really need to see the "View" ladies, during a spat about
Barack Obama, develop a veneer of perspiration, or glimpse the
beating-hot overhead studio lights in the shine on guest Salman
Rushdie's bald dome?

By February 9, 2009, the FCC has mandated that all TV broadcasts must
be digital only. Analog TV transmission will be dead. And with that
imminent and essential technical change will, undoubtedly, come the
sale of even more HD-ready TV sets (which require a digital signal),
more shows broadcast in HD, more raising of the definition bar. Those
who already watch HDTV tend to be passionately in favor of it, and
see it as the way of the future. And the truth is, if you watch HDTV
and then switch back to SDTV - standard definition TV - you're left
feeling visually unsatisfied. It's as if you've lost your
prescription glasses. Years of "normal" TV imagery suddenly seems
blurry, subpar, for Luddites only.

...

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/06/08/one_viewer_just_says_no_to_the_high_of_high_definition_tv/

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[opendtv] Re: One viewer just says no to the high of high-definition TV
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[opendtv] One viewer just says no to the high of high-definition TV

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