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

  • From: John Willkie <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 18:31:16 -0700 (GMT-07:00)

sounds like this guy is undeserving of HD.

Makes you wonder how he felt about tv screens with corners (instead of 
portholes), color film and color tv.

Luddites still abound.  This guy is a candidate for hand-held tv, since the 
perceived visual quality will be lower on 1/4 SVGA screens. (It was discussed 
in the open at NAB that this will most likely be the visual format used by ATSC 
M/H.)  

John Willkie

-----Original Message-----
>From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Jun 8, 2008 10:55 AM
>To: undisclosed-recipient@null, null@null
>Subject: [opendtv] One viewer just says no to the high of high-definition TV
>
>
>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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