HD, not impressed

[croyde]

Well I plumbed for Sky HD+ and have just set it up.

First impressions:

So I had a 28" CRT which had great, sharp pictures with Sky, Freeview and Analogue then went to a 42" Plasma where everything looked rubbish and blurred.

So now I have clear sharp pictures again but they don't really blow me away, unlike the monitors at work when we are working with HD and 3D, and not only have I had the expense of a new Panny G30 but have had to shell out for HD and a Blu Ray player plus the extra cost of the discs.

I have found the change very underwhelmimg or maybe I am just too fussy.

Conclusion, get a bigger screen and be prepared to spend a lot more in order to get the similar quality that you had with your older smaller TV set.

I have the HD box set to output in 1080i, the highest setting, even though the telly can handle 1080p. Should I change the Panasonic's settings?

Cheers.

[croyde]

cjs said:

Change the HD box to output 720p and see if that improves things, Sky HD is broadcast in 720p. Are you watching native HD channels? What does Skynews HD look like?

Are you sitting too close ? You need to be back about 2x the screen width.

You are using an HDMI cable aren't you? You're not watching via a scart or RF cable.

Edited by cjs on Monday 19th September 13:12

Edited by cjs on Monday 19th September 13:14

Cheers, I'll try changing to 720p. Currently some of the Sky HD channels have a very pronounced judder, especially on the Wright Stuff this morning, they almost looked like robots. Maybe they are

Also the speech on the Sky HD channels looks ever so slightly out of synch although the Freeview HD looks fine.

Currently swapping BBC HD preview between Sky and the TV's Freeview and have to say the sound and picture are slightly better on Freeview HD.

I am about that distance from the screen and it is connected via HDMI.

Cheers.

Edited by croyde on Monday 19th September 13:32

[croyde]

Watched a bit of the rugby on ITV HD (Freeview) the other day and that was impressive, just a shame I'm not into footie or rugby.

[croyde]

Sitting about 6 to 8 ft from the screen.

Another question:

I Sky plussed Spooks off BBC 1 HD last night and I'm sure the bit I saw "live" looked good but watching it off the disc today it looks almost SD.

I never noticed a difference in recordings and live on the old Sky+ box but do the newer HD boxes have a system to maybe save space thus not recording in proper HD.

I have gone through the menus to see if this can be changed but have found nothing.

Cheers.

[croyde]

Whale Oil Beef Hooked.

Just amazed that one of their top offerings is not shot in HD. I film a lot of music for the BBC and Channel 4 and I have not seen an old SD camera for a few years.

[croyde]

Was watching Spooks in SD last night on the HD Plasma and I did like the look of it but Strike Back also looked and sounded good in HD but looked bloody awful last week before I got my HD box.

Some of the SD channels are now unwatchable on the Plasma when they were fine on the smaller, older CRT.

[croyde]

Not a fan of uber sharp also but it was a shock to see how bad SD fares on a 42" Plasma. Not just soft but well out of focus and no detail

We almost always shoot on HD cameras these days but quite often the DoP likes to stick a filter in to soften the picture. Bloody hard on the long end of a 100-1 lens at 1.4 at dusk