Has anyone resisted HDTV?

[Brazoo]

Since you seem to have some expertise on this I wonder if I can run this by you and get a solid answer.

I currently have a 32" 1080p screen with a 60hz refresh rate. I will probably be replacing it soon.

On scenes with a lot of "striped" material, I notice fairly prominent flicker as it pans.

A prime example would be "The Nightmare Before Christmas" blu ray. On Jack Skelington's coat and the hills that have a bunch of ridges it almost looks like the detail is strobing as it pans.

I wonder if it has something to do with the blu ray being encoded in 24 frame and my TV's inability to play 24 frame although I do notice this flicker to a certain extent with cable HD (i.e. a scene showing the grille of a car) which I assume is 30 frame.

Does 60hz cause this flicker or is it the way the TV converts 24 frame video or something else.

I'm wondering if another factor to consider might be the frame rate that the movie was animated in. A lot of animation is 12 frames per second - usually if an action is being followed with the camera, or the camera is movie it's animated in full 24 frames though.

[mego73]

Since you seem to have some expertise on this I wonder if I can run this by you and get a solid answer.

I currently have a 32" 1080p screen with a 60hz refresh rate. I will probably be replacing it soon.

On scenes with a lot of "striped" material, I notice fairly prominent flicker as it pans.

A prime example would be "The Nightmare Before Christmas" blu ray. On Jack Skelington's coat and the hills that have a bunch of ridges it almost looks like the detail is strobing as it pans.

I wonder if it has something to do with the blu ray being encoded in 24 frame and my TV's inability to play 24 frame although I do notice this flicker to a certain extent with cable HD (i.e. a scene showing the grille of a car) which I assume is 30 frame.

Does 60hz cause this flicker or is it the way the TV converts 24 frame video or something else.

Good golly. If you're judging HDTV quality by looking at the multi-feed crap down at your local Wal-Mart then you have no idea what you're missing.

There is no comparison here folks. And I'm a guy who LOVES nostalgia. I mean, I can understand and appreciate the "records vs. CD's" debate with audiophiles, but there is absolutely no advantage to a CRT vs. an HD screen of nearly any modern build. Analog TV was broadcast in 640x480 interlaced format, (meaning that the screen is drawing every other line). HD is a progressive format (meaning HD screens draw the entire screen at once) – and the lowest HD resolution is 1280x720. Analog broadcast TV is like watching scaled up crappy You-Tube video. Except most You-Tube videos are in HD now, too.

Remember – up until the FCC mandated all-digital broadcasting switch last year, the NTSC standard, the technical foundation of which CRT technology was established, was set back in 1941. Basically, the technology of CRT TV’s is a relic of the 1940’s!

As for HD - in the first place - The problem with Analog SD (interlaced) being put on HD (progressive) screens was called “combing”. Today, very little programming is even done in SD anymore so the issue with watching "SD on HD" is basically gone. Even older non-HD movies are now broadcast digitally and look great. I agree about 4 years ago this was an issue but it's basically gone now. And by basically I mean totally. Unless you like watching old VHS tapes…

In the second place - any decent up-converting DVD player (or respectable video game console) can now convert a DVD to HD and look fantastic. An Xbox or PS3 can natively scale a DVD to 1080p, and if it's a well-mastered DVD (e.g. anything modern) it's going to look quite nice, especially if the DVD mastered from a HD source. At sub-42 inches, actually a very nicely mastered DVD can look nearly as good as a Blu-Ray. At 50" + is where you can really tell the difference. There is no reason to “swap” your DVD collection to Blu-Ray, since DVD’s play fine in Blu-Ray players – and Blu-Ray players also upconvert DVD’s. Bottom line – if you’re watching an DVD on a CRT you’re going to be in for a big upgrade when you move to an HD screen.

In the third place – HD is easier on your eyes (again, exception for DLP). See above about Interlaced vs. Progressive. It’s actually more relaxing on your brain to watch an HD signal simply because every frame of the image is drawn at once vs. the 30hz flicker of a CRT. Trust me – if you spend more than an hour a day watching TV your brain will thank you when you make the switch.

As for the blur - that's a crappy feed, a mis-adjusted TV, or *sometimes* an artifact of DLP’s. It’s not inherent to HD sets or HD broadcasting.

Notwithstanding those who either cannot afford it, or have a medical problem with it (which I can respect) – CRT is simply inferior to native HD.

[mego73]

I'm not sure if it's from the flatscreen or the HD or both but whenever I see stuff on HD TV (at Walmart) the panning sometimes looks funny.

It's like slightly wavy or fisheye ... hard to explain.

Almost enough to sometimes make me feel queezy if it lasts a while.

That would be the settings to view 4:3 (Square) picture material on the 16:9 display. Many select the "fill" option that stretches the sides out but leaves the middle unstretched. I hate that option with a passion and any 4:3 material on my HDTV is views with black bars at the sides.

[HardyGirl]

I have a 10 year old DVD player, a TV set that's about a foot and half deep, and no desire to part with them.
I also play my old vinyl LPs. And some of my VHS tapes.

And it all goes well with my collection of 1970s action figures....

In these days of hi-tech drowning our way of life, the people cry out for a hero.
I am that hero. Call me....Retro-Man!!!!!!

*trumpets blaring* Retro-Man to the rescue! And I'm his trusty side-kick, RETRO WOMAN!!

[Brazoo]

>LCD screens are the greatest thing that's happened as far as I'm concerned.

....until we find out they emit Shizuma waves, which kill birds and fish....

Don C.

I might be willing to put those animals on the trash heap, if it came down to that!

[Adam West]

As a side note, we still own the first CRT tv we bought which is a 19 inch Zenith purchased around 1990 for $400 on sale!!! That was considered a great deal at the time. Now for $400, you can purchase a 36-40 inch 1080p HDTV. It won't be a Sony, Samsung, or Panasonic but still much better than the 19 inch CRT purchased in 1990. For those of you that don't want to convert, there will always be CRT's around. I see them all the time at Goodwill for about $25. It looks like the next gen of TV's is 3-D HD but it isn't for me. Watching movies in 3-D is a fun experience but not something I'd want all the time. I suspect if and when the need arises, The newer TV's will have an option to switch to a non-HD mode giving it the CRT look. I would think there will be a need for it at least from people who still enjoy playing older gaming systems that were made for CRTs.

[Adam West]

I am definitely a late technology adopter. I held out what seemed like forever on HDTV due to price. I finally bought an HDTV when the Summer Olympics were held a couple of years ago. It was jawdropping to say the least. I moved our nice CRT to the basement mostly if me and/or my wife wanted to watch a program or DVD that wouldn't be appropriate for my kids to watch....like the Sopranos, The Tudors, etc. I finally have had a chance to watch the entire Sopranos series on DVD (even though I have had them for years). The picture quality is adequate but doesn't even compare to HD or if I were to play the same non blu-ray Sopranos DVD in our blu-ray player. My cable company (Comcast) has just recently converted almost every channel with an option to watch in HD. As an example, if I turn our non HD local NBC station, there is now an option that pops up for a few seconds that says "Watch in HD"....if I hit ok on my DVR, the channel jumps up into the 800 range and all of a sudden it is in HD. I agree that watching non-HD channels on an HDTV is not great (even though you can fiddle with the settings to make it look as good as a CRT). But, it is now at the point that for me at least almost every channel has the option to be watched in HD or non-HD mode...my choice.

[Donkey Hoatie]

If I wasn't such a big sports fan, I'm pretty sure I would have resisted the HDTV movement much longer than I did. With that being said, I'm not sure I've seen anything more gorgeous on television than Wrigley Field in the middle of summer.

[ctc]

>LCD screens are the greatest thing that's happened as far as I'm concerned.

....until we find out they emit Shizuma waves, which kill birds and fish....

Don C.

[Brazoo]

In the third place – HD is easier on your eyes (again, exception for DLP). See above about Interlaced vs. Progressive. It’s actually more relaxing on your brain to watch an HD signal simply because every frame of the image is drawn at once vs. the 30hz flicker of a CRT. Trust me – if you spend more than an hour a day watching TV your brain will thank you when you make the switch.

I think I've done some permanent eye and brain damage staring at CRT computer monitors for years - LCD screens are the greatest thing that's happened as far as I'm concerned.

[Brazoo]

My DVDs look fantastic on my screen. Just a nice big clean image. No need to re-buy blu-rays AND my movies aren't shrunk down by letter-boxing now.

I can totally understand if it's a cash thing - or there's other practical reasons - but sometimes new stuff is a genuine improvement over old stuff.

I love records, typewriters, old toys, old comics, most of my movies are pre-1980 and I've never owned a cell phone - CRT screens are more like 8-tracks or video tapes to me. Some stuff deserves to die because it's been improved on.

Just the fact that my new TV is mounted on the wall and takes up less living space is a huge bonus over my old clunker.

[Mikey]

Kate Jackson had pock marks on her face????

Nahhh, I just made it up as an example

[megoapesnut]

Kate Jackson had pock marks on her face????

[Mikey]

And it all goes well with my collection of 1970s action figures....

!!!!!!

I agree,

I don't understand people liking Mego figures because they're quaint and not perfect .... but those same people wanna see all the pock marks on Kate Jackson's face while they're watching Charlie's Angels in HD

[Doc]

I have a 10 year old DVD player, a TV set that's about a foot and half deep, and no desire to part with them.
I also play my old vinyl LPs. And some of my VHS tapes.

And it all goes well with my collection of 1970s action figures....

In these days of hi-tech drowning our way of life, the people cry out for a hero.
I am that hero. Call me....Retro-Man!!!!!!