HBO-HD vs HD-DVD
Okay, I still have some movies and the internet stuff waiting to get published, but before I finish that series I need to post some HD-related "Consumer Reports-type" content. I've been meaning to comment on the different presentation qualities present among the broadcast HD channels, and now I can also see how they compare with the current Blu-ray and HD-DVD technologies (yeah, I have both). First up was the obvious comparison of recently debuted on HBOHD "King Kong". Since my HD-DVD player came with a copy of "King Kong" on HD-DVD, it would be easy to see it stacked up against my Comcast HBO feed.
Upon tuning in to HBOHD I immediately noticed that the movie was not being shown letterboxed. This surprised me, considering that I had watched a bit of the HD-DVD and knew it to be heavily letterboxed (Peter Jackson loves his epic, cinema-scope scenes). I took a few screenshots to directly compare how they displayed the exact same shot. What I found astonished me:
First we have this close-up shot of Kong on HBOHD:
Then the corresponding shot on HD-DVD:
Whoa! It actually looks like the letterboxed HD-DVD is cutting off part of the image! I would have guessed the opposite to be true. To further illustrate my point let's take a look at a wide shot of the airplanes that attack the giant ape:
First we have the shot on HBOHD:
Then the corresponding shot on HD-DVD:
You can totally see more sky above, and also more of the plane in the lower right corner. Weird. I guess I need to find out more about what kind of version HBO receives--and if the HD-DVD is actually fake letterboxed?! If anyone has any idea what is going on, feel free to comment. Also, I should point out that no amount of fancy HD technology could possibly make me enjoy this piece of shit film--"but it looks pretty good."
The letterboxed version looks so much better! Epic!!!!
is there a control / menu on the HD-DVD player to adjust the aspect ratio? if so tweaking that maybe crops stuff rather than squishing or stretching the picture? ( i have no fracking idea, mind you- just a thought! )
imdb says the aspect ratio was 2.35:1, so doing some measurements should reveal the answer to whether the DVD is fake letterboxed.
do you have an SACD player and surround sound? i have this 5.1 surround CD of "Dark Side Of The Moon" that I've never been able to listen to because no one has the system to play it.
SomeGuy:
There doesn't seem to be any menu on the HD-DVD player that would allow me to change the aspect ratio.
Dalas:
Yeah, the back of the case says it is 2:35, which makes sense...but why the 16:9, non-zoomed full-frame HBOHD image?!
Also, the PS3 does have SACD playback capabilities, but sadly I do not have a surround sound set-up, since the Hott Denn TV room makes it tough to mount rear speakers (and I think my receiver would need to have HDMI inputs). Way to point out my technological shortcomings...here I was thinking I was cool with my Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and you're all "what about SACD?!" :)
You've just totally redeemed your blog entry about King Kong by expressing how a total shit film it truly was. Awesome comparisons you made concerning HDDVD and HBOHD. Now, I know why I neither own nor subscribe to either. Peace!
looking at the pics, the hd dvd pics show more horizontally than the hbo hd version, but the hbo does show more vertically... strange as that means you are not getting the full hd image on either version....
the use of letter-boxing has always confused me. i mean, it's real intention is to allow the viewer to see the entire frame of the picture. but somehow people got fooled into simply thinking letterboxed means "it must be better" and you often see things shot on video that are letterboxed for no real reason other than to give it 'that film look'
the dvd version is clearly faked, because information that was on the oriiginal film is clearly missing, which is the opposite reason why things are suppossed to get letterboxed. are there HD monitors that have different aspect ratios? i suppose that could be an answer if such disparities exist.
but assuming all hd monitors are the same aspect ratio, i can only come up with two possible answers: 1: someone thought that it would look "better" if it was letterboxed, or 2: the HD DVD thing is still not perfect, and the only way they could get all that HD res video data onto the disk was to loop of a % of each frame so that the file size would be smaller (because that black space the letterbox creates takes up very little room). i bet the later idea is the case, especially since that movie is so long. a hi-res HD file of that movie must be enormous. buy letterboxing it i bet they were able to lower the file size by a considerable percent (15% maybe?)
It is, indeed, odd. I noticed the lighting dropped some from the King Kong images to the ones of the biplanes. Could be a setting on your digital camera. Check the color temp, too (the King Kong shots appear to be warmer, but the contrast is tighter on the biplanes). You've also got some wide angle lens issues with the Kong shots (note the distortion about the upper corners); try backing up more (as you did with the biplane photos) and staying level with the mid-line of the television screen. Keeping the camera steady will cut down on the blurriness that you got on the second Kong shot.