Last Thursday I was ready to write a post about how high-definition flat-screen TV's and digital cable sucked, just like I knew they would. Dad bought a
1080p Panasonic TV and a
Samsung upconverting DVD player and ordered digital cable through Comcast. This followed the initial frustration of hooking up the recordable DVD player that wouldn't do what we wanted,
detailed previously.
The guy from Comcast hooked up the box, dad got the Samsung DVD player at Best Buy, and the 42" flat screen was delivered a couple of days later. We plugged it in...and the problems began.
Actually it worked at first, but when we turned on the DVD player, then went back to the digital cable input, all hell broke loose. The sound disappeared. Then it came back, but the picture would intermittently disappear leaving only a bright green screen. I tried going back to the DVD player, and suddenly it had no sound, but when I went back to the digital cable the sound returned. Then the situation reversed. When the sound was working it was horrible, with highs so squeaky that it was almost like someone rubbing fingers on a balloon and fuzzy, boomy bass.
Dad and I spent a lot of time switching cables and trying different settings on the remote, thinking surely we hit some button we shouldn't have or something was plugged in wrong. On the other hand, should it be this friggin' hard to plug in a TV?
Finally Comcast came out again, and...it was all because of a bad cable box. The guy plugged in a new one, and it's been smooth sailing ever since.
"Woodstock" was playing on a high definition channel called Palladia, and The Who blazed into the living room. Then I got my
Live at Kilburn `77 DVD out, also starring The Who, and WOW! Now THAT'S what I wanted to see! The upscaling DVD player perfectly expanded the picture to fill the rectangular screen so it was like I was at a theater sitting there in the recliner. I pulled out Led Zeppelin's
The Song Remains the Same DVD, and it was also phenomenal. I could freeze-frame Jimmy Page like a big, clear poster. By the way I have also seen
The Song Remains the Same in Blu-Ray on a 65" high definition screen and I really don't think the picture had anything on what this upscaling DVD player put out.
Despite the rush I got seeing Townshend and Page practically life-size in the living room, I can't give this hi-def flat screen stuff total A's. We also put in a
Willie Nelson DVD and while the color, detail and sound were wonderful, Willie looks 40 lbs. heavier when the 4:3 picture is scaled out to 16:9.
Overall, though, this is exciting stuff. If you really need a recommendation, I can tell you dad likes it, and much like Mikey and his Life cereal, dad hates everything!
You'll only see a big difference on Blu-ray w/ newer content. By definition older things that where recorded to video or film do not have high enough resolution for the blu-ray to make much of a difference. I've seen stuff on poppy's setup that is incredibly detailed...far more so than even an upconverting DVD can do.
Keep your eyes on the show line up on both Paladia and another channel called HDNet (assuming commiecast carries that station). Both stations always have great music concerts showing. Enjoy your HD!
I think Hardy's brother Heath was saying that even an old film should look sharper in Blu-Ray because the film has no pixel limitations, so the more pixels your TV has the better the picture should look. In a few spots I see the thing I was afraid of: graininess. When Robert Plant is riding down a hillside on a horse it looks like there's bees in the sky, and when Townshend is talking about, "I used to walk into Marshall's music shop and steal guitars off the wall," it looks like there's a cloud of bees over his head in the studio.
I think they're still going to have to find a better compromise between the 4:3 and 16:9 because the majority of our video history is in 4:3 and there are a few generations to come that want to see "All in the Family" in the right perspective.
Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with it. Especially considering I'm not the one who bought it.