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Published on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 3:43am |
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FAST TIMES!! ARMY OF DARKNESS!! PITCH BLACK!! ENTER THE DRAGON!! Herc's HDTV Cellar!!
PS3 Equals 1080p? Somebody who seemed to know what he was talking about wrote in recently to confirm that the $600 PlayStation 3, which goes on sale in November, will indeed output HD at 1080progressive. So unless somebody knows something I don’t, there appears to be no reason to buy the $999 Sony Blu-Ray player, which goes on sale in late October.
Worldwide movie-geek leader Harry Knowles mentioned in an email to me this weekend that his plan is to join the 1080 HD revolution by marrying a PS3 to his gigantor digital projection system. (I can think of no more vital endorsement.)
All of the current HD-DVD players only output to 1080interlaced (which, admittedly, still looks pretty fucking amazing), though the HD-DVD discs can all output to 1080p once 1080p HD-DVD players hit the market. Unfortunately, I’m not aware that anyone has announced when the 1080p HD-DVD players will turn up.
But the difference between 1080i and 1080p may not be worth the upgrade, unless you’re buying a screen as big as Harry’s 12-footer. From talkbacker “Lezbo Milk” in the last HDTV Cellar:
Here is a blurb from Projector Central’s review of the new Toshiba HD-DVD play (they thought the Blu-Ray launch discs sucked by the way):In the last couple of days, several technical issues have been put to rest, at least for me. The first was the common accusation that the initial HD-DVD players like the Toshiba HD-A1 are deficient because they don't output "full 1080p" resolution, that they are "1080i only." I don't see this as a practical concern. All HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs will encode film-sourced material in full 1920x1080 progressive scan resolution at 24 frames per second, which is the film industry standard. Unfortunately many folks are confusing 1080i acquisition with 1080i transmission. The primary reason we get interlacing artifacts in a 480i, 576i, or 1080i signal is that the frame was originally captured in interlaced format, with the odd scan lines and even scan lines being recorded at two different moments in time. When you reassemble two fields that are offset in time, you get jaggies, moire patterns, barber pole effects, and line twitter. That is not true of either HD-DVD or Blu-ray film transfers since the image is scanned progressively from a film frame that represents a single moment in time. Therefore we would expect to see none of the common evidence of deinterlacing when watching HD-DVD or Blu-ray movies that are being transmitted via 1080i. Our first look at HD-DVD in 1080i confirms this expectation. After hours of viewing three different HD-DVD movies there is simply no evidence of any artifact that might be attributed to the fact that the signal was transmitted in 1080i format. The picture is as clean, stable, and as artifact-free as it could be. There is no visible defect in the image that would be eliminated by switching to 1080p transmission. (By the way, the fact that all three of these particular HD-DVDs are in the video codec VC-1 is another factor that contributes to the pristine image quality.)
Herc’s HD Pic of the Week!!
PITCH BLACK is not to be missed. … every so often... You stumble into a theater somewhere in this planet and get sucker punched in the gut. You double over and go.... WHAT THE HELL JUST HIT ME?!?!?!?! Well the fist that took the air out of me and Moriarty was PITCH BLACK. … the hammer hits the firing pin hitting the primer cap which ignites the powder that propels this so-called bit of Hollywood Lead into a furious thrill ride that never lets up till it hits you between the eyes, exiting the back of your skull sucking the brains out after it as it flattens against the blood splattered wall behind you. But unlike a zombie film... you don’t die... You become one of those reborn zealots that’s hotmail name becomes Riddick-Rocks@hotmail.com. You go from Bulletin Board to newsgroup to website crooning it’s praises. You begin scribbling fan art, forming your own PITCH BLACK website and talk about that which lies just beyond the boundaries of light.... right there in that deepest darkest bit of night that no widening of your irises can pierce.
… Imagine if in ALIENS.... if they didn’t have a remote drop ship... or... better yet, they just didn’t have BISHOP... or.... a miraculous sealed up tube that would protect you en route to the promised land. Imagine if Ripley, Hudson, Vasquez, Newt, Hicks and Gorman had to walk from point A to point B. No weapons... no tank or impenetrable armor... “Lo while I walk through the valley of death...” and they definitely fear the evil. Unlike ALIENS... these characters are not trained for action. They do not have an endless supply of weapons and armaments and doodads. They are up shitcreek with monsters with no paddle or high tech weaponry.
This is the film that you leave... not only referencing the jewels up above... But names like Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur.... Scenes like Marion clutching a dying torch as thousands of deadly snakes twist and curl about her very feet.
… It’s the type of film that afterwards you are lowering your voice and repeating key lines of dialogue that come out of Vin Diesel. Now I know... he has a reputation for being an asshole or a prima donna... I don’t give a shit. So did Richard Burton, did that stop you from watching his best films? I don’t care who Vin is in the real world, because quite frankly... Riddick is a cinema god. He does things only movie gods do. And when he does it... your shoulders ache... your fingernails get dirty... you begin to feel mean... like you could kick the shit out of whatever is in the darkness. …
HD Disc Calendar
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Reader Talkback
First?
by ObiWanBrodie | Jul 10th, 2006
04:20:37 AM | Wow, I did get First
by ObiWanBrodie | Jul 10th, 2006
04:25:06 AM | I'm confused.
by reni | Jul 10th, 2006
06:11:52 AM | what about interlaced special
features?
by skynetbauxi | Jul 10th, 2006
07:35:54 AM | God damn it.
by IncompetentNinja | Jul 10th, 2006
09:26:54 AM | wait for the players with the
Sigma Designs chips
by lynxpro | Jul 10th, 2006
09:28:21 AM | HD-DVD... It's not as
expensive.
by ZeroCorpse | Jul 10th, 2006
09:29:15 AM | By the way- 720p will be
dominant.
by ZeroCorpse | Jul 10th, 2006
09:30:27 AM |
by Puberty_Love | Jul 10th, 2006
10:29:31 AM | I'm a high-end
techno-weenie type
by Killah_Mate | Jul 10th, 2006
10:54:07 AM | Oh, and yes, I prefer Blu-Ray.
Who wouldn't?
by Killah_Mate | Jul 10th, 2006
11:00:35 AM | i prefer hd dvd
by aestheticity | Jul 10th, 2006
11:28:37 AM | aestheticity
by skynetbauxi | Jul 10th, 2006
11:36:50 AM | but if you don't buy
Blu-Ray players...
by Shawn F. | Jul 10th, 2006
11:49:23 AM | I went with HD DVD...
by ChrisPC24 | Jul 10th, 2006
11:50:09 AM | Although...
by Killah_Mate | Jul 10th, 2006
12:05:05 PM | IncompetentNinja is absolutely
right
by sith-vol | Jul 10th, 2006
01:07:20 PM | Ahhh, Pitch Black...
by redtom | Jul 10th, 2006
02:42:01 PM | And then you look at Sony
and...
by redtom | Jul 10th, 2006
02:46:35 PM | Army of Darkness in HD??
by quadrupletree | Jul 10th, 2006
03:48:20 PM | Does anyone know when the SED
TV's will be out?
by REDD | Jul 10th, 2006
05:40:00 PM | HD Fast Times at Ridgemont
High ?
by Itchy | Jul 10th, 2006
06:14:01 PM | I agree
by Banditmania | Jul 10th, 2006
06:36:49 PM | Idiots!!! HDTV is a ploy
by Gay Jesus Christ | Jul 10th, 2006
06:59:27 PM | 1080p is the only res anyone
should be caring about
by performingmonkey | Jul 10th, 2006
08:22:16 PM | Blueray blows...
by SG7 | Jul 10th, 2006
09:41:21 PM | Sony causing confusion by
introducing Blu-Ray?
by Dreamwriter | Jul 10th, 2006
10:35:25 PM | Army of Darkness ... and thus
it begins
by Creamery Butter | Jul 10th, 2006
11:04:08 PM | Great idea!
by superzario | Jul 11th, 2006
12:27:28 AM | ...or
by superzario | Jul 11th, 2006
02:50:28 AM | don't buy a 720p capable
only set...
by lynxpro | Jul 11th, 2006
09:16:44 AM | I loved Pitch Black but...
by BobParr | Jul 11th, 2006
10:03:46 AM | Two reasons HD is going to
tank....
by Sleeperkid | Jul 11th, 2006
10:50:16 AM | Remind me
by mr jones | Jul 11th, 2006
01:54:50 PM | Blu-Ray available in Mpls.
by handles | Jul 11th, 2006
02:08:22 PM | upconvert
by superzario | Jul 11th, 2006
03:16:32 PM | Sleeperkid
by lynxpro | Jul 11th, 2006
03:39:00 PM | misconceptions
by PhilConnors | Jul 11th, 2006
06:28:51 PM | 1080p
by Mr Brownstone | Jul 11th, 2006
07:07:29 PM | OK, I wanna know who the
fuck...
by WacksOnWacksOff | Jul 11th, 2006
11:19:00 PM | Thats whats sad about the
launch titles
by superzario | Jul 12th, 2006
12:04:12 AM | Dear lynxpro
by Sleeperkid | Jul 12th, 2006
06:41:50 AM | Oh, and thank you,
Brownstone...
by Sleeperkid | Jul 12th, 2006
06:42:42 AM | Sleeperkid
by lynxpro | Jul 12th, 2006
09:03:37 AM | lynxpro....
by Sleeperkid | Jul 12th, 2006
11:53:36 AM | 1080i artifacts be real.
by Diazanon | Jul 13th, 2006
07:07:21 PM |
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