Re: Will F1 be on BBC HD?

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:19:37 +0000, Ian Rawlings
<news06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2009-02-27, Ian Rawlings <news06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think that broadcast HD is only 720p, but having watched some sports
matches at a local hifi shop on BBC HD Preview, it was much better
than their SD displays, 1080p is even better still but I don't think
that's going to be coming over the air.

BTW it's worth pointing out that it's probably not worth getting a
1080p display at any size less than 40 inches, as the difference
between 1080p and 720p at that size over normal viewing distances
isn't really noticable. My screen's 41", I only went for 1080p
because I wanted the resolution for the computer display.

It's also worth noting the results of a survey by some video magazine
IIRC (I've lost the original sources) about what people perceived as a
"better picture", mostly they were impressed by the size rather than
the image quality, which is why you get so many large, *** displays
as those who preferred the smaller, better quality displays were
swamped by the "size matters" crowd. I can't remember the numbers I'm
afraid, some hifi magazine I read some years back had it all in there.

I think it is more the actual colour depth and the sharpness of the
same, that strikes people, not so much the resolution.
As sad as that is, i still have a 28" CRT in the lounge, HD ready with
progressive scan and 1.5 or 2 times(not sure now) the scan rate of the
old standard CRTs. It is a very clear and good picture, but it does
not have those vivid colours of the HD ones we have. Kinda like going
from a modern movie to an old 70's Technicolor one. Well, not quite.
:)

I read up on all this rubbish some time ago and it boggled the mind.
Yes my mind is boggled.. do with that what you like. :)
You have all these 720, 1080i, 1080p 1080p/200. Meanwhile, during all
that reading it dawned on me that HD is generally sent in 720 and the
quality and speed of a 1080i/p will depend on it's chip converting the
standard HD into full HD and the chips' quality apprantly varies
wildly. Fine, so that explains the differences in prices between
otherwise comparable looking units.. well, maybe. <shrug>
Now, if a sales guy would actually be able to not look at you if you
were a mad man when asking about the chip, it would be even useful to
learn about it in detail. As it is, i don't think i can open the back
of a TV to check if it is a good chip or not. Even if i knew what and
where to look for and what is a "good" and "bad" chip. I reckon they
do all these little subtleties in designs to screw us around.

I think you're spot on with the quality thing though. From what i read
at the time, due to the variance in scaling and speed of the chips,
the article said that going 720, 1080i or 1080p may not show any
quality improvement at all unless the units are next to each other and
even then it will be very marginal. And then speed becomes a factor,
especially for watching fast moving sports, as there was somehting
said about some units converting from progressive to interlaced and
then back to progressive before displaying(or vice versa, it was some
time ago). That strikes me as bloody ridiculous and i don't care if it
is a needed operation.. :)

BTW, B&W would give a much sharper visual resolution. It always did
and always will. And if you're colour blind this case is well and
truely closed.. :-p

--

Regards, Frank
.