Author Archives: Stephen Dawson

HD picture quality, vs SD picture quality

Posted on April 28, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

The issue before last of Sound and Image magazine carries my article comparing the picture quality of SDTV and HDTV. In brief, I captured snippets of both versions of the same programs on a high definition PVR (the Strong SRT-5490), … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HDTV, Video | Leave a comment

We need a videophile’s High Definition Digital TV Receiver

Posted on April 26, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve been struggling to get my head around this for some time. The problem has been a lack of replicable test signals. But I think I’ve got it nailed, at last. I was watching a late night movie on ABC … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HDTV, Testing | Leave a comment

1:1 pixel mapping – why your 1080p display should have it

Posted on April 18, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

Last night I started working on a blog entry on this subject, but soon after I started I realised that I was putting in too much work to just give it away. So this is just a brief taste. Full … Continue reading →

Posted in Video | Leave a comment

ABC Digital TV switches to full surround sound — sort of

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

I was watching ABC digital TV last night when I happened to notice that the home theatre receiver was indicating that the incoming digital audio was 5.0 channels, rather than the usual 2.0. To double check, I recorded a bit … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, DTV | Leave a comment

Who’d ever have thought it

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

I was perusing, as I so often do, the Internet Movie Database when I stumbled upon something quite surprising. It was that the 1929 Disney animation, ‘The Skeleton Dance‘, was banned in, of all places, Sweden. Clicking on the provided … Continue reading →

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The HD format war already coming to an end?

Posted on April 11, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve been saying pretty much from the start that eventually there will be dual format HD DVD/Blu-ray players. But I wasn’t expecting it for maybe three or four years. Well, the pace of technological improvement continues to accelerate, and already … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Equipment, HD DVD | Leave a comment

The dirtiest joke ever on prime time TV?

Posted on April 10, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

We all know that ‘The Simpsons‘ is hilarious. And it sometimes pushes the boundaries for taste, usually for those who don’t quite get it. I recall hearing some young fellow ring up the John Laws radio talk back program last … Continue reading →

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Blu-ray vs HD DVD – is Blu-ray hobbling itself?

Posted on April 10, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

Some years ago I received a DVD player for review. Before I had a chance to get it out of the box, I received a call from the PR company. The previous reviewer had accidentally left a DVD in it, … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, HD DVD | Leave a comment

Putting pressure on TV cinematographers

Posted on April 4, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

It isn’t easy to be a TV cinematographer these days. The other night I was watching Medium on high definition TV. The pre-titles opening scene was, as usual, one of Alison Dubois’ dreams. Mrs Dubois is the titular Medium, and … Continue reading →

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Talk about slack and lazy!

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

A couple of people have emailed me, politely I’m happy to report, wondering whether I’m ever again going to add something to this blog. For the past, ugghh!, four months I haven’t felt inspired enough to add anything new here. … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Cinema, DTV | Leave a comment