Category Archives: DTV

Dark Ads

Posted on April 29, 2007 by Stephen Dawson

Over the past couple of months, I’ve noticed that Canberra’s Southern Cross Ten TV station is doing something rather strange. In the usually black space of a few seconds between the end of a block of advertisements and the recommencement … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV | Leave a comment

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

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

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 →

Posted in DTV | 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 →

Posted in DTV, HDTV | Leave a comment

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

Topfield releases its first HD PVR

Posted on November 16, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

Just received a press release from Topfield. It has now released its TF7000HDPVRt. That string of letters at the end have meaning: t=terrestrial (ie, as opposed to satellite), PVR=Personal Video Recorder, and HD=High Definition. Price? $1,299. The natural competitor to … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, Equipment, HDTV | Leave a comment

The Bitrate Trap

Posted on November 14, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve been experimenting a bit with downloading recordings from the Strong SRT-5490 and the Topfield TF6000PVRt digital TV receivers to my computer, editing and then burning DVDs. But there has been a problem: time. I’ve been using Ulead Movie Factory … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HD DVD | Leave a comment

HD TV vs SD TV

Posted on November 10, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

When describing the differences between standard definition and high definition TV, I generally say that the higher resolution doesn’t so much deliver more detail, but that the detail that is there is cleaner and more nicely defined. While that may … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HD DVD | Leave a comment