Monthly Archives: February 2008

How to wreck HDTV

Posted on February 21, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Last night I watched ‘House‘ which I had recorded earlier on a HDTV PVR. Naturally I recorded the high definition version from my local station, Southern Cross 10 in Canberra, which broadcasts HD at 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. As I … Continue reading →

Posted in HDTV, Video | Leave a comment

Yes, HD DVD is dead

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Well, so that’s it for HD DVD. Just Google News on HD DVD, and you will see that its demise is official. Of course, it’s only Toshiba abandoning the format, but without Toshiba the format is nothing. Interesting parallels: Betamax … Continue reading →

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

Is HD DVD dead?

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

A couple of decades ago I read a slim volume called ‘The Limits to Prediction’ (I think, or something like that), which presented half a dozen papers on the art of predicting future events, and the success that was achieved. … Continue reading →

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

Another example of lousy 576i deinterlacing

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

I’m reviewing a high definition digital TV receiver/PVR that, like most of them, doesn’t have the ability to output 576i over HDMI, nor to perform decent deinterlacing of it. To confirm my suspicions I took some photos. Having taken them, … Continue reading →

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New formats always lead to troubles

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

When the DVD was first introduced, some of the early discs were released in pan and scan 4:3 format. There was outrage from quite a few enthusiasts, who wanted to see movies in their original aspect ratios, a position with … Continue reading →

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Firmware – it has advantages, and disadvantages

Posted on February 8, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

One of the interesting side effects of digital home entertainment equipment is that products are no longer set in concrete. It used to be that you’d buy some gadget or other and what you purchased you were stuck with. If … Continue reading →

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Macro blocking

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

In the last item on the HD cricket broadcast I referred to the appearance of MPEG macro blocking in the picture from time to time. So what is macro blocking? I don’t pretend to fully understand the maths behind it, … Continue reading →

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Cricket finally makes it to high definition!

Posted on February 2, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

At long last the first cricket match to be delivered in high definition in Australia was broadcast. This was the 20/20 match between Australia and India, played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia won handsomely. Let us have a brief … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HDTV | Leave a comment