Spike HD users - is Star Wars ever in 5.1????

[yoda313]

Ok so after the digital switch with Comcast they finally added more HD channels. SPIKE is one of them!!!! THAT MEANS STAR WARS!!!

It's on right now in the eastern time zone (6-9). It looks really good. Not quite a full blown bluray disc, I suspect its crippled a little (1080i natch, but also I'm thinking Lucas and gang wouldn't want to let out a full core hd version yet until they can soak in the money from the bluray discs.

My thing is according to the info box on the pvr IT IS NOT IN 5.1!!!!! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I WANT STAR WARS IN HD IN 5.1!!!!!!!!

I can live with the hd cropped version (1.85 instead of 2.35 - or is it 1.77 - anyway it fills the widescreen without black bars but is not distorted). But I have to have 5.1.

Of course I own it on dvd twice (the first release and then the second release that includes the original unaltered laserdisc dub). But I want a 5.1 hd version to watch!!!!!

FYI its A NEW HOPE that is on right now......

[stiltman]

edit

[yoda313]

Uhoh.....

Stiltman with an edit and a smirky smiley????

Did anyone get a screenshot before the edit???

Seriously though, anyone get the Star Wars movies on Spike HD in 5.1 surround????? I have Comcast high def fyi and a Motorola dch3416 pvr (that does 5.1 just fine on other hd channels - via fiber optic in my case)

[vhelp]

I can live with the hd cropped version (1.85 instead of 2.35 - or is it 1.77 - anyway it fills the widescreen without black bars but is not distorted). But I have to have 5.1.

yeah, if its full screen on *your* widescreen, its cropped: 1.77=full, 1.85=very little, and 2.35=more borders

I still have my laserdisc of the original (color washout) and SE versions, plus on DVD's too. Man, his hands were in my pockets alright. But I haven't gone for the bluray yet, if they have-em yet, that is. Don't know if I want them. I'm still restoring my original laserdisc collection for crying out loud--i'm just taking my sweet-ol time.

-vhelp 5168

[yoda313]

@vhelp - no bluray yet. I'd have had dozens of posts about them by now if they were out

[stiltman]

Uhoh.....

Stiltman with an edit and a smirky smiley????

Did anyone get a screenshot before the edit???

Seriously though, anyone get the Star Wars movies on Spike HD in 5.1 surround????? I have Comcast high def fyi and a Motorola dch3416 pvr (that does 5.1 just fine on other hd channels - via fiber optic in my case)

Why do you think the vesion you watched on Spike's HD channel is a HD version of the movie?
If it's not out on Bluray or HD-DVD, do you actually think Spike is going to get the HD version first?

[yoda313]

Well I'll say this - it looks better than a upconverted dvd.

[stiltman]

Well I'll say this - it looks better than a upconverted dvd.

Broadcast equipment is a weee bit better than consumer stuff


edit:
Lets say normal over the air broadcaster get 19mb of bandwidth:
Primary channel gets 15-17mb for HD
Secondary1 gets 1-2mb for SD
Secondary2 gets 1-2mb for SD
Their encoders do VBR and they do a damn good job of it too

Spike gets 19mb total
Their encoders do a great job doing VBR just for one channel.


Let us know what area you are in and we can tell you if your local stations (over the air and comcast) are doing HD
Then you can compare TRUE HD to upconverted HD


I watched DOOM on TBS HD, I know it was upconverted just by the 16x9. It does look better than my upconverted DVD, but I still know it's upconverted and cropped.

Edit2:
Also there is no reason Spike couldn't send out 5.1 sound, since the original DVDs had it. This might be a limitation Lucas put on them...If it's tooo close to be semi real HD, Lucas would lose money on BR sales

[yoda313]

@stiltman - I understand it will be cropped. Heck TNT crops LORD OF THE RINGS! That is blasphemy for any scifi/fantasy buff.

Also there is no reason Spike couldn't send out 5.1 sound, since the original DVDs had it. This might be a limitation Lucas put on them...If it's tooo close to be semi real HD, Lucas would lose money on BR sales
_________________

That's kind of what I'm suspecting. They have to know about devices like blackmagic and the hauppauge hd pvr. I'm sure they know what they are capable of. Plus match it with home bluray burners and you got serious competition if it were oar and 5.1.

Let us know what area you are in and we can tell you if your local stations (over the air and comcast) are doing HD
Then you can compare TRUE HD to upconverted HD

The metro Detroit area - comcast. However I am crippling it slightly - I have my dvr set to output everything at 720p. It looks to smoother to me especially 1080i material. It seems like half the hd channels are 1080i - espn and tnt are 720p I believe. As for over the air - I haven't used my pc capture cards in awhile for "true ota hd" in awhile.

I have a ati all in wonder hd card (the pci-e version not the older first gen one - mines 512mb).

-------------------------------------

One other thing - didn't the over the air fox network (not fx and not their cable off shoots) air the Star Wars movies a few years ago? I don't think I had hd equipment back then (capture card that it is).

I'd be interested if anyone did have it at the time. Was that true hd over the air and oar plus 5.1?

I can't imagine they'd do that again anytime soon. Especially not with Spike doing these Star Wars marathons all the time. Though I could imagine FOX showing it to promote the eventual bluray release

EDIT -

One last thing - in case you're wondering I mainly use my ps3 connected via hdmi for upconverting dvds. So I imagine that is about the best you can do for home upconverting. Though I occasionally use my 360 but the fan is much louder than the ps3 so I usually don't use the 360 for dvd watching.

And fyi I'll say it again - I am using a 32" westinghouse with native resolution of 1366x768 so I know my tv is not tops in the hd kingdom.

[vhelp]

yeah, you can bet the'd be grain-y, but good grain. I think these were actual film not digital. But then again these things get "digitally mastered", whatever that (excactly) means, I don't know. But you always saw this in vhs and laserdisc media, however, when done on vhs/laserdisc they always looked excellent vs. non-digital.

I think most of the 70's and 80's stuf shot on film will be grainy. I was in bestbuy last weekend and was watching of their bluray demo's (the one's that have back-to-back non-stop scenes from just about every movie) and in one of the scene's they had from "The Godfather" (I never liked the movie) and it was soo grainy that when they digitally mastered it, they butchered it with a bad noise reduction process and whatever algo they used in that one was so bad, it gave bluray a bad name) anyway.

The movie Blade Runner is another grainy example. However, it looks great on laserdisc. I have a small section that I captured and kept for archival "editing" purposes--every now and then I play aroudn w/ new algos and things. But the dvd disc I've been playing around with is still grainy but more pixelated however. On the other hand, I think I finally found my Blade Runner title at FYE--they have most of my desires but is a travel to get to, anyway..i'm hoping that its the one with Harrison Ford giving the narration. I have to manually check it out by playin it but I hadn't found the time to do that just yet. I like to be in the moment--good mood for these things, so that I get in to it.

But I'll stick to my laserdisc collection of star wars and other rare-ties in the mean time.

-vhelp 5170