Why does Standard Def look so terrible on HD monitors/TVs?
by Shaun Kendall
on
Jun 12, 2008 at 1:14:46 pm
We have an HDV camera and when we shoot and edit in HDV it looks really good on our 16:9 Panasonic HDTV we use as a client monitor when editing. But, the vast majority of times we have to either down-res to Standard Def or shoot in Standard Def as most of our clients cannot use HD yet.
That being said, we have a Standard Def field monitor we can also use in the edit suite, but it's only a 9" screen. I don't like using the Panasonic HD television as a client monitor when editing in Standard Def because the image looks horrible. Why is it that Standard Def images looks so terrible on HD televisions? I notice this when I go to an electronics store as well. If they're sending a Standard Def signal to the display televisions it's no wonder many people aren't willing to move up to HD. The image looks much worse than it would on a Standard Def television. Is it because it's an interlaced signal and the television is converting it to progressive?
When you send these TVs a true 720p, 1080i, or 1080p image it looks amazing. Just wondering what causes the poor quality with SD images.
Re: Why does Standard Def look so terrible on HD monitors/TVs? by Bob Zelin on Jun 17, 2008 at 8:45:16 pm
This is a conspiracy, because THEY HATE YOU. (They hate us too). If you went to the NAB show for the last 2 years, you would realize that only YOU use Standard Def, and everyone else in the world uses HD. You are the only one left with crappy looking video. It's you, and because you still have SD equipment, and SD clients, you are a looser !
Of course, this is a joke, but this is what ALL OF US face every day. Have you gone into a Best Buy, Wal Mart or Circuit City recently - they only show HD media, with expensive Plasma and LCD monitors. They want the money, they want Grandma to buy a new TV. But she is happy with her 19" Magnavox Color TV that she bought in 1980. Why does she need a new TV ?
This is the same example as we face - all of the TV stations still DEMAND a Beta or Digi Beta master. But Sony (and everyone else) can't make enough profit selling Standard Def gear (because your Beta 1800 works perfectly, why should you buy a new one). So they KILL Standard Def, and just make HD gear. They don't make Beta machines anymore, and there is only ONE MODEL of Digi Beta left. And there are NO MORE CRT monitors from Panasonic, JVC or Sony.
With that said, some HD monitors, like the Panasonic BT-LH series, and the JVC DT-24 series look "ok" with Standard def, but NOTHING like a Sony PVM-14L5/1 or PVM-20L5/1 monitor. Why - because THEY don't want it to look good - they WANT it to look like crap, so you go out and buy an HD monitor (and HD everyting else).
"BUT ALL MY CLIENTS STILL WANT A BETA MASTER" - tough noogies, pal.
This is the game. There are no more Beta machines (except yours and everyone elses on this list). They said that "they will never kill 1" VTRs because every TV station in the US owns 1" and demands 1" master delivery". Well, GUESS WHAT - there are no more 1" VTR's, and the TV stations can go shove it up their you know what, because no one could get parts for 1" machines anymore, and EVERYONE got screwed (and companies went out of business that had huge investments in $80,000 1" VTR's).
So when will you see a wonderful looking LCD or Plamsa that works great with Standard Definition Video (525 NTSC). NEVER EVER EVER EVER (but the JVC DT-24 is actually kind of ok).
If you want to see the worst LCD ever made, look at the Sony LMD-1410, which is only 640x480, and is possibly the worst looking image I have ever seen on any monitor.
Re: Why does Standard Def look so terrible on HD monitors/TVs? by Chris Borjis on Jun 25, 2008 at 4:33:51 pm
Shaun in a nutshell:
1) HD uses square pixels, SD uses non-square. when displaying
non-square to a square pixel you get picture softness.
2) the HD set must upconvert the signal internally to fill in
picture for 4:3 or 16:9 viewing. These internal scalers are
often low quality to keep costs down.
3) SD has so many less pixels to make up the image it couldn't
possibly look greatupconverted (see #2) Take a small .jpg from
a website and blow it up 80%. Even with bicubic scaling it looks bad.
By the way, many people agree that of all the HD sets available today, the Panasonic Plasma screens have the best looking SD viewing capability. Plasma tech is not all that different from CRT when it comes to the way its pixels are arranged and display.
And Bob, the last 1" dub I made for a tv station was in early 2002 if you can believe that.
I still have the gigantic 1" sony machine. I have not turned it on in years. Know anyone that would want it for free? (portland, OR)
Re: Why does Standard Def look so terrible on HD monitors/TVs? by Bob Zelin on Jun 25, 2008 at 4:39:15 pm
It costs money to throw out a 1" VTR. Nickelodeon has 10 DVR-20 D2 VTR's that they can't even throw in the garbage without paying big money to do this.
Re: Why does Standard Def look so terrible on HD monitors/TVs? by Chris Borjis on Jun 25, 2008 at 4:49:05 pm
[Bob Zelin]"It costs money to throw out a 1" VTR. Nickelodeon has 10 DVR-20 D2 VTR's that they can't even throw in the garbage without paying big money to do this."
yeah thats why its still sitting at our old building (will be demolished soon) rotting away.
I put it up for free in several places, nobody called. sad.
I'm a little surprised they couldn't sell the D2 decks on ebay. I still have one and get tapes in D2 once or twice a year.
