SCIFI and SCIFIHD

[pratttech]

Just curious if there is any benefit to the HD channel excluding obvious new HD content. With most shows originally broadcast in SD are they even upconverted on the HD channel? The reason I am asking is that I am watching Stargate SG-1 now and there appears to be no real PQ difference to me.

The biggest difference is that on the HD channel the signal is a 16:9 that includes pillar boxes. Since it is 16:9, I can't stretch or crop it (or even pillar box it really-- that's part of the picture). Furthermore this makes no sense since it is a LB show.

If I watch the SCIFIHD feed I end up with both pillar and letter boxes and a small widescreen image in the middle of the screen that I can't change in any way (well from the D* STB at least-- I can expand the image with my TV). I end up watching the standard SCIFI channel so that I can crop the LB off and expand it to fill my 16:9 screen fully.

[statsumi]

Thats a little strange, SG1 on SciFiHD fills my entire screen, it should not be pillared and letter boxed in the middle of your screen. Make sure on your D* box settings for HDTV that you only have 1080i checked, assuming your TV supports 1080i. Uncheck the 480i, 480p and 720p check boxes. Hope that helps.

[Doug Brott]

Some of the seasons of Stargate SG-1 were filmed in 16:9 but were not in HD .. hence the window-boxing effect when viewed on your 16:9 HD set. SciFi has chosen to keep the OAR and as a result you will have this happen with some shows.

It would be nice, if SciFi were to make the 16:9 SD shows fill the screen as there is (in theory) a way for them to do it. The quality will not be any different, just bigger.

I know the last 2 seasons of Atlantis (this one and last year) are in HD, but beyond that I can't say for certain which seasons of Stargate were actually filmed in HD.

[rebkell]

Some of the seasons of Stargate SG-1 were filmed in 16:9 but were not in HD .. hence the window-boxing effect when viewed on your 16:9 HD set. SciFi has chosen to keep the OAR and as a result you will have this happen with some shows.

It would be nice, if SciFi were to make the 16:9 SD shows fill the screen as there is (in theory) a way for them to do it. The quality will not be any different, just bigger.

I know the last 2 seasons of Atlantis (this one and last year) are in HD, but beyond that I can't say for certain which seasons of Stargate were actually filmed in HD.

Well, they've been showing Season 1 in HD every day, but it appears that Season 2 is going to revert back to SD, I hope not, but the guide has been listing everything HD and now that season one is about to run it's course and season 2 begins, the guide isn't listing anything in Season 2 in HD.

[pratttech]

It would be nice, if SciFi were to make the 16:9 SD shows fill the screen as there is (in theory) a way for them to do it. The quality will not be any different, just bigger.

That's what I thought. Makes absolutely no sense to take 4:3 LB content and then add pillar boxes to arrive at a 16:9 feed, but that is what they do...

So I can use "Wide Fit" on my TV to blow up that 16:9 centered picture surrounded by both letter and pillar boxing on the SCIFIHD channel...

Or use my H21 to crop the same LB off the true 4:3 picture (LBs are theirs, PBs are from my HDTV) on SCIFI channel and fit it to full 16:9...

Six in one, half-dozen in the other. Still a manual process... :p

I do have to agree that Atlantis in HD is beautiful.

[Doug Brott]

I do have to agree that Atlantis in HD is beautiful.

Yes it is :)

[rebkell]

Well, they've been showing Season 1 in HD every day, but it appears that Season 2 is going to revert back to SD, I hope not, but the guide has been listing everything HD and now that season one is about to run it's course and season 2 begins, the guide isn't listing anything in Season 2 in HD.

Well, I looked out farther in the guide and it is listing Trinity(6th episode of Season 2) as being in HD, I'm hoping the other episodes that aren't listed as HD are wrong and that we'll get to see all the seasons in HD. Fingers crossed.

Is there anywhere on line that even lists the HD programming on SciFiHD. I tried zap2it and titantv and neither lists anything as HD, the only thing I've seen so far is the Directv guide as far as listing what is and isn't HD on SciFi.

[TNGTony]

Almost every 16x9 TV on the planet has a "zoom" feature for the windowbox programs out there on both HD and SD channels. Some TVs don't but every model I have every played with (and that's a ton) does.

Also I know Dish receivers have the Zoom feature built in to them, I don't know about DirecTV's receivers.

I agree that 16x9 SD content should be zoomed by the channel itself, but it seems to be beyond the capability of these moro---er...excecutives.

See ya
Tony

[paulman182]

Usually, the only SciFi channel shows that anyone in my household watch are "Ghosthunters" and "Ghosthunters International."

Even though they are 4:3 SD, they benenfit greatly from the upconversion. Much more detail is visible than the SD channel. You'd almost think it was 4:3 HD (if anyone produced shows in that format.)

[phox_mulder]

Almost every 16x9 TV on the planet has a "zoom" feature for the windowbox programs out there on both HD and SD channels. Some TVs don't but every model I have every played with (and that's a ton) does.


My Samsung won't let me zoom the Component or HDMI inputs, only the Composite inputs. (S-Video and RCA)

I haven't watched "live" TV using it's internal tuner so I don't know if it'll let me zoom that.
Point is moot anyway, since I only can watch SCI-FI HD through the HR21.

Actually, I've zoomed while watching a DVD though,
so maybe it's only HD signals coming in through the Component or HDMI?


phox

[rebkell]

My Samsung won't let me zoom the Component or HDMI inputs, only the Composite inputs. (S-Video and RCA)

I haven't watched "live" TV using it's internal tuner so I don't know if it'll let me zoom that.
Point is moot anyway, since I only can watch SCI-FI HD through the HR21.

Actually, I've zoomed while watching a DVD though,
so maybe it's only HD signals coming in through the Component or HDMI?


phox

That's interesting, mine won't let me stretch(Full) a 1080i/720P source signal, but I can use all the zoom settings on anything.

[Terry740]

Well, they've been showing Season 1 in HD every day, but it appears that Season 2 is going to revert back to SD, I hope not, but the guide has been listing everything HD and now that season one is about to run it's course and season 2 begins, the guide isn't listing anything in Season 2 in HD.

The first two seasons of SG-1 were on Showtime and in HD ,in fact my love for the show was why I got an HDTV and a DirecTV hd receiver box. Then to my dismay they dropped it and put it on the SCI-FI channel in sd. I don't know if the sci-fi episodes were originally filmed in HD .

[rebkell]

The first two seasons of SG-1 were on Showtime and in HD ,in fact my love for the show was why I got an HDTV and a DirecTV hd receiver box. Then to my dismay they dropped it and put it on the SCI-FI channel in sd. I don't know if the sci-fi episodes were originally filmed in HD .

Just for clarification, I was talking about Atlantis and not SG1 and I really have no idea if SG1 was filmed in HD after it moved to SciFi.
Just found this link on imdb.com: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118480/technical

Printed film format
16 mm (Seasons 1, 2 and 3)
35 mm (Seasons 4, 5, 6 and 7)
HD (Seasons 8, 9 and 10)

[rebkell]

Well, I looked out farther in the guide and it is listing Trinity(6th episode of Season 2) as being in HD, I'm hoping the other episodes that aren't listed as HD are wrong and that we'll get to see all the seasons in HD. Fingers crossed.

Is there anywhere on line that even lists the HD programming on SciFiHD. I tried zap2it and titantv and neither lists anything as HD, the only thing I've seen so far is the Directv guide as far as listing what is and isn't HD on SciFi.

Well, just got home and the episode today is in 16:9 Widescreen format, it looks a bit soft(it could be an upconvert), but it definitely covers the entire screen, which I can live with. It does have the SciFi-HD logo in the lower right part of the screen.

[pratttech]

Well, just got home and the episode today is in 16:9 Widescreen format, it looks a bit soft(it could be an upconvert), but it definitely covers the entire screen, which I can live with. It does have the SciFi-HD logo in the lower right part of the screen.

If you're talking about right now 5-6PM EST then we're talking Atlantis. Great example though! This is an older non HD episode, which explains the PQ softness you describe. It is marked as LB though in the guide and displays correctly afaic.

On SCIFI it is completely boxed, which is what I'd expect with LB on a 4:3 screen and the addition (from my 16:9 HDTV) of pillar boxes.

On SCIFI HD there is no LB because they have actually properly sent this as a 16:9 picture without the LB needed for 4:3.

This is how I think the SG-1 episodes in LB should be too, but I have found they add in PB instead of just removing the LB like this Atlantis episode does.

[rebkell]

If you're talking about right now 5-6PM EST then we're talking Atlantis. Great example though! This is an older non HD episode, which explains the PQ softness you describe. It is marked as LB though in the guide and displays correctly afaic.

On SCIFI it is completely boxed, which is what I'd expect with LB on a 4:3 screen and the addition (from my 16:9 HDTV) of pillar boxes.

On SCIFI HD there is no LB because they have actually properly sent this as a 16:9 picture without the LB needed for 4:3.

This is how I think the SG-1 episodes in LB should be too, but I have found they add in PB instead of just removing the LB like this Atlantis episode does.

I don't understand(speaking about Atlantis) why they screwed up the sequence, they jumped to the second episode of Season 2 and will be showing 2.3 tomorrow and then Monday they will show the next to last ep of Season 1, then the last ep of Season 1 and then the 1st ep of Season 2, then they jump to ep 2.4, 2.5 and then the next Monday and Tuesday they have 2.6 and 2.7 which are both listed as HD in the guide.

[racton1]

Usually, the only SciFi channel shows that anyone in my household watch are "Ghosthunters" and "Ghosthunters International."

Even though they are 4:3 SD, they benenfit greatly from the upconversion. Much more detail is visible than the SD channel. You'd almost think it was 4:3 HD (if anyone produced shows in that format.)

I just don't get Ghosthunters! I mean there is no such thing as ghosts, I guess thats why its on SCIFI.