HD Discussion: The History Channel (Channel 269)

[Doug Brott]

Discussion thread for the new HD channel: The History Channel (Channel 269)

Topics: PQ, Programming, Stretch-0-vision (we hope not!), etc.

And don't forget our other coverage of the new DIRECTV HD channels:

The list of Launched Channels,
Troubleshooting Tips for the New HD Channels,
and just for fun, The "I Got Them!" Challenge.

[Tom Robertson]

Welcome to the new HD on DIRECTV. The History Channel has been confirmed.

[petergaryr]

Way to earily to tell. What I saw this morning was grainy and stretched.

[ddeen]

Wow, they are playing The Last of the Mohicans and the quality is terrible, it looks like SD stretched that came off of a VHS tape, I can even see that the tracking is off.

[powerplay]

What they are brocasting at the moment is not good. It is in 720P with no 5.1audio. The show would have to be very interesting in order for me to watch it.

[mhking]

Ick.

They've gotta have better content...

[fade2black]

Someone in another thread said Mohicans was in OAR.... respectfully, they're nuts! Upconverted AND stretched!!! Why do providers believe we want to see wider-than-normal people??? And I'm (NOT) looking at you, TBS and TNT!!! Bad enough people get flat screens, hit "fill" on an SD channel, and think they have HD.... I have no problem with a decent upconvert, so much non 16:9 source material around, just don't insult us with stretch-o-vision!!!
</rant>

[aktick]

Hopefully the primetime shows are good quality at least (Modern Marvels, Lost Worlds tonight).

[Barmat]

History channel could have won the cookie this morning if they had shown Mohicans in true HD. Instead they win the Golden Fart for showing the worst Stretch-O-Vision around.

[Marvin]

Im willing to bet the only HD show on History HD will be Ice Road Truckers..

[mrhowes]

Remember, they can only broadcast HD programs that were filmed in HD. Was LOTM filmed in HD? How many programs were filmed in HD??

In time we will start seeing a lot more programs...filmed in HD.

Let the HD times roll!!!!

[DarkAudit]

Last of the Mohicans... blech blech blech. Just plain awful. If I were their engineers, I'd be embarrassed. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[BdoUK]

Originally Posted by mrhowes

Remember, they can only broadcast HD programs that were filmed in HD. Was LOTM filmed in HD? How many programs were filmed in HD??

In time we will start seeing a lot more programs...filmed in HD.

Let the HD times roll!!!!

LOTM was filmed on 35mm so it has far more resolution than HD. That being said there should be a HD version of LOTM out there but for whatever reason The History Channel hasn't gotten their hands on it yet.

[mpoyner]

Originally Posted by mrhowes

Remember, they can only broadcast HD programs that were filmed in HD. Was LOTM filmed in HD? How many programs were filmed in HD??

In time we will start seeing a lot more programs...filmed in HD.

Let the HD times roll!!!!

Films are not shot with HD cameras (well, rarely). They are tranferred from film to whatever format is needed. There is no excuse for using a VHS pan-and-scan copy from Grandpa's basement as a scan source.

[Skooz]

My guess is that SD shows will look like this (grainy and stretched) and HD shows will be, well, HD.

Looking over the guide, I see many shows that have no "HD" beside their names. I assume they will look bad, as well.

Interestingly, I saw that while several episodes of "Dogfights" have the "HD" by them, many others do not.

[jrmichael]

Looks upconverted and grainy. Hopefully, will get true HD programming.

[LMUBill]

Originally Posted by mpoyner

Films are not shot with HD cameras (well, rarely). They are tranferred from film to whatever format is needed. There is no excuse for using a VHS pan-and-scan copy from Grandpa's basement as a scan source.

Especially when it is a very bad pan-and-scan which is then stretched again to fit 16x9. It's SUPER STRETCH-O-VISION!!

[wonko]

Originally Posted by LMUBill

Especially when it is a very bad pan-and-scan which is then stretched again to fit 16x9. It's SUPER STRETCH-O-VISION!!

Wait until you get to see some original 16:9 content that was letterboxed to 4:3 SD and then History stretches it back to 16:9. Really stupid looking. I don't know who they're trying to fool.

So, I invite all the new D* HD subs to join myself and other E* subs who have been complaining to A&E networks.

[nlk10010]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Im willing to bet the only HD show on History HD will be Ice Road Truckers..

Following up on wonko's post, I'll take that bet. Filmed in HD by History Channel's own admission, broadcast in wack-o-vision.

It really is better for us E* and D* subs to cooperate in trying to get these two jokes of a channel (A&E-HD and History-HD) to actually broadcast the HD they DO have in that format than it is to snipe at each other about who is more well-endowed.

I STILL can't help believing that there is some additional cost to a channel to actually broadcast something in HD. Otherwise, why keep showing stuff filmed in HD in that awful format?


=NLK=

[Halr]

Originally Posted by nlk10010

Following up on wonko's post, I'll take that bet. Filmed in HD by History Channel's own admission, broadcast in wack-o-vision.

It really is better for us E* and D* subs to cooperate in trying to get these two jokes of a channel (A&E-HD and History-HD) to actually broadcast the HD they DO have in that format than it is to snipe at each other about who is more well-endowed.I (just tI STILL can't help believing that there is some additional cost to a channel to actually broadcast something in HD. Otherwise, why keep showing stuff filmed in HD in that awful format?
=NLK=

If the original was filmed in 35mm or above, there is more than enough quality to attain an HD conversion. However, they have to be converted. It is an expensive,
process to convert film to digital HD (conversion tools are in excess of $500,000, for broadcast quality). It also takes quite a bit of process time, and post production time, sound sync, ect. to convert the older films to true HD quality. In the mean time, they look like they are electronically upconverting SD to HD, in an attempt to broadcast in what we all want to see, HD. I fully believe that they will convert existing shows into true HD as fast as they can, and electronically convert what they can until then. Discovery networks are just as we are, all be it on a larger scale, as far as all this costs a tremendous amount of money, and they will have to absorb it. They can only do so much, in a day, and it all costs alot. There wasn't a separate HD LOTM. We will be seeing the same programming simul-casted in SD and HD on the duplicated channels, most likely electronically upconverted to try to attain HD on the new channel. Bear with the broadcasters a little, especially Discovery and like, as they have huge libraries of real film and digital "film" that will have to be converted up to true HD. As time goes, we will see more and more High Quality HD, as they catch up. Discovery Threater, which was designed to be HD from the beginning, is a kick A** channel, and given time, I am sure all of their channels will be that quality. But I for one wouldn't want all that HD programming duplicated on the Discovery or National Geo. All I am saying is that it isn't costing us any more per month (yet) from what we had, and we have more. Lets cut them some slack, and give them a chance to catch up.

[ChrisR]

I'm an E* sub here but was interested in seeing what the DirecTV subs were getting for History HD. There was another thread in the E* forum regarding a fire at History HD's uplink facility earlier in the month; replies from Dish have been that they still don't have things fixed yet (this was as of 9/20). Apparently, this is why we are not getting the full resolution, and their 16:9 material is being stretched w/black bars at top and bottom. Can't believe it would take this long to fix but wish I could get more confirmation on exactly what's going on.

When this channel first launched on E*, the picture was in the correct format - since the reported fire, it has been like you are all describing.

[Marvin]

I like how Modern Marvels is stretched letterbox...slightly better than regular stretch.

[wonko]

Originally Posted by ChrisR

Apparently, this is why we are not getting the full resolution, and their 16:9 material is being stretched w/black bars at top and bottom. Can't believe it would take this long to fix but wish I could get more confirmation on exactly what's going on.

No, the fire's not the problem any more. The actual HD material is now being shown correctly (I've seen several shows on both networks the past few days). It's the 4:3 stuff that's getting stretched. The fix after the fire was to show upconverted SD until they could get things fixed.

[jenolen]

I know that the History Channel's new series, "The Universe", was produced in HD. It aired letterboxed, previously... looking forward to seeing that in actual HD!

[zipbags]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Im willing to bet the only HD show on History HD will be Ice Road Truckers..

Sweet! Hugh "the Polar Bear" Rowland in High Def!!