How has your TV viewing changed with HD?

Bob_Newhart · 09-12-2006, 10:41 AM

I know most of you guys have probably had HD since the beginning of time, but I just got it a couple months ago.

I have all the movie channels and with my SD receiver I would go through the movie listings every 2 weeks or so and choose movies to record. But since I've gotten the HDTV, I find myself only looking at the HBO-HD and SHO-HD and the HD movie channel to pick movies to record. I've gotten spoiled and plus I don't care for the way the SD movies look on the HDTV. At this point I'm considering cancelling Skinamax and TMC since they have no HD.

Has anyone else experienced this HD spoilage like I have? Have you found yourself bypassing non-HD movies?

I surely hope that sometime in the near future more HD movie channels will be offered so that the choices aren't so limited.

BTW, what's the deal with this new 6.3 software version my Tivo just downloaded last night? I've heard nothing about this...

Bodie · 09-12-2006, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob_Newhart

I'm considering cancelling Skinamax and TMC since they have no HD.

Isn't TMC part of the Sho-deal?

No third satellite visible from my location, so I've started watching a lot more network OTA. In fact, the quality on SD versions of NFL games was so bad I dropped Sunday ticket too and now am back to where I was 10 years ago watching the Pats and then whatever other games are on locally.

jeff125va · 09-12-2006, 11:24 AM

I'm completely spoiled with HD. I have to say though, even before HD, I didn't watch many movies on HBO, etc, because of the pan-and-scan, but needless to say I'd never watch one now unless it were in HD. There's still a bit of a tradeoff between DVD (well, unless you're an early adopter with HD-DVD or Blu-Ray) and movies on HBO-HD, since many of them still have aspect ratio modifications to fill the 16:9 screen format, but that's not nearly as bad as it is with 4:3, and the picture quality is usually worth it.

Just seeing your thread title, I was thinking along other lines though. We've had to change the way we go through our Now Playing list because of recording space limitations. When we watched everything on a 230-hour DirecTiVo, we could sit down and watch pretty much whatever we felt like, never having to run out of room to record stuff. So we'd usually watch all of our favorites, and end up with a bunch of shows with upwards of a dozen unwatched episodes each. Now, we have to go through our list starting with the oldest shows, otherwise the old stuff would be getting deleted once we got deep into the tv season (we usually finish the May season finales in July or August). We still have a handful of shows that we watch right away, but we've really had to limit those: Lost, 24, and we'll be adding Veronica Mars, which we just started watching on DVD this summer and actually part of the reason we didn't start watching that until we did was because it wasn't available in HD in our area, although it was mostly just procrastination with the DVD's.

AstroDad · 09-12-2006, 11:26 AM

I won't watch a 4:3 movie. I will watch a bad football game in HD over a good one in SD.

Robert Spalding · 09-12-2006, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AstroDad

I won't watch a 4:3 movie. I will watch a bad football game in HD over a good one in SD.

I do the same thing...I'll watch most anything in HD

yaddayaddayadda · 09-12-2006, 11:36 AM

It's got me considering a jump to dish for more HD Content

/flame suit on

majones · 09-12-2006, 11:52 AM

I even have my Tivo guide filtered for HDTV so that's all I see. I'm completely spoiled on HD.

LlamaLarry · 09-12-2006, 11:52 AM

My biggest change is that I sit back and watch HD content and go "Man, HD rules, how the crap did I survive SD?" I only joined the HD bandwagon last Dec and I am kicking myself that I did not do it sooner. I just figured it was no big deal...

jeff125va · 09-12-2006, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by majones

I even have my Tivo guide filtered for HDTV so that's all I see. I'm completely spoiled on HD.

Same here. With the recording space being somewhat limited, I don't like to waste any on something I could record on one of my SD receivers.

Bob_Newhart · 09-12-2006, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bodie

Isn't TMC part of the Sho-deal?

No third satellite visible from my location, so I've started watching a lot more network OTA. In fact, the quality on SD versions of NFL games was so bad I dropped Sunday ticket too and now am back to where I was 10 years ago watching the Pats and then whatever other games are on locally.

TMC may be part of SHO; I'm not really sure.

Is Sunday Ticket not in HD? I just figured it would be since it's an extra cost. That would kinda suck if it were only in SD.

AstroDad · 09-12-2006, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob_Newhart

TMC may be part of SHO; I'm not really sure.

Is Sunday Ticket not in HD? I just figured it would be since it's an extra cost. That would kinda suck if it were only in SD.

You have to purchase the SuperFan package to get the HD games and even then you only get 9 games a week max in HD through Sunday Ticket (through no fault of DirecTV)

Bob_Newhart · 09-12-2006, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeff125va

We've had to change the way we go through our Now Playing list because of recording space limitations. When we watched everything on a 230-hour DirecTiVo, we could sit down and watch pretty much whatever we felt like, never having to run out of room to record stuff. .

Yeah, this is the reason I kept my 100 hour SD Directivo hooked up to my HDTV, along with the HR10-250. I record non-HD stuff on the old one and then I have the full 30 hours for HD content on the new one.

RexB · 09-12-2006, 12:30 PM

Quote:

... I've gotten spoiled and plus I don't care for the way the SD movies look... Has anyone else experienced this HD spoilage like I have?...

Oh yea, brudda, HD is a spoiler

. And aren't a couple of the ST games each week shown in HD. Very nice. Plus "Retentions" at D*TV just gave me this year's Super Fan for free after just a little whining.

D*TV csr's have been easy for me to work with the past six years

.

HiDefGator · 09-12-2006, 12:34 PM

I still watch some SD reluctantly but I can't watch football in SD anymore. Football in SD is like watching it through blurry glasses after you get use to HD.

phox_mulder · 09-12-2006, 12:43 PM

I'm going through the fall lineup and picking what shows I absolutely have to see in HD.
Then I check conflicts and eeny meeny miney moe the one that I'll settle for watching in SD till I get the S3.

Luckily, there aren't many 3 show conflicts, yet.

I find myself watching the HD shows more, and letting things pile up on the 2 SD TiVo's,
which is a good thing, since I'm more limited on HD space.

I'm going to get very behind very quickly, recording 4-5 HD programs a night,
and only finding time to watch 2-3 of them,
I did have the same problem last year, only in SD.

phox

LlamaLarry · 09-12-2006, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bodie

Isn't TMC part of the Sho-deal?

Sure is, but I found that out the lame way. I browsed around and saw it was live, thought I was getting it for free and asked the SOAK for "Is The Stealing" type guidance. Thankfully, albeit all often, it was more along the lines of "Larry is a Tool" than stealing.

I probably went a year or so before I found out.

A billion years ago when I had cable, HBO, MAX, SHO and TMC were all separate. Of course, since they don't have an HD feed (on DirecTV at least) I don't watch anything on it now that I know.

Cruzan · 09-12-2006, 01:36 PM

The biggest issue for me is not HD but it is letterbox. I can expand a Sundance or IFC or other letterbox movie to fill my screen, and while not HD it's certainly watchable.

I don't watch many movies that aren't letterbox. In fact, I can't remember watching a 4:3 movie in the last six months.

thebarge · 09-12-2006, 01:50 PM

I watch as much as I can in HD seeing that I just got HD two weeks ago. I also got the Showtime package for free for 5 months, and I swear, is it me or does ShowtimeHD show the worst movies they can find?

tomr · 09-12-2006, 01:51 PM

I will only watch Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, and BattleStar in SD, everything else is HD.

jeff125va · 09-12-2006, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruzan

...and while not HD it's certainly watchable.

Do you have HD (i.e., do you watch things in HD on a regular basis)? I've never heard anyone say something like that who does.

Cajunclicker · 09-12-2006, 01:58 PM

I couldn't watch the "Path to 9/11" b/c it wasn't in HD... bummer. I'm totally a HD snob.

kbohip · 09-12-2006, 02:02 PM

I find myself watching pretty boring shows like "Vanished" just because it's in HD.

Cruzan · 09-12-2006, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeff125va

Do you have HD (i.e., do you watch things in HD on a regular basis)? I've never heard anyone say something like that who does.

Yes, I do, and my wife and I have a pretty refined eye for image quality. Having said that, I can handle an upconverted SD show if it's letterboxed.

mlisowski · 09-12-2006, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AstroDad

You have to purchase the SuperFan package to get the HD games and even then you only get 9 games a week max in HD through Sunday Ticket (through no fault of DirecTV)

I don't believe this is true. I don't have Superfan and I got my NFL games in HD on Sunday Ticket.

jeff125va · 09-12-2006, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruzan

Yes, I do, and my wife and I have a pretty refined eye for image quality. Having said that, I can handle an upconverted SD show if it's letterboxed.

Yeah, I've noticed a difference on the few occasions I've watched the OTA upconverted SD of something like Survivor. But between the pillarboxing and the extra drive space, I just don't bother.

AstroDad · 09-12-2006, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlisowski

I don't believe this is true. I don't have Superfan and I got my NFL games in HD on Sunday Ticket.

Believe it. Superfan was free the first week to suck you in. They won't be there next week

Robert Spalding · 09-12-2006, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AstroDad

Believe it. Superfan was free the first week to suck you in. They won't be there next week

he's right, it was free the first week last year too.

don't forget Starz free preview this weekend!

thebarge · 09-12-2006, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruzan

Yes, I do, and my wife and I have a pretty refined eye for image quality. Having said that, I can handle an upconverted SD show if it's letterboxed.

I watch SD content all stretched to fit the screen, I don't care. Now if it's on a channel I can receive via OTA I'll watch the OTA HD version even in SD with the black boxes because it's so much clearer.

CessnaDriver · 09-12-2006, 03:37 PM

I go out of my way to find HDTV content.

I'll watch just about anything HDTV.

Mark W · 09-12-2006, 04:04 PM

As far as general TV viewing goes, I still watch for content first, and hope it's in HD. If it is, great, but if I think a show looks good, I'll watch it in SD on one of the smaller TVs.

Now movies are another thing entireley. I absolutely will not watch a 4:3 movie. I have not done it since we got a projector a couple of years ago. For movies, it's either an HD movie channel or a DVD. It's funny, because PPV would work well for us if it was in HD, but the HD PPV choices are so bad that we have not watched a PPV movie in years either.