Issues with Vu HD.

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Well i was bored this afternoon and decided to order my self a VU HD movie. It was between Shawn of the Dead, and Get Shorty. I went with Get short, and man o man was in for a shock. The channel had Very Low HD quality.. Looked not even as good as 720p. There was so much macroblocking, as well as constant pixeling and frame Freezes. And on top of it all the movie wasnt even in 5.1!! How can you show HD films NOT IN SURROUND SOUND!?

I for one will NEVER EVER order another VU HD movie again. Not worth anywere near 5.99. if they drop it to like 2.99 MABIE i would order one.. but i feel like i got really scammed today.

Anyone else have this bad experience or did i just pick a bad day to hook up a phone line and order my self some PPV?
 
If the PQ was poor, then ask for a refund, or perhaps a "replay?". Lots of HD movies are not DD5.1 (or OAR). This is typically due to the US studios not supplying DD5.1 or OAR).
 
PPV is a waste of time and money. I got a $20 PPV credit. 1st HD movie totally crapped out 2/3 of the way though and the PVR rebooted, making the recording unwatchable. The movie wasn't shown again. It cost me $4.99 to rent it. 2nd HD movie was Ok. After that I didn't find anything else to watch before the credit expired. So I ended up $2.00 ahead over the whole fiasco but out a significant amount of time due to billing issues. I had similar results with *C PPV several years ago. Never again. :eek:
 
Maybe it's just me but I've noticed the HD movie channels (not VU HD) have poor quality HD as well and as far as I can tell most, if not all aren't broadcast with 5.1 surround either. It's not a terrible picture but it sure doesn't look like HD!

This is one of the reasons I haven't ordered an HD Vu movie. I get better picture quality from watching a standard DVD. Not to mention 5.1 as well.
 
On my setup (119" screen with front projector) I find that most movies in HD from Bell look very good--much better than DVD's. The picture is sharper, the blacks are blacker and the colors are more natural. I just watched an older movie on Vu HD, "For a Few Dollars More". It was quite grainy, but after all it is 42 years old. I have not noticed any macroblocking or pixelization with these HD movies. I also just watched "Dances With Wolves" in HD and the quality was quite good, better than I thought it would be for a 17 year old movie.

I do agree that the HD PPV movies are not worth it because in a few months the same movie will be on one of the HD movie channels.
 
What the???
HD PPV, and they are showing "For a Few Dollars More"???
Were there no movies made this millenium that were a better choice for HD PPV?
I'm sure its a great movie, but with only a few HD PPV channels, can they not choose movies that will show off your HDTV, and surround sound?
Maybe its just me, but I would probably order PPV's in HD, IF I felt they were worth it
I would like to see for example, Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars type or even Disney type movies (Finding Nemo, Shrek(s), etc...)
If I want to watch For A Few More Dollars, I will ask my father to borrow the VHS/Beta tape of it
I hope I havent offended any Clint fans
 
Please be aware that the age of the movie has very little to do with the final quality you see on TV. Since most films are, well filmed, and film that is 35mm or larger has more "resolution" than HD, it's simply a matter of proper storage of the film, good production values throughout the process, including the telecining to tape, and you will have a movie with excellent PQ.

Movies from 50-60+ years ago have been done and look excellent. They may not have had DD5.1 sound and they may have been shot in a variety of aspect ratios, however, sound has been processed into DD5.1 in some cases and most people wish to see their movies OAR.

A (regular) VHS tape has roughly 240 (horizontal) lines of resolution (often called vertical resolution) - a far cry from 1080 (or 720), without consideration for the horizontal (number of vertical lines) resolution which is also often double or more.

I too would not pay money to see For A Few Dollars More though, since I've seen it many times and even in HD recently on one of the TMN channels, but to each his own.
 
I think in this age of PUSHING HD like bell is doing that they could at least offer more HD PPV channels and here is a really wild idea... SHOW MOVIES THAT ARE CURRENT!!! AT LEAST OFFER THE SAME AS WHATS AVAILBLE ON THE SD CHANNELS!!

They rape a few extra $$ out of you cuz its HD so lets get current. I dont even care to hear the excuses. For the money we pay we should be getting more selection...

I have yet to rent a HD PPV since nothing on there has caught my eye yet. I would love to rent LOR and STARWARS though im dying to see that stuff in HD. Right now im have old skool DVD... so that the best of movies i have seen 480i :)

I am pleased since in sighed up for HD to see many prime time shows in HD, im looking forward to HEROES,PRISONBREAK i hope survivor comes in hd
 
My Bad. Fistful of Dollars premiered on MPix HD, April 2006 and has been playing since, not For A Few Dollars More.
 
:( HD movie selection is a joke. None are ever in 1080i. You are better off just watching it in regular 720 in SD....because that is the same thing.

They are selling HD when most people consider HD to be at least 1080.

No old movies where ever shot in HD 1080. In fact none of the new ones out now are shot in 1080 either.

I think maybe its the actors not wanting all their flaws shown on screen. Either way the technology and special effects are not compatible with high def.

The only thing i have seen true high def and 1080 has been nature shows and special interest national geographic shows.

Bikini girl shots look simply amazing....but even them dont go up to 1080.

Once you see 1080 you become very critical of anything below that standard. Your eyes will just not forgive you the difference.

I say Bev should stop selling old upscaled movies as HD..they are not HD and it will only cause people to feel ripped off.
 
There are so many errors in the previous post that I will not dissect it in detail. Smootherator doesn't appear to understand the difference between film and tape, between 720P and 480i, or what is, and is not HD. (Cinema) Movies are not upscaled, since they were never 480i, they are film. See post 7.
 
No issues with VuHD. However wonder why they are showing so many movies that are available on other channels. Dances with Wolves has been on HDNet. Suppose it is for those who do not subscribe to the other channels.
 
I've watched a few PPV HD movies on BEV and all have been very good quality. I think some people forget that movies often intentionally have a grainy look to them. I haven't noticed any macro blocking on the ones I've watched and most have been action movies.

I wish they had a better selection though. They could do a lot more with those 4 HD PPV channels.

-Mike
 
Forgive me for being a little confused. I've only had HD since April but after reading all the posts I have a question.

When watching Discovery HD I can CLEARLY see the amazing HD quality and it looks fantastic. When I watch an HD movie on the movie channel (not VU as I have yet to order one) the quality is simply ok. I guess I'm confused about how Discovery is HD and looks amazing while the movies are supposedly HD but seem to have a much lower quality.

Can someone clear this up for me? I don't see how to channels can be labeled as HD and have such noticeable differences in the quality.
 
There are many reasons. I think one reason is the shows on D HD are recorded with 1080P HD cameras. Whereas most movies are filmed on film and then converted to 720P or 1080i for broadcast. There is less conversion required with D HD shows. Another factor is most shows on D HD are shot during the day, and movies can have a lot of night scenes which are difficult to make look good. As with any photographic process, the more light the better to show off your subject. Directors also intentionally give their movies a "gritty" look (Blood Diamond), or turn down/adjust the color (The 300 for example).

I also find that most sitcoms look very good in HD (shot in bright studios), whereas shows like CSI don't look that great in comparison because there are a lot of darker scenes which don't which don't shine in HD.

Cartoon movies like "Monster's Inc." look incredible in HD because every scene has controlled lighting.
 
its tuff, when u do get true hd channels mixed with not so true hd. Im new to all this but since i got the HD setup its kind of confusing and a bit annoying at the same time that the 800's that are supposed to be HD are not all 100% HD even half the time. Commercials im pretty sure are not HD, and many shows are not. I was told the title shoud say HD-UGLY BETTY in order for it to be HD. But im not 100% convinced that all shows labled HD-XXXX are created or supplied equally..

Im pretty sure HD DISCOVERY is nearly 100% HD programing minuse some comercials.

So for me it gets easy to bitch about PPV HD since i go to pay for something specifily HD i expect to get it. Im kinda bumbed that so much of the HD channels are not HD all the time..
 
you should move this to the HD part of the forum or risk having people that only have SDTV think that Hd people have more money than ...
 
Just my .02.

I've purchased a few recent HD films, The Host (excellent!), Casino Royale (Awesome!) and I've not had any complaints.

Mind you I AM watching on a 57" Hitachi CRT RP made last year but still, HD has both me and my wife spoiled.

For me, I also like watching the old films like...believe it or not, "The Wackiest Ship in the Army" with Jack Lemmon and "The Sand Pebbles" with Steve McQueen. The transfers are really quite good.

Having said that, both my wife and I are surprised to see older movies on PPV HD. Then they charge $6 or more. Not anything I'm about to do unless it's a stellar film...like, maybe, "Raiders of the Lost Ark." ;)

As for Discovery HD looking so good part of it is the nature of the media. HD video is quite sharp and wonderful to look at.

35mm film transferred to HD will still be wonderful to look at but...different, due to the characteristics of film. What some refer to as "grain."

Oh and as for the 9200. I've been quite pleased with its performance. Just wish the HDD was bigger. 25 hours of HD content is NOT sufficient. Are you listening Bell?

Just my .02.

MT
 
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