Matt

[Matt]

Yeah I read it back when it showed up on newstands in late-July/early-August and as usual I was disapointed with it. Most mainstream “PC power user” type magazines really don’t know much about the HTPC niche.

[Matt]

[quote=”Skirge01″]
I could swear I read something about Hollywood avoiding creating movies using this format* because of this very effect.  In other words, I thought they were saying that they needed to intentionally make movies look fake because making them look real (soap opera effect) had the opposite effect on people.

* I’m saying “format” because that’s the term that makes sense to me and the way I understood it, but Matt has me thinking it’s more of an “after effect” or feature on TVs, as opposed to how the material is being filmed.  If anyone knows for sure, I’d like to be enlightened.
[/quote]

Nothing is shot at more than 60fps. Standard 35mm theatrical released films are always 24 fps, now sometimes they’ve used digital cameras in the filming processes but they’re still shot at 24fps and eventually transfered to 35mm for general theatrical release.

Some sports is shot at 720p/60. A lot of cheap soap operas are shot on video cameras (these days digital video cameras) and so they’re 30 fps. Which is where the term “soap opera effect” came from, because when you enable frame interpolation you get this ultra smooth “more video than video” effect that looks like a soap opera’s 30fps shooting style taken to an extreme.

[Matt]

[quote=”Skirge01″]
I could swear I read something about Hollywood avoiding creating movies using this format* because of this very effect.  In other words, I thought they were saying that they needed to intentionally make movies look fake because making them look real (soap opera effect) had the opposite effect on people.

* I’m saying “format” because that’s the term that makes sense to me and the way I understood it, but Matt has me thinking it’s more of an “after effect” or feature on TVs, as opposed to how the material is being filmed.  If anyone knows for sure, I’d like to be enlightened.
[/quote]

Nothing is shot at more than 60fps. Standard 35mm theatrical released films are always 24 fps, now sometimes they’ve used digital cameras in the filming processes but they’re still shot at 24fps and eventually transfered to 35mm for general theatrical release.

Some sports is shot at 720p/60. A lot of cheap soap operas are shot on video cameras (these days digital video cameras) and so they’re 30 fps. Which is where the term “soap opera effect” came from, because when you enable frame interpolation you get this ultra smooth “more video than video” effect that looks like a soap opera’s 30fps shooting style taken to an extreme.

[Matt]

To be more precise it is characteristic of TVs that have a frame interpolation option, such as 120Hz or 240Hz LCDs. It is not because of the TV being 120Hz in-and-of-itself.

I agree that it’s really odd looking and distracting, especially for film content. A lot of lay people seem to love how smooth it makes everything look.

When you turn it off your TV will just repeat frames to get up to 120Hz/240Hz, keeping the same cadence as the source.

[Matt]

To be more precise it is characteristic of TVs that have a frame interpolation option, such as 120Hz or 240Hz LCDs. It is not because of the TV being 120Hz in-and-of-itself.

I agree that it’s really odd looking and distracting, especially for film content. A lot of lay people seem to love how smooth it makes everything look.

When you turn it off your TV will just repeat frames to get up to 120Hz/240Hz, keeping the same cadence as the source.

[Matt]

The 2x Radeon 5570 both being passive means you have to consider the heat being stuck in the case. So you’ll have to consider the need for better ventilation with case fans, etc.
Double the graphics cards might be more of a hassle than say hunting down a quieter 5770 that vents out of the case. Perhaps this HiS card? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161344

[Matt]

The 2x Radeon 5570 both being passive means you have to consider the heat being stuck in the case. So you’ll have to consider the need for better ventilation with case fans, etc.
Double the graphics cards might be more of a hassle than say hunting down a quieter 5770 that vents out of the case. Perhaps this HiS card? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161344

[Matt]

[quote=”Naylia”]
Because Motorola’s customer is the Cable Co. And the Cable Co does not see the value proposition in it. If they, the Cable Co, can’t increase rates or charge an extra line item on your bill for it then why would they bother to adopt it.
[/quote]

Yes indeed. That seems to be sad truth there  >:(

[Matt]

[quote=”Naylia”]
Because Motorola’s customer is the Cable Co. And the Cable Co does not see the value proposition in it. If they, the Cable Co, can’t increase rates or charge an extra line item on your bill for it then why would they bother to adopt it.
[/quote]

Yes indeed. That seems to be sad truth there  >:(

[Matt]

[quote=”robinhoody”]
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/10/motorola-announces-nyxboard-qwerty-remote-super-capacitor-based/

According to engadget this remote will be out by the end of the year for Cable STB’s.  I’m hoping they make the remote usable as an IR blaster with BT.  Looks really similar to boxee’s remote too.
[/quote]

That would be nice, but I seriously doubt we’ll see it used anywhere very quickly. Motorola keeps making really great strides in advancing the cable platform that it demonstrates at trade shows and no one seem to adopt quickly (if at all) 🙁

[Matt]

[quote=”robinhoody”]
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/10/motorola-announces-nyxboard-qwerty-remote-super-capacitor-based/

According to engadget this remote will be out by the end of the year for Cable STB’s.  I’m hoping they make the remote usable as an IR blaster with BT.  Looks really similar to boxee’s remote too.
[/quote]

That would be nice, but I seriously doubt we’ll see it used anywhere very quickly. Motorola keeps making really great strides in advancing the cable platform that it demonstrates at trade shows and no one seem to adopt quickly (if at all) 🙁

[Matt]

[quote=”Naylia”]
Used is a great way to go on a receiver. Looking at some of the brands, if you can find a model from about 2 years back, you can still have your cake and eat it too. HDMI 1.3a with HD audio format support was around, and still bundled with analog in and out, along with Audessey EQ for much less money that on a new AVR today.
[/quote]

Don’t even have to go that far back. My Denon 590 from last summer has component video inputs (that it will cross convert to HDMI, but doesn’t upscale, which is nice, since upscaling is where AVRs usually mess up the quality), and of course is HDMI 1.3 and does the HD audio formats. It has the full Audessey MultiEQ suite with Dynamic Volume, etc. It’s just missing the multi-channel analog input, which the set-up the 790 has.

I was seeing the 590/790 still around at Fry’s and Best Buy earlier in the summer.

[Matt]

[quote=”Naylia”]
Used is a great way to go on a receiver. Looking at some of the brands, if you can find a model from about 2 years back, you can still have your cake and eat it too. HDMI 1.3a with HD audio format support was around, and still bundled with analog in and out, along with Audessey EQ for much less money that on a new AVR today.
[/quote]

Don’t even have to go that far back. My Denon 590 from last summer has component video inputs (that it will cross convert to HDMI, but doesn’t upscale, which is nice, since upscaling is where AVRs usually mess up the quality), and of course is HDMI 1.3 and does the HD audio formats. It has the full Audessey MultiEQ suite with Dynamic Volume, etc. It’s just missing the multi-channel analog input, which the set-up the 790 has.

I was seeing the 590/790 still around at Fry’s and Best Buy earlier in the summer.

[Matt]

[quote=”autoboy”]
Sounds like it could be a color space issue.  I’m not educated in that enough, but there is PC color which goes from 0-255 and there is video color that goes from 16 – 248 or something like that.  Windows will switch from PC to video color space when it plays a video.  Maybe you should download the AVSforum calibration disk and calibrate the TV.
[/quote]

I think you’ve nailed it. It sounds like a color space issue. Also some applications/video card driver combinations do not switch to 16-248 properly.

Using a generic DVI adapter also means that the card won’t actually enable the different HDMI colorspaces that are possible. DVI is RGB only, it does not support YPbPr.

Make sure both the TV is set properly and it understands it is getting an RGB signal, not YPbPr or XvYCC.

[Matt]

[quote=”autoboy”]
Sounds like it could be a color space issue.  I’m not educated in that enough, but there is PC color which goes from 0-255 and there is video color that goes from 16 – 248 or something like that.  Windows will switch from PC to video color space when it plays a video.  Maybe you should download the AVSforum calibration disk and calibrate the TV.
[/quote]

I think you’ve nailed it. It sounds like a color space issue. Also some applications/video card driver combinations do not switch to 16-248 properly.

Using a generic DVI adapter also means that the card won’t actually enable the different HDMI colorspaces that are possible. DVI is RGB only, it does not support YPbPr.

Make sure both the TV is set properly and it understands it is getting an RGB signal, not YPbPr or XvYCC.

[Author]

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