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Posted by leo86 on 04/10/07 01:22
On Apr 9, 2:01 pm, "SFTVratings" <SFTVratings_t...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Horizontal Resolution (per picture height)
>
> Standard 4:3 ratio:
> -------------------
> 240 standard VHS or Betamax
> 330 cable tv
> 400 S-VHS or laserdisc
> 540 DVD
>
> Widescreen 16:9
> ---------------
> 405 DVD
> 720 HD 720p
> 1080 HD 1080i
>
> Expressed in a manner that people are more familiar with:
> 320 x 486 - vhs
> 533 x 486 - S-vhs / laserdisc
> 720 x 480 - dvd
So what? I can fast forward through the friggin' trailers and studio/
distributor logos on a VHS tape. I can't do that on a DVD. I have to
sit and wait. And if I'm trying to find a line in a subtitle on a
foreign film, it's much harder to do with a DVD than a VHS tape. If I
want to stop a tape and resume watching it the next day at that exact
point, I can do that on a VHS and not on a DVD. If I want to present
clips to a class, it's easier to cue a tape and show the clip that
way, whereas with DVDs, you have to wait for the extraneous crap to
pass and then the menu to appear and then click on this and then
that...etc., etc., etc. to find your clip all while the class is
waiting. (Granted, if you have the equipment to burn clips on DVDs,
fine, but I don't.)
Do I care about the visual quality of a film? Yes, of course, and I
upgrade to DVD for those films that deserve to be seen in the highest
quality visual image. Great animation (think PRINCESS MONONOKE, GHOST
IN THE SHELL and AKIRA) demands the format with the highest quality.
But, guess what? I watch a lot of movies just to see them, things that
are not masterpieces and don't really need to be watched in an optimum
format. I have a lot of Audie Murphy westerns on VHS. I enjoy them a
great deal, but there's nothing in that collection that's great enough
to upgrade to DVD. I recently bought four VHS tapes for $10. One of
them was DEATH WISH 3. Do I really need to see DEATH WISH 3 on HD-DVD?
No, I don't. A better quality image will not improve that crummy
movie. I paid $2.50 for it and that was more than enough. My curiosity
about it has been satisfied. I have a bunch of Italian westerns on
VHS. They're marginal films and I don't need to upgrade. (I have the
Leones on DVD, however. Those are masterpieces.)
Even the masterpieces are fine on good quality VHS. I have a DVD of
THE WILD BUNCH, but when I re-watched it recently, I pulled out the
letter-boxed VHS because it was handier and I put that in my 13-inch
TV/VCR combo in the bedroom, laid back and watched the first half,
leaving the tape in the machine, and finished watching it the next
night. It was the first time I'd seen it in years and I enjoyed it
immensely. It's a great movie and while it's greatest on a theater
screen, the conditions I watched it in fit my mood and my
circumstances and served me just fine.
To all the people who spend tens of thousands of dollars on high-tech,
state-of-the-art home entertainment systems and the newest formats and
all and then use it to watch bad Hollywood CGI movies or current TV
shows I ask, what's the point? Watching something that's actually good
on a 13-inch TV set is a much more meaningful and enriching experience
than watching crap on a 50-inch screen with surround sound and high
resolution. But Techies never show any interest in content, do they?
And the rest of us, those of us who actually care about the quality of
CONTENT (i.e. storyline, characterization, subject, acting,
camerawork, composition, production design, music, etc.) are forced to
play catch-up as the formats WE like become obsolete. And we have to
adopt the formats YOU insist on. And the average consumer just follows
along like a sheep.
Oh, and I still listen to music on audiocassettes played on a Sony
Walkman. And guess what? It sounds just as good as the sound on a CD.
(I don't know how it compares to MP3's because I haven't gotten that
far yet, have I?)
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