Since I see High Definition (HD) printed on the top right of World cup coverage, I wonder if it means anything.
(Previously I always thought it meant Hard Drive)
A closer inspection of the TV image doesn’t impress me. When I asked around about HD I eventually was told by someone that you need a “special aerial”. Which most people don’t have. I am not sure if the TVs have to be “special” too either. In either case the HD symbol is printed, which is misleading. So how does one know they’re actually get High Definition playback? I guess I need to go to a TV store. 
Is DVB High Definition?
Is High Definition all that much better than a good analogue signal and a good monitor?
With the industry pushing BlueRay or HD-DVD, touting “High Definition”, I am wondering if they really think people will care or notice. Almost everyone I know is familiar with DVD-rip, telesync and screener qualities. Most people are perfectly happy with VCD quality in Asia. I don’t hear anyone yearning for anything better than DVD.
I for one would like to see CD media disappear altogether. This is how the latest HD (Hard Drive in this case) cam corders from JVC are marketed!
Sidenote: That 5.1 Dolby sound often associated with DVD is also stupid. Most people hate having 5.1 speakers. Don’t get me started about the stupidity of widescreen.
I hope the industry wises up a little.
I read the results of a test done by the European broadcasting union about whether people can make out the difference between standard and hdtv resolution content when screen size is increased (as it has been doing for quite a while) and the conclusion was a resounding yes. I didn’t find the paper right now, so I can’t give the link or anything exact, but I’d recall people with screens that very bigger than 30” started to prefer HD strongly over STD.
Like the wikipedia article for hdtv says, there are several high res modes, and in the EBU test the highest res (1920×1080) wasn’t really preferred with anything less than 60” sets (as far as I remember). That test was done at a viewing distance of 2/3 meters. Close up there’s no question of seeing the difference. If you’ve got quicktime codecs (yes, evil) for mplayer installed you should have no trouble seeing the difference yourself with some HD-trailers on Apple’s movie trailer site.
Thanks Ville. I’ve now witnessed the glory of true High Definition. I take it all back. I’ll be definitely interested in acquiring High Definition TV myself. You really see the difference up close though.