[mythtv-users] Blu-Ray/HD-DVD versus MythTV HD recordings

jedi at mishnet.org jedi at mishnet.org
Wed Mar 21 15:46:02 UTC 2007


>
> On Mar 21, 2007, at 8:13 AM, jedi at mishnet.org wrote:
>
>>
>>     Better quality is always nice. But that's always going to be at
>> odds with disk space and recording time. Sure, the idea of a really
>> wicked high res movie does have some attraction. OTOH, that's measured
>> against 4 DVDs, 12 hours of high quality SD recordings, or 48 hours of
>> reasonable quality transcoded SD recordings.
>>
>>     A lot of people are already used to Tivo basic quality recordings.
>
> I think the "standard" for what consumers will accept was set a long
> time ago by VHS machines. I can't recall ever hearing anyone say

    Nope. Expectations for consumers were set by crappy broadcast
reception followed by crappy cable services. Someone in another thread
mentioned that it used to be that you just tolerated snow and ghosting
and that in the future it will be compression artifacts that everyone
takes as just unavoidable.

    My wife can't even tell the difference between our progressive
DVD's and the divx transcoded stuff we record off of DirecTV.

    Some "defects" aren't even perceptable to some people.

> "gee, if only I had more resolution on this movie I rented for $5".

    Well now it's "bought for $5" but it's the same idea.

>
> It never ceases to astound me what crap people will put up with. NTSC
> is a lousy system but most homes never even get close to what the
> system is capable of delivering.
>
> Analog cable captured by a $50 PVR card actually looks pretty darned
> good, certainly quite "watchable" by any standard.

    I can tell the difference. I'm not sure I would want to pay the
difference in terms of storage, HD decoder hardware, extra cable costs
and possible provider/tivo proprietary lockin.

>>
>>>
>>> It continues to amaze me what less than 1K$ will buy for a home video
>>> system.
>>>
>>> The problem, as always, is finding something worth recording.
>>
>>     Cast a wide net, see what you catch. 9 in 10 things will get
>> thrown back (thus the absurd level of storage needed) but you will
>> manage to catch that 1 in 10 item you NEVER would have thought to
>> consider.
>>
>>      ...you might not want to admit to anyone that you enjoyed it.
>> But that's another matter...
>>
>
> My main problem is that I have stuff I recorded literally a year ago
> and haven't got around to watching yet, but I can't bring myself to
> delete it. I off it to DVDs but still like to keep it online.

    That's the nice thing about transcoding.

    Burning DVD's kind of defeats the whole idea of a PVR. Plus a lot
of stuff will get broadcast again & probably before you would want to
watch it again.

>
> So I buy more hard drives, stupid I guess, but there are worse habits
> to have I suppose.
>
> Just yesterday I spent more on books then I have spent on hard drives
> in the last 6 months.




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