Editing 732: HDTV

{{comic
| number    = 732
| date      = April 26, 2010
| title     = HDTV
| image     = hdtv.png
| titletext = We're also stuck with blurry, juddery, slow-panning 24fps movies forever because (thanks to 60fps home video) people associate high framerates with camcorders and cheap sitcoms, and thus think good framerates look fake.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic pokes fun at the differing standard between image quality for television sets and electronic devices, even though both standard are based on essentially the same standards. When rating television sets, a 1080p screen, that is, a screen 1080 pixels tall with progressive scan, is considered impressive. In contrast, the same resolution with a computer device is considered standard fare, given that a computer screen 1,024 pixels wide is expected, though computer screens can reach 1,366 pixels.

The title texts explains another disparagement involving images and popular opinion. The feeling that a viewer gets from watching a film in a theatre is different from the feeling from a home film, or again, between a serialized programme from an international television channel and a locally-broadcast programme. The disparity is that the small-time productions actually implement better-quality equipment than the big-time productions. The problem is that public opinion associates the better-quality equipment with the less ambitious films (while being lower quality in other areas, for example, plot) due to the proliferation of the less-ambitious films, yet public opinions associates the worse-quality equipment with the more ambitious films due to they not only being of a wider reach than the less-ambitious films but also (probably) due to the more-ambitious films using the same equipment for decades (possibly to cut costs). This focus on public opinion cased the more-ambitious films to keep using worse-quality equipment in order to avoid the stigma public opinion has with better-quality equipment. (This is changing, however, since the films {{w|The Hobbit}} and {{w|Avatar 2}} are going to be shot with better framerates, though, at the time that this explanation is written, the effects have yet to be seen...)

==Transcript==
:One person is pointing to a huge flatscreen HDTV on the wall. The other is holding a cell phone.
:HDTV Owner: Check out my new HDTV--a beautiful, high-def 1080p.
:Friend: Wow, that's over ''TWICE'' the horizontal resolution of my cell phone.
:Friend: In fact, it almost beats the LCD monitor I got in 2004.
:It baffles me that people find HDTV impressive.
{{comic discussion}}
@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This comic pokes fun at the differing standard between image quality for television sets and other electronic devices, even though both are based on essentially the same standards. When rating television sets, a {{w|1080p}} screen, that is, a screen 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels tall with progressive scan, is considered impressive.
+This comic pokes fun at the differing standard between image quality for television sets and electronic devices, even though both standard are based on essentially the same standards. When rating television sets, a 1080p screen, that is, a screen 1080 pixels tall with progressive scan, is considered impressive. In contrast, the same resolution with a computer device is considered standard fare, given that a computer screen 1,024 pixels wide is expected, though computer screens can reach 1,366 pixels.
-In comparison, high-end smartphones in late 2009/early 2010 had 480×800 resolution (with horizontal resolution of 1,920 pixels being more than twice of 800 pixels). As of the comic's publishing date, there had been even higher resolution monitors available (30-inch diagonal 2,560 by 1,600 pixels and 22-inch diagonal 3,840 by 2,400 pixels).
-In 2004, common desktop monitors had WUXGA resolution of 1,920 wide by 1,200 pixels tall, which is how the TV "almost" (but not quite) has the same resolution as an upper midrange monitor would already have six years earlier.
-Soon after the comic's publishing date in 2010, phones with long edge resolution approaching 1,000 pixels were being announced. The first smartphone with a 5-inch full HD screen was announced in November 2012.
+The title texts explains another disparagement involving images and popular opinion. The feeling that a viewer gets from watching a film in a theatre is different from the feeling from a home film, or again, between a serialized programme from an international television channel and a locally-broadcast programme. The disparity is that the small-time productions actually implement better-quality equipment than the big-time productions. The problem is that public opinion associates the better-quality equipment with the less ambitious films (while being lower quality in other areas, for example, plot) due to the proliferation of the less-ambitious films, yet public opinions associates the worse-quality equipment with the more ambitious films due to they not only being of a wider reach than the less-ambitious films but also (probably) due to the more-ambitious films using the same equipment for decades (possibly to cut costs). This focus on public opinion cased the more-ambitious films to keep using worse-quality equipment in order to avoid the stigma public opinion has with better-quality equipment. (This is changing, however, since the films {{w|The Hobbit}} and {{w|Avatar 2}} are going to be shot with better framerates, though, at the time that this explanation is written, the effects have yet to be seen...)
-The title texts explains another disagreement brought about from the different ways video can be filmed. Often referred to as the {{w|Motion interpolation#Soap opera effect|Soap Opera Effect}}, it is the feeling that a viewer gets when watching a film or video with a higher frame rate such as a home films, older {{w|sitcoms}}, or (as the name suggests,) {{w|soap operas}}. The disparity comes from the fact that many small-time productions record with cameras running at 60 frames per second, while big-time productions either record directly on film or set their digital cameras to record at the same 24 frames per second as film. Visual problems such as blur, judder, and slow pans are mostly absent in high-frame rate productions, however, because of the lower budgets of small-time productions, high frame rates are thus associated with a feeling of lower quality. Major films such as {{w|The Hobbit}} and {{w|Avatar 2}} have attempted to break the  norm by shooting with higher frame rates.
 ==Transcript==
-:[Cueball is pointing to a huge flatscreen HDTV on the wall. His friend is holding a cell phone.]
+:One person is pointing to a huge flatscreen HDTV on the wall. The other is holding a cell phone.
-:Cueball (HDTV Owner): Check out my new HDTV-a beautiful, high-def 1080p.
+:HDTV Owner: Check out my new HDTV--a beautiful, high-def 1080p.
 :Friend: Wow, that's over ''TWICE'' the horizontal resolution of my cell phone.
 :Friend: In fact, it almost beats the LCD monitor I got in 2004.
-:[Caption below the panel:] It baffles me that people find HDTV impressive.
+:It baffles me that people find HDTV impressive.
 {{comic discussion}}
-[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
-[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]