Last night, I had my first HDTV/Blu Ray experience. I won't lie: it was a 1980 episode of M*A*S*H. After that, I watched Mad Men on AMC.
My conclusion: HDTV flat screens make beautifully filmed comedies and dramas look like a sitcom taped in the mid-80s. M*A*S*H looked like a soap opera, so I figured the Blu Ray phenomenon was to blame. But no: Mad Men looked like Guiding Light circa 1963 (except in color).
What gives? Obviously the picture is crisp, and you feel like you're in the room with your favorite TV characters. The problem is, do I want to feel that way? It's the ultimate exposure: in getting up close and personal, everything looks cheap. It looked like a combination of film, videotape and 3-D.
I don't know if I can get used to this, and the question is (before I buy a flat screen), do I want to? Do I want to know which actors cover their acne with cake powder? Do I want to know that a door is made of cheap plywood and not oak? To be cliche, the mystery is gone.
I want it back.
2 comments:
Interesting that you compared it to a 3-D experience. A coworker just said the same thing to me when I mentioned buying a new TV, and said it took her a couple of weeks to get used to watching anything in high def except sports.
I saw in the early episodes of Scrubs Season 8 that Christa Miller's wrinkles were a lot more noticeable (and this in spite of her many plastic surgeries). That being said, now that I've had HDTV for almost 2 years, I can't go back. :)
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