# Anyone else think HD/Blu-ray/etc. makes things look weird?



## LawyersAdvocate (Jul 12, 2012)

Maybe this belongs in the Trends forum. *shrug*

I don't know what it is, but for some reason, the clarity and "realness" of high-quality HD throws me off. I can't get into movies or TV shows like I normally would.

Can anyone else relate to this or maybe shed some light on why it has this effect on me?


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## bigtex1989 (Feb 7, 2011)

Actually, I can most likely explain this.

So visually, things in real life are fuzzy. This is because our eyes can only normally see in a limited resolution for a number of reasons that are unimportant to this explanation. What IS important, is that because of this, we don't really get to see super sharp or super rigid colors in real life. When we look at super high resolution things, it almost looks cartoony because of the sharpness and rigidity of the colors that we don't see in the real world, making the extra realness look extra fake.

This happened to me at Fry's Electronics one time. I was walking through the store but was stopped by my peripheral vision. A super high quality TV was in front of me and the colors were sharper than in real life. I stood there for like an hour just watching TRON:Legacy on this TV until my dad pulled me away. That's when reality sickness kicked in XD


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## LawyersAdvocate (Jul 12, 2012)

bigtex1989 said:


> Actually, I can most likely explain this.
> A super high quality TV was in front of me and the colors were sharper than in real life. I stood there for like an hour just watching TRON:Legacy on this TV until my dad pulled me away. That's when reality sickness kicked in XD


I watched the TRON:Legacy in Blu-ray, too! For some reason, it didn't feel like a regular film to me, and it made it hard to appreciate it as such. I guess it's just because I'm still getting used to seeing movies like that. (Plus, it's not really my kind of movie.)


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## bellisaurius (Jan 18, 2012)

I wonder if you're a tetrachromat. You may literally not see the world the way most people see it if you have an extra set of cone cells in your eye,which means you see about 100 more color shades than most people.


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

bigtex1989 said:


> Actually, I can most likely explain this.
> 
> So visually, things in real life are fuzzy. This is because our eyes can only normally see in a limited resolution for a number of reasons that are unimportant to this explanation. What IS important, is that because of this, we don't really get to see super sharp or super rigid colors in real life. When we look at super high resolution things, it almost looks cartoony because of the sharpness and rigidity of the colors that we don't see in the real world, making the extra realness look extra fake.
> 
> This happened to me at Fry's Electronics one time. I was walking through the store but was stopped by my peripheral vision. A super high quality TV was in front of me and the colors were sharper than in real life. I stood there for like an hour just watching TRON:Legacy on this TV until my dad pulled me away. That's when reality sickness kicked in XD


That sounds about right to me. We have the same problem in reverse right now because of the low contrast of most LCD displays. Movies tend to shoot dark scenes using some sort of green or red back lighting because the screen just can't produce real blacks or make fine distinctions the darker it gets. As always the hardware has to come first and then it will take years or even decades for people to figure out the best ways to produce the most pleasing results. Unless you have a Star Trek holodeck such compromises are inevitable.


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## xXDominoXx (Aug 18, 2012)

I despise HD. Our eyes don't see that clearly, so yes, it creates this weirdness. Thought it was just my eyebobbles. :\


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

xXDominoXx said:


> I despise HD. Our eyes don't see that clearly, so yes, it creates this weirdness. Thought it was just my eyebobbles. :\


There were people who hated the first color movies as well. Colors were too bright and artificial looking among other things and were a distraction from watching the movie. Of course, there will always be people attracted to shiny things so we keep making progress even when the technology isn't perfected yet.


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## xXDominoXx (Aug 18, 2012)

wuliheron said:


> There were people who hated the first color movies as well. Colors were too bright and artificial looking among other things and were a distraction from watching the movie. Of course, there will always be people attracted to shiny things so we keep making progress even when the technology isn't perfected yet.


*hides in Luddite Internet, causes very old and useless viruses*


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## Uralian Hamster (May 13, 2011)

thought it was just me, I think it looks strange too.

The only exception is watching sports in HD. Holy wow.


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## gurlcorporate (Aug 30, 2012)

Yes!

3D annoys me to. Who needs a 3D version of Jerry Maguire? Not saying there is but not far from what's happening nowadays.

Quoting @bollocks here, for soccer. Wow! I mean, WOW! :shocked:


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

xXDominoXx said:


> *hides in Luddite Internet, causes very old and useless viruses*


LOL, I used my old 19" CRT monitor right up until a few years ago just because they still didn't have what I really wanted in an LCD at a reasonable price. Nothing wrong with waiting for people to perfect the technology. My new monitor though is 27" 1ms and rocks. I'm just hoping it lasts long enough for them to perfect these new 4k displays and how to use them to best advantage.

The one new technology I might buy before they perfect it is the Oculus Rift which, theoretically, could put an 8k screen to good use. The screen is only inches from your face and six inches long, but they magnify it so much with lenses it fills your entire field of view. There's also a fisheye effect they leverage so the further away from the center of the screen the less resolution they have to use for the image, but that just means the screen itself has to be capable of that much higher a resolution towards the center. However, it's for video gaming and there isn't a PC in existence that could push that many pixels fast enough for a video game. Hopefully by the time such things do exist they'll have learned enough from these TV screens the results will look better.


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## deepbluesun (Jun 2, 2011)

I dunno, my vision matches up with (or exceeds) 1080p video… it's never looked odd to me. The biggest difference is really in color - movies tend to either be highly oversatured or highly desaturated, depending on the movie's intended mood.


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## xXDominoXx (Aug 18, 2012)

wuliheron said:


> LOL, I used my old 19" CRT monitor right up until a few years ago just because they still didn't have what I really wanted in an LCD at a reasonable price.


ahahahah!!! YES! We were forced by friends to replace our 1987 Zenith last year! AHAHAHAH!!! We refuse to get rid of her though (yes, _her_...), the poor old gal. We keep her upstairs, retired but unmolested.


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## FiNe SiTe (Dec 11, 2009)

Strange. I had the same experience with the Tron: Legacy movie as well.
It just looked...too real. It was off putting and I couldn't enjoy the movie.


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## MegaTuxRacer (Sep 7, 2011)

bigtex1989 said:


> Actually, I can most likely explain this.
> 
> So visually, things in real life are fuzzy. This is because our eyes can only normally see in a limited resolution for a number of reasons that are unimportant to this explanation. What IS important, is that because of this, we don't really get to see super sharp or super rigid colors in real life. When we look at super high resolution things, it almost looks cartoony because of the sharpness and rigidity of the colors that we don't see in the real world, making the extra realness look extra fake.
> 
> This happened to me at Fry's Electronics one time. I was walking through the store but was stopped by my peripheral vision. A super high quality TV was in front of me and the colors were sharper than in real life. I stood there for like an hour just watching TRON:Legacy on this TV until my dad pulled me away. That's when reality sickness kicked in XD


If this were true, the TV would not have looked sharper than real life. The reason it looks sharper than real life is because you are confusing "sharper" with "vivid". The reason it seems more vivid is because of a variety of things such as lighting and the fact that movies are put through color filters in post-production to trick you into thinking you are looking at something more visually appealing. If you look at the picture on a TV vs. the TV itself, you will notice that the lines on the TV are sharper.


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## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

You mean the hyper-reality effect? It actually *doesn't* look real, the extreme sharpness actually doesn't remind me much of real life. It's less dream-like than some older film effects, but it's still removed from reality, amplifying reality to a point where it's like a commentary on or ironic form of reality rather than reality.

Almost like...being in the Stepford wives. That's what super HD makes me think of. Like a group of people a little too perfect trying to convince you that structured, calculated "perfection" is what normal is (rather than being quirky, flawed, etc.)

Don't get me wrong, I like hyper-reality in some films, especially when film makers consciously make use of it. Rob Zombie does this, as has Park Chan-Wook.

But yes in the cases of some films which are trying to pass themselves of as SRS and "very real" it's distracting and strange. It also leads to weird, unrealistic expectations in young people, IMO.

Like, dude, the movies I watched as a kid...people looked like people, you know, just like above average attractive neighbors, but not like...post human? Women looked like women, and not like Barbie dolls. And things were still slightly hazy enough that you knew it was Hollyweird.

Now, not so much, and people are mistaking hyper reality for reality in some situations, which is ..kind of psychotic.


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## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

gurlcorporate said:


> Yes!
> 
> 3D annoys me to. Who needs a 3D version of Jerry Maguire? Not saying there is but not far from what's happening nowadays.
> 
> Quoting @_bollocks_ here, for soccer. Wow! I mean, WOW! :shocked:


I actually like 3D.

I like conscious manipulation of this stuff. 

What I don't like is stuff that is simply HD or 3D with no artistic merit or conscious film technique. Like watching Justin Beiber or the Disney channel sitcoms in HD, what the fucking fuck. Just no. It gives me the goddamned creeps.

Horror movies? Fine, great. Capitalist, everybody-smile-for-the-camera propaganda in HD? I want my mommy, please give me my blankie, I'm going to hide under it.


I actually don't like certain the way certain horror movies are/were filmed these days, though; like Rob Zombie does it well, but in the re-make of _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ it pissed me off. The original is partially so scary because it is so low-budget and grainy, like you're watching a home movie of something that really happened down the street (especially since I come from the South, it really looks like "down the street" to me, the original Chainsaw).

Some of the older ghost stories look better a bit hazy, too, like it makes the film appear more ethereal and supernatural; the 1976 Karen Black film _Burnt Offerings_ is a perfect example of the "supernatural" technique in film-making. _Don't Look Now_ with Donald Sutherland is another. Making a ghost story in too high HD can make it look stupid and cheesy.

I've often wondered if this is why some mainstream horror now is perceived as being so terrible; it's too bright, not enough artistic usage of darkness or blurry unreality or dream-like states.

Everything looks worse when it's too bright, unless it's done with conscious intent and melds with the film, in my opinion.

I actually love the film maker of the recent _The House of the Devil_ for realizing this; even watching it in HD you can hardly separate it from the supernatural effects of early 80's films, though it's not as dream-like as _Burnt Offerings _or _Don't Look Now._ 

Stanley Kubrick's _The Shining_ is an exception to this. An earlier bright, sharp film that actually was scarier by conscious usage of defined vivid film making.


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## gurlcorporate (Aug 30, 2012)

fourtines said:


> Capitalist, everybody-smile-for-the-camera propaganda in HD? I want my mommy, please give me my blankie, I'm going to hide under it.


Lol :laughing:


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## Tad Cooper (Apr 10, 2010)

LawyersAdvocate said:


> Maybe this belongs in the Trends forum. *shrug*
> 
> I don't know what it is, but for some reason, the clarity and "realness" of high-quality HD throws me off. I can't get into movies or TV shows like I normally would.
> 
> Can anyone else relate to this or maybe shed some light on why it has this effect on me?


Yes! It always looks like a 'making of' documentary rather than a TV show! It was weird when I saw a programme at my friend's house (which I normally watch at home on an old TV) and it was in HD. I couldn't focus on it.


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## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

wuliheron said:


> There were people who hated the first color movies as well. Colors were too bright and artificial looking among other things and were a distraction from watching the movie. Of course, there will always be people attracted to shiny things so we keep making progress even when the technology isn't perfected yet.


Have you ever watched the original _Dark Shadows_ series from the 60's? Oh boy, talk about absurd color television. 

It didn't take long, though, to transition from early 60's to late 60's/early 70's with color. And some always did it better than others, like some of the Italian film makers made it look good very early on (sort of like some modern film makers have been able to do with HD).

I remember being keenly aware in the early 00's the switch over to HD in film making and I would complain "what is with this fucking look movies have now? They all look the same, I don't like it." But that isn't true, like I said, some people manipulate HD better than others. 

Like I'm watching _House of Voices (Saint Ange)_ right now, and it's obviously in HD, being a more recent film, and it has nice usage of darkness to contrast the vividness, that's always a nice touch; either employing darkness, or else making the vivid colors a central theme like Rob Zombie does, he consciously realizes the inhuman, unreal scariness of it and employs the vividness to make it even more scary, like an acid trip or something. 

Don't get me wrong, some older films from the 80's-90's look like crap in comparison; I'm not some person arguing that the old way was better across the board. But in some genres of film, and even with television, HD can be annoying, and even give everything a kind of flat sheen of ...boredom. Like some people aren't creative enough with it, they try to let it stand alone and speak for itself and that is a huge fucking mistake.


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