SD vs HD

Fortunately, my problems with the video quality of the DCT-3412 cable box ended up not being so bad, for the simple reason that all of the channels I receive seem to be digital, so they can all be recorded via Firewire (as long as they are not protected with DRM). Also, connecting the MCE via S-Video instead of the RF tuner increased the video quality for shows I can't record with Firewire.

Once that was all working, I did some tests to see how noticeable the difference between SD and HD really is. Here are some pictures:

Firewire SD recording

Standard Definition

Firewire HD recording

High Definition

Obviously the HD screenshot has been shrunk to SD, so they look about the same here (except that the HD shot is in 16:9). Click the HD thumbnail to see it in its full resolution (HD 1080i).

Here are the two shots scaled to the same size, for an easier comparison:

Standard Def face

Standard Definition

High Definition face

High Definition

The last shot clearly shows HD's better picture quality, but ironically the newscaster actually looks a bit better and younger in the SD shot, since the blurriness of SD masks wrinkles and imperfections, while HD hides nothing. (I'm definitely not the first to note this irony)

Posted on June 25, 2006
Comments (3) Trackbacks (0)
  1. Haha Eric, May the world always look at YOU in SD

  2. Maybe but home HD is still WAY too much compressed.

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