Episode 6 - Overscan Sucks! Buying Used HD Gear, MLB + Roku, Drain The Ocean, Rescue Me! [Discussion]

[mari1ee]

$10 Samsung TV from Bestbuy? Roku: a better way to watch MLB in HD? End Overscan: see the whole picture on your HDTV, and the Blu-Ray releases for the week of August 18th.

Watch or download this episode now (http://revision3.com/hdnation/mlb)

[chiefted]

Loved the section about MLB.tv on the Roku.

Currently using the MLB.tv package, with a MacMini
and Plex. IMHO its probably just as good as the DirecTV
MLB package that I had last year. Being able to pick and
choice the feed makes it better than DirecTV and well for
the price its a "can't be beat" purchase.

[todd_murphy]

Did anyone else notice the strange noises in the background it kinda sounded like a radio station was coming over the mics

[big_cp]

Yeah - I noticed that background noise too.

[crabcakes]

I would buy a roku box if they did the same thing with NHL.

[mathwhiz]

Great episode. Would have been nice if you showed an overscan test pattern as part of the episode for those of us who watch your video on our TVs to see how much (if any) overscan we have. I know I have overscan. I also know how to go into the service menu to turn it off - however there is a bug with my specific model of TV (Samsung DLP RPTV) that the setting doesn't stick so next time you turn the TV on, the overscan is back :( Oh well - will have to live with it for now until I get a new TV - which I'll make sure I can turn overscan off.

Rich

[davmoo]

Robert is right on, Drain the Ocean is some serious HD visual eye candy. What's under all that water is pretty darned amazing. I *badly* want this one on Blu-Ray.

I guess I'll take a chance and pick up The Last Starfighter this week after all and find out whether the video is truly Blu-Ray quality or not. Worst that can happen is I wasted my money.

I'll repeat what I said about it in another thread...if you think Best Buy is really going to sell 1080P TVs for $10, you're too stupid to be buying a TV.

Finally, I want to emphasize a point that was made during the Craig's List segment...DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU BUY!!! I can't speak for other areas because I don't shop other areas. But Craig's List in this area (Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana) is *loaded* with sellers who will be happy to sell you a $200 PC for $1000, or a $50 TV for $800. I regularly see equipment that you can buy new at Best Buy cheaper than what they're asking used on CL (and Best Buy's prices usually suck). Its definitely "buyer beware". Just because its on Craig's List is not a guarantee that its a good deal.

[bigbossbmb]

they kept saying the overscan "scales up" the image so that it is bigger than your screen. However with my Panasonic Plasma it is simply a crop. To correct it, the TV needs to downscale the image (losing the 1:1 pixel representation).

I choose to downscale because I'd rather have the entire image field downscaled than have 1:1 pixels and miss part of the picture.

Good ep though.

[cyborger]

Great episode. It would be awesome if you guys finally got to those Home Theater in a Box reviews.

[aaronbond]

i second the annoying conversational audio interruption in the background @ the beginning of the show. i've only watched the first 5 min. here's hoping it's just this segment!

[blunden]

Maybe they should have mentioned that the overscan issue the user described only when using a receiver might be an EDID issue. It depends on how the computer sees the monitor (HDMI or DVI). Each input has each own information in the EDID about what signals are ok and specific timings etc. These at least were often badly programmed. That's what caused issues to get a working pixel-perfect image from a computer in many cases. They can often be reprogrammed though since the memory storing it often tend to be writable. :)

[bigbossbmb]

One thing I've found interesting with my setup is the TV may not allow you to change the overscan setting when it's getting certain signals.

I have everything routed through my receiver (via HDMI) and a single HDMI out to the TV. I can adjust the overscan when a YUV signal is going to the TV (Digital Cable and PS3), but I can't adjust it during an RGB signal (laptop). However, no matter which setting you put it on during a YUV signal, it always carries over after switching to an RGB signal.

Maybe the person that had the overscan problem needs to change the setting when feeding the TV a DVD player or something else YUV and see if it corrects the problem with his RGB signal.

[davmoo]

I drank more of the studio Kool-aid today and picked up the new release of The Last Starfighter on Blu-Ray.

Its not perfect, because after all they are working with 25 year old source material here. But when comparing it to the DVD version, which I also own, in my opinion the Blu-Ray version looks considerably cleaner and sharper, film grain is gone, and the audio is better. The contrast and color depth also appear noticeably better.

Your own mileage may vary, but that's how it looks to me :)

[lordstandley]

Love the new Roku MLB package. I really hope the NHL does a deal like this. I bought the online package last year because I couldn't get it anyway else, and it sucked. I need to be able to watch the NHL! :D

[richinjapan]

Did anyone else notice the strange noises in the background it kinda sounded like a radio station was coming over the mics

Sounded to me that it was the studio chatter coming through on the mics. Come on guys, we expect more from you!

[jbciii]

I'm really pleased that Robert and Patrick chose to address the subject of overscan. I watched the segment twice. It's one of the technical points about HD that I've had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around. I'm convinced that there are are some authoritative-sounding voices on the web addressing this subject who don't quite have it right.

I wanted to ask whether 1920x1080 TVs necessarily have all of those pixels displaying or if some manufacturers have some of the pixels masked off by the frame. I realize that this could vary set by set depending how the LCD panel is aligned within the physical frame that surrounds the display area. If some pixels are hidden, then we aren't really talking about overscan in the signal that the TV is receiving. It's something physical and the kind of response would then differ.

Regards from (temporarily) sunny Cambridge, MA.

-JBCIII