# Will History HD ever be in HD?



## twindaddy (Feb 5, 2007)

I just saw 5 minutes of "The Universe" on History HD tonight and it was all munged. I'm not even sure what they did. It looked awful. I saw a bit of this show on the first night History HD aired on Dish and it looked AMAZING. So, this is solid proof History HD is still very sick.

I know they had a fire and this topic has been covered a bit. Will this problem ever be fixed? Some things seem to actually be in HD (e.g. Modern Marvels on fertilizer). How can this be, when shows I know are in HD (e.g. The Universe) are messed up?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

You have a loaded question... Probably, eventually, more of History HD will be actual HD... so asking "will it ever" might just get you a "yes" answer 

But I know what you mean... this is going to be the modus operandii for many new "HD" channels that are launching right now... the people who kept saying "I want xxxxx in HD" are getting their wish for a channel in HD... but the programming on that channel actually being in HD may be a while longer wait.


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## whatchel1 (Jan 11, 2006)

What a question. You know the problem and still ask the question. Once they replace a lot of equipment that takes time to receive I'm sure the quality will be back up to the previous standard. With so many companies upgrading their equipment it takes a good bit of time to get the replacement units. They have to be basically put in the que to get it.


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## zlensman (Jan 15, 2006)

<sigh> I feel your pain, Brother. To make matters worse, when it first came out on 9/02, History-HD was exactly how it should be. I saw some shows in real HD, including episodes of Modern Marvels and Dogfights. Also, the programs that were SD upconverts were shown pillar-boxed instead of the stupid Stretch-o-vision we are seeing now.

It seems like everything was good before the fire at the uplink station. Oh, how I long for the anteconflagrian period.


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## lpmiller (Mar 8, 2007)

it's too bad most of history happened in low res.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Good one! Classic. :up:


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

lpmiller said:


> it's too bad most of history happened in low res.


Actually... real history happened in analog and at the highest definition possible... so anything we ever see on TV will be a downconvert of reality


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## zlensman (Jan 15, 2006)

I don't know how long this has been going on, but some of the programs on History-HD are in HD again. Last night I flipped by during "Lost Worlds: The Vikings" and noticed that it was not stretched. To be certain, this morning I recorded "The Universe: Beyond the Big Bang" which was also shown in full 16x9 with out being mangled. At 6.9 GB in size, it's in line with what a 2 hr MPEG4-HD broadcast should be.

Unfortunately, the 4x3 commercials are still shown in Stretch-O-Vision and so are the shows that are not wide aspect. I find that I can't watch the 4x3 upconverts that are stretched until I correct the aspect ratio.

Also, I just noticed that the guide data includes a tag for high-def (HD) along with the tag for closed captions (CC). For now, this (HD) tag seems to be a good indicator of which shows on HIST-HD are actually in HD.



HDMe said:


> Actually... real history happened in analog and at the highest definition possible... so anything we ever see on TV will be a downconvert of reality


I don't mind if they have to downconvert to make it fit on the TV, but is it too much to ask that they keep reality's OAR?!?


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## richiephx (Jan 19, 2006)

As I stated in a previous post, after the fire, when programming was restored to A&E and HIST hd channels, I called A&E's director of operations and he told me that the decision to stretch the upconverted video was a decision made by A&E Networks executive management and not related to the fire. I also spoke with an engineer at A&E's uplink center where the fire occurred and he said they just uplink the video the way A&E Networks tell them to. Bottom line is, this is the way it will be whether we like it or not, unless enough viewers can somehow convince them to change it back. But, I'm sure most of you can see that this is becoming the norm on most new HD channels instead of the exception.


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## Stutz342 (Sep 29, 2004)

The part that bugs me is when an HD show like a recent edition of Modern Marvels is shown correctly in HD on one airing, but is later rerun stretched giving the 2.35-looking image shape, with the short-fat content.

First runs are often up against other things I want to record, so I really want to see the reruns come up in HD as well.


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## SMosher (Jan 16, 2006)

richiephx said:


> As I stated in a previous post, after the fire, when programming was restored to A&E and HIST hd channels, I called A&E's director of operations and he told me that the decision to stretch the upconverted video was a decision made by A&E Networks executive management and not related to the fire. I also spoke with an engineer at A&E's uplink center where the fire occurred and he said they just uplink the video the way A&E Networks tell them to. Bottom line is, this is the way it will be whether we like it or not, unless enough viewers can somehow convince them to change it back. But, I'm sure most of you can see that this is becoming the norm on most new HD channels instead of the exception.


That sure seems to be a stupid move on their part. I liked it the way it was before the fire. Pull your heads out of your butts A&E!


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

The premiums do this kind of thing too.. I wanted to watch GalaxyQuest in HD on MAXHD last month... First time I sat down to watch, they were broadcasting the 4:3 version on MAXHD.

About a week later, on another airing, it was widescreen.

Every once in a while the premiums forget or don't show OAR for some reason. I haven't seen anything stretched... but I have seen 4:3 or zoomed to fill 16x9 (from a 2.35:1 movie) sometimes.


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## SMosher (Jan 16, 2006)

HDMe said:


> The premiums do this kind of thing too.. I wanted to watch GalaxyQuest in HD on MAXHD last month... First time I sat down to watch, they were broadcasting the 4:3 version on MAXHD.
> 
> About a week later, on another airing, it was widescreen.
> 
> Every once in a while the premiums forget or don't show OAR for some reason. I haven't seen anything stretched... but I have seen 4:3 or zoomed to fill 16x9 (from a 2.35:1 movie) sometimes.


Thats also lame. They're unwatchable at that point. I call it "The TNT-HD look" and it looks like crap.


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## SMosher (Jan 16, 2006)

Is this a dead subject now? These channels still look like crap in STRETCH-O-VISION mode. Yes, we know history wasnt in HD. Yes, we know the shows were not produced in HD. But neither was half the programs on 9490 SCIEN which they seem to have made it work. Now, remember the day these channels were turned up? The programs looked great without STRETCH-O-VISION garbage. Then the fire came. We got SD uplinked and upconverted. Is it still this way or are we back to normal HD feeds?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Maybe enough people complained about their zoomed 4:3 that left those black sidebar slivers on the sides... so they just decided to stretch everything. Some folks seem to prefer wide/stretched images to regular aspect ratio. I don't understand that, but it happens.


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## blarg (Apr 15, 2007)

I've been extremely disappointed with History Channel's stretch-o-vision. It was good for a few days after it went live (although there was a problem with audio sync) but now it's just unwatchable.


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## SMosher (Jan 16, 2006)

blarg said:


> I've been extremely disappointed with History Channel's stretch-o-vision. It was good for a few days after it went live (although there was a problem with audio sync) but now it's just unwatchable.


Yes it is unwatchable. Whats the point!? Also A&E is the same way ... Was nice when it was started for DN then after the fire went right to hell. I dont see it as a E* issue but higher up the uplink. all the same, it looks like ____. Buddy of mine has D* and said the same thing.


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## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

You can always check the date in the EPG info. If it's 2006 or earlier, don't watch the program or watch it on the SD channel. And don't watch any history program likely to use film or video clips from the actual event. Almost all history happened in SD.


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## SMosher (Jan 16, 2006)

BillJ said:


> You can always check the date in the EPG info. If it's 2006 or earlier, don't watch the program or watch it on the SD channel. And don't watch any history program likely to use film or video clips from the actual event. Almost all history happened in SD.


You have missed the point. Again I must say it again. HISTORY-HD channel had their content converted just like what SCI-HD is doing today for their SD programs.

Now again, when the channel was first turned up it was in the same fashion as SCI-HD is today. Then we had a huge fire at the uplink location. Now its stretch-o-vision. You following me here?

To check the EPG for post 2006 content is a mute point. Again, read the first portion of the issue then coment.


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## Lincoln6Echo (Jul 11, 2007)

Hasn't these stretch-o-vision problems been fixed? Seems like when I watched History-HD the other day, the programming was true 16:9 stuff.


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## Stutz342 (Sep 29, 2004)

Wind_River said:


> Some of the HistoryHD and A&EHD ARE HD and 16:9.....the problem is that anything that has an original aspect ratio of 4:3 is distorted.


Even shows that are true and correct HD 16:9 on their first airing are stretched and letterboxed on repeats! If I set a timer and the first airing is a conflict, the timer records a rerun that's a downright broken airing! ARG!


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## SMosher (Jan 16, 2006)

Lincoln6Echo said:


> Hasn't these stretch-o-vision problems been fixed? Seems like when I watched History-HD the other day, the programming was true 16:9 stuff.


Watch SCIENCE HD, you'll see what I'm talking about.


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