# Universal HD and HD Net Movies?!?!



## bosox (Feb 3, 2008)

What happened to these channels? Today they are red and the message states that they are subscription channels. Did I miss something?


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

bosox said:


> What happened to these channels? Today they are red and the message states that they are subscription channels. Did I miss something?


There seems to be a software glitch which has been going on over the past couple of weeks. A reboot usually brings the channels back.


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## booger (Nov 1, 2005)

Well I hope Universal HD is going away. Any movie channel that shows commercials are an absolute waste.

IMO


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## Presence (Mar 14, 2004)

Good thing it is not a movie channel then. :bonk1:


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## dclaryjr (Mar 11, 2007)

booger said:


> Well I hope Universal HD is going away.


I hope not--there will probably be a substantial amount of Olympics coverage on it this summer.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

dclaryjr said:


> I hope not--there will probably be a substantial amount of Olympics coverage on it this summer.


Not if it goes away 

But seriously... Once everyone gets on board and Universal has USA/SciFi/Bravo in HD as well as NBC and MSNBC, there will be almost no need for UniversalHD anymore.


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## projectorguru (Mar 5, 2007)

HDMe said:


> Not if it goes away
> 
> But seriously... Once everyone gets on board and Universal has USA/SciFi/Bravo in HD as well as NBC and MSNBC, there will be almost no need for UniversalHD anymore.


really, those other channels will mostly be stretcho vision anyway


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

booger said:


> Well I hope Universal HD is going away. Any movie channel that shows commercials are an absolute waste.
> 
> IMO


That's why you have a DVR. I record two shows that I have never seen before on Universal. I never even knew the shows existed until I tripped on them one evening. They are "Kidnapped", which I guess is ending soon since I think it was only shot for one season, and "Touching Evil". Very good shows and I never watch a commercial.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

It's different with movies. "Shows" on commercial TV are produced with the idea that there would be interruptions. Movies are meant to be seen straight-thru with no FF'ing necessary.

There is no need for a movie channel that shows commercials when there are so many that do not.


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## booger (Nov 1, 2005)

paulman182 said:


> It's different with movies. "Shows" on commercial TV are produced with the idea that there would be interruptions. Movies are meant to be seen straight-thru with no FF'ing necessary.
> 
> There is no need for a movie channel that shows commercials when there are so many that do not.


Amen brother.

I recorded the Jerk off of UniversalHD, only to watch it with friends and a damn commercial came on. Sure I can skip it but why even save it. To me it just loses it's value. Almost like a collectible that has unwanted scratches, dings or price tags on them. Commercials devalue movies IMO.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Richard King said:


> They are "Kidnapped", which I guess is ending soon since I think it was only shot for one season,


13 episodes ... pulled mid run off of NBC - I didn't find out that they finished up the original airing elsewhere until it was too late. So I bought the DVD to watch out how the story ends. Just in time for it to appear on UniHD. 



paulman182 said:


> There is no need for a movie channel that shows commercials when there are so many that do not.


Universal HD is a general entertainment channel that also airs movies, not a movie channel. Uninterrupted would be nice (and is always appreciated) but so goes life on a general channel. Once they get used to playing commercials in "TV shows" they can't resist interrupting movies. 

I hope that when USA/SciFi/Bravo HD are up Universal HD remains as a movie channel similar to MGMHD. But not UniHD has gone commercial it is hard to go back. The best I expect is "movies with commercials".


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

I for one dig Universal HD. Firefly, BSG episode 1 (hey, I was a late adopter). maybe they run BSG season 2 and 3 so I can get caught up.


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## booger (Nov 1, 2005)

James Long said:


> Universal HD is a general entertainment channel that also airs movies, not a movie channel.(


I stand corrected.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

projectorguru said:


> really, those other channels will mostly be stretcho vision anyway


That's a whole different topic. IF Universal/NBC has a program in HD and chooses to air it in HD on UniHD but stretch it on BravoHD, then that's a Universal/NBC stupidity problem rather than a need for another channel.

As JL noted, I had originally hoped that UniversalHD would eventually morph into an all-HD movie uncut/uninterrupted channel once they had the rest of the "family" to air all the other stuff... but since adopting showing commercials during movies, I expect it will be hard for them to go back to that. Pretty much everything on UniversalHD movie-wise has also been on MonstersHD or HDNet Movies or some other premium movie channel uncensored and without commercials... so no point in bothering for that.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

the real irritating thing for me on this channel are the "Now" and "Next" promos with the ball bearings. they are LOUD and harsh sounding. I don't mind the commercials so much but avoiding this ear-bleeding bit every time we go in and out of the commercial break is not easy even with the DVR unless you mute it while you FF.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

booger said:


> Amen brother.
> 
> I recorded the Jerk off of UniversalHD, only to watch it with friends and a damn commercial came on. Sure I can skip it but why even save it. To me it just loses it's value. Almost like a collectible that has unwanted scratches, dings or price tags on them. Commercials devalue movies IMO.


The Jerk was on Festival HD in December I think.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Keep Universal HD in mind for alternative scripted programming with ads even though it is old. During the past few months I watched the series Kidnapped which was new to me and the series Touching Evil, which I only saw a few episodes of. I just started Sunday with the pilot of Big Apple, which I did not see, and Philly, which I saw a few of. As I said on another thread, Philly resembles Canterbury's Law, but IMHO better. Only five episodes of Big Apple were aired by CBS in 2001, yet it got an Emmy nomination.

Personally, I think Universal HD and MGM HD could really gain audiences by dipping into there old tv drama and comedy series vaults dragging out good shows that were cancelled prematurely.


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

Mr.72 said:


> the real irritating thing for me on this channel are the "Now" and "Next" promos with the ball bearings. they are LOUD and harsh sounding. I don't mind the commercials so much but avoiding this ear-bleeding bit every time we go in and out of the commercial break is not easy even with the DVR unless you mute it while you FF.


You may be having audio issues with your TV or surround system. I don't have that problem at all.

.... and I like those bumps. They are stunning in HD... gives me a chill it does...


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Mr.72 said:


> the real irritating thing for me on this channel are the "Now" and "Next" promos with the ball bearings. they are LOUD and harsh sounding. I don't mind the commercials so much but avoiding this ear-bleeding bit every time we go in and out of the commercial break is not easy even with the DVR unless you mute it while you FF.


On my system they are loud, but either bartendress is right about your system having something wrong or I'm not as sensitive to the harshness. I thought they were kind of cool.:grin:

Edit: then again, I should say that our "kids" in their mid-40's say my wife and I are deaf because of how loud we run the surround sound.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

trust me there's nothing wrong with the system. they are just masquerading too much high end for detail, which is a common mistake people make. so often people think that if it's got a lot of top end, it's detailed or hi-fi.

just FYI I ran a record label and recording studio for a number of years, mixed and mastered two albums and a whole bunch of smaller recording projects on this very system that has my TV hooked to it, and I continue to use this system as the final mixdown checkout for recordings I make in my home studio (which is just all of the pro studio gear moved into my house). i can assure you this system sounds absolutely right on the money, and if anything the Fried Beta II speakers have less top end than most normal speakers given that they have a paper cone tweeter and really not a whole lot above about 15 or 16 kHz.

IME, most adults have high frequency hearing loss unless they have taken consistent steps to prevent it.

anyway it's hard to figure what's more annoying on Universal HD ... those harsh sounding loud promos or the 10-minute Bose infomercials.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

The 10 minute Bose infomercials have to be worse. :lol: I'll take my JBL 4430's (from my studio days) over Bose anyday.  By the way, the portions in question are a bit loud, but I wouldn't call them annoying. I have heard a bunch more annoying network promos than these.


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## dclaryjr (Mar 11, 2007)

Richard King said:


> The 10 minute Bose infomercials have to be worse. :lol: I'll take my JBL 4430's (from my studio days) over Bose anyday.  .


Dang...that takes me back over 35 years. As a young airman with some cash buring a hole in my pocket in Berlin, I went shopping for stereo equipment. My final choice for speakers came down to the original Bose 901s and some JBL 100s.
I went with the Bose after being able to arrange a side-by-side demo in my room. It was a perfect setup for their reflecting sound. I was never able to set them up to sound as good once I returned to the U.S. I finally took 'em to the dump during a garage cleanout a couple of years ago 

I'm less than enamored with my present Bose product as indicated in my .sig


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