Silent Sunday Nights on TCM

Michael F. Blake · Post by **Michael F. Blake** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:30 pm

Okay....what happned?

I haven't gotten my TCM January sked in the mail (thanks US Postal Servce!), so.......

has TCM discointinued Silent Sunday Nights? I know they o it during the month of Oscar, but that's next month.

Say it ain't so Joe!

spadeneal · Post by **spadeneal** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:48 pm

Micheal,

They are showing "I Was Born, But..." right now, so yes, Silents are still on this month. And you should look at the website as they are showing a ton of comedy shorts this month, and some of those are silent.

spadeneal

Michael O'Regan · Post by **Michael O'Regan** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 3:41 am

Grrrrrrrrrrrr....why can't we have a decent TCM schedule here in the UK?

azjazzman · Post by **azjazzman** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:54 am

Michael O'Regan wrote:Grrrrrrrrrrrr....why can't we have a decent TCM schedule here in the UK?

Hmmm. The same guy who says he refuses to watch digital projection is bemoaning the lack of programming on a satellite network that transmits a severely compressed digital signal?

Michael O'Regan · Post by **Michael O'Regan** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:09 am

azjazzman wrote:
Michael O'Regan wrote:Grrrrrrrrrrrr....why can't we have a decent TCM schedule here in the UK?

Hmmm. The same guy who says he refuses to watch digital projection is bemoaning the lack of programming on a satellite network that transmits a severely compressed digital signal?

Hmmmmmm.....what does paying to go to a "cinema" to watch digital projection have to do with watching movies on TV that I won't ever get to see anywhere else???

azjazzman · Post by **azjazzman** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:16 am

Michael O'Regan wrote:
azjazzman wrote:
Michael O'Regan wrote:Grrrrrrrrrrrr....why can't we have a decent TCM schedule here in the UK?

Hmmm. The same guy who says he refuses to watch digital projection is bemoaning the lack of programming on a satellite network that transmits a severely compressed digital signal?
Hmmmmmm.....what does going to a "cinema" to watch digital projection have to do with watching movies on TV that I won't ever get to see anywhere else???

Just an interesting dichotomy, that's all. So you saying you would watch digital projection if they were showing something rare?

Michael O'Regan · Post by **Michael O'Regan** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:22 am

As I said in the other thread, I guess if there were absolutely no other way then I would watch a film digitally projected. But, this would have to mean that it was not going to be available on DVD - otherwise I'd chose to watch it in the privacy of my own home.

Now, back to the TCM thing - why would I not want the brilliant schedule that you guys in the US have on TCM? I love silent and classic era cinema and would love to have the availability of this material in my own home.
What's hard to understand about that, whether I like digital projection or not??

azjazzman · Post by **azjazzman** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:42 am

Michael O'Regan wrote:As I said in the other thread, I guess if there were absolutely no other way then I would watch a film digitally projected. But, this would have to mean that it was not going to be available on DVD - otherwise I'd chose to watch it in the privacy of my own home.

Now, back to the TCM thing - why would I not want the brilliant schedule that you guys in the US have on TCM? I love silent and classic era cinema and would love to have the availability of this material in my own home.
What's hard to understand about that, whether I like digital projection or not??

It's not hard to understand at all. I love TCM. But, for someone who says they don't like the look of digital projection, one would figure that TCM would be problematic, since it is way way down at the bottom of the quality scale when it comes to a digital signal.

Michael O'Regan · Post by **Michael O'Regan** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:48 am

Well, just call me an oddball then.

I don't like digital projection but I grew up on TV so I'm happy to watch movies on it.

Weird, huh??!!

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:13 am

t's not hard to understand at all. I love TCM. But, for someone who says they don't like the look of digital projection, one would figure that TCM would be problematic, since it is way way down at the bottom of the quality scale when it comes to a digital signal.

Not on AT&T Uverse it isn't. TCM HD doesn't indicate whether it's HD or not in the program guide, but often as not it is and I just watched gorgeous HD versions of Kind Hearts and Coronets and Heavens Above! and have many other things in HD (Them!, The Wrong Box, etc.) on the recorder right now.

azjazzman · Post by **azjazzman** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:51 am

Mike Gebert wrote:
t's not hard to understand at all. I love TCM. But, for someone who says they don't like the look of digital projection, one would figure that TCM would be problematic, since it is way way down at the bottom of the quality scale when it comes to a digital signal.
Not on AT&T Uverse it isn't. TCM HD doesn't indicate whether it's HD or not in the program guide, but often as not it is and I just watched gorgeous HD versions of Kind Hearts and Coronets and Heavens Above! and have many other things in HD (Them!, The Wrong Box, etc.) on the recorder right now.

Of course I was referring to SD TCM. I don't get TCM HD yet, but my understanding is that a lot of their programming is upconverted.

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 9:06 am

It seems to vary, but some things are quite obviously 1080 of one flavor or another, given the detail you can read on tiny signs in the background and so on (I noticed this immediately with Heavens Above! with its opening montage of shop windows and the like).

azjazzman · Post by **azjazzman** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 9:24 am

Mike Gebert wrote:It seems to vary, but some things are quite obviously 1080 of one flavor or another, given the detail you can read on tiny signs in the background and so on (I noticed this immediately with Heavens Above! with its opening montage of shop windows and the like).

The HD feed will look superior just based on the fact that the transmission bit rate is much higher.

I can even tell watching in SD when TCM runs a HD video master. Normally, SD TCM looks pretty crappy on a Hi Def set, and even on a SD feed, a film will look significantly better when the source is HD.

I am not a video technician, but it is clear to me that a SD feed upconverts better when you have more pixels in the original source material. I know that sounds counter-intuitive...HD source, downconverted to SD and then upconverted again, but it really does look better than just a plain SD source being upconverted.

But, even though Warners has been feverishly creating new HD masters (mainly tied to DVD/Blu Ray releases), the vast majority of their library has yet to be upgraded. It will be many years before all, or even most of the Turner library is remastered in HD.