HD Video – Bad For Consumers, Bad For Hollywood

Coy Doctorow hat in der Informationweek eine Kolumne zum Thema HDTV geschrieben: Opinion: High-Definition Video–Bad For Consumers, Bad For Hollywood

But unless these screens are built with crippleware HDMI or DVI interfaces, they won’t be able to receive high-def signals. DRM standards call these legacy screens, and treat them as second-class citizens. All this may be enough to scuttle HD’s future. Let’s hope so, for Hollywood’s sake.

Because, you see, HD is also poison for the entertainment industry’s own products. The higher the resolution, the harder it is to make the picture look good. Standard-def programs on high-def screens look like over-compressed YouTube videos, and when you get a high-def program shot by traditional directors, it looks even worse, every flaw thrown into gaudy relief. Have a look at the HD-native episodes of Friends some day — it’s all gaping pores, running pancake makeup, caked-on hairspray, and freakishly thin bodies with giant, tottering heads.