Turner Classic Movies

[Highway 61]

Almost all of them are a little too photoshopy given the age of the films, but that Big Heat poster is so good it overcomes its weakness. Magnificent Seven is excellent too.

[gandskid]

I was checking the channel updates on my latest TWC statement and it looks TCM is starting HD in Manhattan on or around August 18th. I'm really happy!!

[SuperBlu]

I finally got TCM HD channel last night on my cable, and watched a few films. Osbourne looks great in HD, as do all the promos, intros, and segments that TCM makes itself. But, as I suspected, the films themselves are not from HD sources. It's like watching non-HD extras on a blu-ray disc: they seem to look "cleaner" than on a DVD, but they don't look HD.

I also got IFC HD, but it often show widescreen movies without adequate pillarboxing, resulting in the picture out of shape. Hope TCM HD would do better than that.

[Westwood]

Forgive me if it has been covered in another thread but, how come TCM (at least the French one, the only one I have) plays Universal and Paramount movies as well now?

[flyonthewall2983]

They play movies from nearly every major studio now. That's how it's been since I've had it anyway, not sure how it was when it started.

[Perkins Cobb]

TCM will license a film from Paramount or Universal occasionally when it fits in with some theme they're doing, but they don't have a deal in place to raid the bulk of the catalog like they do with Sony/Columbia (or like AMC had with Universal in the early 90s).

One problem is that when TCM sources a master from the outside of the Warner/Turner library, there's much less of a guarantee that they'll get a video master in the right aspect ratio. That was true of some of the rarest Columbia films they got, unfortunately. Which may be why they don't do this more often.

TCM does seem to be showing a lot more British stuff from Studio Canal lately. Anybody notice that?

[HarryLong]

TCM does seem to be showing a lot more British stuff from Studio Canal lately. Anybody notice that?

Yes, and I'm very grateful.
(Maybe they'll even cough up THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT* & I can upgrade from my smeary VHS to DVDR...)

*The Emlyn Williams, not the Bogart ...

[Westwood]

Well I'm not sure but about 3-4 months ago TCM France did their usual "Intégrale" on, I think it was Cary Grant, or someone else, and most of the movies were from Paramount. I found it unusual to do that, I would assume if the majority of an actor's movies are not from the studio they own the rights to, they just won't do a retrospective on them.
They certainly still have loads of actors from the WB/MGM umbrella to do retrospectives on that haven't been give such a treatment.

[domino harvey]

I just checked the schedule and sure enough, TCM is airing Frank Tashlin's masterful Susan Slept Here for the holidays: 5PM on December 25. I wasn't able to find a copy through the usual channels in the meantime but this film is seriously one of the most laugh-out-loud funny films I've ever seen-- I woke up the whole house last Christmas when it aired early in the morning. Set your DVRs!

[Matt]

Oddly, it's turned into one of TCM's regular Christmas runs. Glenda Farrell is a scream in this movie.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Guest Programmer Neko Case!

[kaujot]

Susan Slept Here is also airing on the 11th.

[dx23]

Just noticed that Dish Network added TMC HD to their lineup. Still, it seems that they don't have the HD transfers of several films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

[unclehulot]

Just noticed that Dish Network added TMC HD to their lineup. Still, it seems that they don't have the HD transfers of several films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I think most, if not all, of what they broadcast are up-conversions, but it's certainly a relief to have a better compression quality on Dish compared to their smeary SD feed. It's pretty much a beta-HD in my opinion, so don't expect many HD masters anytime soon. That said, what a relief it is to see SOME HD channel that doesn't screw up the aspect ratio of half of the films they show!

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

TCM HD is still entirely upconverts.

[HistoryProf]

Just noticed TCM is now HD for Dish!! Had set the dvr for Von Sternberg's Blue Angel and couldn't figure out why it was saying it was an HD recording....VERY exciting since probably 50% of our tv watching is TCM.

TCM HD is still entirely upconverts.

but how is the quality compared to the SD feed? is it a noticeable improvement?

[Napier]

but how is the quality compared to the SD feed? is it a noticeable improvement?

Much better. It's 720 compared to 480. I'm still waiting for DirecTv to offer this. I've called many times, and they say it's the most requested channel for HD broadcast. Hopefully we get it soon.

[swo17]

So how does TCM-HD technically compare to an upscaled DVD? I want to go hog wild recording everything they broadcast, but my available reservoir of HD time on my DVR rarely went above 20 hours before the recent upgrade, so there's no way that's going to work. I'm looking into getting one of those DVR expanders, but in the meantime, I'm thinking there's no reason to take up DVR space with films I can just get from Netflix or my local library. Does anyone care to put me in my place?

[Napier]

So how does TCM-HD technically compare to an upscaled DVD?

Well, an upscaled DVD is 1080i, and I believe TCM HD is 720i. I don't know who your satellite or cable provider is, but DirecTV stores my DVR's, so it's not up to the memory of the receiver, and I have something like a 2000 hour recordable memory. I don't personally DVR anything I know is in the pipeline for an SD or BD release.

[andyli]

So how does TCM-HD technically compare to an upscaled DVD?

Well, an upscaled DVD is 1080i, and I believe TCM HD is 720i. I don't know who your satellite or cable provider is, but DirecTV stores my DVR's, so it's not up to the memory of the receiver, and I have something like a 2000 hour recordable memory. I don't personally DVR anything I know is in the pipeline for an SD or BD release.

There's no such thing as 720i.

[Napier]

Well, if it's not an interlaced signal, please enlighten me instead of posting glib statements. I'm trying to be helpful here.

[Matt]

HDTV cable channels are either 720p or 1080i (720i indeed does not exist). There are apparently some satellite channels in 1080p. TCM HD appears to be broadcasting in 1080i (as is the case with most movie channels).

[Roger Ryan]

Hello all - I've been a silent lurker at this site for a good three or four years and just decided to register.

Having TCM-HD on my cable system, I can confirm that the picture quality is indeed better than the SD version of the channel. However, the PQ fluctuates considerably depending on the film being shown. The recent broadcast of Kubrick's 2001 looked quite a bit worse than the recent DVD release, and nowhere near the quality of the Blu-ray; noticeable interlacing issues (especially with the floor of the bedroom in the final scene) and softness were the main problems. The film that followed it, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, looked muddy and washed out, inferior to even the initial DVD release nine years ago.

I suppose this could be related to using masters from other studios (although 2001 is now owned by Warner). Oddly, many older films, like last night's broadcast of THE MORE THE MERRIER, have a very commendable picture quality.

My biggest beef with TCM-HD is that anytime they broadcast a widescreen foreign-language film most, if not all, of the subtitles are cut off at the bottom of the frame. Essentially, I believe they are zooming into the standard signal's image in order for it to fill the 16:9 frame, ignoring the fact that the subtitles have been placed below the image! There has also been a trend on TCM-HD to reformat Academy ratio films as widescreen. STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. was presented in this fashion as was RASHOMON which resulted in, yep, the subtitles being obliterated completely.

[atcolomb]

I have the MGM HD and they did show Frankenheimer's The Train and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, World both i have seen many time and i was very impressed with the print they were showing. Much sharper then the dvd's that are out there, i hope both will get an upgrade to blu-ray soon.

[HistoryProf]

Just finished watching Gary Cooper in Man of the West - the first color widescreen film i've seen since they went HD - and must say I'm very impressed. It looked just as good as a good SD DVD presentation...quite crisp and the colors were pitch perfect. It's clear they are merely upconverting, but the difference is definitely noticeable. It's a happy development to be sure.