How best to watch HD content? (OT)

[Steve Anderson]

On 17 January 2011 10:50, Arthur Dent <misc.lists at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> Where possible I use get_iplayer to download in HD format and then often
> watch it on my PC. I have, however, an HD TV with a HDMI socket. To watch
> digital content I have a Xenta HDMI Upscaling Mini Media Player Divx
> Upscaling HDMI USB/SD (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225049) which can
> play .avi files and the like from a USB stick. Unfortunately it does not
> seem to cope with the MP4 files produced by the get_iplayer download of HD
> content.

No, they don't have the horsepower to cope with h.264 encoded files,
which is what you get from iPlayer. DivX/XVID playback it can cope
with, because the chips for decoding them are dead cheap these days.

You may also find that your player can't actually play HD resolutions,
and can merely upscale an SD file. I've found that before (and it was
incredibly annoying) - the presence of an HDMI port seems to count for
little.

> If I want to watch stuff on my TV rather than my PC I can of course use
> ffmpeg to transcode it and burn it on to DVD – but then it won’t be HD
> anymore (will it?).

Nope. The Beeb's HD is 720p (1280x720 off the top of my head) - the
best you'll get on a DVD is 720x576. Roughly 80% of the vertical
resolution mind, and that tends to be the more important resolution as
far as picture quality goes (can't remember why - it was once
explained to me). That said, due to the quality of the source
material, the DVDs created look really good.

> My question:
> How do the good folks here watch HD content to best effect? Is there
> something simple I can do, or do I need to invest (my limited funds) in
> new technology?

I've got a broken laptop (no screen, no battery, but the guts work)
hooked up to the VGA port on my TV. Works a treat and it was made from
scrap. Got XBMC Live running on it - absolutely perfect for the job.

-- 
Irregular Shed - http://www.twindx.co.uk