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October 29, 2006
Tosca
I am up at this ungodly hour (7:40am Sunday!!!) for a noble purpose: to watch a production of Puccini's Tosca on Discovery HD.
I have to admit that the biggest disappointment associated with our new, slick, high resolution and big LCD HDTV has been the HDTV part. Its not that HDTV programs don't look good on our TV. They look stunning. For instance, I don't know why in the hell anyone will actually go to an NFL or NHL game ever again (but, you know, they will).
The trouble is that there is comparatively little HD programming out there. The HD channels are colloquially known as the "200s" in my house since they range from 200 to 299 (and no, there are not 100 of them-there are plenty of gaps in between). And regular programming actually looks pretty bad on our TV. The trouble is that the screen is so sharp that small flaws that might be less apparent on a conventional TV are served up like a giant wart on this one.
This makes the discovery of any new HD channel quite a thrill. And my newest find is Discovery HD. I was an idiot and watched last week's Discovery Atlas series (Italy, Brazil, Australia, and China) on plain old Discovery. Having just discovered Discovery HD last night I will tonight re-watch the Australia segment (narrated by everyone's favorite jackass Russell Crowe (why do I keep seeing his movies???)).
This version of Tosca is stunning, both for picture and sound (I should add that we got a whole Bose-based sound system for this TV). I plan to order the DVD ASAP. I have caught similarly stunning art or music oriented HD shows on the public TV HD stations. Could this be a new dawn for culture on TV??? (Before you answer too enthusiastically, I should point out that Survivor and Fear Factor are also available in "the 200s".)
By the by, this is post number 200 to the new Aging Disgracefully.
Posted by dag at October 29, 2006 7:38 AM