John C. Dvorak has a point with his essay It’s the TV Killing the Computer, Not Vice Versa. TV’s are the big ticket items at places like Costco but PC’s can be had for about the same price – and many of us spend more time with the PC than the TV. Then there is point about what you look at on the screen.
TV is designed for small screens. Through trial and error over the decades, the camera angles, shot selections, framing, and everything else about a TV show have evolved to maximize the impact on a 21-inch view space. This is not a lot of real estate. And blowing it up to a 42-to-60-inch image in a 16-by-9 widescreen format often ruins the impact.
There is change in the wind, though. The producers are beginning to find out what you can do with widescreen aspect ratios and HD. The audio part should also not be ignored as the trend is towards surround sound with significant detail there as well. The CSI shows are good examples of the experiments with high definition digital presentations.
In other words, it is not just the technology but how it is used.
Post a Comment