Whether it’s called Video on Demand, IPTV, streaming video, or whatever, once you’ve seen it you know it’s eventually going to take over television. At our house we take Netflix Watch Instantly for granted, on Eric’s Xbox 360 that’s hooked up to the video projector via component video, and on the Roku HD player that’s in regular composite SD video on my beloved Sony 32XBR100.
Last summer I wrote about a Doctor Who episode called “Love and Monsters” (the YouTube video I’d embedded was pulled). Another memorable installment, one of the most enjoyable hours of TV I have ever watched, is called “Blink”.
Recently, the whole family watched “Blink” on the Xbox 360. It wasn’t in HD, but it wasn’t supposed to be. The quality of the highly compressed widescreen picture was, to borrow a line from The Doctor, a bit “wibbly wobbly,” but it was serviceable.
Funny thing, though, because last night, on a lark I put the Roku player on the projector with an HDMI cable. “Blink” was in HD! There was no doubt about it.
This left me wondering if there’s a setting that needs changing on the Xbox 360’s Netflix software, or if Netflix upgraded the Doctor Who files without adding an HD logo. I’ll see tonight, when I have Eric play a bit of “Blink” on the Xbox again.
This video clip has a few minutes of “Blink” in HD on the Roku player and taken with the Canon digital camera sitting on top of the projector. I add to the suspense of the scene by sticking my fingers into the left of the picture at 1:45, so you can get an idea of the image size.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/OCT/WhoBlink.flv 512 384]
It’s a tripod screen that can be taken down in a minute or two, and the projector is only ten pounds. Basically the same setup that was used for decades to show slides and 8mm home movies.
Good God, that’s huge! Molly was impressed, but Tom says it will not be under the tree this Christmas. 🙁