Whilst the weekly BBC HD offering is something of a mixed bag, the Easter weekend gives us a few treats in high definition to lift the spirits regardless of the weather.
First off is Saturday’s premier of the Pixar classic (and that ain’t too strong a description in my book); Toy Story 2. Fabulous. Starts at 5.40pm and a real treat no matter how many times you’ve seen it before.
Later that evening for those who like a documentary with a spiritual touch, there’s Shroud of Turin: Material Evidence (8.30pm). It’s twenty years since carbon dating proved the Shroud do be fake, and this documentary updates that discovery; who was the forger, why does the image still compel and, perhaps most interestingly, what is the new evidence that has cast doubt on the carbon dating? Interesting stuff.
On Sunday at 1pm the finals of the World Figure Skating Championships are on BBC HD. Hmmm.
In the evening, the two hour adaptation of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency finally arrives. Adapted by Anthony Minghella and Richard Curtis, this is a taster for an ongoing series adapting the somewhat pedestrian bestsellers. A costume drama of a different, brighter flavour I’m not sure how it will play to Sunday audiences but the African setting should be stunning in HD.
On Monday at 10pm BBC HD has The Curse of Steptoe and Son, repeating from BBC4 last week. It’s an hour of what the Beeb does best, and should look great in HD. Did anyone catch the excellent Stan last year? This is along similar lines; the sadness 'n' tears behind the laughter of some of our best-loved comedians. Should be one to savour, with further one-hour dramas on Hancock and Howerd in the coming weeks too.
Finally, as we head into spring there's more high definition sport promised: one of the FA Cup Semi Finals and the Final will be shown in HD, as will the US Masters Golf. Finally, Heroes season two is also due before April is out, presumably filling the slot that Torchwood will leave behind when it finishes early in the month.
3 comments:
can't wait for the US Masters in HD - i know they broadcast this in HD last year but I didn't have a way of viewing it then.
On another note, I contacted VM regarding the lack of new HD content on the V+ service and the guy told me that at present with the ongoing wrangling with Sky over content in general, we won't be seeing that much new HD content as VM's plans for the future will depend on how much they have to pay to get Sky One etc. - and whether they pay for it at all?
So basically for the foreseeable future I wouldn't expect to see much new HD on demand stuff from VM.
Annoying but at least its better knowing what the situation is
Great!
Can't wait for Toy Story 2 at the weekend. As I have no PS3 at present, the Virgin box is the only way to watch HD movies on my projector, so I'm looking forward to this a lot!
BTW - does anyone know how much disk space an HD recording uses on the v+ box per hour?
(i.e: how many hours of HD can I record)
It's three to four times the SD duration. As the V+ system rounds it off to the nearest hour, I can't give you anything more accurate than that. I noticed that an hour of HD programming plus 12 minutes padding seems to equate to 4 hours of SD, which means the 160gb disc will accommodate around 20 hours of HD.
Post a Comment