To think that women cannot 'see' HD?

[UtterFool]

I was having dinner with friends and there was some banter about my mate's new HD TV.

When his wife is watching it he always walks in and makes a huge fuss about why she's not watching said programme in HD. Apparently she cannot tell the difference so I turned to my wife and asked if she could on ours, "I cannot tell the difference either" she says

I remember having the same conversation with another mate at work so am wondering if my huge sample size (of three) is representative of the entire female population?

Or perhaps some women just don't give two hoots about stuff that men get so hyped up about?

I think the speaker thing is do do with the depth ( or lack thereof) in flat screen tvs. CRT tvs usually had better inbuilt speakers than flatscreen tvs do.

I find it very hard to use my computer screen at work, it's a horrible, tiny 4:3 thing and totally crap. I've been used to working at home on a 27" iMac so the screen on the PC I've got at work is very much inferior. Everything looks horrific on it and there's no space to put documents side by side etc.

The people who care about and pay for HD and big TVs are invested in saying how fabulous it is. They would look like right numpties if they spent all that extra money, only to admit there wasn't a difference. So they stick to the line that it is marvellous and worth every penny. When chatting with friends, they all agree with one another about said fabulousness because nobody wants to be the one who admits they can't see a difference.

It is all a bit like the Emperor's New Clothes.

Generalising wildly, but women are less invested in saying they can see a difference when they can't. They are less worried about looking like numpties.

Or some of us just like technology despite having vaginas? The generalisations are getting a little silly...

I think you're both right. Loudspeakers need to shift large amounts of air and TVs are so wafer thin nowadays that the speakers end up being hopeless.

I don't pay for it, neither did I buy the tv. There are lots of things in life that aren't essential. Internet, mobile phones, DVDs, pay tv, leather sofas, carpets!

I can see the difference and I'm female.

So there.

Ner.

On our modest 32 inch job, no. On BILs huge not at all ostentatious set, definitely.

Or some of us just like technology despite having vaginas?

Perhaps HD is generally (but not always) only able to be appreciated when watched through the eye of a one eyed trouser snake.

Even a 40 quid basic surround sound system from asda is better than inbuilt speakers. It's like they care more about picture than sound the thinner tellys get.

It's a huge difference, it's so, so obvious.

I play video games and watch sport and it's particularly obvious then because you're following small, fast moving objects for sport and generally you pay more attention to your surroundings in games than when watching TV.

Some of you are going to be even more perplexed when 4K comes in, which looks absurdly sharp.

Even the jump from standard 1080p on my PC to 1440p was a big jump in clarity, it's doubling the pixels available.

I hate HD. It looks too 'real'. So it makes programmes like Eastenders and that look fake - which they are but y'know what I mean

CRTs look sharper than standard def on a HD TV because the HD TV emphasises all of the pixelisation which was standard for video intended for CRT display and never bothered to be optimised because it literally didn't make a difference. I used to work creating graphics for TV/DVD and there was a huge difference between the display on a computer monitor (which is effectively HD because it shows every pixel, it just might not be as high resolution as a HD monitor) and the display on not just old style CRT TVs but also on flat screen, standard def TVs. But it means you get used to accounting for the fuzziness and making graphics that look good on this kind of display, you can take shortcuts in e.g. cutting things out because it doesn't matter if the edge is pixelly, it will get smoothed out by the screen. CRTs also cut off a significant amount of edge.

Wtf to sitting no more than 8ft away from a 50" tv! If that's what you have to do to 'see' HD then no wonder most people can't tell the difference.

I am female and can see the difference on our 32" TV IF I am close to it. Far closer than I normally sit.

there is more of an obvious difference on larger screens - but our living room is not big enough for one of those.

HD is really a pain here, as we live outside London so the local programmes aren't available in HD. So you have to keep switching channels but the sodding recorder box is coded to keep asking you if you want to switch back. Also HD recordings take up double the space.

ps I think it matters for kickabouts and video games, neither of which are of interest here.

I like HD, but like a couple of other posters have mentioned I found it makes programmes look fake, even the slick realistic American ones, I'd be sitting there saying "that really looks like a set". I've got used to it now though, much to the relief of DH!

I don't understand the posters who say HD looks more real so looks more fake.

Dh calls me the HD monster. This may have something to do with me looming up out of nowhere, snatching the remote to switch from SD to HD and hissing "if we have to pay for it we have to watch it".

I then further antagonise dh because having waltzed in and assessed the screen, then changed the channel I then usually sit in the corner to read the book and ignore the tv.

I have no idea if I can tell the difference, I've never checked. Don't think dh knows either. I don't really care either - only thing that bugs me is if it's so dark I can't see whats going on but other than that I'm really not bothered.
I grew up with a television you needed a reinforced floor for and a Betamax video player - I'm very happy with my £120 flat 32"

I can tell but don't care.

The thing that does, however, cause me to hyperventilate, is people watching tv or films in the wrong aspect ratio. Yes, DH I am looking at you. If it was made in 4:3 please don't watch it in 16:9 so that it 'fills up the screen'. Everything is badly distorted and I can't deal with it.

I can definitely tell the difference, but I don't care enough to change channel purposely to watch something in HD.

glaikit our STV on sky
has finally went HD!

I can see the difference. I just don't care much if it's a bit clearer. Lots of people don't, not just women.

I gues the reason I don't care is because we have a 32" TV and I sit about 12' away from it. I don't like sitting too close to TVs - the idea of sitting 8' away from a 50" screen (or whatever the e.g. given upthread was) gives me a headache just thinking about it. Of course if you're going to sit that close to it, you're going to be able to see a difference between the HD and SD - as you move further away, your brain normalises the SD and you can see fine, IMO. I seem to remember reading somewhere that your brain fills in the gaps of low definition pictures when viewed at a bit of a distance...