Skip to Content

Massively looks at the best free to play games
AOL Tech

clarity posts

Serene scenes on HDTV no substitute for nature

by Darren Murph posted Jun 17th 2008 at 10:20AM


Ruh roh. Seems you can't use the "it's good for my health" excuse to watch just one more hour of Sunrise Earth, as a recent study has shown that watching serene scenes on HDTV just doesn't have the same calming effect as does watching a similar scene in nature. The University of Washington-based study discovered that heart recovery rates in people exposed to minor stress were the same when viewing peaceful imagery on a plasma or starting directly at a blank wall. Yeah, a blank wall. It was also noted that heart rates dropped more quickly when these same folks viewed a calming scene through a window, suggesting that technology may not be ready to replace reality just yet in this particular case. We just have to wonder if they were using true HD signals on the display -- nothing gets our heart racing like a bad episode of Pool Watchers in SD.

[Thanks, Ben]

Hawaii volcano film to be released on Blu-ray... and HD DVD?

by Darren Murph posted Apr 30th 2008 at 1:06AM


There's simply no question that the beauty of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (above) can only truly be appreciated after a winding drive down from Kailua Kona (or Hilo, for those who love the rain), but for folks without weeks on end to spare waiting to see lava flow from some of those majestic creations, a forthcoming film should give you the next best look. Volcanographer Mick Kalber has assembled an hour-long movie entitled Kilauea's Flow to Waikupanaha, and while we'd generally brush something like this off, a recent writeup about it most definitely caught our eye. We thought we had already seen HD DVD's last hurrah back in March, but if KHNL-8 is to be believed, the forthcoming flick will be available on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Granted, there's no release date mentioned, but given that red has been decomposing for months now, we're tempted to believe someone was simply misinformed.

HD clarity paves the way for new channels

by Darren Murph posted Nov 29th 2007 at 1:17PM


No real surprises here, but a recent writeup over at USA Today proclaims that the sheer clarity provided by HDTV could pave the way for a whole new pool of channels. We've already found that sports fans in general typically enjoy watching a game in HD regardless of what teams are competing, and the same seems to prove true when looking at nature. The report pinpoints Discovery's Sunrise Earth and The Smithsonian Channel (among many others) as programs that simply wouldn't have the same allure if not shot in HD. Additionally, Comcast's Derek Harrar even suggested that "pretty-picture content" could prove to be just as desirable as movies and sports. Personally, we've all watched quite a few programs for no other reason than to bask in the glory of how stunning HD can look, but only time will tell if there's a real market for picturesque programming.

[Via The HDTV Blog]




    AOL News

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:

    Joystiq
    Download Squad
    The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
    BloggingStocks
    Joystiq Xbox
    Autoblog
    Big Download
    Fanhouse NFL Blog