Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with TV and resolved

Recommend a graphics card for my new TV

muckster — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:59:50 -0800

Do I need a new video card to hook my PC up to my new HDTV? I have a Dell PC with a ATI Radeon HD 2400 graphics card. It has two connections, one DVI and one S-Video.

I used to convert the DVI to RGB and connect that to my Dell monitor at the max resolution of 1680 x 1050. The S-Video was connected to my tube TV, which worked just fine.

The new TV is a Toshiba 40" 1080p, so of course I'd like to feed it something better than S-Video. I tried connecting the RGB, which gives me a max resolution of 1360x768 -- but it leaves me with S-Video for the monitor, which is pretty freakin' ugly.

Here's the question: is there a way I can use a splitter or similar to feed the DVI (or RGB) into both the monitor and the TV at a resolution both will be happy with? Or do I have to get a new HDMI-ready graphics card? If I do, can you recommend one that might last me little while without breaking the bank? Under $100 would be great. I play the occasional game of TF2 but media is going to be the main use. Blu-Ray might be nice one day. I don't need to expand to a second monitor and would be just as happy cloning the same image on both screens. Thanks much.

Help me get my Sky TV working again.

Nufkin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:16:27 -0800

My Sky+ box only receives some channels, others now display a error 25 'No satellite signal is being received'. Sky want to send an engineer at a cost of £65. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Some channels (like Sky 1) show perfectly; others, such as channel 4 are intermittent; some I can't get at all (all flavours of BBC).

What can I do to try and fix this?

Can't watch a specific channel on my computer!

mhz — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:17:06 -0800

Why can't my USB TV tuner find channel 11? I have a Hauppauge USB TV tuber (950Q, I think), and I can't get WPIX in New York. I have no idea if it's ever worked, as I've never tried it before. I've scanned repeatedly, but still nothing. This is using EyeTV, on the Mac, and I'm in Brooklyn. All other over-the-air networks work perfectly.

A couple of notes:

It's not an antenna issue; the same antenna finds 11 just fine when connected to the cheap DTV converter I have.

I tried adding it manually with the frequencies I found online, and nothing.

I've tried using a file I downloaded from TitanTV with the frequency, and nothing.

My brother just called me, and he's using Windows (Vista or 7, I'm not sure) with Media Center, and an ATI USB TV Wonder, and he's having the same problem. Neither of us ever noticed this before, because the Giants weren't on WPIX before.

Any suggestions? Again, this issue does not appear to be the antenna, and it's appearing with two different brands of USB tuners, on two different operating systems.

70s TV show with female, puppet hosts?

tristeza — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:03:47 -0800

Please help me ID this American TV show/special/variety hour from the '70s featuring life-sized female puppets/marionettes - or prove to me that I am indeed halluciremembering. I have been trying for YEARS to ID this show that I swear to god I remember, but am starting to think I may have imagined or dreamt. It's driving me nuts.

It was sometime in the '70s in the US, probably between '74-'76, and I don't know if it was series, or a special, or a variety show. Could have been only a one time airing.

All I remember is that there were 2 "hosts" who were female, life-sized (or close to life-sized) marionettes or puppets. They looked Muppet or doll-like, not realistic.

They wore groovy, spangly '70s variety-show gear (bellbottoms, vests), had white-lady Afros, maybe granny sunglasses.....

I have a memory of a number where they performed "Boogie Shoes" by KC and the Sunshine Band.

After searching forEVER:

- it doesn't seem to be a Krofft or Muppet vehicle
- it's not on tvparty.com
- it didn't involve Waylon Flowers or Madame

Did my 5 year old brain imagine this?

Bigger without Blurrier

rahnefan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:52:27 -0800

How can I get a DVD movie to fill (at least one axis of) my screen without compromising the picture quality? Two years ago we were given a Samsung HDTV, something like 32 inches wide. In the settings, we generally have "Size" set to Just Scan. For normal TV or the HD channels, this works fine. For movies however, there's a problem.

Mrs. RahneFan and I are two different kinds of grumps. I won't watch anything visually intense if the picture quality is sabotaged by intentional distortion of the picture. A circle must be a true circle and the human body must have correct proportions. Details meant to impress me are things I don't want to miss. And nothing should be cropped. Conversely, detail, proportion, and seeing something as it was intended to be seen do not matter much to her, but she hates the so-called black bars probably more than your grandmother does.

Movies on cable channels only display undistorted if we change the resolution to 4:3 instead of Just Scan. So we flip back and forth for that, not a problem usually. But...

DVDs, when the TV is set to Just Scan, display in lovely, crisp detail, but do not fill our screen; the black borders she despises appear above, below, and on both sides. I see the movie, not the black, but like her, I would rather it filled our screen on at least one axis or the other. We have GOBS of space on all four sides, so why can't it be bigger?

The player is a Pioneer, don't even remember how old it is.

The only other options that appear available are 16:9 (unacceptable stretching), Zoom 1, and Zoom 2. Zoom 1 and Zoom 2 are both blurry and crop the movie on all four sides. For example, parts of DVD menus don't even appear onscreen at those settings.

Is there some way to maintain the clarity and detail of a DVD and have it large enough to fill our screen on at least one axis, without stretching or cropping the picture? Some way to make it automatically enlarge whatever is playing, regardless of aspect ratio, until it touches either the vertical or horizontal edge of the screen?

I am aware that movies can be shot in a wide variety of aspect ratios, and that DVDs can be edited with hard matting etc. Will it require knowing exactly what every movie's aspect ratio is and whether or not it has been matted and how, and relearning all this crap every time, and making some odd specific combination of settings to get it right? Shouldn't the technology be smart enough to do this on its own by now?

Rounding the Cape

micklaw — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:30:39 -0800

Is there a website where I can (legally or otherwise) watch the France v Ireland World Cup Qualifier Playoff? Should Ireland qualify, me and three mates are going to South Africa for a month to watch Ireland's three group matches and then a match from each stage including the final. Woot.

I'm in Australia and we don't get that match live except on pay channel which I can't access.

Can you help?

Examples of image zooming/enhancement cliché from movies/tv.

dunk — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:30:01 -0800

I'm looking for examples of the film and tv cliché where images from surveillance video or photos are magnified and enhanced (usually to a ridiculous degree). I know about Enemy of the State and this clip from CSI (I'm guessing one of many examples from that show) is what made me think of compiling a list. They don't necessarily have to be things that are impossible in the real world, I'm more interested in the dialogue than the image being enhanced. If I get enough good ones I may make a supercut.

Need cable tv in Toronto (Bell and Rogers need not apply).

jmmpangaea — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:27:06 -0800

Torontofilter: Can anyone recommend a good cable tv provider that is not Bell or Rogers? I've finally had it with Rogers and Bell. Their customer service is appalling. I did a metafilter search on internet providers and found a good company, now I need to find someone that can handle cable tv.
HD, is not necessary, but would be a bonus if they provide it.

Do you remember this series?

moorooka — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:23:14 -0800

What was the name of the British stop-motion/claymation series that was on Comedy Central about ten years ago, featuring vulgar, working-class type characters?

Someday we'll find it, the USB connection...

Doctor Suarez — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:21:59 -0800

Help me build a laptop puppet My friends/coworkers and I are about to start a video project and our idea involves a talking laptop puppet. Not an animated screen, mind you, but a mouth-flapping laptop.

Here's what I have figured so far:

-Buy a plastic dummy laptop like they use in furniture stores/model homes. (actually, buy two)
-modify/replace the hinges so that it moves really quickly. This would either involve new hardware or simple tape-hinges.
-mount on a cheap, thin coffee table (or substitute)
-drill through both laptop base and table
-mount push-rod through hole and connect to upper "jaw" of laptop
-hide puppeteer under table.
-install two blue LEDs to top front of laptop for eyes. (I was lucky enough to work with Muppeteers in the past, and I learned that puppets need eyelines)

Is there anything I'm forgetting? What is the best color laptop body for filming? I was thinking the silver model.

Currently, I can buy the dummy laptop at this site, but if I could buy one locally that would be a big help as time is short. (I live in LA. Does anyone know a local shop where such a thing could be purchased?)

1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics on TV in the USA

alicat — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:26:33 -0800

Were the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics broadcast on tape delay in the United States? How can I figure out the TV schedule? Anecdotes of events you remember watching would help. I found this schedule of the Sarajevo Olympic events, but I want to know what time the events were shown on TV in the US (specifically, in the Eastern time zone). The broadcasting network was ABC.

Were all events tape-delayed or only some? Which ones? Did anyone get up early to watch Bill Johnson win a gold medal in the Men's Downhill, for instance?

This is research for a kids' novel I'm writing, so if anyone has memories of watching the Sarajevo Olympics on TV (especially if you were 8-10 years old at the time) I would love to hear them.

Under the Milky Way song on TV

ecollie — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:35:13 -0800

Who is the artist performing the song "Under the Milky Way" by The Chuch on the new Lincoln-Mercury ads? Saw the ad on "Fringe" and "House". Good viewings selections, heh?

Should I buy it filter: Flat Screen floor model.

Mastercheddaar — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:58:31 -0800

I am looking for a TV to put downstairs. I was shopping at bestbuy and I found a floor model for sale. It is an LG 37" 1080p 60hz. They are not carrying this model anymore so it was marked down to $499.00. I talked to the manager and she said the lowest she was willing to go was $435.00. This seems like a decent price but my hold ups are that it is a floor model with no in store warranty (all it has is a mfs 1 year warranty.) It has been on all the time and Lord only knows how long it has been there. They also told me that they would have to look for the remote. My question is: Is it a steal for the price? Or should I quit being cheap and spend another 100-200 bucks or so to get a new one in the box? Bonus question: Where could I get a 37-40 inch 1080p 60 hz flat screen for around $500.00 bucks brand new from a good manufacturer?

Will I get a a refund for the time spent lauching a new satellite?

Jimbob — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:44:41 -0800

What happens when the satellite my pay-tv satellite-dish is pointing at dies? Like tens of thousands of people in my part of the world, I get my "cable" TV via a satellite dish on my roof, pointing at a geostationary satellite. By my understanding, satellites have a limited life-span - am I right in thinking that this is probably more relevant to orbital satellites that will eventually fall out of orbit? - but in any case, a stray rock might hit my Austar satellite and render it useless.

Will my cable company then devote itself visiting every subscriber and pointing their dish at a new satellite? Is there any precedent for this?

It's Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Science

chambers — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:17:31 -0800

How would one go about getting (assisted and monitored) access to scientific/medical research equipment in the Chicago area? (fMRI, MRI, electron microscopes, mass spectrometry) I'm looking at shooting some base video footage to work with for an idea for a TV pilot I want to create. It would be a science program, but with a more unusual angle. This post had spurred an existing show idea in a new direction, and I want to try to test out odd and strange ideas with actual equipment. (My reply I posted is not the actual show I have in mind, but 'science for fun' is the idea.)

I would obviously assume it would have to be done in off-peak hours, and scheduled for when the machines would not be in use, and use grad students, for example, to operate the equipment. Anything we would do would definitely not be 'by the book' scientific method, but more along the lines of the amazing things that can be seen by examining ordinary or unusual items or processes. Things that would be entertaining in a very nerdy, geeky way, but scoffed at as a 'waste of time' when compared to 'legitimate science.'

I'm sure things like this get done by students, but no one ever hears about it. I remember when electron microscopes became affordable to many institutions, people were taking photos of everything. That was 20 years ago, and I haven't seen an explosion of publicly available data like that with the newer inventions.

Know any scientists, students, or institutions that would like to help out? Where should I start, and who should I talk to first at the university/hospital/research facility?

Why does my plasma TV keep going black?

flowerofhighrank — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:03:35 -0800

Why does my RCA plasma TV keep going black for 5 seconds at a time, outta nowhere? It's about 3 years old and has no other problems...it just all of a sudden (of course at the peak of the action!) turns off and turns back on. No discernible pattern, hooked up to all the modern conveniences. Can anybody help?

Recommend me a telly to blow $2500 on

turgid dahlia — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:37:28 -0800

[Australia] Which television should I buy for AU$2500? I am going to buy a nice big TV. Everybody's doing it! So I've got circa $2500 saved up, but the amount of stuff out there frankly boggles my mind.

But I figure, I'm not the only one who ever bought a TV, and probably a few of you have done it recently, so what do you recommend? If it helps, it will principally be for Xboxing/Playstationing and DVD/download viewing. I don't actually watch TV.

Halp plox.

(Note: I'd also love to hear recommendations about brands and models etc. from non-Australians)

Identifying a British TV series

Riki tiki — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:37:41 -0800

Trying to identify a British television program about a doctor that used to be broadcast on PBS. Here's the information I've been given from fuzzy recollections:

It was British, possibly syndicated from the BBC.
It aired Sunday nights on PBS during the '90s or early '00s.
It was a comedy/drama.
It was about a doctor and his wife.
One of the storylines involved the wife cheating with the doctor's intern.

Anyone have any idea what that might be? Thanks in advance.

What a strange movie...

razzamatazm — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:55:38 -0800

Weird movie memory filter: I feel like it was a Disney Channel movie. The premise was a 14ish year old girl wanting to be in a boy's band, so she ended up dressing like a boy and they let her in the band. She was also in an all girl band and it happened that they had to perform on the same day. Chaos ensues, and she is found out in the end... Any help is great.

Rogers or Bell for cable tv (Cake or death? Death or death?)

maudlin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:43:57 -0800

Toronto cable tv frustration: should I dump Rogers for Bell? I have a basic cable package with Rogers and have added on a few extra channels, like BBC World News. I'm pretty fine with the selection of channels that I have.

However, dealing with Rogers for any kind of service or billing issue is incredibly frustrating. I just got off the phone with my third different CSR regarding a switch of a couple of the extra channels that resulted in additional fees despite being told explicitly by an earlier CSR that no additional fees would be applied. The fees were finally removed today, but it's not the first time I've had to make multiple calls to resolve something.

So I'm looking at Bell and have found a comparable package that I could live with. But in your experience, is Bell generally more or less frustrating than Rogers when it comes to billing, support and installation? Are there any obvious benefits or drawbacks to making the switch that I should know about?

How much is my 37" 720p LCD TV worth?

greendress — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:53:48 -0800

How much is my used Sharp Aquos LC-37G4U (37" 720p LCD TV) worth? How much would YOU pay for it? A co-worker may be interested in buying my old TV. Neither of us is sure what would be a fair price. Can't find any of this model on eBay to make a direct comparison; found 2 listed on Craigslist in other cities -- one for $400 and one for $600 (which I'm SURE is too much) -- but who knows how much they actually got. The details:

- Sharp Aquos LC-37G4U
- Bought Feb. 2005
- 37" LCD
- 720p (does not support 1080p)
- does NOT have built-in HD tuner
- Nice condition, fully functional, still have all accessories and whatnot, e.g., stand, remote, manual

Links: Sound & Vision - ExtremeTech - PC Mag - Amazon.com

Looks like a new 37" 720p LCD can be had on Amazon for not too much over $600 -- but since technology marches on, a new one would have a built-in HD tuner, better contrast ratio, probably more inputs, and might be better in other ways.

If it were yours, how much would you expect for it? If you were buying it, how much would you pay for it?

What's that song from "The Shack" commercial?

geekchic — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:35:54 -0800

Looking for the name of a song in a Radio Shack commercial. It's a newer TV commercial that says "The Shack sells more phones than the population of Scandinavia." The song has lyrics that don't sound like English. I wish I had a link but all of my Googling has failed.

Which recording of "Cup of Loneliness" is used in the closing credits of Mad Men 2.12?

teem — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:11:17 -0800

Which recording of "Cup of Loneliness" is used at the end of Mad Men season 2 episode 12, "The Mountain King", and where can I get it? Every source says it's "Cup of Loneliness" by George Jones, but none of the Cup of Loneliness recordings I've found — George Jones or otherwise — sound the same. On the episode the version is faster and higher pitched than this version, but the way the lines are sung (particularly "where the way is dark and dim") sound as though it's not simply the original sped up.

I don't have an online clip of the show, but if you've got it at home it's played as episode 2.12 closes to credits.

Jalapeno-Vodka Induced Hallucination?

The Whelk — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:10:15 -0800

Name That Show Used In That Russian Music Video-Filter: I was at a Russian restaurant in L.A yesterday and saw the strangest music video. I got the name of the artist (Something and Federov?) but the video was chopped up clips from what looked like a British TV show. What TV show or movie was being cut up? Details inside. The video contained a man in a broad-stripped Zoot Suit and a man dressed as a Lady Bracknell /Pepperpot type (Think Monty Python) and what seemed to be WW1-era soldiers and generals. There was lots of broad comedy and falling down drunk and the sets where very white and minimal. There was a lot of green smoke. From the video quality I'd say late 70s-early 80s? What the hell did I just watch?

wii tv?

scruss — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:23:15 -0800

Television recommendation just for running a Wii? We don't have a television, but recently got smitten with playing Wii games. I've never bought a television before, so what am I needing? Not looking for something huge or expensive.

(Through reading comments, looks like trying to get my nice but surplus-to-requirements Viewsonic VGA/DVI widescreen monitor would be a lot of work and ultimately rather unsatisfactory. Would that be right?)