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Battlestar Galactica in HD
Hauzer writes "Ars Technica is carrying news that I know will bring joy to some fans: Universal HD is going to be broadcasting Battlestar Galactica. They're going to run the miniseries and the first Season (2005) of the new Battlestar Galactica, starting Sunday night at 8PM, with HD repeats coming every week. Now if only Sci-Fi would provide an HD channel so we can watch when the new stuff airs!"
... but it still can't replace Dirk Benedict.
And the hdtv divx version airs at 9pm Sunday night on bittorrent
Think about it.
- The constant cigarette is a nice way to subtly - almost subliminally - throw you off. But Ron Moore and his writers have relished in making the cylons as nuanced, flawed and unexpected as the humans. A cigarette-smoking cylon is a brilliant touch.
- One of the first things the doctor says to President Roslin is to PRAY regarding her cancer. Again, a subtle hint regarding the cylons' preoccupation with their religious beliefs.
- As a trusted and unquestioned figure, the doctor is in an ingenious place to sabotage and manipulate the crew. President Roslin accepts the doctor's diagnosis without question (a learned respect typical in most cultures, including our own). Even if she wasn't sure, there appear to be either no or few medical doctors with more experience on hand in the fleet.
- It is a savvy device for the writers. If Mary McDonnell - a very esteemed actor along with Olmos - doesn't want to continue in the series, she passes away. If she is in for the long haul, it turns out the doctor LIED about the seriousness of her cancer. Either way, it is organic to the writing.
- We have seen no "elder" humanoid cylons, a strange anomaly.
- The doctor is neither a main character nor a completely marginal one. It would come off as cheap if a character we have scantly met pops up as a cylon and it would be rather boring if another main character had the silicon implants, so to speak. The doctor is in the show enough to elicit some good surprise and recognition if he comes out of the closet... er cylon closet... (cyloset?)
- Let's face it. The guy would make a cool cylon.
I've already downloaded a HD movie in 1280x720 resolution, and it was awesome. Yeah, it's a very large file (700MB for 40 minutes), but the quality is amazing. All of the other stuff I download is typically a max of 720 wide - most are below that. I would love to watch BSG on my nice 1600x1200 monitor and actually have the video source be more than half of my screen BEFORE I maximize it.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
Here we've got almost all the HD channels - except for Universal HD.
... now my eyeballs will become chapped even faster, as they stare unblinkingly while my brain is in an infinite loop trying to figure out what the hell is going on...
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
This is great news. The rereleased Battlestar Galactica is one of the best series ever IMO. Second to Beast Wars (don't be hatin!) It's good that they're being broadcast in HD. The torrents floating around have horrible audio encoding and it will be nice to have the series in HD. =)
I was all prepared to hate this show. I really was.
You gotta remember, this is the channel that made an even worse Dune than the trainwreck that aired in the theatres. The same guys who keep bringing you movies like "Killer Anaconda" and "Mansquito".
They told us there would be changes, and I was ready to hate this show for that reason too. A female Starbuck? Oh, how I would hate this show when it aired. How dare they?
But you know what? I finally got around to watching a few episodes...and it's really good! The mood is intense, the writing is good...good acting...I really can't find anything to dislike about it. It's not the same show you watched as a kid, no doubt about that - but for some reason I can't put my finger on, the changes in mood and tone and character seem to work.
My only (very minor) gripe is the camera work. The "shake the camera around" bit I find to be a little annoying. Later shows don't shake it around as much though, so it's easier to watch.
It's hard to believe, but Sci-Fi has a really good show here. A huge surprise, too. I even like the female Starbuck. Who'd have thought that was possible? I can't wait to see the next one, and it's been a *long* time since I've felt that way about anything on TV.
If you can see it on HD, I'd recommend it. It's a good show and HD could only make it better.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I think this "Anonymous Coward" dude's a Cylon. Think about it... he's all over the place... I mean everywhere... and he keeps us confused by taking up contrary positions even with himself... My God I've seen entire threads where he argues with himself... Personally I think he's a pear short of a fruit bowl...
I'm still looking for a torrent for the miniseries and season 1, so that I can have the folks at home grab it for me--or so that I can get it myself when I'm not on campus.
Could somebody point me in the right direction?
Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
Battlestar Galactica has been aired in SD and HD in Australia for over 7 weeks now.
If the FCC wants the john Q public to get Digital Television, Why isn't this stuff on over the air local TV broadcasts?
The original Battlestar series I watched on network TV in the late 1970's. The big thing keeping joe sixpack from demanding digital television sets is the lack of broadcast content.
There are lots of digital ready monitors on the market and HDTV monitors, but a very small ammount of Digital Televisions. Dorm dwellers simply don't have the space for a home theatre solution nor the budget to buy a TV that includes a tuner. There are set top tuners, but they cost more than my current television. There is little incentive to spend the bucks simply because of the lack of quality content. BitTorrent is making an end run past the content/broadcastflag/overtheair stalemate.
The FCC deadline will come and go, but market forces will simply mean the end of analog over the air is simply the end of free over the air TV.
I'm hoping my prediction is not true, but so far, I have no plans in the future for an over the air digital television. I'll get broadband instead.
The truth shall set you free!
I got the entire series in 704xsomething HD rips before I knew I would like it so much. I had a hard drive problem and lost a few eps, now I need to fetch them again and I find all the eps right on usenet in HD format. Check alt.binaries.multimedia, alt.binaries.multimedia.scifi, or maybe even alt.binaries.battlestar-galactica
I don't watch much TV. Yeah it's cool universal will run them in HD, but I really feel kinda "whoopee" about it - I can download them with no commercials and watch them anytime I want. Thanks to congress and the FCC it's easier just to download them than to watch and rip myself.
AC's a female Cylon.
A really hot one.
And it rubs itself while its posting.
Think about that next time you notice two Anonymous Cylons duking* it out with each other.
*(u=y)
I think the biggest reason why the revival of Battlestar Galactica has worked so well is the fact one of the co-creators of the revival is Ronald D. Moore, the same person who did some of the very best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
:-)
This is why I can't wait for the first ten Second Season episodes that will be shown later this Summer.
Am I the only person that thinks the new Battlestar Galactica is by far the worst sci fi program in history?
All they have done is take a post 9/11 GI movie, extend it, and add robots.
I stopped watching after the first five episodes.
I want to know when the first season is going to hit DVDs. My video tapes are starting to wear out. :)
Because HDTV will actually make it look WORSE if it was done originally on 16mm...
However a lot of the content is still only broadcast in Standard Definition, or at best upsampled.
Q.
Insert Signature Here
Tricia Helfer
Massive Erection
Finally, a reason to get an HDTV. At least, if I could get one at a reasonable price.
#include <signature.h>
Battlestar Galactica in HD
Pfft. Big deal. I've had Battlestar Galactica in my HD for quite a while now.
No sig
Doctor Who?
Dastardly. I bet he's also removing the desicants from their clothing. Imagine in 3-5 years when all Galactica's shirts are noticable dank and musty...
My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...
Bodacious tatas!
I've had DishNetwork for years, and loved it. But from what I can find online, there are no indications that Dish will pick up Universal HD (or BravoHD, which is a variant of it I believe)
I've read that Dish won't be picking up any new HD channels until they switch to MPEG4.
Anyone know if this is true? If so, I may drop Dish and switch to DirecTV.
Also Voom, which was an all-HD network, appears to be defunct now.
The Cylons and humans are having babies already and it's only the end of Season 1? Don't the writers know that bringing babies into a script pretty much universally means the death of a series? Oh yeah. Where's Muffy the Daggit?
Don't the writers know that bringing babies into a script pretty much universally means the death of a series?
I guess that means you aren't looking forward to V: The Second Generation.
It looks like you might be.
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
HDTV's can be bought for around $400 now. The huge 50"+ ones are just over a grand now, instead of five. Hell, they sell more HDTVs at your local Best Buy than they do crappy 4:3 sets. Pretty soon you wont even be able to get a non-HDTV set. I really don't know what you mean by "reasonable" - Do you mean FREE? Because I keep saying people say "If they weren't so much, id go buy one.." .. THEY HAVEN'T COST A LOT FOR THE PAST TWO AND A HALF YEARS. GO BUY TWO OR THREE ALREADY! Yeeesh!
It failed.
But in the year of the Cylon War, it became something greater: our last, best hope for a decent TV show....
No, I think that would be too obvious.
...'
===spoiler???===
My money is on Lt Gaeta.
In the finale he hands Boomer something, and the camera pauses momentarily on the 'handshake' just prior to her shooting the Commander.
Also, just after the 'handshake', she says to him, 'Thanks' -- and it appears to be entirely apropos of nothing, as it doesn't quite fit the short conversation they've just had about Apollo's mutiny.
Think about it.
- Who does Boomer dance with in the closing scenes of Colonial Day?
- During the mini he says he's never plotted a successful jump before. Then in 33 -- five days later -- he's done 240? Without a hitch?
- Who exonerates Baltar in Six Degrees of Separation? (Which has a fairly obvious reference to that Kevin Costner movie No Way Out as well)
- Again in the mini, Gaeta is talking with Tigh about locating the Cylon transponder on the CIC. The former says, 'It's been there a week or so. I just never took any notice of it
---and another thing---
I really like seeing the soundman during Starbuck's shooting of the museum case! (He's wearing a red shirt and a dark vest, on the right)
========================================
Death will come, and will have your eyes
-- Pavese
SPOILER for episode 7 or 9, forgot which one.
-----
Now, with that out of the way. I'd have to say I that I agree with you, but still have my doubts During one of the episodes (I finished watching all 13 episodes from the British torrents), he gets set up by the Cylon lady in red who whispers to him; at the end, he's exonerated when he prays to God and agrees to work humbly for the Cylons.
The key thing is, after this, NO ONE, will dare challenge his integrity again. I think at the end of the eps, the Cylon who whispers to him says the same thing. He basically has carte blanche run of the ship, because he's walked through the fire and everyone trusts him.
BUT...the thing is. Why does he need to be a Cylon? He's already capable of wreaking havoc on the humans; he's the VP of the damn colony. A traitor is a traitor, it doesn't matter if he's human or originally a Cylon. Both means serve the same end.
What could the Cylons potentially gain if he was revealed to actually BE a Cylon ?
well, the point of that episode was that they had to jump every 33 minutes. so that counts to something like 1500 possible jumps in 5 days. other points sound good though.
1440x1080 isn't exactly the HDV standard. that is to say, it wasn't standardized by HDV... HDCAM format (F900, 750, etc) samples at 1440x1080 with nonsquare pixels, then stretched by VTR on output, iirc. 1920x1080 format "size" is misleading, since it's sampled at a smaller size and then stretched, not to mention all the chroma data that gets tossed out during compression. UltraHD is where it's at ;)
Yes, but no one made BitTorrents of the US version with the new theme song, credits, and possibly less censorship than the Sky One broadcasts.
He is referring to the medical doctor, not baltar.
As for Cylons why not the communications lady?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
What was this novel's original name? Or the author? I can't say I've ever heard of it. The title you have given is basically ungoogelable, so it remains a mystery.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Liking Wsst Wing tends to be a political thing, with its left-wing actor playing a left-wing president. It is for the half of the country that wants Clinton back (and thinks Bush is an imaginary president), and snubs the half of the country that likes Bush instead (they think Bartlett is an imaginary president). The liberals I know love it, and the conservatives ignore it. The opposite is probably true of shows like "JAG".
Look at "West Wing" as "boob bait for the blue states", but not "boob bait for the bubbas."
This is a series that is actually worse than the first one. Plot is pathetic, acting horrendous and their ridiculous use of current earth technology (wired telephones that look like they were just purchased at Target).
Hello! At least the first series tried to make their tech stuff look like it was different than anything you would see on earth.
I hope the series dies.
40 years ago the cylons left and were never heard from again until the mini-series. During those 40 years the Cylons found Earth and were "embraced" by the humans.
The humans of Earth have made several advances since the other humans left Earth a long long time ago to go to Kobol (sp?). For example, the humans of Earth have master cloning. That explains why there are copies. It also explains why Helio and Boomer were able to concieve. The human looking Cylons are really cloned Earth-Humans who found the robot cylons decades ago and decided to manipulate and control them somehow.
So now the the BG crew will finally get to Earth, only to find it is the Cylon home base! That is my take on it, it may or may not be correct. What do you think?
I'm very responsible, when ever something goes wrong they always say I'm responsible.
I'm sorry, I tried to watch it but I couldn't get through ten minutes. And I'll watch some real crap. :-)
The revolution will NOT be televised.
I've been comming to the same conclusion. And you missed a few things.
Gaeta plotted the jump that carried Boomer and Crashdown's Raptor to Kobol. Boomer shouts something about "Damn you Gaeta!" when the jump lands too close to the planet. Clearly he played a role in Boomer finding the lost colony. And right after Boomer left, the cylons found it.
Gaeta has been an assistant to Baltar's cylon detector project. If Gaeta is a cylon it would make sense that he would want to monitor the progress Baltar is making. I often wonder why Baltar's Six wants a working detector (it's not for outing Boomer. We already passed that oportunity) but when Gaeta bailed out Baltar we can assume other cylon interests for a working detector.
the cylons are all so busy fucking each other over, I think there will be a cylon civil war at some point.
HU?
Assuming we are using a 24 hour a day, 60 minute an hour clock.
24*60=1440 minutes a day.
1440/33= 43.63 jumps a day.
43.63*5 = 218.18 jumps.
I imagine he's talking about Mary Shelly's novel *Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus*. Mind you, I don't see how this really relates to the Cylons' plan, which is clearly to become or even replace humans entirely.
There's a reason for that-- those shows aren't watchable more than once and the producers know it. I recall reading an article where they were discussing the syndication value of network dramas and sitcoms, and someone said that reality TV would never sell in syndication well, "nobody will syndicate/buy this dreck".
Thusly, they "film" on SDTV because it's cheap and the content being made only needs to be shown once (maybe twice in a rerun).
BTW: I still hope reality TV dies, and soon. That shit is awful.
All I know about Bush is I had a good job when Clinton was president.
I guess with DS9 gone, they had to fill the void.
Well, I don't own a TV that is HD enabled, so it is good thing that they realize a rollout period for 90+% of the viewers needs to be non HD enabled. I don't think I'll be buying a HDTV any time in the next 3-5 years.
--- Old Time NeXThead
...just like HDTV. The first HDV cam was 720p, it is a HD stream format for DV tapes.
"What is HDV?
A MPEG 2 recording format allowing recording of 720p and 1080i formats.
1080i format consists of 1440 x1080 pixels, sampled 8 bit 4:2:0 and then compressed 60 to1 to tape. Data rate of 25mbs
720p format consists of 1280 x 720p sampled 8 bit 4:2:0 Data rate of 19mbs
The inter frame compression takes place across 6 frames.
1920 x1080 signals (YPb Pr) by "upconverting" 1440 x1080 to 1920x1080.
The HDV standard was established by Sony, Canon, Sharp and JVC.
How can 25mbs compete with 185mb of HDCAM?
Pinnical Solutions suggest that a 50mbs MPEG inter frame compression is comes close to 185mb HDCAM (which uses intra frame compression).
Also HDCAM records 1440 x1080, not 1920x1080.
Generally the picture becomes softer as you progress down the line of HDCAM SR to HDCAM to DVCPRO HD to HDV. So called I-frame compression is about 2.5 times less efficient than IBP but is easier to encode, decode and process. So an HDV image encoded at 25 Mb/s (IBP) is roughly equivalent to an I-frame image encoding of about 60 Mb/s."
source
So, the resolution is actually the same. The effective bandwidth is about 1/3rd of professional HDTV cameras, but about 2.5 times a DV cam. Considering how much commercial work can be done in SDTV (e.g. all of Europe has almost no HDTV to speak of), it is definately prosumer bordering on professional.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
704 something is standard DVD resolution but I pointed out I got these BEFORE I knew I would like the series. If you had bothered to look in the groups I mentioned you would see some very large hi-def rips available.
Torrents are great if you have the full time bandwidth available. Not all of us do, I could never get a high enough "quality" score to get a decent place in the queue; it's easier just to pay ten bucks a month for easynews and know one can get a sustained 4-5MBps without any games.
Based on the old show, Baltar has the coolest swivel chair imaginable.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
my 'friends' father wouldn't speak to him for a while- (live a few hundred miles apart) not beacause he was angry at his 'son' for downloading the show, but because he didn't want his 'son' to spill ANYTHING about the ending.
how depressing, my 'friend' could have saved his father so much pain....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
HU?
43.63*5 = 218.18 jumps.
They haven't been moving for 5 days, but rather (130.35 Hours / 24) = 5.43125 days.
5.43125 * 43.63 = 236.965438 jumps.
God bless sci-fi trivia.
Next we can debate why all of the paper is octagonal.
Well, currently only 1 Cylon is pregnant at the end of Season 1 and she's still on Caprica.
I have to wonder if Starbuck will bring her back to the Galactica. While many people on the tvtome forums think so, it's a bit out there. Starbuck's already learned from personal experience that Cylons are heller strong and the ship they're in is puny. The Cylon could easily overpower her if she wanted.
In addition, in the mini, he is the one that delivers the message about the armistice station, to which they don't respond. After which he mentions serving under Adama for 2 years, which IIRC, is the same length as 6 had been with Baltar.
There's also the fact that he seems to have a finger in every pie on the ship. He's seemingly responsible for 75% of what goes on.
alt.binaries.hdtv
All the 1080i and 720p videos you could want. And likely to be the first place those are posted after they air. Enjoy.
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
Thanks for the clarification, though I was more disagreing with the poster that said 1500 possible jumps. That would be a jump every 5.214 minutes.
hehe, well that'l teach me to do simple math at 3am!
:)
I think I was figuring 33 jumps ever half hour over a single day.
Unfortunately, it's a VOOM exclusive...
How about Foundation? Though I fail to see how they're very similar.
Tsk tsk. Common guys this is a classic of literature. Google for Mary Shelley.
Bitter and proud of it.
> Realizing the Cylons as motivated by
> theological beliefs rather than mere revenge
> creates a villain with far greater depth than
> Atlantis' Wraith, or even any of the "big bads"
> from Buffy.
well, yes, it's true that religion tends to encourage genocidal behaviour but the religious emphasis is what really makes the show unwatchable for me.
i find it hard to believe that technologically advanced humans with interstellar travel capabilities and colonies will have such primitive superstitious beliefs, let alone the AI machines.
robots believing in a god? get real. it's just not credible.
> Certainly, BSG is not a prefect show, but as
> far as contemporary science fiction is
> concerned, BSG has improved upon the genre.
no it hasn't. it's just another turgid drama dressed up as science-fiction, with way too much tedious theological garbage.
like ST:TNG etc, it's just another soap opera in space....although a very different kind of drama, far more inter-character tension (in fact, that's about all the show has, and that gets very boring, very fast).
SF isn't about who is bonking (or not bonking) who, or the tensions between characters - it's about the ideas, it's about extrapolation of social and other trends, it's about exploring the possible. BSG has little or none of that.
And it appear Mormon philosphy and indoctrination of todays youth takes one leap forward.
I know people say they enjoy this show but the thinly, gossamer, veiled Mormon idology makes me puke!
Compare side by side a HD rip of the pilot to the DVD and try saying that.
If a rip is made from hidef, it is a rip made from hidef, period. A rip made from SD (even digital) cannot compare to a well made rip made from HD, even if the rip is resized to DVD rez.
Idiot.