Movie Central HD is not always HD

[Tripster]

Sat down to watch The Weather Man yesterday morning, I tend to only watch movies on MC-HD, here is what they were showing ...



As you can see from this screen capture this image just doesn't quite seem correct, indeed I have adjusted the capture to 4:3 and this is the result ...



It seems that MC-HD didn't have the true HD version of the movie and opted instead to air the 4:3 version stretched to fit the HD 16:9 format.

These guys need to double their efforts at getting HD copies of their movies, every single major studio release airs in HD on HBO, SHO and Starz down south, meanwhile it is very hit and miss in Canada with only a select few major studio movies being aired on the premiums in HD.

Here in western Canada we don't even get some movies our friends in the east are receiving. TMN has movies and series that don't air in the west. I don't imagine that is what the CRTC intended to happen when they approved this duopoly.

[cslusarc]

Corus Entertainment (Movie Central) has a monopoly in Western Canada. While, Astral Media (The Movie Network) has a monopoly in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. This isn't a duopoly. A duopoly is competitive. Would you like to see Movie Central compete against The Movie Network?

[Tripster]

Would you like to see Movie Central compete against The Movie Network?

Yes, that is how it should be. The protected markets they enjoy now are no longer the same markets that caused them to request these protections in the 1980's. Premium take up is much higher thanks to digital STB penetration in the homes. Both services are profitable.

There is some hope on the horizon in the form of Allarco Entertainment's new premium suite which will consist of all HD channels.

My bet is rather than compete TMN and MC will merge, hopefully production and the general running of things will remain with Astral.

Allarco is owned by many of the same players who originally created SuperChannel in Edmonton so it may not be that great a competitor (same people who sued HBO to stop gray subs, not the smartest route), these guys are all old friends, if MC shuts down some staff will likely go to Allarco.

Another reason for the two incumbents to merge is bandwidth related, if Allarco is all HD then the current services will need to match to compete, but Bell and Starchoice only have so much room for new HD. By combining they already would have 4 HD channels to work with.

Interesting times ahead in the Canadian premium TV area.

[Jean327]

Movie Central has just recently moved from Edmonton to Toronto and alot of things seem to have been lost in the shuffle. The weekend of Nov. 25 Movie Central HD had numerous problems with audio. There was a period of about 6+ hours where there was no audio at all on several movies. They have also have problems with video and audio sync. Their web-site seems to no longer have a movie guide for the month of December. I sure hope that they are able to sort out these problems soon.

[Tripster]

Movie Central has just recently moved from Edmonton to Toronto and alot of things seem to have been lost in the shuffle. The weekend of Nov. 25 Movie Central HD had numerous problems with audio. There was a period of about 6+ hours where there was no audio at all on several movies. They have also have problems with video and audio sync. Their web-site seems to no longer have a movie guide for the month of December. I sure hope that they are able to sort out these problems soon.

Interesting, Corus finally moves them out of Edmonton so we can likely assume new people are in charge of it.

Is Allarco basing themselves out of Edmonton per chance?