1/3rd fail Blu-ray and HDTV eye test

[atifsh]

To be able to appreciate the benefits of Blu-ray and HDTV, you need to have perfect "20/20" vision, experts say--and up to a third of people in Britain don't. This means that millions of pounds spent on high-definition televisions and Blu-ray equipment are effectively being wasted.

The fact is that most people do not have their eyes examined regularly, and the result is that up to a third of UK residents have less than perfect vision--most without even knowing it. This is true even if they do have glasses or contact lenses, for many go too long between check-ups and don't notice that their prescriptions are no longer up to scratch.

This leads to many consumers paying out for equipment and Blu-ray discs when they can't enjoy the superior resolution and colour offered by the technologies.

What can be done? According to Vision Express optician Phillip Hyde, "[a] small change in prescription can potentially make a big change in the quality of the picture that you see. If you're investing in HDTV, you ought to have your eyes checked to make sure you get the full benefit."

From wiki: Vision Express is one of the four major UK Opticians (retailers) that control 70% of the British market for spectacles and contact lenses. [1] The company's selling point is the availability of glasses in 1 hour at many stores.

[admin]

I actually put on my higher prescription glasses when watching HD movies, to get the most out of it.

[drfsupercenter]

Half the time I can't see a difference.

I have some 480i channels that look pretty darn amazing. Like Cartoon Network. What on Earth is the point of CN HD?

And on newer shows, like news etc... I can flip back and forth between FOX HD and normal FOX (or any of the other locals) and there's really not a difference. Just the fact that the HD ones are in widescreen.

I compared the movie Hot Rod between the HD-DVD and DVD, again I couldn't see a difference. This is when upscaling the DVD using my Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive. Now, if I looked really hard at, say, the signs posted in windows of the buildings they were talking in front of, it was slightly easier to read on the HD-DVD, but still perfectly readable on the normal DVD.

I'm not saying I don't like HD, some things really need it like older shows that have higher quality upscaling on the HD networks. But I think people are hyping over Blu-Ray without giving the DVD version a fair try.