Birthday party this weekend for a 6-year old. Dad put on Star Wars Special Edition off iTunes. Of course his TV had motion smoothing on.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
It was only a matter of time.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
I pointed out my appearance in a Mos Eisley shot to my son. That was fun. But I had other work to do.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
At one point Dad bumped the Apple TV touch remote and rewound the entire movie. Classic. I offered to help get it back to the right time.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
Now I had the remote. But the wrong one of course. And a room full of kids and adults, eyes glued to the screen.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
I finally located the correct remote. But I couldn’t do this in front of everyone. Then, salvation. The pizza arrived!
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
But they did not pause the movie. Handed slices to each kid on paper plates. I was getting discouraged.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
Eventually: Cake. I offered to pause the movie. Dad was once again grateful for my help. I palmed the TV remote. “It’s a Sony. I know this.”
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
Remembering my training: https://t.co/Gkm15EFACh I turned off “TrueMotion” & about 100 other things, including a “Reality Creation Engine.”
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
Sharpness was also turned up to “Crazy halos around everything times a million,” so I turned that way down.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
Kids ate cake. The movie resumed. No one was the wiser. All is right in the Galaxy.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
But something still chilled me to the bone.
I’ll never forget the name of the picture preset that all these terrible settings lived under:
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
STANDARD.
I want to find the engineers and marketing departments that crank all this shit up by default and beat them over the head with a frying pan.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
It is now the STANDARD that your TV should completely screw up the movies you watch on it. The movies you love.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
Engineers running roughshod over artists.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
It was sad and depressing.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
I love movies. I love how they look. And TVs these days are amazing. They have the potential to create a great home cinema experience.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
But only if you’re lucky enough to know the how to undo all the TV maker’s attempts to “fix” the technical “problem” of cinema.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
If people get used to how these TVs look because it’s the default, well, there’s no Canada to move to for that one, hipsters.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
Please keep spreading the good word and, if necessary, taking matters into your own hands when no one’s looking.https://t.co/Gkm15EFACh
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016
The cinema you save may be your own.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) March 7, 2016