# Depth perception of HD TV vs B&W

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depth-perception-of-hd-tv-vs-b-w/522543>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 25, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depth-perception-of-hd-tv-vs-b-w/522543 "2009-12-25T12:52:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depth-perception-of-hd-tv-vs-b-w/522543/1 "2009-12-25T12:52:11Z")

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Close to 20 years ago, I remember sitting on the couch watching an old episode of The Twilight Zone in black & white with my Dad on broadcast TV. I remember sitting there amazed at how clean the picture was, and how the image had such an incredible sense of depth.

Last night I watched A Christmas Vacation on DVD with an HD TV and again noticed that same clean, deep visual sensation, almost 3D in a way.

How is it that a broadcast show, viewed 20 years ago on a very plain TV was able to achieve that quality? I remember at the time viewing it and wanting to ask my Dad what was up, but unable to put it into words.

Any ideas? I seem to recall this a few times with B&W viewing.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depth-perception-of-hd-tv-vs-b-w/522543/2 "2009-12-25T12:59:51Z")

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In the second season of _The Twilight Zone_ some episodes were shot on video instead of on film. Was the episode you saw one of these? They were; Twenty-Two, Static, The Whole Truth, The Lateness of the Hour, Night of the Meek, and Long Distance Call.

These have a different quality and depth of field that make them look quite distinctive from the others.

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**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depth-perception-of-hd-tv-vs-b-w/522543/3 "2009-12-25T13:25:04Z")

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Here’s “The Whole Truth” (in Spanish) for the posters who are wondering about the effect. They used videotape as a cost cutting measure. I watched it a while back on a regular CRT TV and the effect was noticeable on it as well.

[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFojSdD-AdM)