NBA & NFL are playing games with(out) my HDTV
It's another Sunday, I'm relaxing with a cold Dos Equis trying to watch more sports in high definition and
again my HDTV is left wanting. Yeah theres the Olympics on NBC but seriously, there is no need to show
an entire cross country ski race, even in 1080i. They don't show a whole marathon do they?Much like two weeks ago, ABC played hot potato with their HD, the first game between the Spurs and Pacers was not in high definition, although the second game with Detroit at Miami was (btw Dwyane Wade is incredible). Both games came down to the wire, but the first could have been so much better.
And now, I'm (trying) to watch the Pro Bowl on ESPN, and it's SD? What a joke. ESPN has two high definition channels going to waste if you're not going to broadcast the all star game properly, and in beautiful Hawaii. Must I remind people where one of the best HD shows (Lost) is filmed? At least the NBA will have that right, not only will they have the All-Star game in high definition on TNT, they'll even broadcast the practices (Saturday February 18 at noon) so crisply it'll feel like the coach is yelling at you.
Are they scared by NBC's glitchy Olympics coverage? I just don't get it. Somebody wake me when Grey's Anatomy starts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HDjanitor @ Feb 12th 2006 8:56PM
I would guess that ESPN has no HD truck in Hawaii capable of doing the Pro Bowl live...
Wayne @ Feb 12th 2006 9:49PM
I was miffed today because the Philly-Washington game was listed as being HD, but really wasn't. Then the Pro Bowl wasn't either.
What a lousy HD Sunday.
Dean @ Feb 12th 2006 11:34PM
I must say I'm pretty sick of ESPN-"HD" consistently NOT showing HD content. It's a joke of a channel to me. Even when they do show HD content it doesn't always look sharp. When a baseball game is on INHD and ESPN at the same time I always choose INHD.
While we're on the topic...what's up with TNT-HD? It's like they play old shows all day and simply zoom a DVD. It typically looks like crap. Ah well...better than nothing I guess.
Matt @ Feb 13th 2006 12:00AM
Richard,
I'm in the same boat.. As a Indy resident and a HDTV newbie (only had it since the holidays), I was pissed that it wasn't in HD. I actually was ready to blame the local ABC affliate for this. The only time I've seen the Pacers in HD was on a visit to a relative in Philadelphia when they were playing the Knicks in mid-December.
I have all but sworn off watching sports on my big screen unless its in HD. ABC -- your on notice!
Brent @ Feb 13th 2006 10:01AM
I got HD in 2004 for football. The first two games I watched were in HD. Then the third week the Colts game was in SD and I was pissed. I sent an email to the local CBS affiliate and called them to complain about my discust for not airing the Colts game in HD.
The answer I got was one of the most stupid things I had ever heard. "The NFL picks between 4-8 games to be broadcast in HD and the rest are SD." Let me re-say that first part - "The NFL picks" not CBS (or Fox) picks which games are done in HD. What?
I was a little pissed that ALL games weren't done in HD, but this year I remembered and was still pissed that the NFL picked only certain games to be done in HD. Seriously - put them all in HD. Its not like the equipment isn't at each stadium since the NFL picks the games, and this year all teams had at least 1 home game in HD. Man I can't wait until 2009 when they are forced to put it all that way.
Ben Drawbaugh @ Feb 13th 2006 10:48AM
Brent,
If only life were that simple. CBS's problem for the past two years is that they only have enough bandwidth on the Sat uplink for 2 HD streams at a time. CBS sends their affiliates a much higher bitrate than Fox does and as a result they can only fit two HD streams on their uplinks at once. Many have witnesed this when the early HD game runs over and the late HD game is presented in SD until the first game is over.
CBS was the first to enter the game and Fox was the last and as a result Fox bought the latest and greatest and CBS is on older equipment. That being said CBS's presentations still consistently look better than Fox's despite the latest equipment.
The other issue is the number of HD trucks available. Believe it or not, every week those HD production trucks drive to every city to cover the event. The trucks are not owned by the networks so availablity can be an issue. This is not as big of a deal as it was in the past, since there are far more trucks today than a few years ago.
In the end I agree with you and am also disapointed that CBS hasn't made more HD games available, but I feel better when I at least understand the challenges.
randy @ Feb 19th 2006 2:43PM
I just wanted to say my buddy is a huge fan (of your blog) and told me about the blog a while back, i have read it here and there and enjoy it, I'm writing cause my lil bro started a nice new blog and a really cool idea a VIDEO BLOG (vlog) and you just don't see many of those yet, anyway he's getting a lot of NFL traffic not just jets and I thought you guys might want to link exchange Im adding his email below
http://jetstv.com/
ajvchuk@bu.edu
jetsdonwankey@earthlink.net