Universal-HD's coverage of the Olympics
We have never been that impressed with Universal-HD as a station and now that they're covering the Olympics with NBC's
other stations, the feeling is back. Ben was not impressed with NBCs main coverage and I have not
been with Universal HD. I've watched some of the hockey games in HD thanks to Universal and it's not pretty. HDNet has always done a good job with their hockey coverage and the picture has been superb, but that amazing demo of HDTV isn't carried over to Universal-HD. Sure, it still gives the feeling of "being there," but it was like "being there" behind the dirty glass.
If this is a sign of the quality NBC is going to give us, I for one am not going to watch as much as I thought. Have you noticed this too?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michael @ Feb 13th 2006 3:51PM
Yeah. I agree with the above article and opinion. But, even with what can be considered as "sub-standard" HD picture quality (as compared to HD NET), I'll still take that (Universal HD picture quality) over any great standard 480i picture quality anytime.
BTW, I think it must be a whole Universal/NBC problem thing. Reason I say this is because I TiVo'd some Notre Dame football games on Universal HD and the compression and/or picture quality wasn't as great as any football game viewed or TiVo'd on CBS HD, FOX HD, or ESPN HD (Hmmm).
Just my opinion.
Oh. And one more thing that "bugs me." I can't beleive that the Pro Bowl was NOT broadcasted in HD on ESPN HD. Granted, I may be one of the very few people who actually watches (and enjoys) the Pro Bowl. But, why wouldn't ESPN broadcast the last NFL game of the season in HD???? Honestly. What's wrong with ESPN???
Thank goodness this weekend's NBA All-Star game will be broadcasted in HD on TNT HD.
David @ Feb 13th 2006 8:20PM
I agree, watching womens hockey yesterday and today on UNHD, the picture was weak.
I wonder if this is just an issue of carriers over-compressing things. For instance, Directv is sending channel 82 (NBC4 out of NYC) and UNHD downrezzed at 1280x1080i instead of 1920x1080! Not only that, the bitrates are terrible, with UNHD way down in the 13Mbps and NBC4 at 15Mbps, when they need to be at a minimum of 18Mbps (IMHO) to make sports look decent at 1920x1080i.
I would wager that the master feeds NBC is handing off to our carriers look far better and we can just blame our satellite and cable carriers for the poor quality picture. They give us more HD channels but then they ruin the HD channels by downrezzing and overcompressing them. Bums!
David @ Feb 13th 2006 8:23PM
Michael,
I imagine the Pro Bowl wasnt in HD because ESPN didnt want to put one of their HD trucks on a ship to the Oahu (and out of service for days in transit). Those trucks are too precious to put on ships for days on end.
rapture @ Feb 14th 2006 9:02AM
I'm not seeing a programming guide for UHD in Huntsville on Comcast. Is this common? I see the channel's content fine. However, I can not view the guide for that channel.
David LaCagnina @ Feb 14th 2006 2:05PM
Slightly off topic, rapture!
Call Comcast.
rapture @ Feb 15th 2006 1:38PM
"Slightly off topic, rapture!"
Was HDBeat's reporting of noticable compression of NBC HD broadcasts also off topic?
They should call Comcast!