How was the National Championship game broadcast?
We know how the game went, with Florida in control almost the entire time and winning the NCAA title easily,
73-57, but how did it look? I had some of the same issues noted in this thread at AVSForums, the picture was great for
most of the game, but whenever they went to the floor cameras or behind the backboard shots, blurriness and
pixelization were in full effect. Here is a link to a press release by the company, Vyvx, that provided the transmission for both the broadcast and the advertisements that aired during. The first high definiton broadcast I ever saw was the first time Final Four was shown in HD, and it had the same issues with blurriness and pixels. At the time, it convinced me HDTVs weren't worth the money. Last nights broadcast was better, but still not up to the quality we often see now in NBA and NFL productions. Who is to blame and what can be done to make the games even better to watch?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alan @ Apr 4th 2006 4:31PM
I watched the last few minutes on our plasma. It looked good to me and I didn't notice any sub-par angles. I found the sounds coming from the hoop to be a bit overpowering, though funny.
Minor issues with HD broadcasts like these are nothing in comparison to shows like The Amazing Race that would look GREAT in HD, but are destroyed with their lack of pixels. That's my opinion anyway.
MadcapMagician @ Apr 4th 2006 5:03PM
I didn't notice anything last night, but I didn't watch all of the games... I have noticed pixelation, blurrines, etc. in some high motion sports. I must say, though, that the best are NASCAR and NFL. Why is that?
Chris Wickersham @ Apr 4th 2006 5:27PM
The only time I noticed blurriness was on the floor shots when the LED displays (i.e. the advertising/announcement displays on the court) were in the background. I just figured it was some sort of interference, sort of like in the 'olden days' when you would see a computer monitor on the television and the difference in scan freq. would interfere with the picture. Otherwise it looked great!
Chris
Sean @ Apr 4th 2006 5:42PM
In Portland OR, via Comcast HD cable box, it was flawless. None of the problems you mentioned. Man, Florida owned! :o
BobMac @ Apr 4th 2006 5:46PM
The game looked really good overall here in the Bay Area on Comcast HD. The only problem (which is common on all HD sports programs) is a blurriness that last a few seconds and happens every 15 minutes or so. The entire picture goes fuzzy then slowly gets sharp.
Wayne @ Apr 4th 2006 11:25PM
Overall I thought CBS' image quality was well below average for the tournament. The image was generally slightly blurry or pixelated. It wasn't nearly as sharp as ABC's NFL or NBA broadcasts or Fox's NFL or NASCAR broadcasts. CSI looks great in HD, so I know CBS can distribute high quality content. I was surprised at how many venues weren't HD at the start of the tournament. Also, the BC-Villanova game was in SD for a couple of minutes at the start of the broadcast.
Yeah, so to recap, the CBS broadcast of the NCAA Men's tournament was pretty darn crappy.
Warren @ Apr 5th 2006 7:10AM
I recorded the Final Four and the Championship game (I'm a Florida fan) while I watched it. It went back again and looked at the games and didn't see any of the problems you are describing. Was it a perfect broadcast? No, there were some fuzzy shots, some pixelation at times and some sound drops outs, but overall I thought the quality was on par with CBS's coverage of the College Football season. Perhaps, people are seeing issues with their local stations, because it looked fine here in Tampa Bay.
Warren @ Apr 5th 2006 7:12AM
I recorded the Final Four and the Championship game (I'm a Florida fan) while I watched it. It went back again and looked at the games and didn't see any of the problems you are describing. Was it a perfect broadcast? No, there were some fuzzy shots, some pixelation at times and some sound drops outs, but overall I thought the quality was on par with CBS's coverage of the College Football season. Perhaps, people are seeing issues with their local stations, because it looked fine here in Tampa Bay.
Richard Lawler @ Apr 5th 2006 9:46AM
"No, there were some fuzzy shots, some pixelation at times and some sound drops outs,"
Those pretty much are the problems I'm describing. It wasn't pixely all the time, and it wasn't nearly as bad as their early round coverage was, but when they broadcast NFL games it is never that bad. There were a few particular shots that everytime they went to them they were totally pixeled, mostly the floor cams, and then they were still bad when they would show a highlight before or after a commercial break. Never happens on an NBA broadcast.
Thomas Crymes @ Apr 5th 2006 1:34PM
Hey peeps.
I believe that is because they aren't using HD Cameras all the time during the game. The shots where it looked fuzzy was most likely an SD camera with the image modified so it have a widescreen aspect ratio.
The early NFL HD broadcasts were the same way. Remember that camera that hangs from wires. During the first season in HD, that Camera was SD, and every time they cut to it, you could see that it was an inferior image.
I did not see the basketball game in question, but that is what it sounds like to me.