Slightly OT: Anyone else thinks Fox Sports HD is crap?

[BradyManny]

Does anyone else see a huge drop-off in picture quality between CBS/NBC and FOX sports? I can't be the only one. I remember the Skins-Pats game barely looked like HD to me.

So anyone else agree? I'm really bummed the Super Bowl will be on Fox. I'll be watching the game with my fam, who has a bigger & better TV than I do, and the discrepancy in picture quality between CBS and FOX is even more noticeable on their set.

Now, I've tried to figure out what it could be. I know Fox is 720p, but by my understanding, it seems 1080i and 720 progressive isn't really a huge drop-off. Or shouldn't be.

So the next logical step is to blame Comcast, which I'm very open to doing since I think they suck to begin with, and as their HD signals seemed somewhat compressed to begin with, it's not hard to imagine one signal being even more munged than another.

However, other FOX programming looks like pretty crytsal clear HD, so I'm left to coming to the conclusion that the cameras that they use for Fox Sports must not be up to par with CBS.

Any thoughts?

 

[Patriots Nation NY]

Get FIOS.. It's great..

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

Actually, I think NBC's sports telecast on the SUnday night games is the worst. Is it Hi-Def? I don't even know, but I know it sux.

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

Get FIOS.. It's great..

What is that?

 

[Larry Whigham]

Get FIOS.. It's great..

FIOS is the way to go but its not available everywhere yet.

 

[BradyManny]

Get FIOS.. It's great..

I have RCN, and to be honest, my TV isn't big enough to really notice that the HD signals over cable are compressed, everything looks pretty crisp, albeit on a smaller monitor. But my rents have Comcast and would kill to get FIOS if it ever enters their area. I'm guessing the picture is considerably better, right?

 

[Patriots Nation NY]

What is that?

Verizon offers it.. Fiber optics .. Plus NFL Network..

 

[Patriots Nation NY]

I have RCN, and to be honest, my TV isn't big enough to really notice that the HD signals over cable are compressed, everything looks pretty crisp, albeit on a smaller monitor. But my rents have Comcast and would kill to get FIOS if it ever enters their area. I'm guessing the picture is considerably better, right?

Yup.. I just got it this week .. It finally was made avail in my area.. The major thing for me was the NFL network..

 

[BostonBullit]

I grabbed the transport stream directly from my comcast cable box during that Pats Skins game and it looks fine to me...but I spent the majority of my time looking at horribly crappy SD so I guess I'd have to compare it to a ts capture from one of the other networks to say for sure

 

[BrianPat]

Yup.. I just got it this week .. It finally was made avail in my area.. The major thing for me was the NFL network..

Would love to go with FIOS, but only Direct TV has the Sunday Tickets, which I need. They do offer a package including Direct TV, which is interesting since they offer a TV service of their own.

 

[MRBLAZE]

I disagree.

I have a big screen Plasma HDTV, and CBS, NBC, FOX games all look amazing. Football, baseball, basketball, hockey all look great. Do you have one of those LCD's with a 4:3 viewing ratio? I love my plasma, and I'm viewing in 16:9 with none of those silly borders, looks amazing.

 

[BradyManny]

I disagree.

I have a big screen Plasma HDTV, and CBS, NBC, FOX games all look amazing. Football, baseball, basketball, hockey all look great. Do you have one of those LCD's with a 4:3 viewing ratio? I love my plasma, and I'm viewing in 16:9 with none of those silly borders, looks amazing.

It's not my TV that I really notice it but my family's, mainly b/c the screen is so much bigger, so naturally, any artifacts are going to be more apparent. My rents TV is an LCD, Sony, and it is the 16x9 HD Fox channel which I was viewing. HD typically looks amazing on it, even though its not FIOS and its bound to have some compression, it still looks very crisp, great contrast, with bold colors.

As I said, Fox programming looks just great on it, but specifically their sports programming looks very soft, the resolution just doesn't look the same, and the graphics have considerable amounts of artifacts.

 

[WhiZa]

CBS is the worse than FOX. They had audio issues all year this year and were the cause of everyone thinking Indy was piping in noise.

The video is fine IMO. ESPN has the best probably because they put the most money into it. The only think I dislike about FOX is Joe Buck.

 

[Hudson Pats Fan]

Fox isn't all that bad...I'd say that NBC's HD is the worst of them all. ESPN being the best because its actually in 1080i(I think) while the rest still aren't up to those standards.

 

[letekro]

Fox HD > CBS HD > NBC HD

IMO.

 

[Ethan 55]

They all look great to me, and I'm projecting onto a 90" screen. The one thing I've noticed is that the Fox surround sound is waaaaay better than the CBS surround sound. I barely notice it with CBS, but with Fox it sounds like I'm sitting in the middle of the crowd.

 

[ClevTrev]

That's funny about CBS, because my picture and sound during the AFCCG were incredibly good. One of the best telecasts I've seen on HD. I've got DirecTV, and the HD picture does vary occasionally depending on the network. Fox is ok, but CBS was why HD is so appealing. I've got a 52-inch screen and high-quality, matched surround speakers, not any of those micro jobs. You'd have thought you were in the stands and could just walk down to the field.

 

[NYPatsFan]

I actually prefer Fox's 720p broadcast to CBS, NBC and ESPN's 1080i. I apologize from going even further off topic but in my opinion, 720p is better for sporting events and live action because it's actually displaying 60 frames per second. The trade off is that you get slightly less lines of resolution than 1080i, but the extra frames per second more than make up for that.

On the other hand, 1080i broadcasts are great for movies and TV shows but not as good for sports. 1080i offers half as many frames per second but more lines of resolution.

Obviously, if your provider is compressing the HD signal too much, neither will look very good. But all things being equal, I'd rather watch football on 720p.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

That's funny about CBS, because my picture and sound during the AFCCG were incredibly good. One of the best telecasts I've seen on HD. I've got DirecTV, and the HD picture does vary occasionally depending on the network. Fox is ok, but CBS was why HD is so appealing. I've got a 52-inch screen and high-quality, matched surround speakers, not any of those micro jobs. You'd have thought you were in the stands and could just walk down to the field.

Do you get all HD channels via satellite? I still get some of the local channels via over air antenna, and that's where I get a drop off in quality. I love Sunday ticket, because even if the Pats are on the local channels, I can switch to Sunday Ticket HD channel and get better clarity.

 

[ClevTrev]

Do you get all HD channels via satellite? I still get some of the local channels via over air antenna, and that's where I get a drop off in quality. I love Sunday ticket, because even if the Pats are on the local channels, I can switch to Sunday Ticket HD channel and get better clarity.

I switched to the new dish and 5 LNB configuration last summer. When I did, I no longer needed the separate antenna for the locals. I get far more HD channels and the locals look great as well. DirecTV keeps adding more HD channels every month, as they launched a new satellite and many more stations are now complying with the FCC HD mandate.

Edit: Before I switched to the new dish, I used to do the same as you, use the NFL ticket channels via satellite instead of the locals over the separate antenna. No need to do that anymore.