Peter King on Inside the Nfl Rpts.Pats/Bears Tilt Likely to move to Sunday nite

[hwc]

Besides, there is HDTV and there is HDTV. 720i (interlaced), is just a halfway measure, yet it can still be called HDTV.

True HDTV is 1020p (Progressive) and the only one that truly counts. How many bradcasts now are in that format?

Just a couple of factual corrections. There are two HDTV broadcast standards in current use:

Progressive scan: 720p
ABC, ESPN, National Geographic HD

Interlaced scan: 1080i
CBS, NBC, PBS, Discovery HD, HBO, Showtime, Starz, INHD, et al

There are some theoretical advantages and disadvantages to both formats. However, both can (and do) provide utterly stunning video quality. Any issues with poor quality HDTV video have absolutely nothing to do with the limitations of either of these broadcast standards.

Virtually all CRT-based HDTV sets display 1080i as the native resolution and convert 720p signals to 1080i for display. Virtually all digital HDTV sets (LCD, Plasma, DLP) display 720p as the native resolution and convert 1080i signals to 720p for display.

720p versus 1080i is really a non-issue.

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BTW, Dolby Digital is the defacto standard for audio HDTV audio streams in the United States. The issue is whether or not the audio is mixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround or Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. Not all local affiliates are equipped to pass-thru a DD5.1 audio track.

 

[hwc]

BTW, the concensus best guess on the crappy NBC high-def quality is that it is caused by issues at the local affiliate levels. Apparently, there are problems with the equipment NBC distributed to their affiliates and the way it is setup. Some local affiliate engineers have reportedly fixed the problems. Also, NBC affiliates use a chunk of the HDTV bandwidth to simulcast some stupid weather info stream. Most of the knowledgeable video folk believe that the problems with pixelation on rapid movement scenes (like football) are related to a lack of available bandwidth and too much compression applied to the HD stream at the affiliate level.

I find it hard to believe that the broadcast engineers manning the production trucks at the NBC games are seeing that kind of godawful picture quality on their production monitors. Everybody contracts with the same trucks from the same companies.

I've e-mailed Channel 7 after every game complaining, but I don't think they care. It will take a lot of e-mails from a lot of people to get their attention. As it stands now, I have stopped watching NBC Sunday Night Football, unless its an absolute "must-see" game like the Pats. The video quality is simply unacceptable.

 

[Yankees/Colts]

FOX protecting iggles-colts and not Bears-Pats is EXACTLY what's wrong with sports today. What a pack of idiots. Good for us, though.

:rocker:

The Colts = Hollywood, Superstars. The Colts are a blockbuster action movie. :rocker:

The Patriots = Not so much...