Thoughts on Fox6 Widescreen PQ

[SugarRay]

After watching some NASCAR on fox over the weekend, here are my comments:
While definately better than their standard analog, I could definately tell the difference between Fox's Widescreen (480P) and the other HD stations (NBC, CBS, ABC ) broadcast in 720 or 1080. Fox's picture was not as sharp,etc.

Anybody else notice a difference?

Does anybody know what shows Fox is putting on "Widescreen"?  The Fox web site did not say:wave:

[The Law]

The only one I know about is "24".  Can't wait, either.  Oh, and Nascar, too.

[torgo]

I and a buddy turned on the Nascar race to check out the PQ (not big Nascar fans.) The PQ was nice, but no where near as nice as true HD. The one issue that we did notice was that the graphics were very "jumpy." The race itself looked fine, but the issue with the graphics was pretty bad. As mentioned above, I'll have a better opnion after watching 24 on Tuesday night.

[mr_yeti]

Not impressed. At all.

I kept flipping between 506 and 510, and FOX should be ashamed of itself. Mind you, I'm not a big fan of left turns, but still... it didn't look much better than standard definition to me. Maybe a little better, but there's no question that it looks like garbage compared to HD material. I WAS interested to see the Packers in ED, but I realize now that I can do without.

I don't know, maybe it's just because of the visceral response I had to actually watching NASCAR intentionally. It didn't feel good.

[tschinner]

I'll agree with the others on the board regarding the picture quality.  However, I do like the use of the widescreen format.  I watched some of Fox News Sunday and some of the race.  On Fox News Sunday they use the same shots as the 4:3 version but they fill the full 16:9 picture.  (Essentially the 4:3 version is a cropped 16:9)  Until we can get everyone actually taking advantage of the HD picture quality and aspect ratio I would like to see more use of this technique (local news, etc.)  It beats looking at a stretched 4:3 picture.

[JohnRacine]

I saw the race from Las Vegas on 32-1 (FOX Chicago) and it was very good to excellent.  The graphics were sharp & steady and fit perfectly onto the screen, audio was excellent, and the picture was clear and far better than non-digital.  While not HD quality, it was a pleasure to watch and a leap forward.  Perhaps FOX 6 in Milwuakee is having problems sending you the feed that Chicago  sends out to us OTA users.  Again, the race on 32-1 was great to watch.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by JohnRacine
I saw the race from Las Vegas on 32-1 (FOX Chicago) and it was very good to excellent.  The graphics were sharp & steady and fit perfectly onto the screen, audio was excellent, and the picture was clear and far better than non-digital.  While not HD quality, it was a pleasure to watch and a leap forward.  Perhaps FOX 6 in Milwuakee is having problems sending you the feed that Chicago  sends out to us OTA users.  Again, the race on 32-1 was great to watch.

Finally some confirmation.  I guess I'll have to keep waiting for Fox 6 to pipe me the real network feed.  I can't imagine watching 6-1 without jumping graphics.  It's really hard on the eyes.  

Starving

[gyoung]

When I tuned it to see the NASCAR on TWC it looked to me like a computer monitor when it's refresh rate is set to 60Mhz.  It had the flashy look to it.

I don't remember jumpy graphics or anything, but I didn't really look and only tuned in for about 3 minutes.  

Next time they have another broadcast I'll keep my eyes open.

[The Law]

I did not see any of the Nascar, though i'll be looking for '24' tonight.  I'll see how it compares to Alias, etc.....

[gparris]

Just saw "24" on FOX Widescreen on channel 506 (TWC) and I was prepared to me unimpressed....WRONG!  
Thank you, TWC,  for having WITI-DT on your system...it was great- not as in HD great,  but much better than I thought, Dolby Digital 2.0  and all! Colors were vibrant, somewhat dimensional, and progressive-scan DVD-like in appearance. Commercials were in SD,  boxed-in like the other HD-TWC channels do , unstretched, but it was OK.  I can hardly wait for "John Doe" and other FOX shows-like "Firefly" if it returns to FOX.  7-8  HD/SDTV channels on TWC, with special events on 503-maybe "pigs" can fly.

[The Law]

I will agree.  The Widescreen version of '24' on TWC was much better than the regular feed.  It did seem a little choppy on the high shots (looking down) of Bauer's plane as it flew over the city at night and a little grainy as well (in contrast to the rest of the show).  Whether or not this was a directorial or technological issue, I don't know.

Knowing what CSI, Alias, etc. look like, I could tell somewhat of a difference, however, not enough to complain about.

Funny, I'm starting to check out shows just because they are HD.  I wonder how many other people do...

Also, does it seem as though the HD shows are still being filmed as though they're 4:3 and not being directed as though they are wide?

[oz]

I was unimpressed. Picture quality is MUCH worse than Alias and CSI. I watched some other shows too, like Malcolm in the Middle. They just looked bad. Widescreen is better than the stretched alternative, but I'm disappointed in the quality. I'm still dying to see The Simpsons in true HD.

[mr_yeti]

Ah, a fellow Simpsons fan. I'd bet dollars to mmmmmmmmmm...donuts that the Simpsons are off the air before FOX finally gets with the program. The DVDs are quite well done, however. That's probably about as good as it's going to get.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by gyoung
When I tuned it to see the NASCAR on TWC it looked to me like a computer monitor when it's refresh rate is set to 60Mhz.  It had the flashy look to it.

I don't remember jumpy graphics or anything, but I didn't really look and only tuned in for about 3 minutes.  

Next time they have another broadcast I'll keep my eyes open.

Basically that's what I mean by jumpy graphics.  The strange flickering type stuff.  Example look at the edge of the graphics during local news or NASCAR or NFL games.  You will see the flicker or jumpiness I think.  It seems as though this is a problem at our local Faux station, not the network.

Like people have said, the picture is better than 4:3, but significantly worse than 1080i or 720P

Starving

[warzo]

John Doe on Friday nights is also  widescreen.  FastLane may be too - I didn't get a chance to check last night.

Compared to the HD sports and shows I've seen on the other networks Fox widescreen is noticably not as good.  It does look better than analog and almost as good as DVD.

It appears Fox is using the same feed for standard screens - their logo and some graphics don't end up in the corners of the widescreen.  Seeing the FOX logo in the right side center of the screen gets a bit annoying after a while.