FOX HDTV = no slow-mo for football

[neomaxi]

In checking some websights in regards to why FOX is so slow in getting HDTV for football games.  The reason I am hearing is because with HD, you cannot do Slow-motion. Does anyone know why this is?  I also heard that FOX will only do the 480P widescreen format and has no intention to move to HDTV???

[Gregg Lengling]

I think someone is pulling your leg.  I've watched CBS air college football and they've done slo-mo replays.  Maybe they just don't want to invest the monies in the switching gear.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[borghe]

Yeah, the college game on Saturday had slo-mo I thought. Although I also thought I read that somewhere from a Fox employee interview.

[Matt Heebner]

FAUX is full of poo-doo about this. So far every major sporting event thats been done in HD has had slow motion replay. I remember reading about FAUX claiming this so I have specifically looked for it. It is an absolute lie to claim otherwise.
Basically it comes down to this. FAUX has already invested a major amount of money into its "enhanced widescreen" production facilities and equipment. They tried to "guess" the future, and bet it would be 480p, with multi-casting instead of 1080i. Now that every station is either doing 1080i or 720p, they are alone in this thinking, but they are not about to spend even more money on even newer equipment. Me thinks its going to be a long time till we see true HD out of FAUX. They are not about to let their initial investment thats really only a few years old get waysted.

Matt

[borghe]

Actually, that's the point. They haven't invested nearly as much in 480p as they would have in 1080i equipment. The way I understand it most (all?) of their video is still shot in NTSC and then upconverted at the receiving facility. It's then sent out at 480p to the affiliates. So basically they converted one center (simplifying it a little) and that's it. Granted the stations have to buy the equipment twice now (possibly), but for stations like WITI who haven't purchased any receiving equipment yet there's no money lost. Basically as far as I see it Fox as a whole is trying to spread the cost of this transition over as long a time as possible.

[GS kid]

I watched SLO-MO of the winter games and the triple crown horse racing. I noticed something very odd. The moving images seem to do a digital stutter step effect unlike the smooth analog slo-mo. It's like the shutter speed of HD cameras is less, so it samples images less often. This means less frames per second and dropped frames. This was one of the many reasons FOX gave for it's resistance to going to HD. I kinda didn't like it , but give me HD and I'll put up with it. Future HD cameras will solve this problem I'm sure. ---- GS kid