NBA on NBC April 6

[Tom Weeden]

I can't speak for WTMJ, but NBC announced that this Saturday's Dallas/San Antonio NBA game will be broadcast in HD starting at 4 PM.

WMTV-DT will be carrying it.

--Tom Weeden
  Chief Engineer, WMTV/WMTV-DT
  Madison WI

[Matt Heebner]

Sean??? Any word on this?

Matt

[oflaherty]

I'm sure WTMJ-DT will carry the game too.
We're still waiting to get the official word since our Assistant Chief Engineer was out of the office Monday.
We heard about the NBA game from Tom Weeden.

----
Sean at WTMJ

[Kevin Arnold]

Sean, any word on when TMJ-DT will go 24-7? I guess I'm assuming that as of May 1st the station will be on all the time.

------------------
Kevin Arnold
38" RCA widescreen w/a Winegard on a rotor.

[Tom Weeden]

Clarification: only the game itself will be in HD.  The pre-game and post-game shows will  not.  I *think* the tip-off is around 4:30 PM.




------------------
--Tom Weeden
  Amateur Radio WJ9H
  Chief Engineer, WMTV/WMTV-DT
  Madison, WI

[oflaherty]

Four shot items:

Just for the record WTMJ-DT will indeed show this weekend's NBC basketball game in HD.

I believe the FCC has pushed back the deadlines for us to duplicate the full time schedule.

For those who didn't see it, the FCC chairman has some interesting suggestions to get HDTV moving forward.  http://news.com.com/2100-1023-876469.html?tag=cd_mh

I'm off to the National Association of Broadcaster's convention in Las Vegas next week so I may be a little slow in responding to questions for a few days.

Sean at WTMJ

[MesaV]

This broadcast is to good to be done by NBC.  Since it's a Dallas game, I wonder if Mark Cuban has his trucks there.  I really like the way that they're handling the standard broadcast; picture framed.  Looks very professional.

[Tom Snyder]

So 4:30 Rolls around, the game starts and TMJ digital is MIA. 15 minutes into the game, a full screen digital logo shows up.. and that's where it's sitting.

What's going on over there?  Is Sean the ONLY one there who knows how to make it work?

[Tom Snyder]

Now the game is on... but it's in SD... This would be funny if it weren't so sad...

Anyone know a phone number over there?

[This message has been edited by Tom Snyder (edited 04-07-2002).]

[oflaherty]

I'll try to find out what happened, but being in Vegas I'm a little out of position.

Sean

[Tom Snyder]

The game they were showing was the Lakers/Heat game. The Mavs/Spurs game was the one in HD.

BTW, Sean.. have a great time in Vegas... I really miss the Spring NAB... Whenh I was in Broadcasting myself, I went every year. That's where I first saw HDTV at least 10 years ago and said to myself "Gotta get one of those some day"

[oflaherty]

WTMJ master control was ready for the HD game Saturday, but didn't read this forum, so they thought coverage would start with the pre-game. That's why we put up the NBC HD feed right on time (but it was just NBC bars).

Eventually master switched to the SD feed. Master says they eventually figured out what was happening and went to the HD feed, but I don't know how far into the game that was.

We need to get some better communication going with NBC to find out what they are doing exactly. Trying to out guess them isn't working.

(NAB Report moved to Special NAB Thread in events area - Tom)
--
Sean


[Note: This message has been edited by Tom Snyder]

[Tom Snyder]

By not reading this forum, the Master Control guys also don't realize that what they tell you can be confirmed or denied by an independent outside source.

Here's what I saw...

Kept tuning in during the last half hour of the Golf match that ran between the games to see if there was a digital signal.. Nothing there. Didn't even see color bars.. just the "weak signal" message I get whenever 26 isn't on.

Even after golf was over, and the game had started there was still no signal.

I kept switching back and forth between 4 and 26 because a blank screen is not my defintion of entertainemnt.    

About 15 minutes after the game started, the WMTJ Digital 26 Full screen logo came up, and that's all that was there for a good portion of the first half.

Finally a game came on, but it wasn't the HD Spurs/Mavs game, it was the upconverted 4:3 SD Lakers/Heat game, and that's what was carried to its conclusion.

And if that's not the truth, may God strike me dead! Was anyone else watching who can back me up?  

[Tom Snyder]

Sean:

I believe the NAB classifes as a special Event, so I've started a New thread there for you to post any news that you find interesting from Vegas...

[oflaherty]

One final note on last Saturday's NBA problem.. a phone number to call.
Now that the group has grown beyond 100 members it is probably best to call me and the guys at the assignment desk if there's a problem. We can't fix it ourselves, but we can call master on the intercom or walk across the hall.
414 967-5398 is my number. Or call the tipline 414 963-4444. It rings on my phone and all the assignment desk phones.

--
Sean (just back from Vegas)