WISN goes widescreen (but not HD)

[mrschimpf]

Pretty well about the most non-chalant introduction to 16:9 news ever; Kathy and Toya said they hope that everyone enjoys the screen completely filled and moved on with the newscast. Nothing about HD, but judging from the video quality of some of the news clips in the last couple of weeks (it seems like the quality is much lower than usual, like YouTube quality) and the fact some of the HD syndie shows have aired in SD lately they're working off some backup unit while they get their HD equipment up and running.

At least they were upfront that it's widescreen and they're not going with TMJ's 'we're HD...but only in the studio' strategy.

[jrh1985]

WISN may not be HD, but they do have new things fo weather watch 12 and they have a new quick cast for 12 News This morning.  Did 12 news at 5PM have a new open?

[LoadStar]

Yeah, it's widescreen, but everything is clearly still framed for center-cut 4:3, so the only real immediate benefit is to finally lose the WISN 12 pillars.

Edit: hints of a graphics package in the Weather Watch 12 segment... but MAN do they need to give Mark a new weather graphics computer. That poor thing was CHUGGING trying to render the fly-in graphics.

[mrschimpf]

WISN may not be HD, but they do have new things fo weather watch 12 and they have a new quick cast for 12 News This morning.  Did 12 news at 5PM have a new open?

The entire existing package they've had the last few months is actually 16:9 so there was no need to create new graphics.

[WITI6fan]

At least they were upfront that it's widescreen and they're not going with TMJ's 'we're HD...but only in the studio' strategy.

At least WTMJ could air taped packages in HD, WISN seems to still be shooting everything onto tape judging by the quality... Even the 16:9 taped reports they had were poor quality.

[trev57]

At least WTMJ could air taped packages in HD, WISN seems to still be shooting everything onto tape judging by the quality... Even the 16:9 taped reports they had were poor quality.

It definitely seemed like a rush job to go 16:9. Hopefully they will get everything worked out now that the "test run" is over.

[REVM1M]

who cares about 16:9:bang:I want to see HD

[Steve Mann]

So... we're thinking even the studio shots are SD framed to 16:9? What would be the hold up on going completely HD? Are they fully equipped with cameras and gear? I can understand the remote shots still being SD as maybe they don't have enough HD cameras yet, but you'd think they'd be fully prepared to air the studio shots in HD. Strange if true...

[trev57]

So... we're thinking even the studio shots are SD framed to 16:9? What would be the hold up on going completely HD? Are they fully equipped with cameras and gear? I can understand the remote shots still being SD as maybe they don't have enough HD cameras yet, but you'd think they'd be fully prepared to air the studio shots in HD. Strange if true...

The studio shots are definately SD. I'm not sure if WISN has any HD news equipment, although one of the anchors did say they were in the process of making upgrades, so who knows?

[WITI6fan]

The studio shots are definately SD. I'm not sure if WISN has any HD news equipment, although one of the anchors did say they were in the process of making upgrades, so who knows?

The studio video looks like it's downconverted HD. I can already tell that set it going to look terrible once it's actually in HD.

[Steve Mann]

The studio shots are definately SD. I'm not sure if WISN has any HD news equipment, although one of the anchors did say they were in the process of making upgrades, so who knows?

Yeah, saw it this morning. Definitely SD. How disappointing.  

[LoadStar]

So... we're thinking even the studio shots are SD framed to 16:9?

Actually, they're 16:9 images framed to 4:3. The extra space where the pillarboxing was is never used, so they can center cut the image to 4:3 for those viewers.

[Steve Mann]

Actually, they're 16:9 images framed to 4:3. The extra space where the pillarboxing was is never used, so they can center cut the image to 4:3 for those viewers.

Right, I worded that wrong. I shouldn't have used 'framed'. It's obviously still framed for 4:3 (except for the ticker/scroll at the bottom). Still, I wonder why they even bothered... again, they think folks won't notice? Why not way until they can go true HD.

[foxeng]

Right, I worded that wrong. I shouldn't have used 'framed'. It's obviously still framed for 4:3 (except for the ticker/scroll at the bottom). Still, I wonder why they even bothered... again, they think folks won't notice? Why not way until they can go true HD.

It is general practice in the industry now to continue to use 4:3 safe title area even on a 16:9 raster due to the number of 4:3 analog sets that are still in the market (over 90% of homes still have at least one 4:3 analog still in use). The current FOX Sports 16:9/letterbox is a prime example. Cable doesn't want to do it because of the complaints they get from those with 4:3, even if they have HD sets in other rooms.

[Steve Mann]

It is general practice in the industry now to continue to use 4:3 safe title area even on a 16:9 raster due to the number of 4:3 analog sets that are still in the market (over 90% of homes still have at least one 4:3 analog still in use). The current FOX Sports 16:9/letterbox is a prime example. Cable doesn't want to do it because of the complaints they get from those with 4:3, even if they have HD sets in other rooms.

Right, I understand that. Again, I must not be expressing myself very well. I'm wondering why they bothered going with a 16:9 image when it's only SD. Why not way till they could provide an HD image as well? Seems like a half-assed move to me.