WISN goes widescreen (but not HD)

[foxeng]

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.

If the cameras will do 16:9, you can transition to SD 16:9 for about 1/15th (yes one-fifteenth) of the cost of going HD. Most people will think they are HD anyway just because the full screen is being used.

[ddeerrff]

Most people will think they are HD anyway just because the full screen is being used.

Other than subjective picture quality, how can you tell for sure?  

My TV tells me the WISN signal is 1280x720@60Hz - that's an HD signal.  Of course that doesn't mean the source material is captured in HD, but how is the average viewer going to know the difference?

[foxeng]

Other than subjective picture quality, how can you tell for sure?  

My TV tells me the WISN signal is 1280x720@60Hz - that's an HD signal.  Of course that doesn't mean the source material is captured in HD, but how is the average viewer going to know the difference?

The average person doesn't know what the source resolution is. They have been told that 16:9 = HD. So they see a 16:9 picture, so it MUST be HD, even if it isn't. It works in the short term for the station not HD. Over time, people begin to realize there is a difference in PQ between the stations doing HD and those that aren't, but it isn't overnight. The non HD station is hoping that by the time the viewers realize that, they will be in HD and it won't matter.

Case in point, in my market, we were the first station to go 16:9, but SD for our news. Even though nothing was said about HD, most people assumed we were HD because it was 16:9. It raised ratings for us and lowered the ratings of the other 2 news stations, who were 16:9 SD within 6 months (one being a sister station of WISN and being the last news station in the market to go 16:9).

We recently went HD (first in the market) and have been pushing the heck out of it and our ratings have a slight uptick with no decrease to the other 2 stations who haven't uttered the letters HD at all. The viewers assumed that we were already in HD. It worked in our favor and it allowed us to do HD right when the time came.

This is being repeated in many markets.

[Nels Harvey]

My wife can't see the difference between 16X9 SD and HD.  Her vision, like many others, is not 100%  Many others, unlike those of us on this forum, don't really care either way.  Filling the whole screen, rather than using pillar bars, is more pleasing to their perception.  I think many view it as 'It's better than nothing!"

While SD is obviously lower quality than even 720P HD, camera improvements over the years give us a reasonable picture, certainly good enough to give us the 'talking heads' in most newscasts.  I think WISN's approach is a good move while they upgrade all that needs to be done to provide us with true HD pictures later on.

[Tom Snyder]

The average person doesn't know what the source resolution is.

Especially on a smaller screen, or if they're sitting some distance from the TV. We have a 32 inch LCD in the bedroom, and as far as we sit away from the screen if we're watching in bed, I honestly can't tell the difference between 12's SD widescreen and TMJ4's HD.  But the difference is huge close up in our basement with a 92 inch projection screen.

[REVM1M]

WISN 12 should be ashamed of themself  by trying to fool people with 16:9 instead of HD.

[Steve Mann]

If the cameras will do 16:9, you can transition to SD 16:9 for about 1/15th (yes one-fifteenth) of the cost of going HD. Most people will think they are HD anyway just because the full screen is being used.

Wow... If it's truly that big of a savings, then that's probably the reason behind it all. If they were still in need of equipment to do true HD, this gets them closer at a substantial savings.

Not saying I like it, but it likely explains the move.

[foxeng]

Wow... If it's truly that big of a savings, then that's probably the reason behind it all. If they were still in need of equipment to do true HD, this gets them closer at a substantial savings.

Not saying I like it, but it likely explains the move.

If you already have the cameras that will do 16:9, by just adding some AR converters and 16:9 monitors and retooling the graphics, you can pretty much use all existing SD equipment. Instead of formatting the picture for just 4:3. you format the picture for 4:3 anamorphic. It is still technically 720x480, but the image within that raster, when stretched appears 16:9. This is exactly what FOX did back in the Digital Widescreen days before they did HD.

The only caveat is to get the best PQ anthropomorphically, the signal paths need to be digital and not analog. Analog NTSC bandwidth artifacts become exaggerated with anamorphic formatting and the PQ is noticeably degraded. With digital, you don't have those bandwidth limitations. Remember this isn't 864x480 formatting which would be true 16:9 but 720x480 anamorphic, They aren't the same. 864 is mostly square pixels where 720 is round pixels. We did a lot of experimenting with pixels verses lines when we went anamorphic 16:9 to get the best PQ and the shape of the pixel has a lot to do with the PQ and AR at those resolutions. Quite interesting stuff.

[WITI6fan]

I'm hoping that the delay for HD is them waiting on a new set.

This one looks bad even in SD.

[LoadStar]

I'm hoping that the delay for HD is them waiting on a new set.

This one looks bad even in SD.

It's better than WITI's studio A, but not as good as studio B.  I think the worst thing that can be said about it is that it's a little bland.

Edit: and it's MILES better than the Upfront studio (I don't know what WISN calls it). It looks like it is just the old 12 News This Morning set that the used way back when, with bits of set dressing tacked onto it.

[duncantuna]

I'm really pleased 12 went 16:9 .. to be honest, I really have to stare at it from my couch to see that it's not HD.    

Love to see CBS58 do the same thing.

[LoadStar]

Man, as time goes along, it seems that WISN is further and further from being HD.

At this point, they are a horrifying mish-mash of 4:3 clips stretched to 16:9, 16:9 clips that are squashed down to 4:3, 16:9 clips that are cropped and black pillarboxed to 4:3, 4:3 content that is already black pillarboxed, 4:3 content with that funky mirror-blur pillarboxing, and I think I may have even seen 16:9 content center-zoomed for who knows what reason.

The studio shots and motion graphics are done right... but that's about it.

I can't believe that it can be this hard to log footage with what image aspect ratio and pixel aspect ratio it is supposed to be, then use that information to correctly frame it on air.

[gparris]

Man, as time goes along, it seems that WISN is further and further from being HD.

At this point, they are a horrifying mish-mash of 4:3 clips stretched to 16:9, 16:9 clips that are squashed down to 4:3, 16:9 clips that are cropped and black pillarboxed to 4:3, 4:3 content that is already black pillarboxed, 4:3 content with that funky mirror-blur pillarboxing, and I think I may have even seen 16:9 content center-zoomed for who knows what reason.

The studio shots and motion graphics are done right... but that's about it.

I can't believe that it can be this hard to log footage with what image aspect ratio and pixel aspect ratio it is supposed to be, then use that information to correctly frame it on air.

So that is what was going on when I tuned in, just to see if WISN12HD had really done what FOX6HD and TMJ4HD had done for local HD news, but no.
-I got sick watching their news programming and switched to one of the other 2, what a mess.:rolleyes:
IF CBS58HD tries this, count me out.

[REVM1M]

Some people who don't know too much about HD, think they are watching CH12 news in HD. WISN 12 is getting away with this scam and should be punished for it by people NOT WATCHING THEIR NEWS CAST.:bang::bang:

[Xizer]

I've been punishing every Milwaukee affiliate for years by not watching their newscast :p

The only people who watch the local news are old people and they don't care about HD anyway.