Thoughts On Superbowl

[mnr929rr]

Hate to be harsh,but tell me if i am wrong,was my tv that far out of focus??I will take cbs pixel problem over blurrie picture anytime.Movie trailers.......................AWESOME!Best part of superbowl.Closeups and halftime show good also.Please tell me it wasn't my TV>

[dheiner]

Well, I'm not sure what you were watching it on, but, on my tweaked Mits, the picture overall was stunning.  The only thing that really bothered me was that Madden was obviously looking at a different feed than I was, because he was talking about things that weren't on my screen.

[RickNeff]

The only thing that really bothered me was that Madden was obviously looking at a different feed than I was, because he was talking about things that weren't on my screen.

This would have bothered me to, but I really wasn't listening to Madden that much.

Overall, I loved it, despite I really didn't care about either team.  It did annoy me a bit that the score graphic in the corner was cut off with the quarter and time and the occational screen problems with WISN.  And personally, I can't wait to see an entire game, replays and all, shot in HD.

[borghe]

AVSForum had a post saying that the HD production was completely separate from the SD production. The most obvious example of this for me (aside from Madden's commenatary) was the fact that the HD cameras always seemed to hold to the very edge of the backfield. Even CBS (and especially FOX) would at times have the camera framed for 4:3 with a very empty backfield on screen and the CBs and Safeties not showing. ABC virtually never had that. Either you could see the tailbacks and most of the defenders or in a wideout formation you could see all of the defenders.

Overall ABCs presentation was beautiful. As for the quality... ummm.. Absolutely crystal clear on my set.. Looks like it's time for a calibration...

[AndrewP]

PQ was perfect. And I like DD sound a lot.
As for the camera work: I liked CBS more because they showed the whole field more often underlining the widesceen advantage. ABC was much closer to the ball.
I did not get why they switched to SD picture so often.
HD commercials - Oh!

Andrew

[2thdoc01]

I used a hughes e 86 STB/sat box and a front projector at 100 inches diagonal. The picture quality was AMAZING!!! It was like looking thru a window.  Now if TWC gets their stuff together I can return the Hughes!

I did think the replays in sd were aweful, and I can never watch sports on my mits 35 incher again!!

[kjnorman]

Originally posted by borghe
AVSForum had a post saying that the HD production was completely separate from the SD production. The most obvious example of this for me (aside from Madden's commenatary) was the fact that the HD cameras always seemed to hold to the very edge of the backfield.

We had the HD feed on in the living room and the analog feed on in the family room.  There was quite a bit of difference between to two feeds.  I also note that the HD cameras often came second to the SD cameras when there was a media scrum going on.

Overall we thought it was a pretty good show, apart from the technical breakdown just as Tampa got their third (first? I can not remember) touchdown - we quickly switched to the SD feed to get the action on that.

Overall my family we very impressed.  One comment that was made was that they would prefer even less close ups of the action and more of the camera pulling back so that they could see the play on the field.  More like being at the stadium.

Another thing we noticed was that the sound on the HD commentary was usually out of sync with the picture.

Summery:  Pretty good!  And yes, we loved the HD trailers for the movies and ESPN HD as well.  Especially when the fully dynamic dolby digital sound track kicked in on my speakers.  Made everyone jump.  

[Ron Pollitt]

We also had a beautiful OTA picture quality on our plasma unit.  The only annoying event was that the picture locked up as the first touchdown was being scored and we missed the play until it released in time to see the extra point being made.  Maybe this was my box, just wondering.  Alas, it didn't matter as unfortunately Tampa Bay scored several more times and the "old men " from Oakland went down in defeat.

Great to see what the fuutre of TV  sports will be like.

Ron

[RRP]

After watching the AFC playoffs on CBS and the SB on ABC, I have to give the nod to CBS with 1080i for picture detail.  I'm not sure if it makes a difference but I was watching on a Mits which upconverts to 1080i.  The difference in the progressive vs interlaced did not make up for the lower resolution on ABC.  YMMV

My guests didn't care either way, they were pretty impressed with HD and asked a few questions about how to get HD or if they could take my setup!:p

Anyway, kudos to both ABC and CBS for bringing HD to the playoffs/SB and looking forward to next season! And yes, sports is the killer ap. for HD: Football, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, ice skating(for my wife). Bring it on!

[Kevin Arnold]

Found this interesting AP story on the ABC telecast:

HDTV Scores Well During Super Bowl
   
By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
The scorecard on ABC's take-a-look-into-the-future HDTV broadcast of Sunday's Super Bowl:
The high-definition picture? Good as the Buccaneers' game plan. The theater-like sound? Loud as the late-night celebrations on Florida's Gulf Coast. (Think John Madden yelling "B-o-o-m!" in six-channel surround sound.)
The game? Uh, not so good. Of course, that was out of the control of ABC, whose telecast of Tampa Bay's 48-21 win over Oakland was so much more technically advanced and esthetically pleasing than its first HDTV Super Bowl in 2000, it was almost like comparing black and white TV to color.
Or, contrasting the regular analog telecast seen Sunday by an estimated 130 million-plus viewers to the state-of-tomorrow's-art HDTV game available to about 1 million on 65 ABC digital stations and assorted cable systems.
Despite the relatively small size of the audience, the super-picture Super Bowl could mark the start of HDTV's passage from an expensive gadget owned only by technophiles to the de rigueur centerpiece of America's family rooms.
"My neighbors, who are unfamiliar with high definition, said it was like looking through a window," said Ken Holsgrove, a visual imaging consultant from Detroit who moderates the Internet's most popular HDTV forum. "It was a very, very good effort. It's not perfect, but what is?"
Among those nearly perfect images Sunday that couldn't be seen on the traditional analog telecast:
Individual beads of sweat dripping off Warren Sapp (news)'s forehead. Gruesome slash marks on Mike Alstott (news)'s left arm and the calcium deposits on Jon Ritchie (news)'s forehead that showed up in much-too-real clarity. Stubble on nearly every coach's chin. Single blades of grass flying off kicker Martin Gramatica (news)'s shoe.
With a mostly noncompetitive game, though, many HDTV viewers did what most Super Bowl watchers did: They paid more attention to the commercials, especially with the telecast in 5.1 Dolby Digital sound for the first time.
"I've been an HDTV viewer for three years, and this combination of technology — HDTV and 5.1 Dolby Digital — is the holy grail of TV," said Ken Horonzy, who hosted a Super Bowl-watching party in Downer's Grove, Ill. "To see the amazement in my friends' eyes when watching the game was worth every penny I have invested in my HDTV."
Of course, there were glitches, including some scratchy audio and some picture dropouts in which the screen momentarily went black. With only one-quarter as many cameras available for the HDTV telecast as the main ABC production, what Al Michaels and John Madden were saying didn't always match what was on the screen.
Also, because of technology and monetary issues, there was no yellow first-down line or play-diagramming telestrator.
Overall, the production wasn't as error-free or visually striking as CBS' three AFC playoff games the previous two weeks — but, of course, this was ABC's first time out of the HDTV box in three years.
The numerous movie commercials Sunday were high definition all the way, with subwoofer-rocking sound and stunning visual imagery. The other ads were mostly standard definition, thus lessening their impact when seen on an HDTV set's theater-like rectangular screen (too bad FedEx's clever "Cast Away" commercial wasn't in high def).
If first-time high definition football viewers liked what they saw, there will be more to see next fall. Currently, three NFL games per week are planned for high definition: ABC's Monday night and ESPN's Sunday night games and one CBS game. By contrast, there were only four HDTV games — all during the playoffs — this season.
Many in the TV industry compare the slow but steady adoption of high definition to that of color TV in the 1960s and 1970s, but the pace is picking up. According to the National Association of Broadcasters, consumers bought 2.7 million digital sets last year, with sales projected to climb to 4 million this year.
TV retailers reported a big spike in sales during the week before the Super Bowl, when 11 percent of all big-screen set sales are traditionally made each year.
Cable is getting into the act, too. Only a handful of cable companies were HDTV-capable for the first two high-definition Super Bowls, on ABC in 2000 and CBS in 2001. Now, the 10 largest U.S. cable operators are rolling out HDTV boxes, with at least one cable company currently offering high definition in 62 of the top 100 U.S. markets.
The demand for HDTV sets and cable boxes is expected to increase when ESPN's HDTV channel goes on the air in March, with about 100 events annually in high-definition.
Other HDTV events this year are expected to include the NCAA (news - web sites) Final Four (news - web sites), the Masters, NCAA football, U.S. Open (news - web sites) tennis, major league baseball on ESPN, the Stanley Cup finals.
___

[oz]

I thought the picture and sound were awesome, except for the occasional drop out. I did miss the yellow first-down lines a little.  I know some other people have posted messages about clicks and pops on the HD channels over TWC, but they are very rare for me. I don't think I heard any during the game. And how about HD Alias afterwards? Jennifer Garner looked fantastic.

[uwgb96]

Originally posted by oz
I did miss the yellow first-down lines a little.

I mentioned to my guests if they noticed anything missing and then pointed out that the yellow line was gone.  They basically completely forgot about it.  Probably because of the fantastic PQ, but also because of the widescreen view where you basically see all players on the field at the same time which includes the first down marker.  

I loved being able to watch the linebackers and secondary adjust to the play call.

[lefty]

As for the yellow line, the same thing happened at our house.  Everyone was so astounded by the picture, we did not even notice the yellow line being missing until the 3rd quarted.  I am sure it will return when HD grows.

[torgo]

It looked and sounded great on TWC in Kenosha. The ESPNHD spot scared us off the couch when the sound kicked in. I thought it was funny, though, when Madden and Michaels were talking about people that the other broadcast were showing, but they didn't show them on the HD broadcast until after they were through. I agree that the CBS feed looked a bit better, but overall, I was quite impressed. Plus, the movie trailers in HD was a nice surprise.

What beats Shania Twain in HD?!?!?!?!

[johnmark]

Just to add m two cents.  It was a good broadcast that probably will do more for HDTV then anything to date.  I had 6 people over who have never seen HD.  One friend was sick and napped into the first quarter.  When she woke up she looked at the TV for 5 seconds and almost fell off the couch while commenting on how great it looked.  This from a woman who would not know a pixel from a scan line.

Everyone loved it and I suspect at least one household will have a new HD set this year.

Hopefully this happened in several hundred thousand houses this year.

John