El Kabong

Neither of ABC's Saturday games were. Neither was CBS on Sunday (last year all their playoffs were HD). FOX was the only one to have their game in their "advanced Widescreen Resolution" or whatever they call it (I've noticed their games of the week have been HD most of the season.) My friend said he saw an ad saying the Superbowl would be in HD. Is this true? If ABC has HD football capability (Monday Night was HD about 3 years ago), why weren't either of the games this week HD? Or the College Championship game? CBS was doing HD college games all year. Hopefully this is true & maybe they'll give it a try for MNF again.

Belvison

Yes....

shanester

The games were in HD for me but NOT shown in 16:9 why is that??

Stats

Here's what I've read in numerous threads at avsforum - great site for HD stuff in case you haven't heard of it.

Yes, the Superbowl will be in HD. ABC didn't have an HD sponsor for their wild card games, so no HD there.

The sponsorship deal between CBS and (I think) RCA was for only 3 games, hence only the AFC semis and championship will be HD on CBS. None of this past weekend's games were true HD (720p or 1080i).

MNF was HD in the past b/c of a sponsorship deal with (I think) Panasonic.

Faux of course doesn't do true HD.

Fortunately, ABC/Disney has announced that they will become leaders in HD over this coming year. The Superbowl is just the first event. ESPN-HD will also be launched this year. Should be a great year for HD.

shanester

STATS

IF a program is NOT shown in 16:9 oar then it`s not considered HD even though it`s shows on a hd channel is this correct??

Stats

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's correct. AFAIK, all true HD content is 16x9. But I don't think you can use 16x9 by itself to tell if something is HD or not.

When you talk about a program in HD, you're actually referring to how it was originally shot, not how your local station broadcasts it. Programs like the SEC football games, upcoming AFC games and Superbowl, Leno and PBS documentaries are shot using HD cameras so they're in HD from the start. Most TV series, like CSI, are not shot using HD cameras but are considered HD b/c they are shot on film and then converted to HD, so they still look great - but not as great as Leno. And they are all also 16x9.

Your local station might upconvert everything to 1080i but that's not considered HD unless it was originally shot in HD. For example, my local news is 1080i but you can totally tell it's an upconvert - it looks more "digital" than true HD, not as smooth. And some of these can still be 16x9 even though they're not HD. Some stations have a stretched picture that is definitely not HD even though it's 16x9.

Don't know if this was much help, but it's what I've learned from more than a year of lurking at avsforum. Maybe someone else will chime in with a simpler explanation.

shanester

STATS

I'm more confused now than b4 but thanks for the explanation..

El Kabong

If it's 4x3 with bars on the left & right it's not HD, but still clearer than a digital station because they upconvert the signal to a higher resolution. The only station I've seen that upconverts AND stretches the picture of a 4x3 show to be 16x9 is PBS-HD during the day for the kids shows. I guess they figure little kids don't want to see the bars. Otherwise, if it's 16x9 or 2:35:1 it is HD. You can easily tell the difference on PBS if it's stretched or HD.

huzefa

Not necessarily. Shows upconverted to 1080i that are broadcast in 4:3 are also considered HD, but not true HD. My local ABC station (WLS) upconverts, and crops to broadcast a 16x9 1080i image. That too is not True HD. True HD is stuff that is SHOT and BROADCAST in 16x9 1080i.