Any news on NBC Sports plan for F1 coverage?

Let us know where to send the body.

 

Hmmmm... Hit man?

 

Little disappointed they're not covering FP3.

Given a choice, I'd rather have FP3 and miss FP1. Tends to be just a track cleaning exercise.

Oh well. All in all not too bad.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Thanks guys. I thought of everything except that one.

If it's not 1080 it's certainly broadcast differently than Speed.

 

did they say anything about practice? when is it being broadcasted?
ed

 

FP1, FP2, qualy and the race are all live. No on air coverage of FP3 - I guess it'll stream on their site ala Speed.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Correct but was it mentioned on the broadcast?

 

Yeah. IIRC, they put it up a couple of times during the show. As always, 'all times Eastern', and in this case all around midnight back there. For me, one of the few that's more or less in prime-time.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Thanks.

 

I would assume so as the clarity was a big improvement over Speed. I believe "regular" NBC broadcasts in 1080 as well.

Does anyone know if the F1 world feed is 720 or 1080?

 

HD : The better to see LH cry

 

LOL

 

Actually i prefer 720p to 1080i. I doubt any station is doing 1080p since the cable and satellite guys will have bandwidth issues for redistibution. The quality is actually better with an offair antenna (with a strong enough signal) if you are watching HD.

 

Dunno but NBC looks better than SPEED.
You could tell when they used lower grade feeds. Shame on you Macca.

 

I really like the new studio, but NBC needs to buy a few F1-related items for the set. A few Pirelli tires, pistons and helmets would look nice on display.




It is great to see familiar faces too instead of an entirely new panel and that will make the switch a lot easier. The quality of the broadcast looked far better than SPEED ever did and the only issue I have is that damn ticker at the bottom.

As a plasma owner the thought of having that get bar permanently burned into my screen(or even severe image retention) scares me. NBC, please ditch the ticker when F1 is on! Nobody watching F1 gives two $hits about hockey updates or where Tiger Woods is playing next.

 

I think Diffey and team did a great job for their first show of the season!

Looks like the racing should be great!

 

I might be wrong, but I think that "broadcasts in 1080" is a bit of a misconception. Ultimately it is the provider (satellite or cable) that determines what gets to your TV, and in nearly all cases, what you get is 720p due to bandwidth considerations.

Having said that, I just watched the show on my "little" 46" 720p LCD TV and I too thought that the HD picture was noticeably better than Speed's. I suspect that this is due to NBC having superior equipment rather than it being a 1080 vs. 720 issue.

Somebody correct me if I'm mistaken.

P.S. I thought the show was quite good and have no qualms about the switch after seeing it.

 

Right, and don't confuse 1080i with 1080p. 1080i is interlaced, which is a downscaling technique used to conserve bandwidth. True 1080p (which can be obtained with blu-ray) on a 1080p television is a wonder to behold.

 

HD channels broadcast in 1080i or 720p. 1080i is a higher resolution (although you shouldn't really notice a difference on a 42" or below TV from a normal viewing distance), however it is interlaced, hence the i. That means only half of the image, 540 horizontal lines, is shown every 60th of a second (US broadcasts operating at 60HZ). 720p, progressive scan, shows all 720 horizontal lines every 60th of a second. This provides less overall resolution, but a smoother moving picture.

Basically, 720p will provide a better experience for viewing fast moving pictures (i.e. sports), than 1080i. Hence why ESPN is broadcast in 720p. 1080i will provide a clearer picture, especially on larger TVs, but is prone to showing tearing or an unsmooth picture during fast motion scenes.

1080p is, of course, the best of both worlds.

 

I thought they were going to have an app for love streaming?

 

Thanks for that!

 

HelloWorld provides a perfect explantion of the two options (1080i vs. 720p)... One reason NDC may look better is the compression that Cable/Sat do to the signal. THey don't broadcast a straight feed, rather they compress it to fit more channels/bandwidth. Someone mentioned earlier that over the air annetennas look best...this is why, no compression.

At this point the craving for F1's return all but ensures that I won't complain about picture quality until the Euro season starts.

 

Just read the coverage plans for NBC - looks like some good programming, albeit with some channel hopping. Reference made to live streaming coming later in year via TV Everywhere.

Full schedule for Formula 1 on NBC Sports | MotorSportsTalk

 

I know that was a typo, but it made me chuckle...

The page on MotorSportsTalk referenced by another poster states that:

"... later this year, it will live stream the circuit on NBC Sports Live Extra, via TV Everywhere."

Although I've never used TV Everywhere, only subscribers to certain broadcasters have access to it. (Comcast subscribers, for example.)