Well, Fox broadcast was kind of High Def. | FerrariChat

Well, Fox broadcast was kind of High Def.

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by Z400Central, Jul 1, 2007.

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  1. Z400Central

    Z400Central Formula Junior

    Dec 23, 2003
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    Steve C
    The post race interviews were a lot clearer than usual. Appears to be HD, but not the best.
     
  2. Senna1994

    Senna1994 F1 World Champ

    Nov 11, 2003
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    I was thinking the samething...
     
  3. greg328

    greg328 F1 Rookie

    Nov 17, 2003
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    It looked great to me--Comcast/Houston HD FOX channel 309..

    Pleasant surprise...

    Greg
     
  4. 1_can_dream

    1_can_dream F1 Veteran

    Jan 7, 2006
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    Kyle
    The picture was great, and the race started off good almost got ten or so laps between commercials compared to the three or four on the last race. However towards the end I was just getting annoyed with all the breaks and the stupid animations popping up at the bottom of the screen.
     
  5. DGS

    DGS Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    May 27, 2003
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    I could have lived without the grid walk segment -- odd that Fox reinstated that part.

    Anyone else notice that the race was not only time delayed, but time compressed, too? On the two commercial breaks bracketing the "racing per matchett" segment, they went out for two laps worth of commercials, and came back four laps later.

    There were a couple more times when three or so laps had passed during a commercial break.

    They virtually skipped the last 20 laps of the race -- they only had a half lap recap over laps 50-60, at least.

    I wonder when they recorded the commentary. It's a lot easier to "predict" strategy when you announce a race after it's over.
     
  6. Crawler

    Crawler F1 Veteran

    Jul 2, 2006
    5,018
    It looked pretty good here too (Charleston, SC). The picture was maybe not quite as good as the USGP, but better than Canada, as I recall. I'm lovin' F1 in HD, especially when it's a Ferrari 1-2!
     
  7. greg328

    greg328 F1 Rookie

    Nov 17, 2003
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    Greg
    Right on!
     
  8. sindo308qv

    sindo308qv F1 Rookie

    Nov 1, 2003
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    miami.fl.
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    sindo
    Aside from not airing it live, and no pre-race, I'd rather see it on Fox due to the HD, definitely better picture. Speed needs to air it in HD. I know they had HD cameras at Indy, would guess all tracks have the same HD cameras by now.
     
  9. amenasce

    amenasce Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 17, 2001
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    Joe Mansion
    There seemed to be much less comercials too ?
     
  10. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 3, 2002
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    What is the point of broadcasting in HD if you don't change the aspect ratio to 16:9?

    IMHO totally useless. I would much rather have a 16:9 ratio by itself and no HD. That would be a much bigger improvement.
     
  11. Mike328

    Mike328 F1 Rookie

    Oct 19, 2002
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    They placed commercials more frequently in less "active" segments of the race for what I can tell... Makes sense.

    The way to watch these races is to record them on TiVO or DVR - if you're annoyed by the commercials, you owe it to yourself to look into this option.

    Quality wise, to my recollection, this was the best quality picture I have ever observed on an F1 race. It really makes for a far more enjoyable experience. It allows for easier identification of the cars as well. I really thought the whole setting - smooth black uncomplicated track suface vs. grass made for a great looking setting.

    Overall, I have no complaints with Fox vs. Speed - I have no problem watching races on Fox over Speed because of the HD. It's that much more enjoyable of an experience, especially with larger (e.g. 46", 50", 55"+) TV sets. Given the choice, both airing simultaneously, I'd watch whichver has it in HD.

    No complaints here. Speed / Comcast / etc. needs to get their act together and get some HD coverage. Unfortunately, getting HD channels on the Comcast lineup is a complex/competitive process because of bandwidth issues apparently. My concern is that there are a lot of channels earlier in the queue than Speed that are in demand more by customers (like HDNET), that would go into the HD lineup first.

    So, we're very fortunate to have the Fox HD coverage, I feel.
     
  12. kizdan

    kizdan F1 Veteran

    Dec 31, 2003
    5,505
    It was HD. It was fantastic!
     
  13. kizdan

    kizdan F1 Veteran

    Dec 31, 2003
    5,505
    It was 16:9. It filled every inch of my 50" widescreen with absolute crisp clarity.
     
  14. ItaliaF1

    ItaliaF1 F1 Veteran

    Aug 28, 2005
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    John Burrow
    I thought it looked pretty good, but all their other HD programming is about 2X clearer.
     
  15. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Hmm. Does that then depend on the local Fox affiliate? It was regular 4:3 in Chicago. Had I expanded it to 16:9, I would have gotten ridiculously flat F1 cars.

    I have other programs on the History and Discovery channel that broadcast in crisp (HD) quality AND 16:9 aspect ratio. Now THAT looks good. So it's not that my set couldn't deal with it.
     
  16. kizdan

    kizdan F1 Veteran

    Dec 31, 2003
    5,505
    Perhaps it is broadcast differently in different markets. I know that previous non-Speed channel F1 broadcasts this year were showing as HD on my on-screen TV guide, but were not HD. This was the 1st time that it actually was. I'm anxious to see if this weekend's race will again be HD.
     
  17. Tom(Atl)

    Tom(Atl) Formula Junior

    Oct 29, 2006
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    Guys, it was not broadcast in HD. F1 is not broadcast in HD, nor will it be anytime soon. For that to happen, all the cameras would have to be HD cameras, including the in-car cameras. Ignoring the cost of moving such equipment, and the fact that the weight completely disallows it in-car, each race is broadcast by the local host network with their own equipment. I remember hearing that NASCAR will be tackling the problem of installing HD cameras in each car soon (if they haven't already), but they will be the first and probably the only ones to do so within the next 5+ years.

    There are some HD broadcasts in Europe now on satellite, but in general, HD in Europe is in its infancy, and for all practical purposes, they do not have the concept of HD. You can be sure that the FIA wouldn't broadcast in HD just for the USA television market.

    That being said, it was indeed broadcast 16:9 ratio, and it was the best looking F1 race I have ever seen on my TV! You can thank FOX for using line doublers or similar expensive hardware to up convert the resolution.

    Oh yeah, and the Ferrari 1-2 finish wasn't bad either! (next time Massa will be #1 though)
     
  18. E60 M5

    E60 M5 Moderator
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    Jan 2, 2006
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    For whatever reason my Tivo with Directv has failed to record any broadcast on Fox, races only!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't understand why, because it shows up under my recorded list, but when you hit play there is nothing there!!!

    Man, I was pissed yesterday, oh well!


    Robert
     
  19. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Your TIVO gave you two utterly boring hours back. Be happy!
     
  20. Crawler

    Crawler F1 Veteran

    Jul 2, 2006
    5,018
    Well, maybe. It still looked good to me. Of course the in-car isn't HD. I wouldn't say that for a broadcast to be considered HD, the in-car has to be HD also. Most of the broadcast is from outside the cars...
     
  21. Tom(Atl)

    Tom(Atl) Formula Junior

    Oct 29, 2006
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    I wish it was in HD, but it just won't be for years. It looked good indeed, but it still wasn't shot in HD from any camera there. The quality of shots was the same both in and outside the car. You can tell, because it was also 16:9 in car.

    Anyway, I'm surprised I'm hearing myself say this, but I will be sad to find the races off of FOX after this Sunday. The broadcast quality was amazing. Why can't we get that feed all the time? Is it available on any internet broadcast in full quality?
     
  22. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    How can you be sad over a tape delayed sports broadcast? I much rather watch F1 in the crummiest picture possible but have it live.
     
  23. Tom(Atl)

    Tom(Atl) Formula Junior

    Oct 29, 2006
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    Tom
    Good point. But to me it's worth a tape delay for that kind of quality, and the 16:9 format! I saw SO much more just in 16:9. Besides, I record races on TiVo and make sure to avoid all human contact until I see the full race.

    Not long ago when stopping in a starbucks in Berlin, they had a huge TV inside, and I happened to catch a MotoGP race on Eurospeed. I was amazed to see it was also 16:9 and looked to be HD. It looked 100x better than our feed of MotoGP races here. It wasn't HD (it was probably PAL 576p), but the feed was just amazing compared to what we see here on Speed, which to me looks like a 10 year old broadcast on VHS.

    We just need to get better quality feeds here. That can only happen if Speed goes HD and chooses to give us the feed that Fox did, or F1 is aired on a major network that has HD broadcasts (even less likely)!

    There has to be a better live feed available somewhere on the internet. Does anyone know of one? If not, maybe I will start downloading races from BitTorrent. Better quality, and great way to archive the races, too.
     
  24. Tom(Atl)

    Tom(Atl) Formula Junior

    Oct 29, 2006
    509
    USA
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    Tom

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