Has anyone noticed...?

[bpasker8]

It can't be just me, but has anyone else noticed that NHL games on HDNET look way better then the games on ESPNHD? Plus I get full 5.1 Dolby on HDNET NHL games where on ESPNHD I get Dolby but only on my left, center and right front speakers, to quote The Hurricane "what up with that?"

Is it just because HDNET has better equipment than ESPNHD? If that's the case why would ESPN buy inferior equipment? Doesn't make sense to me, but then again I don't get paid millions to figure this stuff out either.

 

[lonewolfe]

"but then again I don't get paid millions to figure this stuff out either"

apperently espn doesn't either

 

[John Kotches]

I'm pretty sure that ESPN is using one audio feed to handle the SD and HD broadcasts.

This is live events stuff, and I doubt they have the luxury of seperate audio setups for HD and SD.

HDNet has the "luxury" of only handling an HD broadcast.

Cheers,

 

[bsic]

ESPN HD blows. So very little HD content- and the stretched picture is just nauseating. I cant take even 5 minutes of it.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

ESPN HD blows. So very little HD content- and the stretched picture is just nauseating. I cant take even 5 minutes of it.

ESPN hd looks pretty good even stretched. I would rather watch it on the hd channel then ch 140

 

[bsic]

Blech. Stretched images look like Im watching TV through a fun-house mirror! To each his own.

 

[Stacy A]

ESPN does not use Dolby Digital from what I understand. It may show up on your receiver as a "form" of Dolby digital, but it is actually a format called "Circle Surround", which is, for all intensive purposes and form of pro logic. It is my understanding that there are only a few OLD receivers actually capable of decoding this format in its originally intended sound format. Why ESPN picked such a cheesy way to go is beyond me.

Stacy

 

[ROLLTIDE]

Blech. Stretched images look like Im watching TV through a fun-house mirror! To each his own.

Maybey it's just your tv . I'll let you get back to trolling

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

I have to aggree, the streched stuff makes people look 4 ft tall and weigh 5000 lbs.

Using the Partial zoom seems to help that some.

ESPN HD is nearly worthless as an HD station compared to the others.

 

[John Kotches]

Stacy,

They do indeed use Circle Surround encoding. DPL and DPL-2 do a decent job of decoding the material. CS decoders do better on this material.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Circle Surround is a matrix processing algorithm, similar to DPL or DTS:Neo. So the braodcast is stereo everywhere, and it's up to the consumer to decode into surround via whatever tools they have.

Cheers,

 

[Stacy A]

Stacy,

They do indeed use Circle Surround encoding. DPL and DPL-2 do a decent job of decoding the material. CS decoders do better on this material.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Circle Surround is a matrix processing algorithm, similar to DPL or DTS:Neo. So the braodcast is stereo everywhere, and it's up to the consumer to decode into surround via whatever tools they have.

Cheers,

John, are their some "Circle Surround" specific recievers sold today, or is it truly a dinosaur encoding?

Stacy

 

[sprinklerguy]

That is funny......I love ESPNHD>...it looks as good as all the other channels in HD....but I don't have OTA...so maybe that is it.

It is not stretched at all on my 811.....looks great....couldn't be happier.

 

[John Kotches]

Stacy,

Yes, athough it is fairly rare. I reviewed a Marantz receiver with it, but didn't have a chance to catch any ESPN material while I had it to review.

Theta Digital also has Circle Surround support in their equipment.

I'm sure there are others, but it doesn't have nearly the name recognition that Dolby Pro-Logic, Dolby Pro-Logic II or DTS:Neo have.

Cheers,

 

[AndyMon]

I think ESPN is blaming Cox cable, Charlie and others for not paying enough for their programming to allow them to buy good new equipment.

 

[bcwmachine]

I have a 4:3 Hitachi, Shows HD with bars top and bottom, espn HD looks good if I go to 'mode 1' which makes 'normal hd' tall and skinny. Reason for getting 4:3 set is that by the time there is any ota hd in Cortez CO. the set will be worn out/obsolete, and I may be able to save up enough to get a plasma by then.

 

[fslove]

It can't be just me, but has anyone else noticed that NHL games on HDNET look way better then the games on ESPNHD? Plus I get full 5.1 Dolby on HDNET NHL games where on ESPNHD I get Dolby but only on my left, center and right front speakers, to quote The Hurricane "what up with that?"

Is it just because HDNET has better equipment than ESPNHD? If that's the case why would ESPN buy inferior equipment? Doesn't make sense to me, but then again I don't get paid millions to figure this stuff out either.

The reason HDNet looks better watching hockey then ESPN is the fact that HDNet uses 1080i and ESPN uses 720p. The extra resolution from 1080i give you more detail with far shots as used a lot with hockey telecasts. The same thing goes when they show long shots for football games you can see a lot less detail in the crowds and on the players uniforms from those shots.

 

[John Kotches]

fslove:

That's true up until the point that anything moves in the picture. Once there's any motion, you're back to 540 lines of resolution.

Pixel rates are fairly close, with 1080i only having about 13% more pixels.

On my display, which is 720p, ESPN-HD looks the best of all when they're broadcasting HD material.

I get horrible artifacts from 1080i content, to the point that I will likely purchase a scaler to handle 1080i.

Cheers,

 

[James Long]

That's true up until the point that anything moves in the picture. Once there's any motion, you're back to 540 lines of resolution.

Pixel rates are fairly close, with 1080i only having about 13% more pixels.

On my display, which is 720p, ESPN-HD looks the best of all when they're broadcasting HD material.

I get horrible artifacts from 1080i content, to the point that I will likely purchase a scaler to handle 1080i.

Your display will always look better at its native resolution.

1080i is STILL 1080 full lines of resolution every 1/30th of a second. The second half frame (every 1/60th of a second) isn't a replacement of the first, but an interlace. 720p is less lines full lines more often (every 1/60th of a second) and on a display designed for 1080i it can look bad stretched. Just about as bad as trying to cram 1080 on an native 720 display.

JL

 

[bpasker8]

thanks for the info gang, but the whole 1080/720/540/123456789 all confused me and turned my mushy brain to liquid... It does help clear it up some though, although I must say they did a great job with the NHL All-Star stuff last night! Whoo Hoo, need more of that!

Oh, one more thing... Saw today when I was browsing the guide that they are airing the lagerie bowl on HDPPV, wha up with that?