Tour in HD?

[soccerfreak9210]

Anyone know if the 09 Tour de France wil be on VS HD?
I remember it just missed being HD last year (Europe was), so I'm hoping they pick up the feed...
Tour De France on Eurosport HD ? - Sky+ HD - Digital Spy Forums

Thanks

 

[tigershere]

it will be widescreen at the worst right ?

I am watching SPEED now and the 24 hrs race and man HD is such a change from the past quality, nice change!

 

[kvnfl]

No. TDF on Versus will be upconverted World Feed 576i wide screen. A couple of years ago the commentators said they tried HD on a test basis and it did not work out so well. The trees, elevation changes, various obstacles and weather prevented near seamless HD video via wireless transmission.

 

[bgee]

TDF on Versus will be upconverted World Feed 576i wide screen.

Perhaps this is what yesterday's Tour de Suisse coverage was - very soft picture without detail ;-(

 

[BuddyBoy]

Upconverted 576i widescreen is the same source format as the F1 races on SpeedHD, and while clearly not HD, it's still an improvement over what we had before.

I mean before, the spokes on spinning bicycle wheels either turned into a ugly gray soup of macroblocks, or when they softened the picture to hide the compression artifacts, just a some round gray blobs.

I hope it turns out to be better than what is described in the preceding post.

 

[kvnfl]

Upconverted 576i widescreen is the same source format as the F1 races on SpeedHD, and while clearly not HD, it's still an improvement over what we had before...I hope it turns out to be better than what is described in the preceding post.

Versus is 1080i while SPEED is 720p. The pros state that 720p is much better for fast motion and that is one of Versus set backs. That said, bicycle races real time are a bit of a blur. I group ride with others at speeds of 21 - 24 MPH (36 KPH) and the spokes on other riders bikes appear as a blur.

What you can make out are the important bits, such as rider number. And when they do tech bits you get a really vivid look at the equipment.