Fox and HDTV (1 Viewer)

[Marc_Sulinski]

I can't understand why NBC does Ed in HD (don't get me wrong, I like Ed and the fact that it is in HD), but they don't do Thw West Wing in HD, and that show has been in widescreen for years.

 

[Patrick Sun]

It might come down to production company for each show and whether it gets the HD treatment.

 

[Lew Crippen]

While I don’t know the reason that The West Wing is not in HD, it might well be that the sets were designed with SD in mind. SD for years allowed set designers to get away with lower-cost sets (compared to movies) and to upgrade the sets so that a high-def picture would not reveal (for example) fake paneling or woodwork can, depending on the sets, be expensive.

More speculation, but The West Wing has a pretty big investment in sets like the Oval Office. It may be considered too expensive to upgrade them all.

 

[DaveBB]

I can't understand why NBC does Ed in HD (don't get me wrong, I like Ed and the fact that it is in HD), but they don't do The West Wing in HD, and that show has been in widescreen for years.

Warner Brothers wanted NBC to pay extra money if they wanted to get The West Wing in high def. (Greed is the only reason. TWW is filmed so there's no reason for extra cost.) Apparently this is not normal but the issue has been cleared up or very close to fixed. Next season of The West Wing should be in high def.

 

[Doug Smith]

By the way, if anyone has both cable HD and satellite HD maybe they can comment on whats the better picture? From the TV store its hard to tell.