NASCAR drive HDTV Sales? (1 Viewer)

So who here thinks that NASCAR will drive HDTV sales?

The WWF On Wheels has quite a following and with it being in HDTV I wondered as I watched it for just a few minutes today simply because it was in HD.

People seem quite fanatical over it and the opportunity to see it in HD might sell quite a few units.

Anyone else think so?

Also who will be the first supplier to sink to a new low and offer a Nascar Edition HDTV set?

This is a very poor analogy.

Besides, what does the World Wildlife Fund have to do with NASCAR anyway.

Well not just NASCAR, everything!!! The more real HD the better. For movie buffs, it will be movie channels on HD Cable, for me (Big NHL and NFL fan) it has become those two content presentations. For some it is Discovery HD theater....

The more content to cover different people's interests, and the wave will take off.


I know one thing, it is dang hard to go back, once you get a taste of it.

I thought that the Daytona 500 was the only race scheduled to be broadcast in HD.
However, if they were all broadcast in HD, I would definitely get HD (I already have the TV).

The 500 is the only one for sure that was going to be in HD, more may come, NBC isn't saying for sure.

Not that is does me any good when you can't get NBC-HD on Dish or Direct-TV

I also watched just to see an HD program. With so much color and crowd viewing, NASCAR is probably the most ideal sport for HD. I think golf will be unbelievable, too!

Hockey in HD did not look as good as I thought but I do believe there is a difference in HD camera's they use.

Even during the Superbowl you could tell when they were using a 'good' camera versus a 'so-so' camera.

I found the same to be during the few minutes I watched, some scenes looked excellent, others at times looked like a stretched 16:9 SD image. I had to look twice to confirm it was in HD, but then the close ups left no doubt.

I thought they were all in HD so my post may have been premature. I've been told Golf in HD is fantastic.

I think World Ralley would one of the best uses of HD for auto racing, wouldn't mind F1 either but until HD becomes more prevalent all over the world I doubt you will see it anytime soon, hopefully the US Grand Prix in June will be in HD, or the Canadian GP. Of course I'll be at both races so hopefully there will be a HD recorder out by then too

Sorry on the WWF comment, its now WWE I believe. Its become the joke of motorsports, its a marketing system, not a sport. It sold what little soul it had a long long time ago.

Eric,

I have noticed the same thing regarding picture quality in some shots, such as the "in car" camara at Daytona. However, in my area the non-HD shots were in a 4:3 format with black bars on the sides. I have also noticed some HD shows (such as Shrek last night) were non-HD and in a 4:3 mode for a few seconds before switching to an HD 16:9 mode. I wonder if the formatting of the broadcast is done locally...

To expand on this a little more, I am confident that HD sales would increase significantly if every single NASCAR race was broadcast in HD. Add in 5.1 sound (if broadcast as such), I think it would be killer.
NASCAR has a huge tv audience. I'm suprised that NASCAR, TV, Satellite, and cable haven't gone to HD for every race. I think it would be very popular.

There's no question that providing HD coverage of NASCAR would increase sales. I could say the same for most all sports, but NASCAR seems to have a more enthused following.

Here in central Massachusetts, I know several folks that switched over to satellite from cable just because our cable provider didn't offer FX (for NASCAR coverage). Fortunately we did get FX through our cable provider earlier this month.

One observation I will note as to the HD presentation of the Daytona 500 is that while some long distance shots, especially those of the track as a whole were pretty stunning. I find that the overall quality of sporting events in HD isn't all that great compared to say the CBSHD televisions shows I watched last night. These in turn aren't quite as good as the INHD,INHD2, and DiscoveryHD Theater presentations I have watched. Those three channels have absolutely stunning picture quality. I actually watched a presntation on DiscoveryHD last night about Canadian rivers that had a breathtaking presentation. Just before that was a presentation on instects that was like watching 35mm photographs presented in their full resolution on screen. Amazing. I am a NASCAR fan, and if all their presentations were in HD I am pretty sure that more HD sets would be sold to the rabid NASCAR fans.

You could watch it while sitting on one of these sofas