TitanTV lists it as being broadcast in HD, but I didn't find any mention of it on ABC's site. The local affiliate in Albuquerque lists it as being in HD though.
I work at an ABC affiliate, I heard today that the Barbara Walters interview special will also be in HD. I have not confirmed this, but my info is from our HD engineer.
What's with the way they are presenting clips? The camera is on the 16:9 display the have on stage and if you are watching 4:3 you're seeing a lot of cropping, not only of the film clip, but text as well. Uggghhhh.
The audio dropouts within the show were merciless here in KC :frowning: I kept having it go from Right channel only to stereo, to the rears lighting up now and again to mono.. bah, it was so infuriating, I had to stop watching until I could see it on my cruddy TV downstairs where it would make no difference
In your TV coverage, do you actually hear what the announcer in the auditorium is saying as a winner is going up to collect his/her award? I can sort-of hear a bit spilling over as bleed, presumably from mics that are picking up the audience's applause, but the announcer's voice is not being fed into the broadcast audio.
Usually the announcer is saying something like "and this is so-and-so's first/second nomination and first win" or something similar.
All in all was very pleased with show and its entertainment.
Billy Crystal was as good as ever, and the nice light comedy throughout kept it interesting for me. I'm a big Robbin Williams Fan and wish he would be involved more (But he's to much of a loose cannon to allow that, I would still enjoy it though).
I had wished Johnny Depp would have won, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. Was happy to see Renee Z. win unfortunatly I felt she was more Due than deserved it. Wasn't to happy about Penn, or Tim Robbins taking home the award though.
The broadcasting however sucked. I am returning my HD equipment. This is the second award show I've watched this year and the video kept jumping/skipping, the audio was off (not matched properly with the movements of the lips) than was corrected than was off, and so on throughout he begining of the night, During the songs had extremely annoying popping noises happening, and the sound would drop out (only for about 1 second) occasionally throughout the show.
When the picture was there and sound was on it was great, but its just too frustrating, kind of takes you out of the moment.
I've retitled this thread to make it clear that it's about the HDTV broadcast of the Oscars. All posts about the outcomes of the various categories have been moved to the Official Oscar Thread in the Movies forum.
There was only one time of pause (of about 5-8 seconds)here in Albq., New Mexico, and the sound was great. I found myself turning up the volume when the music portions were on, and it sounded great in DD, but there was little to no use of the surrounds, but hey I am not upset.
Great looing to say the least. Maybe I should just call up my local ABC station and thank them for a job well done.
I left my HDTV to watch the Oscars at my sister's house, since her husband is in Baghdad. I was very annoyed that they framed everything (particularly graphics) for the widescreen broadcast and did nothing for those watching 4x3. This is especially annoying since MOST people do not have HDTV.
If you watch ESPN in HD or Monday Night Football in HD, they set the graphics in a 4x3 title frame.
Did anyone else notice the popping noises during the music portion about 1.5 hours into the show.
The last award show I watched had very similar problems. Video was more stable but the audio was exceptionally bad. I think it was the Grammy's, can't remember.
Another thing I noticed on this was when the commercials came on the volume was drastically reduced from the shows audio level. While I liked this, I wonder if it was intentional or just another screw up.
Finally, LOTR gets the recognition. It irks me a little that the academy treated the trilogy as a single film and waited until now to pile on the Oscars. A few people here at work were asking "Is Return of the King a good movie?" this morning. I had to explain to them that they're all good movies. Sheesh. It bothers me that there are people out there who didn't take the first two films as serious films because of the lack of Oscar wins.
Bill Murray looked crushed that he didn't win. Well, at least he can put "Oscar nominated" next to his name from now on. Was it just me or did anyone else catch that "stink eye" he flashed over at Sean Penn right before the announcement?