Football Broadcasts Look Brutal (1 Viewer)

[BrettB]

Couldn't tell if this is the best place for this or not.

I don't have anything HD. I have analog cable (Cox) and a 36" 4:3 Sony WEGA that is about 3 years old.

Within the last 2 or 3 years I started noticing that football looks really terrible on certain channels. So far this year what I've seen is that games on NBC & ABC looked good, games on ESPN and Fox are hideous, not sure about CBS.

The problem is what I believe is called mosquito noise. Noticeable constantly, but much worse with movement. Games on ESPN & Fox are near unwatchable.

Does this have something to do with the games being captured in HD and then being down-rezed to SD? That's the theory I've come up with. Help. :frowning:

 

[TheLongshot]

I don't know why, but my reception of Fox seems to be worse than any of the other network channels. I also have Cox.

It seems to be more noticable with football because of the uniform color of the field makes it stand out more.

Jason

 

[Scott-S]

This is a product of the networks compressing the signal so they can squeeze more stuff. Although you are receiving the image analog, it was sent to the station over a dish. They are trying to squeeze the image down as much as possible to take up the least available bandwidth. They have gone way past what I think is acceptable.

This is mainly due to the need for more BW for the HD stuff. I think that the poor SD viewers are having to give up on picture quality for the HD viewers to get the best picture.

This sucks for us poor SD viewers.

It has really gotten bad. I stopped watching a show last night because of pixelation. This should not happen on TV. It is understandable when watching over the internet, but not on TV.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Not only are SD viewers getting a poorer SD picture, but the shots are more and more being tailored to HD. If you look at the "behind the QB in the pocket" shot that seems to appear constantly, in SD it looks cramped and confusing. It is absolutely awesome in HD. You can see the whole field and the depth is amazing. Definitely a shot that is exclusively tailored to HD broadcast.

My advice - If you are a football fan, there is no better reason to upgrade to HD. By it, borrow it, steal it if you have to.

 

[BrettB]

Well, I took your advice Jeff. High def football is indeed awesome, mostly.

I'm trying to get up to speed on the HD stuff and have a new question. I've noticed the same sort of mosquito noise problem in HD, although not nearly as bad as before. It seems to show up only on the channels braodcasting games in 1080i. I don't believe I've yet noticed it on a game broadcast in 720p. Is this a 1080i/720p issue or is that just a coincidence and the problem is still compression of the signal?

 

[Marty M]

I will second that advise. I just recently got an HDTV, and all the channels I have in HD look good, NBC, ABC, and ESPN. Locally, we are still waiting for our CBS station to install their HD equipment.

There is no doubt that football has the most to gain from HD. You see so much more of the field in a 16 X 9 screen. The 4 x 3 image is too claustrophobic after watching a game in hd.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

It may be due to the fact that 720p is "quieter" for quickly moving pictures than 1080i, it may be your set's particular conversion performance or it may be the source. If you have a set top box instead of an internal tuner, you can try it's conversion algorithm by changing the output to 720p always and at least eliminate 1 of the 3.

 

[aaron campbell]

NBC-HD and ESPN-HD football games are unbearable to watch anymore. I wish they would get their act together like CBS has.

 

[ScottH]

Agreed on NBC. Their close-ups are okay, but the wide-angle shots are extremely grainy. ESPN-HD and FOX to me look phenomenal. CBS looks good most of the time.

 

[aaron campbell]

Who is your carrier?.Ive had TWC & now Dish Network. ESPN was phenomenal up until the last few months.

 

[ScottH]

Directv. Sometimes OTA (Baltimore) for FOX, but even the Directv feed for FOX looks good usually.

 

[Ray Chuang]

I've seen ESPN Monday Night Football on 720p HD and it does look really good, especially on fast motion. Being able to see more of the field really helps, too.

By the way, one televised sport that really benefits from going to 16:9 HD is NHL hockey. With the wider screen, it's much easier to see how a play develops, which tremendously improves the enjoyment of the game.

 

[JeremyErwin]

The World Cup finale looked spectacular.
One word of warning--Fox sometimes photographs its stuff in Fox widescreen, which is either 480i or 480p. It looks superior to SDTV, partly because it's widescreen. But the resolution is pretty piss poor. It's as if Fox is taunting us.

 

[JeremyErwin]

oh, since proper terminology is an important problem solving tool, here's a review that includes pictures of mosquito noise

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I can't watch hockey in SD anymore. Luckily I have Bruins games on NESN-HD both home and away and their coverage is great. The very few games on OLN or VS. or whatever it is called now are torture. Not only are they in SD, the picture is lousy and the camera coverage follows a close up on the puck carrier way too much. They sometimes simulcast in HD on INHD, though, so I'll cut them some slack.