Letterboxed spreading to College Basketball this Sunday! (1 Viewer)

[Michael St. Clair]

No, I don't necessarily think this would be better in the TV or HDTV area.
This Sunday, CBS is going to broadcast one (not sure which) of the college hoops games using a single set of cameras for both the HDTV and NTSC broadcast. The way they are doing this is an experiment. But the twist is that the downconverted NTSC feed is going to be letterboxed.
Anyhow, while I don't think 16:9 is any kind of solution to OAR woes, I do think this is a good thing. It helps to send the message that not everything fits every kind of screen. Not that I think it will definitely help, but who knows.
Personally, I plan on hearing some sports fans at the office bitching Monday morning.

 

[Kyle McKnight]

Shouldn't this be in the TV section?

 

[Carlo_M]

Wow, I'll have to see if I can find out which game it is. Otherwise I'll be sitting in front of the TV all day, and that's a sure way to get my ass kicked by the SO...

 

[DanP]

Ohio St. @ Michigan St

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

A great idea, and, oh yes, Spartan teams are bound to win/We're fighting with a vim/Rah! Rah! Rah!

Regards,

 

[Andy_B]

soccer, basketball, hockey and football are all perfect sports for widescreen!

 

[Gary_E]

Personally, I plan on hearing some sports fans at the office bitching Monday morning

If they frame the widescreen NTSC broadcast with on going graphics of game stats: score, time, fouls, etc. in the upper bar and run some sort of crawl, during breaks in the action, in the lower bar, I think most viewers would get use to that layout quickly.

-Gary

 

[Ed St. Clair]

soccer, basketball, hockey and football are all perfect sports for widescreen!

Was really looking forward to seeing the Super Bowl in 16:9. However, could not 'catch' a OTA feed. Can't wait to see the defensive backfield, as well as the line of scrimmage at the start of each play. Finally, will be able to see what defense the quarterback see's before the ball is snapped.

It helps hockey as well, as you can see from the goal to the blue line. Also smoother without the camera having to 'move' to follow the puck. The action does seem further away though. Moving up from the upper part of the lower part[expensive] of the arena, to the middle of the top half[cheap seats].

B-ball is helped in that you can see the 'entire' half of the court that the ball is in.