I'll be watching Game 5 of the 2006 World Series in standard definition tonight. As ugly as SD is, it's still so much prettier than the HD football game I watched Monday night.
If you're not a baseball fan (?!?!?!?), ponder this grammatically correct sentence:
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."
This assignment is due Monday.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
Time Warner's Start Over service begins in San Antonio
Although it would be very difficult for me to live without my DVR I just read of the next-best-thing in a San Antonio Express News article. Time Warner has launched a feature called Start Over which allows digital subscribers to restart an in-progress TV show. You know, like you tuned in late and want to see the whole show? The service also allows viewers to pause - but not fast forward to skip commercials.
You may or may not know that AT&T has begun offering cable television-like service in San Antonio (their home) so there's little doubt TW decided to launch Start Over there to help retain customers who might otherwise consider switching to AT&T's U-verse. Not all shows are currently available to Start Over due to licensing issues but I bet the service is going to be very popular.
Start Over is more Video On Demand than DVR. The programming is stored at the Time Warner headend rather than on the subscriber's box. And the feature is apparently being provided at no additional charge. Now that's news.
You may or may not know that AT&T has begun offering cable television-like service in San Antonio (their home) so there's little doubt TW decided to launch Start Over there to help retain customers who might otherwise consider switching to AT&T's U-verse. Not all shows are currently available to Start Over due to licensing issues but I bet the service is going to be very popular.
Start Over is more Video On Demand than DVR. The programming is stored at the Time Warner headend rather than on the subscriber's box. And the feature is apparently being provided at no additional charge. Now that's news.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Cowboys - Texans in HD on CBS
We got to see the Cowboy-Texans game in HD this week. Well, mostly HD...
The Cowboy games are usually on FOX but because they were playing the AFC Texans this week, the game was shown on CBS.
CBS carries only three of the Sunday NFL games in HD each week due to bandwidth constraints. Sometimes it's one HD game in the early slot and two in the late slot and sometimes it's the other way around. The Cowboy - Texans game was predicted to have the best early audience so that was the early HD game on CBS this week.
The picture quality was much better than typical of an analog broadcast but the long shots looked especially soft. For a variety of reasons it was hard to tell exactly why they were soft, though. When the game started it was overcast in Dallas (low light hurts sharpness), and then it rained pretty hard for awhile but suddenly, at about the time the fourth quarter began, the picture just snapped into really nice HD quality. And it remained sharp through the end of the game but I have no idea why the difference. Viewers in other areas of the country reported seeing the softness of the long shots in the game but I read no reports of the sudden change at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Maybe there was a local issue at CBS7? I don't know. But I do know affiliates are still learning the fine points of the HD encoding equipment and this could have been a factor Sunday.
Suffice to say that High Definition TV is still suffering growing pains but it's coming along nicely.
The Cowboy games are usually on FOX but because they were playing the AFC Texans this week, the game was shown on CBS.
CBS carries only three of the Sunday NFL games in HD each week due to bandwidth constraints. Sometimes it's one HD game in the early slot and two in the late slot and sometimes it's the other way around. The Cowboy - Texans game was predicted to have the best early audience so that was the early HD game on CBS this week.
The picture quality was much better than typical of an analog broadcast but the long shots looked especially soft. For a variety of reasons it was hard to tell exactly why they were soft, though. When the game started it was overcast in Dallas (low light hurts sharpness), and then it rained pretty hard for awhile but suddenly, at about the time the fourth quarter began, the picture just snapped into really nice HD quality. And it remained sharp through the end of the game but I have no idea why the difference. Viewers in other areas of the country reported seeing the softness of the long shots in the game but I read no reports of the sudden change at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Maybe there was a local issue at CBS7? I don't know. But I do know affiliates are still learning the fine points of the HD encoding equipment and this could have been a factor Sunday.
Suffice to say that High Definition TV is still suffering growing pains but it's coming along nicely.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Alas, No New York HD Mets
Well, it seems the HD date for KPEJ-FOX24 has slipped again. Latest word I get is that the local affiliate will hope to go HD in November.
Maybe I'll get lucky and FOX will toss one of the LCS games to ESPN-HD.
sigh
Maybe I'll get lucky and FOX will toss one of the LCS games to ESPN-HD.
sigh
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