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Eurosport HD
The Lord Lucan
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Anyone heard anything about this? For us Motorsport lovers i think when they launch it will be the first time we get to see HD Motorsport.
Unless start broadcasting HD Indycar or the like. ITV are taking so long to even announce anything in regards to F1 HD!!!
Unless start broadcasting HD Indycar or the like. ITV are taking so long to even announce anything in regards to F1 HD!!!
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As with all of the other "soft" HD prospects it is not even on my expectations list, too fluffy where as FXUK HD was slated as having a launch this year but looks like 2008 now.
The channel/s do have a very favourable bitrate but one of the problems is their content/feeds are from some countries who have no concept of picture quality and digitally compressed source material at times can be woefully inadequate.
Eurosport picture quality is one of the worst around. I actually wonder how they get way with it.
My wife wanted to watch WTA tennis this week but had to turn it off because the pictures were frankly unwatchable (even on good quality Plasma).
They need to get their act together.
To be fair they did go on record as intending to offer HD but we have to remember ES is not the same as ESUK and even if they broadcast HD they are still at the mercy of host broadcasters.
The poor SD images at times are the result of god awful host feeds which are very well presented by the high bitrate the channel uses.
Another popular example would be the Tour De France - ITV channels simulcast and/or show highlights in Widescreen.
GP2 is simulcast in widescreen on Setanta, highlights on ITV in the same format.
Australian Open Tennis was shown in widescreen on BBC interactive
Coming up in September they'll be broadcasting World Cup Rugby, which wil certainly get widescreen on ITV, as did the previous tournament, I think.
Yet Eurosport is still sticking to 4:3 for these and other events.
As far as I know the norm in the States and Japan is 4:3. The US open is being shown in 16:9 but originates in 4:3. This could be the reason why Annabel Croft looks so stretched!;)
However, the image quality of Eurosport US Open Tennis is noticeably lower than on Sky.
To be honest I don't think Eurosport view image quality on HD panels as a priority. The same goes with ITV. They can get away with it at the moment as the majority of people have CRT TVs, so why bother
As for the US Open being showin in 16:9, that's definitely wrong. It's flagged as 4:3 by Sky - you're only watching in 16:9 if you're using a 'stretch' mode on your telly!
And Eurosport definitely do NOT broadcast in the scale of the host broadcaster. They broadcast 4:3, regardless. If the host broadcast is 16:9 (e.g. BBC-sourced snooker, Aus Open tennis, French Open tennis to name 3), then they show it 4:3. They even sometimes get the aspect ratio slightly wrong and show a badly formatted 4:3 picture!
Even though the US Open is shown in SD, it is still pretty good reflecting its HD source.
My TV is showing everything in 16:9 regardless, hence the reason why I can't see the 4:3 pictures and Annabel Croft looks stretched!!
Link in German only: http://www.dwdl.de/article/news_14990,00.html
I think this is a key point, British Eurosport is different to the free to air Eurosport in the rest of Europe. It'll go HD eventually, but probably not anything to get too excited about quite yet.
That intrigues me. I was there last week and only saw TVE's cameras and they were only 4:3.
The BBC only had 16:9 for their single 'presenter' camera and all the rest of the coverage was 4:3.
The screens in the stadium were only showing 4:3 or at times a 16:9 stretched picture.
H
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/26/eurosport-hd-launches-right-on-time/