Official Superbowl XXXVII HD Thread - Post your thoughts about pic quality, etc...

[AdminJoe]

I am sure everyone here is pretty excited about viewing the game tommorrow in HiDef... (hope they fix that problem in Washington.. ;)

For some people, this will be their first true HD experience (outside of PBS and Jay Leno).... anyways, please post your thoughts..

Should be fun! Wish some of the commercials were hd.....

I am a bigtime Eagles fan, so I am hesitant still to even watch the game after our choke of last week, but I guess seeing the Raiders win would be of some help to my severe depression....

[Tom]

I know I am, since I haven't had the set and the new dish very long.............the beer is cold and I'm ready. Bring it on! :D

[Gronar]

I'll be watching, will let you know what I think. I was cursing Time Warner all week, they added CBS but not ABC. I was in the channel guide this morning, and lo and behold, ABC is now added!

[ghola]

I just saw the halftime show. Wow. Cablevision LI is showing it on their HD MSG, via ABC. This is my first 720p from the major networks. I must say it looks very good, as good as any 1080i that CBS HD has done (AFC Playoffs,US Open). Thank you Mr Dolan! (Never thought I'd say that!)

[57U]

Very good PQ.

The DD5.1 sound is nice during the game but it sounded pretty weird at half-time. I switched to "stereo".

Pleased that there was a Canadian singing God Bless America and a Canadian headlining the half time show. :)

[Tom]

Two thumbs up! Picture and sound were exceptional! Way to go ABC!! :p

[Leth]

All I gotta say is Congratulations Bucs! WOOOO! :)

[Kurt K]

I thought the picture and sound were both good, although I did notice an audio sync problem. The only problem I had was that the game clock was cropped by the top edge of the screen. I know that my Pinoneer Elite PRO720HD can adjust vertical position on the zoom modes, but won't allow any adjustment during Full mode. Did anybody else have this problem?

[57U]

Someone from Canada mentioned the game clock issue on another forum. Although the game clock was close to the top of my set, I had a little space between it and the top of the screen (not much mind you). Perhaps your set has a little more overscan than mine. I have about 4-5 % when I last tested with AVIA. You might wish to test it too...

[LeeS]

Picture and sound was very good. TV converted 720p to 1080i very nicely. I didn't notice any motion artifacts. I saw the same sound sync problem when they did a zoom on the booth when John Madden was talking.

I'm not sure it was a problem but the PA announcements seemed to have a big echo. The broadcast play by play from the booth was good.

I guess I expected more from the commercials. I lost $20 on the Raiders.

I didn't notice a problem with the game clock or the graphics.

Lee

[AdminJoe]

Looked good here in philly, albiet a major loss of picture (static for about 10 secs) in the 4th quarter..
Also, like my pbs feed, when the camera moves, it seems i get pixelation.... like the field will pixelize... and breakup...
Seemed to get better as the game progressed (no I didnt drink)...

Also, the audio was weird at times....

Anyways, I was happy, and give ABC a C+ (these cameraguys or the producer must of been rookies)...

[LeeS]

Looked good here in philly, albiet a major loss of picture (static for about 10 secs) in the 4th quarter..

We had the same total loss of picture but still had sound.

Lee

[HiD-ho]

I was very impressed with the PQ, I usually tune out on Superbowl blowouts but couldn’t peel my eyes away. I didn’t notice any pixelation but did seem to hear an echo with any field announcements and there was a sound sync problem when they cut to the both. I also was wondering did it seem as if Madden was commenting on a replay while they showed a different one? I agree ghola, Shania in HD was nice but, at the risk of being a perv, is her voice really good enough for her to wear so many clothes? Can’t they teach the Miller Lite girls to sing? On second thought who’d be listening? Congratulations to Buc fans, one and all, great coaching job by Gruden. When is the nest big HD event? And will HD be obsolete by the time the Lions make the Superbowl?:D

[feverish]

This was my first LIVE HD experience. I literally bought the TV last week, and put up the antenna yesterday.

I was extremely impressed with the picture quality, and audio-- keeping in mind that this is bleeding edge technology. (I work in post ptod. video, and my colleagues and I still don't have a total grasp on how to handle HD).

I had a ton of friends over who were amazed that you could get that type of signal off of a cheap radio shack antenna.

And The Matrix trailer ROCKED!

[tvplease]

I thought the picture quality sucked compared to cbs last week!!
Audio was pretty good ! A couple of dropouts. Abc should be doing 1080 in my opinion !They sure did make enough money on the game at 2.2 million per 30 seconds!!!!!!!

[freddyfred89]

The broadcast was great. A few comments:

1. The Washington DC affiliate DID get their sh(*&t together in time. This is from their online forum:

-----------------------------
01/26/03 @ 10:59 am ET

[the problem] is in the STL, Studio-Transmitter Link. I believe, don't quote me, that it is on the tower side in Northwest DC. There are climbers up there now and are reparing the problem as we speak.

If I was a betting man, knowing our Director of Operations, I would put money on that these issues will be fixed in the next couple of hours at the most. Now that I have put my money where my mouth is, I expect the tower to fall over any second.
---------------------------

Laugh, well, we were sweating it but they delivered. The administrator who posted this revealed that NONE of the execs at this affiliate have HDTV at home. Laugh.

If you'd like to see the full interchange between the viewers and the affiliate, go here (http://www.wjla.com/forums/viewmessages.hrb?Forum=49&Topic=20905)

2. The 16:9 HD movie promos were sweet (especially matrix)! I would have watched paint dry for 2 hours just for the 10 minutes of those promos.

3. Madden was watching a different broadcast than I was. It was annoying.

4. FAR less pixelization on movement during the ABC football broadcast, relative to CBS broadcasts. I don't know why, but the ABC shots stayed far sharper during movement on the field and of the cameras.

Overall, great experience and I'm looking forward to next year ...

[57U]

Originally posted by tvplease
I thought the picture quality sucked compared to cbs last week!! I disagree. I don't think it was any better or worse. It was very good.

People mentioned pixellation last week and this week. I looked for it and didn't see any.

Some people mentioned that the game clock was not visible on their TV. It was on mine (barely). I could see the white clock numbers completely, the black surround completely and a very small bit of the "game" above the graphic.

I found the graphic of the score (next to the clock) to be of poor quality. The score was fuzzy, when viewed next to the very sharp picture - my wife remarked on it too. I've noticed this on other programmes - they need to get HD graphics.

[Sidious]

This was my first HD sporting event experience, and I thought it was great! I thought the production of the HD broadcast was poorly done, as the commentary did not match what we were seeing. It also seemed that all graphics were in SD??, except when they went to a "three-way" review. The full HD trailers rocked!! More ads should have been done in HD. I did see a true HD ad for ESPNHD, though!! I, too, had the game clock almost completely cut-off at the top. I could only see the very bottom of the numbers. All-in-all I thought the experience was awesome!

[Tom]

I'd agree with 57U and Sid - thought overall it was awesome. I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed some of the graphic overlays were blurry or not very crisp compared to the great HD picture underneath them. I too, did not experience any cut-off of the score or graphics on my set. Look forward to the next big HD special event broadcast........whatever that may be........ :D

[Rocko]

I put on the PIP when it seemed Madden's after-the-play commentary wasn't following the on-screen replay. Madden comments matched the SD display. The HD picture's replays and close-ups rarely matched the SD. There was a lot less graphics on the HD broadcast, but the HD PQ was awesome. So were the cheerleader close-ups.
The HD movie trailers were much louder than the game or SD commercials, and the 5.1 audio for the new Matrix movie almost blew me off my couch. Sounded great.

[Soultwist]

I noticed the pixellation but it was only during the 4:3 replays. Normal game and HD replays looked great. Clock was cut off on my screen as well. I suspect when the local affiliates pulled it down off the bird it needed a bit of adjustment that some of us didn't get.

[Jester]

OH MY GOD!

I just purchased my Hitachi 57SWX20B set when I found out the Superbowl was going to be HD and Comcast has ABC in Detroit!

I was blown away.

The picture quality was excellent, minor artifacts were visible during ambitious cut scenes with the crowd visible from a distance and a lot of motion. It was good that the first quarter was a low scoring affair because I could not concentrate on the game with all of the visual eye candy.

Dolby 5.1 sound was excellent overall, although I was blown off of the couch by the Matrix Reloaded trailer. I ignored the occasional difference between the commentary and the visuals, because the HD picture was so amazing. I was afraid that the replays would not be HD, but ABC delivered.

Overall I rate ABC a solid B for pulling off a great special event, but they really need more content. The analog quality of the Motorola DCT-5100 picture is disappointing. I have noticed a better digital 4:3 picture since I set the box for 480p output for 4:3 (just hit the menu button with the box switched off for the service screen).

Comcast really needs to get all of the local HD networks signed and available. The local Circuit City reports that Comcast has told them directly that 18 channels (we have 6 now) will be available locally by the end of Feb (but the CC guys are notorious for bad info).

[hdtvtv]

Well it seems that our future in the hi-def world is so bright that we better wear asbestos! Did everyone else catch the ESPNHD commercial? It said to call your cable or satellite provider. Man if they don't know we want our sports in HD, they are very slow. Tell whomever you get your ESPN from that we want it and we want it from day 1.
That game looked & sounded great except for some production crew flaws. The replay thing was all screwed up, but overall, kudos to ABC. Football is great in HD! I read the Directv is going to show some of the NFL Sunday Ticket games in HD next season: SUBSCRIBERS MUST DEMAND THIS! Of course if Rupert Murdoch buys them out, I'm sure it will not be afforable to the working man! :mad:

[Woodycbs]

Overall I was very impressed. I changed over to regular analog a few times and couldn't believe the difference. Felt like I was in the stands. The replays looked very poor from my TV however, they were not in HD. The HD trailer commericals were awesome and like someone mentioned - the sounds was better than the game. Expected more from the T3 trailer though. Matrix was by far the best one.

I too experienced the score half cut off at the top but still enough there that I could figure it out. I haven't however, bought AVIA and did a full set up yet (just bought the TV last week.)

As far as Comcast having 18 channels (via CC salespeople) by the end of Feb seems to be a big stretch. I don't think there would even be that many OTA channels by then. I was told by the Comcast Tech last week that we are looking at 25 channels by the end of the year - however our Comcast Local Sportsnet will be starting up in the next few weeks and was informed they are already in agreement with ESPN HD to start as soon as it is available. That along with the more prime time shows converting to HD will keep me happy for awhile.

Oh by the way, did anyone watch Alias after? - looked great too!

[57U]

HDTV meets the mainstream audience??? Link below:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/030127/6/rj4s.html

[Tyler Durden]

I think all-in-all ABC did a great job. This was my first view of 720p live and think it is just fine (maybe a hair below 1080i, but not enough to get worked up over).

The Matrix Reloaded trailer raised the hairs on my neck...

...but the ESPN-HD commercial brought a tear to my eye

[kevinw]

All in all it was good, I do not think the picture quality was any different with 720p converted to 1080i vs a direct feed of 1080i- Using the AFC playoffs and the SEC game of the week for comparison.
The audio was a little annoying with the sync being off.
Even though it was not 5.1 the prologic was ok. The Atlanta station was having audio problems with severe cracking and popping every 15 minutes.
They probally could have used more cameras and relied less on the 4:3, especially when Madden was doing replays that HD viewers could not see.
The switches between cameras ocassionally had momentary black outs. Pixelation that may or may not have been a local problem.
It is too bad the game could have been less lopsided in the scoring department.
If this was your first major sports broadcast are you in for a treat when The Stanley Cup happens.

[Leth]

Has there been any announcements in regards to the NHL All-Star game on ABC or the NFL probowl also on ABC in HD?

[martinR]

Originally posted by ghola
I just saw the halftime show. Wow. Cablevision LI is showing it on their HD MSG, via ABC. This is my first 720p from the major networks. I must say it looks very good, as good as any 1080i that CBS HD has done (AFC Playoffs,US Open). Thank you Mr Dolan! (Never thought I'd say that!)

How did you know the halftime show was being shown on MSG HD? I would have NEVER expected cablevsion to do something nice for it's customers.

[billw]

My receiver listed it as a Dolby D signal. Was this an acutal DD signal from the cable company?

[r8ed3x]

How could something so loathsome (the Raider's losing:mad:) look so spectacular (the pic quality:D)??? Let me tell you all how I WISH I had that overscan problem and wasn't able to see the score!!! Actually, I had the signal coming through a sammy t-150 and when I switched the sammy to 720 output (figuring I would just let the Tosh 50HDX upconvert the signal to 1080) the clock was slightly cut off, but then I tried switching the output on the sammy to 1080 and then nothing was cut off. The movie trailers (i.e. the Hulk, T-3, and especially THE MATRIX) were quite a pleasent surprise! As well as the ESPN-HD promo! As far as Madden.....I hate him anyways.....why people pay him to drive his madden cruiser across the country to commentate is beyone me!?!? I have never heard anyone restate the COMPLETELY obvious so many times in my entire life....he rarely (if ever!) says ANYTHING insightful.....and is quite annoying and I, for one, am happy I didn't have to see what he was talking about. :p Well I hope everyone enjoyed this Superbowl experience.......and that it wasn't as bitter/sweet as mine! At least the good old Silver and Black got one step closer this year.......Tampa proved to be the better team, by far! As far as next season......don't count out THE RAIDERS!!!

[LeeS]

Even though it was not 5.1 the prologic was ok.
My receiver indicated that the signal was DD also. It switched from Prologic to DD when the cameras switched from SD to HD. About all I heard in the rear channels was crowd noise and the echo when the arena PA was used.

Lee

[Tom]

As well as the ESPN-HD promo! As far as Madden.....I hate him anyways.....why people pay him to drive his madden cruiser across the country to commentate is beyone me!?!? I have never heard anyone restate the COMPLETELY obvious so many times in my entire life....he rarely (if ever!) says ANYTHING insightful.....and is quite annoying and I, for one, am happy I didn't have to see what he was talking

=======
r8:
You know, I was thinking the same thing........he seems to ramble and not really say jack squat.............is he hittin' the sauce or is he gettin' senile? :D :D :D

[57UWX]

r8ed3x
Now, now "upconvert" implies 1080i is better than 720p. Not very politcally correct.
So does that mean that the Samsung box did a "better" job than your TV of converting the 720p to 1080i. Have you noticed the same with other 720P programs. Kinda hard to on non- sports broadcasts, w/out graphics.
That leads me to wonder if my SA3100HD box is doing the conversion or if my Hitachi is? Anybody know? I don't have a choice of outputs on the '3100. I guess the cable company that supplies the '3100 would have to assume that the customer does not have a TV that does the 720p to 1080i conversion and therefor I always get 1080i at the TV.

Man, has this server been slow?

[billw]

I heard the cheerleaders and the crowd noise in the rear channels....it was kind of cool.

As far as cutting off the score......I was so in awe over the picture I didnt pay attention! LOL

I think I would have noticed though. I have the SA 3100 box as well.

[MJSievert]

I kind of figured that I wasn't the only one with the playclock cutoff. I actually have my set calibrated to the exact grid overlay that Toshiba has for a 1080i signal. I guess it's just one of those fine tuning adjustments that ABC needs to hear about. There's so much room on the screen that they don't need to squish it all in the upper right hand corner. All in all I thought the broadcast was excellent and definitely starts up the debate of which format is better (720p vs. 1080i). Personally, I can live with both. My only complaint was the sound level difference with some of the commercials. I can't wait to see more!

[57U]

Sounds like some affiliates were not able to pass DD5.1. I got DD5.1 loud & clear via Detroit.

[FullBandwidth]

After messing around all day Saturday trying to get ANY signal from WJLA-DT I finally gave up, only to find out that by game time it was "wall to wall and ten feet tall." So I read here it was a tech problem on their side, not just the typical wimpy signal power.

I was curious to check signal strength on the other flaky DC stations to see if they'd turned their power up for competeing broadcasts ("Independence Day" was one option). Got a strong signal on 5-1 and 9-1, looked like 4-1 was up for a while then flaked out royally. 27-x (WETA) was unchanged from its normal levels.

Watched most of the game on two TV's, one high def and one SD. As others have posted, the commentary matched the SD broadcast, and you could tell when they switched the SD signal into the HD broadcast for replays, commercials (except movie trailers) etc. But most of the game was shot with two separate sets of cameras.

Had to fix dinner so I missed a few things - most noticably the Matrix trailer which, from what I'm reading here, was the high def high point of the day. I'm sure it'll come on HDNet soon enough!

Overall was impressed with PQ and audio. Beats the heck out of the other digital garbage they've been (intermittently) broadcasting on the DTV channels around here.

[riefil]

Originally posted by ghola
I just saw the halftime show. Wow. Cablevision LI is showing it on their HD MSG, via ABC. This is my first 720p from the major networks. I must say it looks very good, as good as any 1080i that CBS HD has done (AFC Playoffs,US Open). Thank you Mr Dolan! (Never thought I'd say that!)

I just got off the phone with Cablevision LI. They will not confirm when HD will be available on Long Island. Now I'm starting to wonder. Where in Nassau do you live? Iwas told that HD is only available in Westchester\Bronx\Brooklyn.

I heard the telecast was excellent as well.

[Zorpheus]

I thought the picture quality was awesome. I had a strange problem with audio lag. The audio was about half a second behind the video. :( That was a little distracting while watching someone talk but was not a problem while watching the game.

[hdexpert]

the sound being off wasnt a problem with the way that abc did their mixing or their post production....the problem is that most hd tv receivers (whether in the set or not) have a lip sync issue...the manufacturers are aware of this and will do their best to get that resolved before release of their new boxes..they are also working on software fixes for existing boxes

[FullBandwidth]

Have noticed lip sync issues with OTA broadcasts but never with HDNet on DirecTV (both on Hughes E6), makes me think the problem is related to OTA transport streams that might be different from DirecTV transport streams?

[ricjam]

Hey Feverish, What Antenna from Radio Shack did you get. I bought one those Antennas that Attaches to the dish and I am so pissed right now. I'm about the take it back and get a double refund. Also the Antenna that you got from Radio Shack did you have to buy any other components with it. Thanx for all the help.

Originally posted by feverish
This was my first LIVE HD experience. I literally bought the TV last week, and put up the antenna yesterday.

I was extremely impressed with the picture quality, and audio-- keeping in mind that this is bleeding edge technology. (I work in post ptod. video, and my colleagues and I still don't have a total grasp on how to handle HD).

I had a ton of friends over who were amazed that you could get that type of signal off of a cheap radio shack antenna.

And The Matrix trailer ROCKED!

[57U]

A couple of links corroborating what we already said - perhaps even word for word...

Yahoo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030127/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_super_bowl_hdtv_4)

CableCaster (http://www.cablecastermagazine.com/article.asp?id=15347)

[Tenorguy]

"That leads me to wonder if my SA3100HD box is doing the conversion or if my Hitachi is? Anybody know?"


57UWX: I work for Time Warner, the SA3100HD upconverts 720p to 1080i - not your Hitachi.

Happy Watching! Tenorguy

[57U]

The SA3100HD converts all signals that go out the component video cables to 1080i. The S-Video and composite video signals from this STB are, of course, 480i.

The Motorola STBs allow you to choose "pass through" or "upconvert".

[Steve R]

Anybody watch the Super Bowl with a Philips 34PW9818? I understand it does not support 720i, so what did the broadcast look like?

Any comments on this unit? I'm trying to decide on it vs the Sony 34XBR800

[MrFister]

You will love the way 720p looks on the 34xbr800

[LinkNuc]

Not great, the picture quality was there but not phenominal...I need my TV calibrated again as I think it got bounced around on the move from Pittsburgh. But comparing it to PBS where they show the travel shows there isno comparison, ABC cannot hold a candle until they go 1080i...anxiuos for Comcast Sports Net and ESPNHD though, we'll see how ABC handle Hockey this spring as it is a much faster sport

[Bryan]

I thought the SB looked great in HD however I thought ABC did a OK job with production. Too many times we saw the normal camera then it would switch to the HD camera. CBS did a much better job with their production of the NFL playoff games they had in HD.
Not complaining though. Sports in HD is they only way to watch.

Looking forward to the NBA All-Star game and ESPN HD.

[dbrungard]

abc only used hd cameras on main shots untill half time show. on cbs games they use hd cameras when they pan the stands and the sidelines (feels like you could walk into the picture and be on the sideline) what's up abc can't afford more than one camera? i have a hitachi 65swx20b big enough to walk into.