[mythtv-users] OT: HD and sports

[Brian Wood]

Jerome Yuzyk wrote:
> I have read a lot of Myth stuff about HD, and I know what it is, and recently 
> had the local phone company try to sell me on their HD-over-telephone 
> package. My Myth SD setup works pretty darn well and it has certainly changed 
> the way I watch television, and the amount - upwards, because of the control 
> I have over my viewing repertoire.
> 
> I've only ever looked at HD sets in one store, so maybe I'm just being lazy 
> asking the list but it's Saturday, quiet, and maybe a few others that know 
> are working.
> 
> I can appreciate the extra resolution for crisper pictures, but what I really 
> want in HD is the extra screen real-estate for sports, so I can see more of 
> the field/rink. I can already see the puck/ball, and whether the player has 
> shaved before the game - what I really want to see is the whole football 
> formation in motion, for example, so I can see the play develop. I want to 
> see both ends of the ice during hockey so that my eye can follow the puck and 
> play and not have to rely on a cameraman keeping a tight frame on the 
> immediate location of play and then jerking around trying to follow it. Do 
> any HD sports stations do that? Or is all of HD sports just crisper pictures 
> and the same camera-work as SD, needing replays to show action on the 
> field/rink that the main play cameras exclude?

As you might suspect, it depends.

Sports events shot in HD, with perhaps a 16-9 aspect, is shot with 
equipment that can produce exactly what you are seeking.

But:

The actual images depend on the work of the camera operators, and 
especially the directors, who are telling the shooters what to shoot.

Many directors have worked for decades with analog NTSC systems, and the 
degree to which they have adapted to the widescreen format vary 
considerably. Directors with a film background seem to adapt more easily 
(which makes sense).

The tendency in the industry in the last few years has been to shoot 
sporting events very tight, which I find annoying. I really don't care 
to count a batter's whiskers.

In fact, I worked for WWOR when we aired a baseball game between the 
Mets and the Padres that was played in Monterrey, Mexico. They were 
using local cameramen (no women doing that down there) who were used to 
shooting very wide shots. Our directors were beside themselves because 
the shooters just would not get the tight shots they wanted.

I liked it a lot better, and from the viewer response after the game so 
did most everyone else.

Of course this did not change any directorial minds at all.

The equipment can do what you want, it's up to the humans involved. All 
I can say for sure is that I think it will get better as time goes on 
and people get more experience, and more people come out of school never 
having worked with NTSC.

beww