Tag Archive for 'hd'

7News in HD Imminent

Yes, people! Finally, 7News will end stretchovision madness and launch real HD.

Here’s what I learned:

- rehearsals were happening Friday evening
- the plex will/receive(d) subtle changes, nothing major
- anchor desk has grown a bit. The 7 logo at the front was replaced
- the blue duratran between the floors is going back to
how it was before, small. Or at least smaller than it is now.
- flat screens will be added to it?
- monitor wall may or may not change. WHDH replaced theirs
with almost a dozen large flat screen tvs

Graphics
- “very ESPN-sportscenter ish”
- “LOTS of swooshes and flying 7s”
- “everything looks like its flying out of the screen”
- the new opens are much shorter
- color scheme is blue, black, red with chrome

Music
no info but I’m working on it. My guess, something original
by Chris Crane, naturally

Field photogs will be shooting in 16×9 SD which will be upconverted
to HD. NO stretchovision and as few sidebars as possible.

Don’t expect any more major changes after this. Even with holding nearly 20% of the local tv ad market WSVN is still pinched by the bad economy.
They like every other station are having budget problems and allegedly won’t be filling open positions.

Doesn’t appear like they’ll acquire the WTVJ building at this point in time. Of course you never know but at the moment it doesn’t appear likely (maybe it never was?)

Sunbeam is still in litigation with the company that wants to build condos right next the studios.

7News HD will swooshhhh in with a bang sometimes during the first or second week of December.

And now you know. Thanks to the tipster for the info.

MSNBC in HD: Spring 2009

Thanks to The Futon Critic for this story: 

” MSNBC will begin telecasting in 1080i High Definition in the spring of 2009. The announcement was made by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. This move comes as MSNBC marks the one-year anniversary of re-locating to NBC News world headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. As Election Day approaches, MSNBC is more competitive than it has ever been before. In the third quarter of 2008, MSNBC was the fastest growing channel in all of cable. MSNBC is delivering its largest primetime audience ever and the largest audience in total day (6a-6a) since the start of the War Iraq (25-54, Oct. 08 to date).

“As viewers are making the transition to HD more and more every day, we’re looking forward to delivering what they want: a full high definition experience on MSNBC,” said Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. “In addition to our live news programs, over 80% of our new documentaries will be presented in HD.”

Building on the NBC News HD infrastructure already in place, MSNBC launches 1080i High Definition utilizing two full HD capable control rooms, integrated HD graphics, and new HD commercial integration master control and distribution systems. Since October of 2007, MSNBC has been telecasting from two HD-ready studios. ”

 

Well.. About time!

WHDH in High Definition

WHDH finally fliped the HD switched at Noon today.
This is a pretty good preview of what to expect from WSVN whenever they get around

/hat tip Andy from Boston/

more video, the embeding feature and player have not been officially released so you might have to try and play the video more than once.

Breaking News bump

updated news desk

developing story bump

Two Fort Myers Stations in HD by August 8

WBBH-NBC2 and WZVN-ABC7 in Fort Myers will flip the HD news switch by August 8 when the Beijing Summer Olympics begin.

Waterman Broadcasting owns WBBH and operates WZVN via a local marketing agreenment (LMA).

Both stations currently broadcast in 16:9 but not in high definition, they’ve broadcast network programming in HD since October 2002.

/hat tip Anonymous tipster for sending the link/

WSVN’s HD Control Room

Yesterday during the 4pm news Reed Cowan popped up from the recently renovated for HD control room.

As part of the transition to digital and WSVN’s move to broadcast news in HD they swapped the tiny CRT monitors with broadcast-grade LCD monitors.

Sorry about the camera photo my DVR is being Comcastic again.

Thursday’s Links

A WSVN HD Update

I have a minor update on WSVN’s HD transition.

No exact date still but most likely before or after the Olympics, which begin August 8.

One of the last things delaying them is the lack of HD graphics. WSVN’s graphic department is too busy with everything else. Several creative directors leaving hasn’t helped things either

I’m told WHDH and WSVN’s graphics package will be almost identical though.

Speaking of WHDH, Boston TV blog The Scoop says WHDH will be HD by July 15th. They’re putting up a green screen behind the anchor desk after sweeps with a pre-recorded loop of the newsplex while work is being done to the studio. Mainly removing the TV wall and replacing it with a giant projection screen!

More Details on WPLG’s Move and DTV Transition

A TVnewsday article today details WPLG’s DTV transition plans (reg. required) and move to a new studio.

The interesting bits are that Channel 10 bought Ikegami SD/HD cameras and those are going to be one of the few things that will be moved to the new studios. But it looks like there will be no Local10 News in HD until the move and live reports will be in SD for some time due to the costs associated with upgrading live news trucks.

WPLG and WSVN will have their digital transmitters on the same tower, a new one, both stations will be putting up soon.

WPLG GM Dave Boylan expects the new building to be done by December of this year. Equipment will be installed during the first three months of 2009 and the first staff will be in the new building sometime in April 2009. All staff will work from the new location by June 30, 2009.

/img Reese Associates/

TLC HD on Comcast Today

A message from Comcast on the DVR says TLC HD will be added today on channel 425.

The channel will be available to “Digital Starter HDTV service” subscribers. They probably meant those subscribing to the Digital Starter tier and HD service. Unless of course they are changing/adding tiers again.

WLTV Univision 23 in HD?

WLTV is going high def today.

One reader dropped me a message saying Univision 23 will be HD on Monday.

And a little bit later another reader said the station ran a promo that said changes were coming on Monday.

So it appears at least at this time that Miami will have its 4th station broadcasting local content in high definition.

Comcast Adds More HD Channels

Just saw a message on the DVR box that says Comcast added AMC HD, ABC Family HD, CNN HD, Disney HD, Science Channel HD.

Science Channel HD has been available for a while though so not sure why they’re announcing it now.

WTVJ NBC 6 HD Video Caps

ok a few of you were asking for video caps of NBC 6 HD in action so here they are from last night’s newscast.

not in full HD however but resized in half for this post as the PNG files were around 50MB

there are a couple nice shots in there - one from the control room and all the screens and gadgets and a steady cam one where you can see the HD camera.

Click the thumbnails below for a full image:

Continue reading ‘WTVJ NBC 6 HD Video Caps’

New Comcast HD Channels?

A reader says he saw Disney HD and ABC Family HD in clear QAM on Comcast. They’re showing up on 49.22 and 49.23, an analog channel frequency something a few people in other states have reported seeing.

Has anyone else with QAM tuner seen this?

Nothing official from Comcast as of yet on adding new channels however, they’re not in the guide and no messages on the DVRs.

And still no CNNHD or CNBCHD, not that they show all that much HD, but still…

Can you notice a difference?

7News is running on new HD robo cams that were turned on the other day, in SD mode. The difference is quite noticeable, to me anyway. The image is much more sharper than it was before especially on shots that are a bit

except lynn’s ever changing hairdo you notice a visible difference?

top screenshot is from a few weeks ago, bottom is from yesterday’s 4pm newscast

7hdcamsbeforeafter1.jpg

and two more before and afters below:

WSVN HD cameras running SD mode

WSVN HD cameras running SD mode

DTV stretch-o-vision comparison

WSVN DTV HD Camera Comparison

West Palm HD Now on Dish

Dish Network has turned on the HD for West Palm market. Dish Network Adds HD Local Markets, NESN HD

WSVN HD: Almost Upgraded; HD by May sweeps?

An insider was kind enough to send some new details on WSVN’s progress to HD.

According to this tipster WSVN’s control room is now completely HD-ready. They have just finished installing plasma displays replacing the monitors they had before. The HD studio cameras are almost ready as well, the control system is being finished. Some layoffs are expected in the next couple of weeks unfortunately as the new cameras are going to be automated.

New weather computers are being installed, and newsplex changes are being finalized - look for more flat screen TVs around the plex.

The tipster guesses WSVN might be in HD before May or early April. May sweeps begin exactly 30 days from today.

I noticed recently the latest promos have been re-shot and are 16:9 HD using the graphics from the promo that debuted during superbowl. So they’re definitely speeding ahead, hopefully the graphics team won’t be rushed too much

update 8:37pm: ok so the saga continues. another insider jumped in to clarify some things - WSVN will probably not be HD until around August because “they have ways to go”. And the 3 people being let go knew their jobs were only temporary.