Olympics in HDTV?

[lv70smusic]

I intended to watch some of the Olympics coverage today/tonight, but it seemed like my local NBC affiliates HD channel was only interested in showing the opening ceremony (which I believe they also broadcast last night). Even though the on screen guide indicated that swimming and gymnastics would be on, it was hour after hour of the opening ceremony. (I found it so boring that I ended up not watching much, but I kept checking back periodically to find the same thing throughout the evening.) Imagine my surprise when at 10pm the opening ceremony ended and then, after a few minutes of the picture and audio totally not matching (not a lip synch issue but a picture that had no relationship with the audio!!!), the HDTV feed began the opening ceremony AGAIN. WTF!?! I finally turned to the standard NBC channel and found that it was actually covering sporting events. (Imagine that. :rolleyes: )

Is anyone else trying to watch the Games in high-def? Is everyone else getting the same repeat of the opening ceremony instead of the actual events?

As an aside, I must say that the roll out of HDTV has been pretty poor as far as I am concerned. There is almost nothing broadcast in HD on a regular basis that I am interested in watching and the special events seem to get screwed up frequently. (I am specifically recalling the terrible audio during last year's Grammy Awards show.)

[b&w]

Your answer is here..

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=432732

[ronbow]

Jeff

Perhaps even more frustratingly, what I saw last night was that my standard NBC broadcast programming appeared to be the opening ceremony (in real time) while the HD counterpart was in fact, not the opening ceremony, but a "very special" program reviewing the last several Olympics. (This is the first time that I've actually seen different content on the standard vs HD NBC broadcasts.)

[Doug Sclar]

This is basically what happened in 2002 for the Winter Olympics. Both HDNet and NBC seemed to have delayed programming on the HD channel, but NBC had different programming on the SD channel. If so, you can expect to see everything one day late, and repeated several times.

And yes, I saw that disassociated audio problem, but it only lasted a few minutes. They went to commercial than came back with the 3rd replay of the opening ceremonies with in sync audio.

But you must admit one thing. It sure looks good.

And I noticed when HD first rolled out that they almost always had a different telecast than the normal broadcast of the event. Not only that, but the main announcers were on the SD channel, and some lesser known announcers did the HD feed. I guess back then they hadn't figured out how to share cameras yet, so felt they had to have independent production.

A few years ago that seemed to morph into simulcasts using a combination of HD and SD cameras, which is also a drag. When watching HD and a SD camera is switched the difference is extremely obvious.

[b&w]

If you look at the link all the answers are provided..

[lv70smusic]

Thanks for the link. It definitely provided many answers. Unfortunately it doesn't address my largest question, which is why NBC thinks that anyone needs the opening ceremony repeated several times after the games have actually begun.

If you look at the link all the answers are provided..

[Doug Sclar]

Thanks for the link. It definitely provided many answers. Unfortunately it doesn't address my largest question, which is why NBC thinks that anyone needs the opening ceremony repeated several times after the games have actually begun.

It's not just the opening ceremonies that are repeated. This will go on for the duration of the Olympics. As you can see, they are televising on the HD channel 24 hours a day, while of course the events are not going on round the clock. Therefore, everyday the HD telecast will be from the previous day's events, and then that telecast will repeat, possibly more than once. As was already pointed out, there is virtually no live coverage, even on the standard NBC chananels due to the time zone differences.

[lv70smusic]

Yeah, I noticed that. I will say, however, that the NBC affiliate where I live is not showing the Olympics 24/7 on its HD channel. This morning they have the usual Sunday morning fodder until 11am.

I can understand showing the "highlights" of the actual sporting events more than once, particularly because not everyone who has an HDTV and receiver has the ability to time-shift in HD quality. What I didn't (and still don't) get is showing the parade of nations four times in a row. I would think that a couple of showings would have been enough for anyone interested to have caught that. I know that some people are really moved by the opening ceremony, but hour after hour of people walking onto a field does not make very interesting TV for me, even when those people are the top athletes from around the globe. Not to be too insulting with an analogy, but I also wouldn't want to watch the red-carpet walk at the Oscars several times before actually getting to the show, either, particularly if the actual show was already being aired on another channel.

It's not just the opening ceremonies that are repeated. This will go on for the duration of the Olympics. As you can see, they are televising on the HD channel 24 hours a day, while of course the events are not going on round the clock. Therefore, everyday the HD telecast will be from the previous day's events, and then that telecast will repeat, possibly more than once. As was already pointed out, there is virtually no live coverage, even on the standard NBC chananels due to the time zone differences.

[Doug Sclar]

Yeah, I noticed that. I will say, however, that the NBC affiliate where I live is not showing the Olympics 24/7 on its HD channel. This morning they have the usual Sunday morning fodder until 11am.

I can understand showing the "highlights" of the actual sporting events more than once, particularly because not everyone who has an HDTV and receiver has the ability to time-shift in HD quality. What I didn't (and still don't) get is showing the parade of nations four times in a row. I would think that a couple of showings would have been enough for anyone interested to have caught that. I know that some people are really moved by the opening ceremony, but hour after hour of people walking onto a field does not make very interesting TV for me, even when those people are the top athletes from around the globe. Not to be too insulting with an analogy, but I also wouldn't want to watch the red-carpet walk at the Oscars several times before actually getting to the show, either, particularly if the actual show was already being aired on another channel.

Well here in LA we now have what I imagine are yesterdays events. I guess each affiliate makes the decision as to what to carry locally. Just stay away from other TV, radio, Internet and newspapers and you'll likely enjoy NBC HD coverage just fine. :(

Did you notice the often repeated HD views of the local scenery that they were showing yesterday. There is this one shot of a house (or compound) on top of a butte which is totally amazing. How did they build that thing and how do they get to it. Beautiful shots in HD for sure. I surely appreciate the detailed 1080i shots over the 720p that ABC and ESPN use.

[JonUrban]

I have Dish Network, and they are carrying the NBC HD Olympics channel that is NOT the NBC broadcast feed (It's the special 24hr channel)

As many of you have noted, everytime I fire it up, it's the damn opening parade! At this point, I don't really care about the Olympics, I happen to like HDTV. I will check back from time to time, but if it's not a live event, what's the point??

[lv70smusic]

I have to say that I have been enjoying NBC's HDTV coverage of the Olympics. No, it isn't ideal, primarily because the events are shown well past the time they were performed, making it almost impossible to not know what the results were before watching the various competitions. It is also tiring watching the same commercials over and over (that Sony HD ad and the promo for a new comedy-police drama set in Hawaii), though fortunately the number of minutes devoted to commercials is MUCH smaller than the TV norm.

What I am liking the most is the excellent picture. I actually hadn't watched much HDTV before because there is little shown that I want to watch. (I don't care whether "Everybody Loves Raymond" has a clear picture; I still find the show boring.) Based on my previous HDTV viewing experience, I had noticed the picture improvement but didn't feel too bad when switching back to another, standard def program. After watching HDTV almost exclusively for several days, though, it's so obvious how crappy the regular channels look, particularly the analog channels as delivered by Comcast (which, I'm sure, look worse than they have to).

I also appreciate that NBC has treated the Olympics better on their HDTV feed than they have on their analog feed. The focus is on the athletic events, not extraneous gab. The commentaries during the events are more interesting on the HDTV feed than what I've heard on the analog feed. And, best of all, they actually show an entire event like the 1500 meter men's freestyle. I couldn't believe that during this race on the analog NBC feed last night, they broke into commercials about 4 minutes into the race and then came back to the race closer to the end than it would have been if it continued in real time. I guess whoever was in control thought that minutes 4-11 of that race were superfluous or beyond the attention span of their audience.

I just wanted to revive this thread because my initial post was so critical. Overall, once the opening cermonies gave way to the actual Games, I've been fairly pleased with what I've seen.