[QuadList] OT: "Improv Ice" on NBC--16:9 SD uprezzed to 1080i? Hard to watch!

[Ted Langdell]

I finally got the Bravia set up here after obtaining it in Austin as a digital signage display for AMIA.

The 49ers win yesterday was great to watch.  I caught the last 2:xx minutes, but they were some of the greatest football I can remember. HD made it even more enjoyable.

At the same time, I've been somewhat appalled at the ick that's being put up on SD-DTV channels.

Being mid-way between the Sacramento and Chico markets, I can see the same content on affiliates in both markets. Poor folks in Chico have some awful looking x.2 material to watch, compared to the same feed out of Sacramento.  

I chalk that up to different methods of getting the pictures to the consumer... IE:  Sacramento is probably a digital path from satellite through ingest, (or directly on air via MC) while it looks like Chico has an analog step or two in the way.

The Sony BluRay disc player I picked up at the same time also has an Ethernet port and internet capability.

Some of the Hd content I was watching earlier today looked pretty darn good. 1.5-1.6Mbps data rate.

<shakes head>

My wife insists HD is a "guy thing" and that women don't notice the difference.

Ted

On Jan 15, 2012, at 3:12 PM, C. Park Seward wrote:

> One channel here has horrible SD images. I can't imagine how hard they have to work to get images that bad!
> 
> Quality varies greatly. Most of the displays in hotel rooms are stretched 4x3 to fill the 16x9 LCD. Analog feeds. 
> 
> Best,
> Park
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 818-535-2747 cell
> (541) 476-6657 hm
> 2" and 1" video transfers
> 
> On Jan 15, 2012, at 2:55 PM, Ted Langdell <ted at quadvideotapegroup.com> wrote:
> 
>> Am watching HD off air here... (Sony Bravia KDL-40BX421) 40" LCD.
>> 
>> NBC's just now ended skating show, "Improv Ice starring Styx" and it looks like the main program content is 16:9 SD uprezzed to 1080i.  
>> 
>> On the skating and interview segments, I see interlace artifacts such as doubled scan lines on graphics and content.  The video lacks clarity compared to certain show interstitial elements, NBC graphics (the bug is clean!) and HD commercials.
>> 
>> Definitely seeing jaggies on diagonals like mike booms. Small lights have an Image Orthicon halo around them. 
>> 
>> The show is fresh—recorded in the Bi-Lo Center, Greeneville, SC on Dec. 15, 2011.
>> 
>> Wondering what's amiss here.  Is it actually an SD show uprezzed?  HD with an interlace problem?  Setting out of whack during editing or ingest?
>> 
>> Dunno how the average viewer is taking it... but it makes it hard to watch!
>> 
>> My DTV converter box into a Sony BVM-1910 looks better.  
>> 
>> Ted
>> 
>> Ted Langdell
>> Secretary
>> See us at NAB 2012, April 16-19 in Booth SL-9607
>> Use code 2012 for your free NAB Exhibits Pass
>> 
>> 
>> 
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