ME
Years ago

Is ESPN even actually HD?

So, for those of us who saw the game on ESPN - yikes. That is not the definition we've come to know from Fox Sports. Is there a reason why? Is it just the ESPN foxtel channel but Kayo is fine? Is SBS on Demand better?

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koberulz  
Years ago

*sigh*

Resolution isn't the only component of picture quality, and the things that look good to the untrained eye are often horribly inaccurate.

It looked warmer, less saturated and less contrasty than usual, all of which can make it seem softer. The actual detail was still there.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

No, the actual detail wasn't there. ESPN broadcasts in a lower resolution than Fox Sports

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ME  
Years ago

I was struggling to see this "actual detail".

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Anonymous  
Years ago

720p, technically HD but not Full HD (1080i/p), half the pixels but progressive scan rather than interlaced (in 1080i which every other channel uses), but that only really helps when watching Ice Hockey with the fast moving puck.

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koberulz  
Years ago

No, the actual detail wasn't there. ESPN broadcasts in a lower resolution than Fox Sports
That resolution is still HD. And I've seen people complain that it looked worse than other things on ESPN, which can't be explained by the resolution.

720p, technically HD but not Full HD (1080i/p), half the pixels
It's significantly more than half the pixels.

1280*720 = 921,600
1920*1080 = 2,073,600
921,600/2 = 460,800
2,073,600/921,600 = 2.25

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koberulz  
Years ago

No, the actual detail wasn't there. ESPN broadcasts in a lower resolution than Fox Sports
That resolution is still HD. And I've seen people complain that it looked worse than other things on ESPN, which can't be explained by the resolution.

720p, technically HD but not Full HD (1080i/p), half the pixels
It's significantly more than half the pixels.

1280*720 = 921,600
1920*1080 = 2,073,600
921,600/2 = 460,800
2,073,600/921,600 = 2.25

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Was wondering why the picture quality was lacking. Paying foxtel for hd quality

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Moose  
Years ago

Koberulz - while the broadcast may fit technical categories that make it "HD", it's clear to a number of viewers that wasn't to the standard many expect. Especially if you compare it to the NBA or recent FIBA World Cup.

Get off your nerdy "technically it's HD" high horse and accept that the broadcast did not pass the eye test.

It wasn't HD until the 4th quarter when something changed.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

it was terrible, i turned it off at half time as it was giving me a headache, close up shots seemed to be nice and clear, anything from the stands and it was blurry

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Watch it on sbs, it was perfect.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

"technically HD but not Full HD (1080i/p), half the pixels"

actually less than half the pixels. no wonder it didn't look sharp at all. anyone still using 720 should have to call their broadcast MD for medium definition!

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Greenie  
Years ago

Moose - not point in trying with Koberulz, he is the "technical" guru. If he says it was HD he "knows" it was "definitely" HD.

He surprisingly went untechnical with his constrasty statement though - it was almost like he had everyone fooled with dropping technical terms when he dropped the contrasty comment.

*sigh*

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Senator11  
Years ago

Watched it through Kayo and didn't notice anything to be honest, will use SBS On-Demand to compare, but my mate who doesn't have Kayo or Fox said the SBS broadcast cut off right at the end of the game?

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Zodiac  
Years ago

NBL TV which was taking the SBS feed kept going.

Reply #765935 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

Can't go cutting off coverage before it finishes, real amateurish

Reply #765939 | Report this post


ME  
Years ago

Yeah I have no interest in the technicalities. Watching a sub-par visual doesn't get easier for me because "technically it's HD". The NBL needs to address the issue and quickly because the game loses a lot if it doesn't look good. If it doesn't look good, "it doesn't look good".

Foxtel was already on a short leash with me but if I can't get HD from ESPN, it's gone.

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!  
Years ago

we have HD Foxtel and base ESPN on foxtel as far as I know is not HD but with our package we get ESPN 2 etc and the HD package - so it is in HD. Basically you can get either HD or standard definition.

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ME  
Years ago

I was watching it on ESPN HD. Doubt what I saw could be considered HD. Maybe technically is HD but certainly didn't look good.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

watched sbs on demand chromecasted to my TV from my phone. it was flawless from start to finish.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

"I was watching it on ESPN HD. Doubt what I saw could be considered HD."

like kober said it is less than half the pixels even though it is called HD

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ME  
Years ago

They can call dog shit caviar but still wont make me eat it.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

TV Blackbox, a media blog, has an article on the issue, they think it was caused by the off site broadcast. Which also caused the delays when crossing from the studio to the arena and the scoreboard being ahead of the play (which only bothered me personally when the shot clock reset before the shot was put up).

https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2019/10/4/blurry-start-to-new-nbl-broadcast-season-leaves-fans-outraged

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AngusH  
Years ago

The scoreboard thing bothered me because the score ticked up as soon as the ball hit the rim, so it kinda ruined the suspense a little bit on makes. At first I Thought it was just the best scoreboard operator in the history of basketball.

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koberulz  
Years ago

The score ticked up before the ball hit the rim on a few occasions.

Yeah I have no interest in the technicalities.
The technicalities are where you find causes and solutions, though.

If you've been happy with ESPN broadcasts of the NBA, NFL, etc then the resolution issue is irrelevant because those are 720p50 as well, assuming earlier posters are correct about that being the channel specs here.

If a low bitrate is causing a quality drop, shifting from Fox to streaming is likely to make things worse as any stream is highly likely to top out at a much lower bitrate than a TV broadcast.

I recall we had similar complaints about one of the open-air games, when the only issue was the natural light making it look different.

Reply #765961 | Report this post


ME  
Years ago

Well, call it how you want, it didn't look good. it didn't look clear. It lacked definition to look at. Didn't pass the eye test the way Fox Sports did. Hopefully the NBL cares enough to address the issue.

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koberulz  
Years ago

Do you also think the fourth quarter looked better than the first?

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PerthKnee  
Years ago

The fourth quarter 100% looked different to the first three.

Something changed

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koberulz  
Years ago

Well the cameras didn't, and the channel specifications didn't, so that absolutely rules out resolution as an issue.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

complaints on social media probably made it change

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Anonymous  
Years ago

is it true the commentators were commentating from a studio and not actually at the game

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Anonymous  
Years ago

koberulz is a nuffie

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Anonymous  
Years ago

It looked HD to me. Unfortunately these days a lot of people mistake brightness for picture quality.

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koberulz  
Years ago

It looked HD to me. Unfortunately these days a lot of people mistake brightness for picture quality.
If anything I thought black levels looked slightly elevated. It looked warmer than usual which can also make it seem less "bright", and thus less sharp, but NBL broadcasts in past years have been overly cool in a lot of venues so I'm not going to complain about a shift towards accurate colours.

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Perthworld  
Years ago

I would say they had an issue down scaling 1080i from the host broadcaster to the ESPN resolution, which seems to have been improved for the fourth quarter. So yes ESPN HD is HD but they had complications last night feeding it in.

If IMG are in charge of broadcast as that linked article suggests then it wouldn't come cheap. Strange if all of these changes are a cost-cutting measure then?

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koberulz  
Years ago

Wonder what the "it's not HD" crowd thinks of this horribly clipped mess.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Depends what screen you are viewing it on. I thought the coverage was excellent and the quality too.

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koberulz  
Years ago

I've had a quick look at this afternoon's game and TBH it looks softer than the other two did. Way too warm as well.

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ME  
Years ago

I feel like I have to adjust the settings on my picture after every game. Not good enough. NBL needs to be harangued about this stuff until it actually listens.

Did this happen in the early days of Fox Sports coverage or is this just an ESPN/SBS thing?

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