Fiesta Bowl picture quality

sam_gordon

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May 21, 2009
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Anyone else think the quality of the Fiesta Bowl looks poor? Yes, I'm watching the HD feed.

I watched all the bowl games on ESPN yesterday and those didn't jump out on me like this one does. Basically it just doesn't look "sharp". Like I'm looking at an SD feed.
 
I'm watching at my parent's' house where they have Dish. I think the main camera they are using to show zoomed out images before every snap doesn't look vey sharp. The close ups from other cameras look fine though. I would say it has more to do with the broadcast than Dish just because some views look a lot better than others.
 
I'm watching at my parent's house where they have Dish. I think the main camera they are using before every snap doesn't look too sharp. The close ups from other cameras look fine though. I would say it has more to do with the broadcast than Dish just because some views look a lot better than others.
Now that you say that I see what you are talking about. The camera on the wires above the field looks to be slightly out of focus perhaps. When I posted above it was a close up with a different camera and it was very sharp.
 
I was noticing the main "game" cameras looked soft to me. As PP said, the close up cameras weren't too bad. I thought the color was strange too. It looked like ND had purple unis? I would think it was my TV, but all the graphics showed the dark blue I'm used to.
 
I think ESPN is just stretched too thin with all the games they are covering and have had to use inferior cameras for the distant shots. Like everyone else, I found the close up shots were all really sharp and the distant shots were of lesser quality in general.
 
plus, also Dish is upconverting ESPN's 720p picture quality in 1080p and sometimes, some TVs will make ESPN look more grainy for a HD quality picture. so that may not help matters if ESPN is using cams that aren't good enough for HD or were built in the early days of ESPN's HD feed.
 
They do upconvert it to 1080i though if that's the setting on the receiver. Or, if one has a 720p set and the 720p setting, no conversion is done.

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I think ESPN is just stretched too thin with all the games they are covering and have had to use inferior cameras for the distant shots. Like everyone else, I found the close up shots were all really sharp and the distant shots were of lesser quality in general.
The cameras all come off the same truck(s). These trucks go from game to game and all the equipment for the game is kept on board. It's not unusual to have an extra camera rented and shipped in or a loaner shipped in if a normal camera is broken, but it would be strange to have SD cameras on an HD game.

plus, also Dish is upconverting ESPN's 720p picture quality in 1080p and sometimes, some TVs will make ESPN look more grainy for a HD quality picture. so that may not help matters if ESPN is using cams that aren't good enough for HD or were built in the early days of ESPN's HD feed.
It wouldn't be Dish because the ESPN games I saw the day before (and the next day) were fine. It was something specific to this game.
 
I sometimes see what looks like SD camera shots during HD broadcasts I'm not certain that is so unusual.
 
I'm watching at my parent's' house where they have Dish. I think the main camera they are using to show zoomed out images before every snap doesn't look vey sharp. The close ups from other cameras look fine though. I would say it has more to do with the broadcast than Dish just because some views look a lot better than others.

Now that you say that I see what you are talking about. The camera on the wires above the field looks to be slightly out of focus perhaps. When I posted above it was a close up with a different camera and it was very sharp.

This is a common issue with football coverage. Closeups look great but the wide shot can be quite soft.
 
The cameras all come off the same truck(s). These trucks go from game to game and all the equipment for the game is kept on board. It's not unusual to have an extra camera rented and shipped in or a loaner shipped in if a normal camera is broken, but it would be strange to have SD cameras on an HD game.

It wouldn't be Dish because the ESPN games I saw the day before (and the next day) were fine. It was something specific to this game.
I was specifically referring to the Saturday when ESPN broadcast four college bowl games from four different locations in the country. That would be a lot of hardware on the same day and one or two trucks couldn't roll to cover. Anyway, it was just a thought. I'm glad to hear that you are an expert on the subject.
 
I was specifically referring to the Saturday when ESPN broadcast four college bowl games from four different locations in the country. That would be a lot of hardware on the same day and one or two trucks couldn't roll to cover. Anyway, it was just a thought. I'm glad to hear that you are an expert on the subject.
I apologize if I sounded offended. That wasn't my goal. There are LOTS of trucks across the country to serve all the games. Keep in mind a "normal" Saturday of college FB (or BB) and how many games are being broadcast.

I wouldn't consider me an "expert", but I have worked on these events as part of the broadcast crew.
 
the Saturday when ESPN broadcast four college bowl games from four different locations in the country
Is (4) games total a lot ?

Keep in mind a "normal" Saturday of college FB (or BB) and how many games are being broadcast.
Seems to me that they can do (3) games at the same time, although it doesn't always happen - ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3/WatchESPN. There may be basketball games, X-Games, soccer, etc going on as well. They also co-broadcast with ABC, unless ESPN handles all of the logistics and ABC just shows the broadcast.
 
I wouldn't consider me an "expert", but I have worked on these events as part of the broadcast crew.
Hey, in my eyes, that makes you more of an expert than I am for sure.
Working one of those games must have been a lot of fun. (Unless you get bowled over by a 300 pound line man!)
OH, judging by the extra precautions being taken now whenever one of the players gets hurt, they may have to schedule four hours for a game instead of three. (Just a random thought from my feeble mind.):eek:
 
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