FoxHD NFL Games, HD-Lite over OTA?

[Sean Mota]

Actually (if you accept the definition of HD-Lite) many of the games are. But, it is not DirecTV's fault, it is Fox's. Fox has limited satellite space for distributing all those simultaneous football games and as a result they are under 13mb/s (the Cowboys game was 12.7mb/s OTA in Dallas). If DirecTV reencodes that (even at the same or higher bitrate) there will be additional quality loss. That is one reason people suspect that Fox's 720p doesn't look as good as CBS's 1080i (or ESPN's 720p for that matter).

This was posted at AVSforum and it can explain why these games are not even close to CBS games. Here is another argument again Sacrifice PQ to give more HD games. Quantiy over Quality.

 

[wasch_24]

Not that I have time to watch the day games, but the few times I have looked at them I was sorely dissappointed.

 

[Tvlman]

My personal ratings of NFL on HDTV are:

1. CBS
2. ESPN
3. ABC
4. FOX

Whatever the reason, Fox is behind the others. I am at times amazed at ESPN's quality. And CBS OTA is better than CBS on D*. I always get ABC & CBS OTA but just comparing the D* CBS game yesterday with the OTA CBS game the OTA game looked a lot better. I get CBS OTA on channel 2 here in LA and CBS DirecTV on channel 81 so I can make a direct comparison. I'm glad to have NFL HD. That's the only reason I am continuing with D*. But it's too bad you can't see the true clarity on D* that's on OTA channels.

 

[mattyro]

does FOX suffer on the baseball games as well?? I know ESPN's basebal is incredible sometimes-- I havent been wowed by these playoffs yet. If the quality of tonite's game isnt what were used to--- maybe Fox is doing something wrong.

 

[Sean Mota]

mattyro,

I do not know what Fox is doing but their HD quality is below everyone. Very little to get excited about for what I have seen so far. Even my local WB station can do better baseball in HD than they.

 

[riffjim4069]

I am not going to complain about FOX-HD since I feel the football and baseball coverage are a big improvement over that FOX Widescreen garbage and SD of the recent past. At this point, I am willing to cut them some slack...however, they had better bring their HD up to par by Superbowl time.

 

[voomvoom]

I think FOX is still using EDTV and the locals with HD capabilities are upconverting it to their 720p or 1080i, whichever the particular local is capable of.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

My local fox in Madison just went HD this past weekend and the game last night looked pretty good, but, not great. They said they get the signal from FOX at 15/mbs and send it through at the same here in Madtown. Actually i will watch the game via D* on Fox HD tonight and see if it is any diff.

 

[vurbano]

I have thought numerous times that it wasnt much better than their upconverted 480 widescreen to 720p. But posting that over at AVS would start a riot. The lower bitrate was revealed when it first started but no one complains over there. They are doing it with multicasting in mind. I dont think it will get any better.

 

[jose44]

The Fox HD on NFL Sunday Ticket is 720p, and perfect. I get no local Fox or any other broadcast, and can't comment on what Fox locals show for HD. But the network is sending a signal at least as good as CBS's and more of it.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

Last nights game looked as good on D* Fox HD and it did on OTA Fox here in HD. Which was better than the previous night. no complaints. and by the way the Cards and Astros was fun to watch

 

[Walter L.]

I have thought numerous times that it wasnt much better than their upconverted 480 widescreen to 720p. But posting that over at AVS would start a riot.

AMEN!!! That will piss-off foxeng (alias "Rupert Jr.")

 

[DarrellP]

Our Fox just fired up HD this weekend and I can say it looks damned good. Well, on my Dish 6000 anyway. The Voom stb makes the grass dance and look smudgey whether via component or DVI. My 6000 the grass wiggles just barely and looks better. It's a sad day when a 4 year old dinosaur beats the pants off a brand new stb.

BTW, this is tuning in the same channel OTA, so the signal is exactly the same to both boxes.

 

[Walter L.]

I would say that NFL football looks soft, but MLB baseball looks great

 

[vurbano]

The Fox HD on NFL Sunday Ticket is 720p, and perfect. I

Sorry but it is the same low bandwidth feed given to the affiliates. The feed is 13mbps from FOX and is far from perfect. Maybe if you ever saw MNF at 19 mbps OTA you would know the difference. Its a sad commentary on what the broadcasters are doing and what new users will accept.

 

[SpringsGuy]

Well i think fox hd looks good to me... I really can't tell the difference between FOXHD and CBSHD.. But ESPNHD looks by far the best to me.. And ABCHD well i haven't been fortunate enough to get ABC in HD yet.. Every Monday night i sit and wait patiently for the football game to start. And when it does it shows in 480i but yet the network keeps saying you are watching ABC in HD. LOL, well i am definetely not complaining because monday night games are the only ones i don't see in HD now....

 

[DarrellP]

I would say that NFL football looks soft, but MLB baseball looks great

Walter, have you seen a local FOX HD football game yet?

 

[Walter L.]

Walter, have you seen a local FOX HD football game yet?

I watched some football (I beleive it was Saturday morning) and was not impressed. However, I though the NY/Boston MLB game last night looked really good.

 

[DarrellP]

The baseball did look quite good. I watched part of the Seattle game after they finally got the HD kicked in and it wasn't very good. Hopefully it was a local issue, we'll see next week.

Walter, will you do me a favor? I know how concerned you are with PQ, could you take a look at the grass in widefield shots on your Voom stb and see if the grass is doing the Boogie? Thanks.

 

[scottabs]

I have been impressed with Fox in HD. Last weekend, I had to watch my Falcon's in CBS SD, and I was envious when I switched to the Patriot's game on Fox.