DTV ESPN HD College Football picture quality

[actionj]

So I watch tons of college football and last year the ESPN HD picture quality was pretty good. The OTA ABC and CBS feeds have been pristine. This year is a different story though as the ESPN HD picture quality has degraded drastically. ABC owns ESPN and the OTA ABC feeds are still pristine so I must conclude that DTV are morons and their HD picture quality is getting worse and worse. I can't fathom that the problem is on ESPN's side because the quality was good last year and also the world cup soccer qualilty was very good. I've been listening in on all of the S3 talk and I think I am finally converted and will get a few when they come out because I can't stand picture quality that jumps all over the place from year to year.

[Cudahy]

The picture quality of the distance shots(which almost all the plays were shown)in the ABC Notre Dame-Ga.Tech game was so poor in HD that we just switched to SD. The incredible difference in supposedly "HD" pictures is baffling.

[purwater]

My pic quality for the games this weekend was very good from ESPN. I don't have HD locals, but the ABC feed of the ND-GT game was horrible on my SD locals. It was like some 70s quality footage. I ended up going back and watching Tennessee-Cal on ESPN and it was very sharp with good color. Last night's KY-Louisville game was good as well. It does seem that the HD quality varies on DTV though.

[bwaldron]

The problems were/are on ESPN's side, I saw some awful HD pictures this first weekend from multiple providers. Some games were OK, some were terrible quality. But it was not DirecTV's fault (this time). Seems that ESPN is having some issues that they will hopefully get resolved.

[PRMan]

After a long off-season, I OD'ed on College Football this weekend. I have DirecTV also.

ESPN - Michigan/Vanderbilt - BAD, looked blurry and out-of-focus all day. (During the game, I began to think that HD crews should be required in their contract to get 6-month eye exams and be fired for not wearing their corrective lenses.)

ESPN - Oregon/Stanford - VERY GOOD

ESPN - California/Tennessee - VERY GOOD

KABC - Notre Dame/Georgia Tech - OK (except for contstant SD Flash Flood warnings). Also, the "main" camera angle seemed to be very out-of-focus and edge-enhanced. Maybe somebody broke the HD camera at the 50-yard-line?

ESPN - USC/Arkansas - PRISTINE, OUT-THE-WINDOW shellacking of a team that was supposed to be angry about last year. Am I the only one that thinks that USC may in fact return to the National Championship game? (I didn't think so before the game started.) They certainly looked better than Cal and Notre Dame, the picks that seemed popular at the beginning of the day.

ESPN(2?) - Memphis/Ole Miss - OK, again, seemed like people need to wear their corrective lenses.

ESPN - Kentucky/Louisville - PRISTINE, OUT-THE-WINDOW

[CcntMnky]

I was reading an article about the new video board they put in at Nebraska. The screen is capable of HD, but they don't have the cameras for it yet. This got me thinking about broadcast HD from stadiums...

Is it possible that the networks are just using the cameras available at the schools? I always thought the footage on those screens was the same as the networks', so wouldn't that imply that if a school doesn't upgrade, out HD at home will suffer?

[Sir_winealot]

Hopefully the FSU/Miami game toniht will prove to be of decent HD quality...it's the only game on at primetime, so I'm hoping they get it right!

[rifleman69]

I was reading an article about the new video board they put in at Nebraska. The screen is capable of HD, but they don't have the cameras for it yet. This got me thinking about broadcast HD from stadiums...

Is it possible that the networks are just using the cameras available at the schools? I always thought the footage on those screens was the same as the networks', so wouldn't that imply that if a school doesn't upgrade, out HD at home will suffer?

I think you mean Texas and their "Godzilla-tron", not Nebraska. Schools don't own any of the cameras being shot (besides the one or two used specifically by the teams own use, you don't get to see this footage), it's what the broadcasting companies and their contractors bring to the stadiums.

[hoopsrgreat]

The SD version of the ND/ GT game was AWFUL. When I switched to the HD feed.. it was great.

The same with the ESPN HD game with Arkansas.

I can not say that the OTA HD feeds are any better than D* and ESPN HD feed.
I have a 61 inch Samsung DLP and I think I have very little complaints on any ESPN HD feeds.

Corey


Correction: just watching the Miami/Florida State game, and on a scene showing the Miami cheerleaders,,,,, major pixelation.

[actionj]

It's easy to compare the DTV HD quality because theoretically we should all be getting the same Picture Quality. As for over-the-air HD, it isn't the same for everyone. I live very close to the tower in Salt Lake City and get 95% signal quality and I promise you that my OTA blows any DTV HD picture out of the water. For people who are saying their OTA HD is not that good, there could be many factors that are influencing this.

[Sparky]

Another thought, is the "higher class" games they allocate more bandwidth?? I noticed something like this last season on HD pro games, the better games seemed to be more sharp than the not so better. Thoughts??

[stiffi]

I thought FSU/Miami was awful on ESPN HD on Directv.

I kept checking the guide to make sure I was watching the right broadcast. The Notre Dame/GT game, by contrast, I thought looked great on Local HD OTA.

[Jeremy517]

Today's game looked absolutely terrible also. Ugh.

[rifleman69]

Boise was surrounded by a bunch of smoke and haze, but clearly NBC's broadcast was loads better than ESPN regardless of the air quality.

[Seminole]

I thought NBC'S game was horrible as well watched OTA in Boston.

[RexB]

Out here in the great NorthWest, i.e. in the woods, DTV HD is nearly always Worse than OTA from 35 miles away, whatever the channel. OTA is exceptional PQ, while DTV HD often looks no better than SD/ED. Narrow bandwidth via satellite is my unedumicated guess.

[Bobcuch]

I was lurking around and I saw this thread and I had to comment.... I do not have HD through DTV. (Do have 5 SD DTV TIVOs though.) Anyway, I do have HD through the cable company. The picture quality during the college games on ESPN last week was HORRIBLE! So, bad, I thought I was having a problem with signal. I went through the trouble of reset the box, calling the cable company (when it did not get better after the restart) and finally scheduling a visit from the cable company. Later when I notice Baseball tonight looked fine I canceled the appointment.
I do not know enough about HD broadcasts but, is it possible that the problem was with the way ESPN was broadcasting the games???