NBC Nightly News, now in HD

[Fofer]

According to EngadgetHD, it starts Monday:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/03/19/nbc-nightly-news-to-go-hd-on-march-26th/

My guide data shows it's in HD beginning on April 2, though.

Either way, this is GOOD news for HDTV owners. :)

[mtnagel]

Awesome. I don't watch the news regularly, but now when it's on when we're watching tv, I know what station I'll be watching. If only the local news would start broadcasting in HD as I know they are in some markets.

Oh, and mine says HD for Monday's. I have Directv with an HR20.

[LoadStar]

Hopefully this will be the kick in the pants that local news needs to upgrade their news production to HD. If they have a non-HD bumping right into a HD national news, then back down to non-HD for the second local newscast, it'll make the local newscast look even worse by comparison.

[drew2k]

Per other online articles I've seen, ABC News is considering late 2007 or early 2008 for Charlie Gibson's broadcast.

WNBC-NY has had local news in HD for almost 8 or 10 months, with HD cameras in the field, and a couple of months ago, WABC-NY finally went HD for the studio segments, but not in the field yet. As mentioned, this is good news all the way around ...

[LoadStar]

I'm somewhat surprised that CBS didn't go right to HD when they unveiled their new set and Katie Couric as the new host.

[Yo1]

Awesome. I don't watch the news regularly, but now when it's on when we're watching tv, I know what station I'll be watching. If only the local news would start broadcasting in HD as I know they are in some markets.

Oh, and mine says HD for Monday's. I have Directv with an HR20.


I put up with Directv's HR20-700 for 4 months I finally saw the light and switched over to Time Warner and a Series 3 been happy ever since.Has anyone else had a bad experience with the HR20-700 from Directv? :confused:

[mtnagel]

I put up with Directv's HR20-700 for 4 months I finally saw the light and switched over to Time Warner and a Series 3 been happy ever since.Has anyone else had a bad experience with the HR20-700 from Directv? :confused:Not really the right place for this, but I have had great success with mine. Yes, some people have had some issues, but it's gotten better the last several months. I have a couple hot button issues that I'd like resolved but they are very actively working on their "flagship" DVR so I have high hopes they will get resolved at some point. I've heard bad things about TW here and they are more expensive than D* and I have NFL Sunday Ticket, so that makes it easy for me to keep D* and deal with any minor issues.

[Fofer]

I'm somewhat surprised that CBS didn't go right to HD when they unveiled their new set and Katie Couric as the new host.

I'm not surprised.... word on the street is that Ms. Couric ain't exactly "HDTV friendly," ifyouknowhatI'msayin'... <wink wink nudge nudge>

[BriGuy20]

I'm not surprised.... word on the street is that Ms. Couric ain't exactly "HDTV friendly," ifyouknowhatI'msayin'... <wink wink nudge nudge>

OH GOD YES. Even in SD, you can see what the ravages of gravity can do to a face. :eek:

Happy NBC Nightly News is going HD, it's my favorite nightly news broadcast.

[Fofer]

So, yeah, NBC Nightly News was in HD tonight. Looked great, I must say. :)

[jsmeeker]

nice... a network finally started to do this.

One of our local stations (the ABC affiliate) started to do it recently as well.

[mtnagel]

Damn, I forgot to watch.

[Raj]

nice... a network finally started to do this.

One of our local stations (the ABC affiliate) started to do it recently as well.

Actually, as mentioned, we've had HD news on WNBC-DT and WABC-DT here for quite some time.

[DougF]

Damn, I forgot to watch.

I think it might be on again tonight.




:D

[mtnagel]

I think it might be on again tonight.




:DIt won't be the same stories though :(

:D

[Fofer]

At the end, they had a little segment about it. Talked about the history of NBC News and compared the HD update to when they changed from black-and-white to color. Brian Williams looked like he had a lot of makeup on. :D

[Bierboy]

Damn, I forgot to watch.Yeah, me too. I'll try to catch it tonight. But I never watch the main three network news operations...gimme FoxNews any day of the week.

[jsmeeker]

Actually, as mentioned, we've had HD news on WNBC-DT and WABC-DT here for quite some time.


I know. Just letting people know that they finalls did it in the Dallas market.

[Fofer]

I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure ALL the L.A. local nightly news (from all the networks) have been in HD for awhile now?

[jsmeeker]

I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure ALL the L.A. local nightly news (from all the networks) have been in HD for awhile now?


I know channel 7 is. Maybe the others do it now too? I don't stay at a hotel with HDTVs any more. :(

[LoadStar]

I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure ALL the L.A. local nightly news (from all the networks) have been in HD for awhile now?

Stations currently doing local news in HD:

Station Market Affiliation Owner
KABC Los Angeles ABC ABC
KARE Minneapolis NBC Gannett
KING Seattle NBC Belo
KLAS Las Vegas CBS Landmark
KOMO Seattle ABC Fisher
KPNX Phoenix NBC Gannett
KSDK St. Louis NBC Gannett
KTVD Denver MNT Gannett
KTVU San Francisco Fox Cox
KUSA Denver NBC Gannett
WFTV Orlando ABC Cox
WJW Cleveland Fox Fox
WKYC Cleveland NBC Gannett
WNBC New York NBC NBC
WPVI Philadelphia ABC ABC
WRAL Raleigh-Durham, N.C. CBS Capitol
WRAZ Raleigh-Durham Fox Capitol
WSB Atlanta ABC Cox
WTHR Indianapolis NBC Dispatch
WTXF Philadelphia Fox Fox
WUSA Washington CBS Gannett
WXIA Atlanta NBC Gannett
WXYZ Detroit ABC Scripps
KAZR Reno Azteca America Pappas
KRNV Reno NBC Sunbelt
KREN Reno CW Pappas
WABC New York ABC ABC
WLS Chicago ABC ABC
WFAA Dallas ABC Belo
KTLA Los Angeles CW Tribune
WFTV Nashville CBS Landmark
KGO San Francisco ABC ABC
WEWS Cleveland ABC Scripps
WRDQ Orlando, Fla. Independent Cox
KFMB San Diego CBS Midwest TV
KHOU Houston CBS Belo
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6425583.html

[Fofer]

Thanks for that, LoadStar. I just got HDTV last month so I'm still getting acclimated to what's out there. It's been a while since I've watched local news... but I've had an SP to the national news for as long as I've had a TiVo. Anything else I've just stumbled on during the rare channel surfing...

[MScottC]

I watched NBC Nightly News last night in HD, and for the first time an HD show left me with the feeling of "so what??" All the stories were still in SD (albeit upconverted) with sidebars.
The fact that it is in HD is not enough to drive me to watch NBC News, However the quality of their news content is.
This is the first time an HD show left me feeling that way.

I felt very differently during the State of the Union Address, where the High Def pictures were amazing and gave me a view of the House Chamber like I'd never seen before. So perhaps this is good as having the High Def production facilities in place for the nightly news broadcast will allow them to do real events originating in HD more often.

[IJustLikeTivo]

OH GOD YES. Even in SD, you can see what the ravages of gravity can do to a face. :eek:

Happy NBC Nightly News is going HD, it's my favorite nightly news broadcast.

If you think that's bad under no circumstances look at Meredith Viera on the Today show. Yikes! Why didn't the just promote Campbell Brown. Prettier and cheaper and much more HD friendly on the weekend edition.

[LoadStar]

I watched NBC Nightly News last night in HD, and for the first time an HD show left me with the feeling of "so what??" All the stories were still in SD (albeit upconverted) with sidebars.
The fact that it is in HD is not enough to drive me to watch NBC News, However the quality of their news content is.
This is the first time an HD show left me feeling that way.

Well, admittedly it's a first step, upgrading the studio shots... the rest will come in time. It's expensive to upgrade - everything, from the trucks to the cameras, has to be replaced.

[Fleegle]

Hopefully this will be the kick in the pants that local news needs to upgrade their news production to HD. If they have a non-HD bumping right into a HD national news, then back down to non-HD for the second local newscast, it'll make the local newscast look even worse by comparison.

The Phoenix NBC channel has had local news in HD for a month or two now.

[drew2k]

I thought NBC did a great job with the "wings" on the upconverted 4:3 content. I hate how ESPN does it, with glaring ESPN logos in the wings. NBC went for an understated "blur" effect, which was so good that the wings essentially blended into the main picture so that the wings were only noticeable with conscious effort. Kudos for that.

[LoadStar]

I thought NBC did a great job with the "wings" on the upconverted 4:3 content. I hate how ESPN does it, with glaring ESPN logos in the wings. NBC went for an understated "blur" effect, which was so good that the wings essentially blended into the main picture so that the wings were only noticeable with conscious effort. Kudos for that.
Uh?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/Ntropolis/WAVY113.jpg

These are the "wings" that NBC used on their newscast... they chose not to use the blur and stretch effect that FOX uses on their upconverted content for their sportscasting.

[drew2k]

Uh?

[img]

These are the "wings" that NBC used on their newscast... they chose not to use the blur and stretch effect that FOX uses on their upconverted content for their sportscasting.That's odd ... I recall seeing soft blurs of blue in yesterday's broadcast, but I see today's is what you have posted. I have no clue what I was thinking of now!

[skanter]

NBC local news has been in HD here in NYC for a long time now. All the stories are SD, so who cares? The lame talking heads reading the news don't look any better in HD -- you can see the makeup more.

:down:

[LoadStar]

I mostly agree with you, Skanter. I mean, I like to see it from the "more HD is better" perspective, but it really doesn't add anything to the newscast.

I think a bigger impact that results from local news in HD is that they also upgrade their computer systems to output HD graphics... which, in turn, should allow them to do weather alerts without dropping out of HD programming.

(Currently, the local channels all drop down to SD, and then "squeeze" the programming even more to be able to fit in banner/column graphics with the weather department logos in... really is frustrating to try and watch television whenever there's even a hint of possible severe weather somewhere in the area.)

[Bierboy]

...I felt very differently during the State of the Union Address, where the High Def pictures were amazing and gave me a view of the House Chamber like I'd never seen before...I agree.

This looks awful....it's the worst live HD I have EVER seen. Studio shots were soft, blurry, not sharp at all. And the wings with SD stunk. And I have a calibrated set. If this is what we have to look forward to, forget it... :down: :down: :down:

[trainman]

NBC local news has been in HD here in NYC for a long time now. All the stories are SD, so who cares?

Interesting -- from what I can tell on KABC in Los Angeles, all of their locally-originated video is in HD. I just captured this a couple minutes ago...

http://www.ellwanger.tv/images/misc/driverinhd.jpg

I'm not sure the HD adds much to interviews with random guys in parking lots, but there you go.

[jsmeeker]

it's too bad they still have to frame the shots with 4:3 sets in mind. I would look so much better if they assumed 16:9, then letter boxed the SD feed.

[LoadStar]

Interesting -- from what I can tell on KABC in Los Angeles, all of their locally-originated video is in HD. I just captured this a couple minutes ago...

http://www.ellwanger.tv/images/misc/driverinhd.jpg

I'm not sure the HD adds much to interviews with random guys in parking lots, but there you go.

You sure it's HD, or just upconverted widescreen SD? Sometimes even I have trouble telling.

[smak]

I believe that KCBS and KCAL in LA are going HD news in April. They are both owned by Viacom.

KABC also has an HD cam in their chopper.

-smak-

[MScottC]

I believe that KCBS and KCAL in LA are going HD news in April. They are both owned by Viacom.

KABC also has an HD cam in their chopper.

-smak-

Actually NOT. They are both owned by CBS, which is now a separate corporation from Viacom. Sumner Redstone, the owner of the controlling shares of Viacom, split the two companies up a year and a half ago. He still controls the voting shares of both companies, but they are two competing companies.

[mtnagel]

(Currently, the local channels all drop down to SD, and then "squeeze" the programming even more to be able to fit in banner/column graphics with the weather department logos in... really is frustrating to try and watch television whenever there's even a hint of possible severe weather somewhere in the area.)Around here, from what I've seen, they don't drop out of HD, they just don't do the warnings on the HD channels (which is great). Although recently ABC figured out how to do the warnings on the HD feed, so at least it's still HD, but it has the annoying ticker scroll and usually the county map too.
it's too bad they still have to frame the shots with 4:3 sets in mind. I would look so much better if they assumed 16:9, then letter boxed the SD feed.Yep, that annoys the crap out of me too. That's why I love watching stuff on HDNet was was shot specifically for HDNet so they know they can use the whole 16:9 frame.