ABC/TNT Not Delivering British Open in HD
The week of technological disappointment continues here at HDSportsGuide.com, as we see one of our favourite sporting events fall into the pits of SD up-conversion. The British Open Golf Tournament, scheduled to begin Thursday the 17th will not be in High Definition on TNT or ABC.
On the bright side of things, TNT and ABC are planning to cover the British Open well, despite the lack of HD. ABC will be using 20 cameras to film the action, and TNT will be using the 52 camera feed supplied by the Chaps at the BBC.
One of the cameras ABC will be using is a Steadicam mounted to a Segway, which will follow golfers around the British Open. Additionally, ABC will be deploying its super slow mo camera, X-MO. All in all it should be a nice presentation, but disappointingly not high definition.
UPDATE 7/18/2008: Looks like there may be high definition British Open coverage available in 2009, so keep your fingers crossed.
Tags: ABC, British Open, Golf
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July 16th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Unbelivable NO HD THEY SHOULD GET OUT OF GOLF TELEVISION
July 17th, 2008 at 10:00 am
BBC Sport has no reference to Open coverage in HD.
ABC bringing its own cameras to Royal Birkdale is spendthrift. Couldn’t ESPN have prevailed on ABC to utilize the BBC feed?
July 18th, 2008 at 6:52 am
The British Open will be in HD next year according to “mtiffee” over at AVS Forum:
“The BBC is getting a new HD truck next year and the ABC/TNT operation will be moving into CTV’s brand new OB10 HD. So the 2009 British Open WILL be in HD next year.”
July 18th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I don’t know if it’s the same issue or not, but I know Europe chose to broadcast in 1080i while ABC/ESPN broadcasts in 720p. As such, there is a conversion problem which is not cost effective. That is, that’s the story I get when I complain to ESPN that their coverage of European soccer is not in HD. They only broadcast the major tournaments (World Cup, European Championship) in HD.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I guess some last minute changes were made, because both TNT and ABC were in HD this morning.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
JD, I thought so too.Anybody else?
July 20th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I don’t care about HD or watching guys on the practice range or hearing commentators talk about things that happened many years ago or chatting about other incidental items. I would like to see some golf being played during my favorite golf tournamment. I tuned in the broadcast at 8 Am and by 8:45 had only seen 3 shots (2 bt Mickelson and 1 by Goosen. What terrible programming. I ans I believe most golf fans would prefer to see more golf being played by more golfers as opposed to your programming. There have been surveys by golf publications to support the same. How about showing some golf action.
Thanks,
July 20th, 2008 at 11:39 am
That’s not HD. It’s an upconversion from SD. It is widescreen and still better than SD, but it’s not actually HD.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Thanks Mike. I actually read about that and realized it on Sunday. I half to confess that I thought I was watching HD on Saturday. I guess I don’t have the critical eye of some. After watching on Sunday, I did notice that it was not real HD, but as you said, it was much better than actual standard def.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Hi, JD. Yes, especially on DirecTV! I don’t know if you have DirecTV or not, but the HD seems to be outstanding and the SD, well, not so much. I’d take that upconversion in a minute over regular SD. In fact, I think Fox was doing that last year on some of their Saturday MLB broadcasts.