The 92nd Indianapolis 500 in HDTV on ABC
Live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana
May 25, 2008
Pre-race program 12pm ET
Race coverage 1pm ET

Today is a great day to be a race fan, first we had the F1 race from Monaco, now the Indy 500 at 1pm on ABC , and at 5pm the Coke 600 on Fox :)


From The Associated Press, by Mike Harris
New feeling and bigger buzz at old Indy 500

The Indianapolis 500 is new again.

Danica Patrick is a proven winner with a legitimate shot at taking the checkered flag, all the top teams and drivers are back for the 92nd running of the Indy 500 and optimism is high for what should, for the first time in 13 years, truly be "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

Much of the optimism comes from the long-awaited unification of the two American open-wheel series in February.

Pointing to the strong mix of experienced drivers and young talent at Indy, longtime team owner Roger Penske said he's excited about the sport's possibilities, now that everyone's under the IRL IndyCar Series banner.

"You can feel and see the difference on pit road, with all the cars and people coming to watch practice and qualifying," Penske said.

"I've been telling everybody the black cloud has lifted," said Michael Andretti, a member of one of Indy's signature families and co-owner of Andretti Green Racing. "It's such a great feeling."

The drivers, too, are caught up in a rejuvenated Indy.

"Everybody's back, and that's just an incredible feeling," said Kanaan, considered by many the best driver never to have won here. "It's always a 33-car field, but this year it's just so competitive that anything could happen."

That includes a victory by Andretti Green Racing teammate Patrick, who last month became the first woman to win an IndyCar race.

A win on Indy's 2 1/2-mile oval, where the 26-year-old has finishes of fourth, eighth and eighth in her previous appearances, would be a huge boost for her and the series.

"I believe I can win the race," Patrick said. "I have a lot of confidence at this place."

As does Kanaan, who said he, like most everyone, expects the winner to come from the first three rows, inhabited by the top three teams in the 12-year-old IndyCar Series. Among them, they have won seven of the eight races in this decade.

Chip Ganassi Racing's pole-winner Scott Dixon and 2005 race winner Dan Wheldon will start from the front row, along with Ryan Briscoe, driving for 14-time Indy winner Team Penske.

The second of the 11 rows includes Penske's two-time winner Helio Castroneves, Andretti Green's Patrick and Kanaan, followed in the third row by teammate Marco Andretti, Vitor Meira from Panther Racing and Hideki Mutoh, the fourth AGR driver and the fastest of 11 rookies in the field.

Scattered through the rest of the lineup are nine drivers representing teams making the transition from the defunct Champ Car World Series, which was mostly a road and street racing circuit in recent years.

One such driver is 19-year-old Graham Rahal, son of 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal and one of the fresh, young faces IRL is hoping will bring the sport back to America's mainstream fans.

Rahal, who won his IndyCar debut last month on the street course in St. Petersburg, Fla., to become the youngest IRL winner ever, will start 13th in the third oval race of his career.

"We knew it was going to be tough coming over to the IndyCar equipment versus what we had in the past," said Rahal, who drives for eight-time Champ Car champion Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. "But we are going to keep on learning."

Will Power, a former Champ Car rookie of the year, acknowledges drivers' lack of experience on ovals is just one disadvantage.

"My team engineer says the IRL teams have a five-year, $50 million lead on us in the development of the Dallara cars, especially on the ovals. We're not going to be able to overcome that in a few races or even one season," the Australian driver said. "But we're making gains every time we go on the track."

Still, he's not ready to concede Sunday's race, where once again weather will be a factor.

A year ago, Dario Franchitti won the race shortened to 166 laps by rain.

This month, rain has washed away nearly half of the scheduled practice time and one of the four days of time trials. When drivers did get on track, temperatures were mostly below normal, and the cars were often buffeted by gusty winds.

Even Friday's one-hour "Carburetion Day" practice, the only time during race week the cars are on the track, was interrupted by rain.

But Sunday's forecast called for sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70s.

"Everything is going to change, and I think it's going to be a really tough race," Michael Andretti said. "I don't think anybody's going to be happy with their car. Everybody's going to be slipping and sliding, and they're going to be struggling.

"It's going to be the one who struggles the least and has the breaks go their way that's going to win it."

WABC-DT NYC FIOS TV

Up and running in HD.

WFTS-DT Tampa OTA doesn't look as sharp as it could be.

ISF Tuned TV, so I know it's probably the programming

Anyone gone to keep count of the references to Dancing With The Stars? :P

hmmm...I'm getting a split screen here in Chicago. Both OTA and D*. Weird but it's not happening on any other channel. Quite annoying.

That black abc bug with the ad the NBA finals looks real bad on the HD feed.

What anthem is she supposed be singing?:rolleyes: Did I miss
Jim Nabors? He was supposed to be back this year.

I got the split screen in Chicago as well. Not happy!!!!!!!!:mad:

I also have split screen in Chicago. Argh. This is the first year in 20 years I haven't been to the 500, and this is what I get!

I got the split screen in Chicago as well. Not happy!!!!!!!!:mad:

Yeah ya think it would be fixed by now.

hmmm...I'm getting a split screen here in Chicago. Both OTA and D*. Weird but it's not happening on any other channel. Quite annoying.
Still split screen at race start whats up...:eek:

flip of the switch.

I've got the split on ABC Chicago on E* also!

Go Daddy banner is annoying asl well. Do I really need to know what the drivers look like during the race? While they are at it why don't they just have all the drivers hold up a diet pepsi can also.

Does anyone know why this race is always blacked out in the Indianapolis area if it's a sold out event. Can't find much as to why they actually get away with doing it.

flip of the switch.

And it's fixed, just like that. Thank for listening HD Gods...:)

No issues in Detroit, via WXYZ-DT OTA.

Eleven high definition in-car cameras.. take that Nascar. ;)

How smart is that. Side-by-side commercials. Love that.

Now thats the split screen that work for me:rolleyes:

Eleven high definition in-car cameras.. take that Nascar. ;)
And at 220+mph much better that NASCAR...;)

As others have mentioned some of the camera shots are not that sharp and have a bit of edge enhancement but it's still better then being in 4:3 SD.
On the SD feed I'm getting a moray pattern and more edge enhancement on text and objects.

One the plus side, 11 HD on board cams and they can move 360°.
Abc is also doing the side by side when they go to break.
They also just cut off an abc promo to go back and show the cars going for their 1st pit break.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/958/snapshot20080525vz2.th.jpg (http://img214.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080525vz2.jpg)http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/3897/snapshot200805250002my5.th.jpg (http://img140.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200805250002my5.jpg)http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/6181/snapshot200805250000is3.th.jpg (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200805250000is3.jpg)
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7102/snapshot200805250005pb1.th.jpg (http://img340.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200805250005pb1.jpg)http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2843/snapshot200805250004ps4.th.jpg (http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200805250004ps4.jpg)http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/6074/snapshot200805250003kb9.th.jpg (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200805250003kb9.jpg)

Any of you wanting some screenshots, I put an FTP up for ya'll.

ftp address is: tinozplace.no-ip.info
ftp user/pass: screeners


There are new ones throughout the day.

Taken on Vista Media Center using FRAPS and a Hauppauge HVR-1600, if you care.

WFTS-DT OTA

Looks awesome here in NYC WABC OTA.

This is probably the best presentation of a race I've seen on TV....it's really gives a terrfic sense of the raw speed of these cars[since they aren't bunched up like Nascar]

I think the ESPN graphics on the top of the screen is a bit too much though.... Can't they make those graphics smaller during the race?

Nice dual image PIP (ESPN Side-By-Side) for national commercials, with race window, top 3 running order, laps run, race status (running, caution, etc.)

I think the ESPN graphics on the top of the screen is a bit too much though.... Can't they make those graphics smaller during the race?

No, but they can add the 'Bottom Line'.

The bottom line was just on screen to tell us when coverage of the National Spelling Bee is :P

The bottom line was just on screen to tell us when coverage of the National Spelling Bee is :P

WILL IT BE IN HD?!

someone had to ask

WILL IT BE IN HD?!

someone had to ask

Yes :P

Here's some stats from WABC-DT OTA
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9972/34562420wx3.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=34562420wx3.jpg)http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/2456/90526090jz4.th.jpg (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=90526090jz4.jpg)

Here's some stats from WABC-DT OTA
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9972/34562420wx3.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=34562420wx3.jpg)http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/2456/90526090jz4.th.jpg (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=90526090jz4.jpg)

how do you find that info?

Broadcast is not smooth on WSB-TV in the ATL. Noticeable jerkiness as the cars are followed as if frames are being dropped. It's not the Moto 3412 cable box because I also see it on a QAM tuner in my Myth box. I've not seen this before on ABC here so something's fishy with Comcast or WSB. Sound appears to finally be DD 5.1 though, WSB has been 2.1 for a long time due to some sort of problem with their encoder.

how do you find that info?

I used TS Reader Lite,
http://www.coolstf.com/tsreader/index.html
http://www.coolstf.com/scripts/download.pl

Broadcast is not smooth on WSB-TV in the ATL. Noticeable jerkiness as the cars are followed as if frames are being dropped. It's not the Moto 3412 cable box because I also see it on a QAM tuner in my Myth box. I've not seen this before on ABC here so something's fishy with Comcast or WSB. Sound appears to finally be DD 5.1 though, WSB has been 2.1 for a long time due to some sort of problem with their encoder.

Me too - OTA on DirecTV HR10-250. I was starting to think my hard disk was going to die again on the HR10. But same as you described it, like lost frames. Sound on my receiver is 2.0. I haven't seen 5.1 on WSB in almost a year.

RonO

LOL, my Onkyo receiver only shows DD with no indication of 5.1 or 2.0, but it has a very good PLIIx decoder that emulates 7.1 with whatever source you feed it, so it sounds good no matter what. So WSB may still be 2.0.

I've never seen this jerkiness before on any NASCAR races shown on WSB, so there's something new going on with this broadcast. It's otherwise a great presentation and certainly watchable, but they are dropping frames.

OTA KGTV-DT San Diego
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6672/indy5002008bu1.th.jpg (http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=indy5002008bu1.jpg)

Getting DD 5.1 with OTA MDP-130, only pixelation from blimp cam. Too bad the announcer is a half lap behind the action. Had to turn up the volume higher than usual ABC broadcast. Swtcheed back to old Zenith 420 OTA tuner and just using my HDTV's speakers now because there was nothing on the other speakers. Usually I turn the center channel level down to -10dB so I don't have to listen to announcers and commercials but doesn't work today. Otherwise beautiful HD picture and coverage! Yes, in car cams are great! are they HD or 720x480 though?

GREAT Recommendation on TSReader!

Here's what I got in Tampa
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/732/indy500avgbitrategu7.th.png (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=indy500avgbitrategu7.png)

It's great to have the series back together again. Next year should be even better as things begin to even out talent and equipment wise. And get some competition back with engines and chasis.

Go John Andretti #24, dark horse!

..and maybe in 3 or 4 years we can begin to forgive the last decade of split series stupidity.

Pretty boring race so far, hopefully it will get better.

Take Down of the
Speed Limter in pit row

Have to give credit to ESPN/ABC for breaking out of the Side By Side national ads when something happens.

Pretty boring race so far, hopefully it will get better.

If you think this is boring wait until they're about 400 laps into the Coca Cola 600.

Have to give credit to ESPN/ABC for breaking out of the Side By Side national ads when something happens.

Yes, I think overall they did a great job all race long.

If you think this is boring wait until they're about 400 laps into the Coca Cola 600.

What you got something against passing? This aero package has to go for open wheel cars, no passing what so ever. The 500 gets worse every year. Can't wait to see Dixon in stock cars, seems like Indy has been used to cash out into the big leagues.

It's great to have the series back together again. Next year should be even better as things begin to even out talent and equipment wise. And get some competition back with engines and chasis.

Go John Andretti #24, dark horse!

..and maybe in 3 or 4 years we can begin to forgive the last decade of split series stupidity.

I think it will take longer than that for fans to forgive Tony George's distruction of American open wheel racing.

Ya think Danica was pissed? ;)

Danica = :(:(

Ways to liven up the Indy 500

1) Allow wheel spikes

2) All pit crew members must be topless women

3) Allow spectators to throw things on the track and at the vehicles

4) Have dodging “Race Clowns” on the track

5) No restrictor plates.

6) Unlimited fuel and tires

7) No yellow or red flags allowed

8) Unlimited free beer for all spectators and drivers

9) In field fight cages for upset drivers or spectators

10) Allow one weapon of the driver’s choice to be installed on each vehicle.


Then I would watch.

Danica really ran a good race. Hung in there even though her car wasn't up to snuff. Having a car that wasn't running right through the whole race and then being taken out in pit lane at the end of the race? If that was me, I woulda been looking to punch somebody.

What you got something against passing? This aero package has to go for open wheel cars, no passing what so ever. The 500 gets worse every year. Can't wait to see Dixon in stock cars, seems like Indy has been used to cash out into the big leagues.

Exactly, however the new car in NASCAR puts on crappy races at the 1.5 mile tracks.

Why is there no new topic for the NASCAR race?

Why is there no new topic for the NASCAR race?Because nobody else started one, and I didn't start one because the Coca-Cola 600 is just another NASCAR race.

Ways to liven up the Indy 500

1) Allow wheel spikes

2) All pit crew members must be topless women

3) Allow spectators to throw things on the track and at the vehicles

4) Have dodging “Race Clowns” on the track

5) No restrictor plates.

6) Unlimited fuel and tires

7) No yellow or red flags allowed

8) Unlimited free beer for all spectators and drivers

9) In field fight cages for upset drivers or spectators

10) Allow one weapon of the driver’s choice to be installed on each vehicle.


Then I would watch.

11. Figure 8 track:)

Because nobody else started one, and I didn't start one because the Coca-Cola 600 is just another NASCAR race.

And the Indy 500 isn't just another Indycar Race? It is just another indycar race in my books, just as boring as the other indycar races as well.

Why was the other 500 thread shutdown?

And the Indy 500 isn't just another Indycar Race? No, it's not. It is the Indy Car race. So, just like the Daytona 500, when I create a 'stuck' topic, so does this.

Perhaps you are confused about what I am saying. Anyone can create a topic for an HD program. Just as one was created for the 600, found here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1033041

Why was the other 500 thread shutdown?
So those watching could track the event without wading thru pages of posts made previously.

What you got something against passing? This aero package has to go for open wheel cars, no passing what so ever. The 500 gets worse every year. Can't wait to see Dixon in stock cars, seems like Indy has been used to cash out into the big leagues.

I think you were a little hard on the race. There was slingshot passing throughout the race. It could have been worse, could have been the parade in Monaco. Formula One is way worse in this regard.

Props to ABC. This was the best coverage of any auto race that I have ever seen. Whoever dreamed up the split screen ads gets credit as well. Nicely done, ABC.

What you got something against passing? This aero package has to go for open wheel cars, no passing what so ever. The 500 gets worse every year. Can't wait to see Dixon in stock cars, seems like Indy has been used to cash out into the big leagues.

That is if you view switching from champagne to cheap beer as a change into the big leagues.

I don't know, but perhaps my local station (KVIA TV) screwed the last laps and they were in full SD, thanks a lot!!!, I think they forgot to flick the HD switch during the last local commercial break, yes, some side-by-sides were broken to show local commercials in SD, and they sometimes took them a minute or two to switch to HD.

I hope it doesn't happen during LOST season finale..

I wish to see some screen caps of Danica going after the other driver..

I thought the race looked good and that ABC’s coverage was mostly excellent. But I have a couple of quibbles.

First, I hated the commercials run side-by-side with continuing live shots of the race. Trying to follow what was going on in the race while being bombarded by the audio from the commercials was annoying. I preferred it when ABC simply cut away, as they did occasionally, and then later showed us full size replays of anything significant we might have missed while they were out. Also, I think that Fox’s graphics used in their NASCAR coverage are far superior to those that ABC uses.

The Danica coverage was terrific. She is the future of Indy Car Racing and ABC clearly knows it. I hated that she got taken out in pit lane because of the stupid mistake of another driver. She had run a smart, disciplined race. When her car was struck in the pits she was still in the hunt, despite an underperforming racecar. After watching Indy and the Coca Cola 600 back to back, I was struck by how often drivers’ cars are wrecked through no fault of their own because of other drivers’ mistakes.

Props to ABC. This was the best coverage of any auto race that I have ever seen. Whoever dreamed up the split screen ads gets credit as well. Nicely done, ABC.

Maybe it only seemed that way because I didn't Tivo and then watch so that I could skip the commercials, but I would swear that ABC used the split-screen as an excuse to pump up commercial time to the most annoying levels I can ever remember. Is there an exception to the maximum commercial time limit rule if there is some minimal basic content going on in split-screen? The split-screen only served to remind me that I was missing something on a much too busy screen. It all came across as video noise to me. I hated it.

I think you were a little hard on the race. There was slingshot passing throughout the race. It could have been worse, could have been the parade in Monaco. Formula One is way worse in this regard.

If you think this year's rainy Monaco GP was a parade, you ought to rethink why you watch roadracing. It's not all about lead changes.

What I hated about the split screen is that it was 4:3 safe, meaning a lot of wasted spaced on the sides while trying to watch a tiny picture of the race on the left, and the other tiny commercials on the right, they could uses the whole screen and broadcast SD letterboxed, but I gues not.

Maybe it only seemed that way because I didn't Tivo and then watch so that I could skip the commercials, but I would swear that ABC used the split-screen as an excuse to pump up commercial time to the most annoying levels I can ever remember. Is there an exception to the maximum commercial time limit rule if there is some minimal basic content going on in split-screen? The split-screen only served to remind me that I was missing something on a much too busy screen. It all came across as video noise to me. I hated it.
Agreed.

I watched on a 120" screen being fed by an RS1. The picture quality was inferior to just about anything on HDNet. Rapid panning motion and 1080i don't mix and this broadcast certainly proved that correct. In motion shots the crowd looked like coarse confetti. Some of the interviews looked pretty good, though.:rolleyes:

Like hi def tv in general, it remains to be seen if PQ will improve in the future.

I grew up in the time when just the race filled the screen. Sure there were commercials, but when the race was back on, the race was back on, and the commericals ended. There also wasn't the CONSTANT chatter of a long list of "analysts" - chatter that is getting closer and closer to what one hears on a promotional commercial for an Monster Truck event coming to town. But maybe that's exactly what people want. Time will tell.

One thing I've learned over the years is that, as far as "screen clutter" goes, next year's Indy broadcast will be even worse than the one I just watched.

I could only stand watching this one for about 30 min. To me, the minuses far outweighed the pluses, so next year I'll probably watch for even less time, etc., until I no longer bother to watch at all. The creators and promoters of this event cannot afford to let that phenomenon become widespread, because the advertisers may notice. Maybe if I and many others had stopped watching earlier, clutter on the screen and out the speakers would not have gotten as bad as it has. Sorry.

If you think this year's rainy Monaco GP was a parade, you ought to rethink why you watch roadracing. It's not all about lead changes.


+1

He must have seen a different race? Best Monaco race in awhile due to the weather changes. Cars were getting damaged, some finishing some not. Hamilton flattened a tire against the armco and still squeeked out a win. :D

Agreed.

I watched on a 120" screen being fed by an RS1. The picture quality was inferior to just about anything on HDNet. Rapid panning motion and 1080i don't mix and this broadcast certainly proved that correct.Keep trying. ABC & ESPN are 720p, not 1080i.

Maybe it only seemed that way because I didn't Tivo and then watch so that I could skip the commercials, but I would swear that ABC used the split-screen as an excuse to pump up commercial time to the most annoying levels I can ever remember. Is there an exception to the maximum commercial time limit rule if there is some minimal basic content going on in split-screen? The split-screen only served to remind me that I was missing something on a much too busy screen. It all came across as video noise to me. I hated it.I don't think there were any more commercials than any other broadcast. Maybe someone can confirm.

What I think is the Side-By-Side only made you notice the time not completely devoted to the race.

Keep trying. ABC & ESPN are 720p, not 1080i.

Exactly right Ken. It is 720P that is the problem NOT 1080i. ABC/ESPN is consistently softer than anything CBS or any other 1080i channel provides.

The urban legend about 720P being superior for sports is nonsense and has to go.

+1

He must have seen a different race? Best Monaco race in awhile due to the weather changes. Cars were getting damaged, some finishing some not. Hamilton flattened a tire against the armco and still squeeked out a win. :D

+2

I thought the Monaco race was the best of the weekend.

As for the coverage of the indy 500, it was average at best. Over the last several years the announcer crew has gotten considerably worse in my opinion. They need to get Robin Miller in there to spice things up, I love it when he is on The Wind Tunnel with David Despain. I am just glad they got rid of Rusty Wallace, loved him as a driver, hate him as an announcer.

I don't really care for the side by side commercials, the noise from the commercials make it so I can't concentrate on the little screen showing the race, so I just tune out during the commercials. That is probably why I like to watch races in the computer room in sd(that and there is too much ambient light in the front room where the hdtv is), so I can surf the internet during the commercials.

Exactly right Ken. It is 720P that is the problem NOT 1080i. ABC/ESPN is consistently softer than anything CBS or any other 1080i channel provides.

The urban legend about 720P being superior for sports is nonsense and has to go.

The urban legend that 720p is inferior to 1080i and that this can be measured in terms of 'softness' or end-user picture quality needs to go. This is nonsense. There are ton of issues here...not the least of which being that this race may very have been shot on cameras that natively acquire 1080i signals and convert them to 720p. Put a HD-SDI 720p signal up against a HD-SDI 1080i signal on a high end professional clinical viewing monitor, and I assure you the differences are not nearly as dramatic as people think.

On top of that generally the amount of signal degradation that occurs for both formats between the integration studio and your home is so dramatic that it pretty much renders any minute differences in native acquisition irrelevent.

Agreed.

I watched on a 120" screen being fed by an RS1. The picture quality was inferior to just about anything on HDNet. Rapid panning motion and 1080i don't mix and this broadcast certainly proved that correct. In motion shots the crowd looked like coarse confetti. Some of the interviews looked pretty good, though.:rolleyes:

Like hi def tv in general, it remains to be seen if PQ will improve in the future.

I grew up in the time when just the race filled the screen. Sure there were commercials, but when the race was back on, the race was back on, and the commericals ended. There also wasn't the CONSTANT chatter of a long list of "analysts" - chatter that is getting closer and closer to what one hears on a promotional commercial for an Monster Truck event coming to town. But maybe that's exactly what people want. Time will tell.
What was your source for this broadcast? I believe Starchoice is converting WXYZ (ABC East) and KOMO (ABC West)'s 720p broadcasts to 1080i at around 12Mbit/s, while Expressvu is converting WCVB (ABC East)'s 1080i broadcast (itself converted from 720p) to 720p at like 7Mbit/s, and dropping KOMO to a similar bitrate. It's no surprise that one would complain about the quality of the broadcast when watching through multiple encode generations and format conversions.