The 2009 NFL Playoffs - NFC Wild Card Weekend in HDTV on FOX
Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings
Live from the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, MN
FOX HD 720p & DD5.1
4:30 PM ET

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman will have the call, Pam Oliver serves as the sideline reporter.


From foxsports.com
John Czarnecki

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Eagles' offense is far more efficient when RB Brian Westbrook gets about 25 combined touches in the running and passing games. Philadelphia lacks downfield speed, so it needs the threat of Westbrook's versatility to help complement QB Donovan McNabb.

Eagles LT Tra Thomas didn't allow a sack to DeMarcus Ware last Sunday and now he faces DE Jared Allen. The Vikings have the league's top-ranked run defense, but it looks like NT Pat Williams (broken shoulder blade) won't play. The Vikings may activate him, but the team really doesn't believe he will be effective.

The Eagles stopped Adrian Peterson last season, holding him to 70 yards on 20 carries in a 23-16 Philadelphia win. Thirteen of those 20 runs gained two yards or less. The Eagles were fourth in the league against the run this season, their best regular-season ranking under defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. The Eagles have held opponents to a puny 3.11 yards-per-carry in their last seven games.

Johnson made two significant lineup changes in the middle of the season that turned the defense around. CB Joselio Hanson became the nickel slot corner, bumping Sheldon Brown to the outside and putting pouting Pro Bowler Lito Sheppard on the bench. Johnson also replaced weakside linebacker Omar Gaither with second-year man Akeem Jordan. Both Hanson and Jordan have played very well.

Peterson led the league with 1,760 rushing yards. He has run for 100-plus yards in eight of the Vikings' last 11 games. The Vikes were 7-1 in those eight games.

CB Asante Samuel (hip) will start and will cover Vikings WR Bernard Berrian, the team's best deep threat. The Eagles will trust Samuel and Brown in a lot of man coverage, and will have a big advantage if they're able to contain Peterson and put young QB Tarvaris Jackson in long passing situations. The outcome could be determined by Jackson's decision-making while on the move against Philly's complex blitz packages.

Seven of Vikings TE Visanthe Shiancoe's 42 receptions have gone for touchdowns.

Jackson has taken advantage of TE Visanthe Shiancoe, who has just 42 receptions this season, but seven for touchdowns. Three of those have come in the last four games. The Eagles will rotate SS Quintin Mikell and WLB Jordan on him.

In the last seven games, the Eagles have allowed more than 14 points just twice. The Eagles committed just 74 penalties during the regular season, setting a franchise record for a 16-game season.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9025970/Countdown:-Previewing-Sunday%27s-wild-card-games

So far...the normal garbage upconverted SD for the pre-game.

GO EAGLES!

So far...the normal garbage upconverted SD for the pre-game.

GO EAGLES!

I noticed that too. What is up at Fox? This is the playoffs.

I noticed that too. What is up at Fox? This is the playoffs.

The pregame is in the studio in LA which is always SD Widescreen. Did you think they were going to upgrade the studio just for the playoffs?

So far...the normal garbage upconverted SD for the pre-game.Ah, that's what it is? I always thought Fox's pre-game, half-time, and hell, any studio shots looked like complete fecal material. Especially when comparing it to NBC's studio shots on Sunday nights.

The pregame is in the studio in LA which is always SD Widescreen. Did you think they were going to upgrade the studio just for the playoffs?

yes ?

The pregame is in the studio in LA which is always SD Widescreen. Did you think they were going to upgrade the studio just for the playoffs?

Sure, sounds good to me.

this is why somene always starts a thread called "why is football on CBS so much better than FOX"

The game is up in 720p & DD5.1, on the FOX digital television network.

Looks really good and sounds great ota via Wach-DT Columbia, SC.:) Frankly this appears to be Fox at their very best.

Yep, the game itself look pretty decent.

Looks good in Burlington, VT on Comcast.

WNYW-DT NY OTA
Looks ok, better than some of the Fox games I've seen. Perhaps due to this is their sole game this week.

Let's go Vikes!

Looks good, I think the PHI/DAL game on FOX looked better. Alot of that I would guess has to do with the lighting at the Metrodome.

Watching it in HD right now... EAGLES!!!

Watching on D* in Miami (WSVN). PQ looks very good.

Anyone else seeing a black strip across the top of their screen above the score display? When they go to replays, the unused portion is gone. I recall seeing a game once where it was at least partially transparent... Is this just Fox's way of cutting off heads?

I have this also.

The bar at the top has been there on Fox for months, and gets complained about every week :). It's actually not solid black, but diagonal black and translucent gray lines that move from side to side.

PQ is some of the best I've seen from Fox, and the audio mix is as good as I've heard from anyone other than SNF Mixer. Fox really stepped up (other than the studio) for this one. KDFW Dallas via FiOS.

I also have a solid black strip above the upper graphic strip. This area used to be clear. Also can anyone tell me why the Vike's uniforms are looking more blue than purple? Everything else that should be purple is being displayed as purple - such as people's clothes in the stands and on the sidelines, and graphics - just the Vike's uniforms look blue. They were purple last week ...

I also have a solid black strip above the upper graphic strip. This area used to be clear. Also can anyone tell me why the Vike's uniforms are looking more blue than purple? Everything else that should be purple is being displayed as purple - such as people's clothes in the stands and on the sidelines, and graphics - just the Vike's uniforms look blue. They were purple last week ...

If you see solid black you need to calibrate your TV. The uniforms are definately purple (and the grass is green). Looks good on my Sanyo Z2000 and my 96" screen.

What I want to know is why the wide shots always look a little out of focus compared to the close shots. Different cameras or lenses?

What I want to know is why the wide shots always look a little out of focus compared to the close shots. Different cameras or lenses?

Same cameras and often same lenses. The difference is the amount of detail resolved on those big wideshots. The grass, the crowd, and everything else most compression schemes have a hard time with all that. Out of focus is a different story, you shouldn't have a focus issue with football on that angle because there are in fact three different cameras covering the game-follow. Two on the 25s or 20s and 1 on the 50 that are use interchangeably depending on where the line of scrimmage is on the field. So all three operators would have to be off and all three cameras would have to have the same issues.

Closeups look good because of the depth of field. Closeups are generally taken from low endzone cameras, cart camera or occasionally a high camera that's not shooting the game but both times a lot of lens is being used which will crush the depth of field and blur the background. That allows the subject to be sharply in focus while the background is a blur, the encoders of course aren't working as hard with blurry information so the subjects appear very crisp at home.

Now know why Vikes Uniforms have a blue tint to them. Home colors are actually two-toned, with blue inserts. As for the black strip, it goes away when they remove the upper graphics strip for instant replay, and I see a perfectly full picture screen. Can't go with a calibaration problem on my end. This is a FOX problem on their end.

yes ?

When they're doing pregame for the BCS games in LA instead of on-site like they did last year? Yeah, right.

The NFC Championship pregame should be on-site for the trophy presentation, so that will be HD. Hopefully they'll upgrade the studio for the 2009 season. They really need a whole new set; the current look is very dated, especially compared to CBS's state-of-the-art facility.

But the reality is CBS comparatively uses their sports studio a lot--for football, college football, college basketball, and CBS Sports Up to the Minute. Fox uses it only for the NFL and for the BCS, and the latter goes to ESPN after next year, leaving only the NFL and the Cotton Bowl on Fox. We may get stuck with SD widescreen until the 2010 season when Fox has the SuperBowl again.

As for the black strip, it goes away when they remove the upper graphics strip for instant replay, and I see a perfectly full picture screen. Can't go with a calibaration problem on my end. This is a FOX problem on their end.If you see the area above the graphics as solid black, you do have a display calibration issue.

But the reality is CBS comparatively uses their sports studio a lot--for football, college football, college basketball, and CBS Sports Up to the Minute. Fox uses it only for the NFL and for the BCS, and the latter goes to ESPN after next year, leaving only the NFL and the Cotton Bowl on Fox. We may get stuck with SD widescreen until the 2010 season when Fox has the SuperBowl again.

And with economics being what they are a lot of projects have been placed on hold or shelved till the ship rights. FOX's problem is they tried to do their NFL shows from site in HD in 2006 and it really kinda fell through and didn't work (probably the biggest failure of that season NFL wise), but in doing so they didn't bother to upgrade LA. Now that the economics of taking a show on the road don't work and haven't really for a couple of years, we're stuck with widescreen SD unless they already had a budget approved to build out a new facility, but you're talking millions of dollars.

What I want to know is why the wide shots always look a little out of focus compared to the close shots. Different cameras or lenses?

It is because 720p is not capable of resolving that level of detail from that far away on a football game. (or basketball, or baseball, but I digress...) You'll probably notice that the detail level from the wide shots on football (or any sport for that matter) tends to look much better in 1080i (i.e., CBS, HDNet)

The bar at the top has been there on Fox for months, and gets complained about every week :). It's actually not solid black, but diagonal black and translucent gray lines that move from side to side.


It's been there for YEARS, and I've been complaining about it for YEARS. Why anyone thinks a rolling herringbone type interference pattern looks good on a digital broadcast is beyond me. The honeycomb black patterns under the NBC and MLBN scorebars aren't much better. Leave it CLEAR.

The NFC Championship pregame should be on-site for the trophy presentation, so that will be HD. You don't need a studio show on site for a trophy presentation. I have a feeling we won't be seeing an on site studio show for the NFC Championship game.

Hopefully they'll upgrade the studio for the 2009 season. I don't see it happening for 2009.

You don't need a studio show on site for a trophy presentation. I have a feeling we won't be seeing an on site studio show for the NFC Championship game.

Well, of course you don't need one, but the pregame show has been on site for the NFC Championship game every year since Fox picked up the NFL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFC_Championship_Game_broadcasters

Well, of course you don't need one, but the pregame show has been on site for the NFC Championship game every year since Fox picked up the NFL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFC_Championship_Game_broadcasters

There is always a first time for everything.