'Seinfeld' to Debut In HD
Sony Pictures Television to unveil plan at CES, will offer Seinfeld episodes in high-def beginning Jan. 26.

By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/5/2009

In conjunction with its now-typical big splash at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) will announce it is making the syndicated comedy Seinfeld available to broadcast stations in high-definition for the first time. HD episodes of the long-running sitcom will be ready to air on stations beginning Jan. 26.

Sony will back the move to HD with a massive promotional push featuring new digitally enhanced HD promos. Sony will supply stations with four episodic hi-def promos for each of the 180 episodes, or 720 in all. SPT has also created a complete HD graphics package it will supply to stations to assist them in creating their own local promos, as well as sales presentations.

Actor John O'Hurley, who played J. Peterman on the show, has voiced some of the promos. This marks the fourth set of episodic promotions in all for Seinfeld, but the first in HD.

SPT execs will work with stations through advisory boards, attempting to keep the sitcom fresh to offset the fact that it's in its 13th year in syndication. Rating erosion is common at this stage.

“Seinfeld is the greatest television show ever,” says John Weiser, SPT's president of distribution. “The time is right to deliver the show in hi-def and continue our efforts to introduce Seinfeld to a new generation of viewers. Now the quality of the broadcast will match the quality of the content.”

Seinfeld is the third off-net sitcom to be made available to stations in HD. Warner Bros. has made Two and a Half Men available to stations in HD since its premiere, while CBS Television Distribution started making Everybody Loves Raymond available to stations in HD last March.

Other syndicated programming is offered in HD, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Ellen DeGeneres, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!But it's expensive for stations to download, and until recently few did. Just 40 stations were carrying Two and a Half Men in HD last summer. But more stations in the top 75 to 100 markets are completing installation of Pathfire systems that will make handling syndication HD easier.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6625774.html

TBSHD has been running Seinfeld in HD for months.

This is referencing broadcast network syndication.

TBSHD has been running Seinfeld in HD for months.

Yea and they look pretty nice if you can wade thru all the onscreen promo's. TBS wrecked them...

Anyone know if the new HD Seinfeld be 16x9 or 4x3 ?...

Fox Television Stations seems to be the biggest owner of broadcast rights for these episodes (WNYW, KCOP, WFLD, WTXF, KDFI, WDCA, WFXT, WJBK, KSAZ, KMSP, WUTB, WHBQ, KTBC, and WOGX all air the show currently). Any word if they have the necessary equipment to show in HD?

Unless it's shot in widescreen and shown in at least 16:9 I don't consider it HD no matter what marketing spin they use. It's just cleaner 4:3 SD.

VisionOn, do you consider bluray versions of old Academy Aspect Ratio films to be HD? By your stated standards, they're not HD. Too bad for you, because HD content that preserves OAR is about the best we have to view right now.

I agree. Most people couldn't tell a program was HD if it wasn't 16:9.

As far a TBSHD showing Hi-def episodes, I bet they've just been stretching the standard-def.

No, TBS has been showing Seinfeld in HD. It is cropped just like TNT's presentation of early seasons of Law & Order.

Both series were originally shot on film.

As far a TBSHD showing Hi-def episodes, I bet they've just been stretching the standard-def.

You're wrong.

As far a TBSHD showing Hi-def episodes, I bet they've just been stretching the standard-def.Wrong.

'Seinfeld' to Debut In HD
Sony Pictures Television to unveil plan at CES, will offer Seinfeld episodes in high-def beginning Jan. 26.As noted, it's been on TBS HD for months and months. This is for local syndication. Topic title changed.

YES! I wonder if WNYW has the right equipment to do this, I really do hope so! I watch it every night :D

VisionOn, do you consider bluray versions of old Academy Aspect Ratio films to be HD? By your stated standards, they're not HD. Too bad for you, because HD content that preserves OAR is about the best we have to view right now.

Nope. It's not HD, it's just cleaner film transfer. It's bad enough that we've had the "standard" of HD being distorted literally for years by channels stretching 4:3 without this attempt to redefine it again to cover anything that's just been cleaned up and remastered.

It's like the wave of everything on the market that got tagged with HD because it was a buzz phrase.

It's the equivalent of taking a mono audio track, cleaning and remastering the single channel of audio and then feeding the same channel through every speaker and calling it Dolby Digital 5.1. Just because the audio got cleaned up with modern equipment doesn't make it what it never was.

A little more in depth discussion, albeit an OLD one, about the film transfer aspect ratio from the old Seinfeld in HD on TBS HD thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14638311#post14638311

Fox Television Stations seems to be the biggest owner of broadcast rights for these episodes (WNYW, KCOP, WFLD, WTXF, KDFI, WDCA, WFXT, WJBK, KSAZ, KMSP, WUTB, WHBQ, KTBC, and WOGX all air the show currently). Any word if they have the necessary equipment to show in HD?

WUTB and WDCA have syndicated HD.

yea tbs just zooms in & chops off the ends....like when tnt shows the star wars movies and does the same thing....if they arent gonna show the exact picture its not really HD to me.

OAR !!!

A little more in depth discussion, albeit an OLD one, about the film transfer aspect ratio from the old Seinfeld in HD on TBS HD thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14638311#post14638311

I read that when the original argument started and it still doesn't fly. Call it a high resolution transfer or remastered transfer but don't call it HD. If the OAR isn't widescreen it's either cropped to fit aspect or 4:3 aspect. But don't call it HD because right now that title is becoming completely meaningless as a standard of broadcasting.

We may as well start making 4:3 HD sets for everything in 4:3 that's been cleaned up. Why not? Since people are throwing around the phrase HD everywhere and sticking it on everything without any guidelines then we might as well remove all expectations about picture presentation.

Gilmore Girls is currently showing on ABC Family HD in 4:3, so I guess that's fine and also HD content, since the original was shot at 4:3 and it's currently being shown on a channel that has HD in the name. That seems to be the only qualification needed to be considered HD by marketing departments. Picture quality is irrelevant since the audience wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.

Why not scan an old 4:3 35mm print and blow it up and drop it into an IMAX film cell? That would make it a real IMAX movie too! Who cares if it wasn't actually filmed with IMAX cameras if the end result has the name on it?

Too bad my local Fox station WRLH (Richmond) has ancient equipment that seems incapable of showing anything in HD (except for Fox national passthrough). ACC Football games produced in HD are still shown here in SD :(

It's the equivalent of taking a mono audio track, cleaning and remastering the single channel of audio and then feeding the same channel through every speaker and calling it Dolby Digital 5.1. Just because the audio got cleaned up with modern equipment doesn't make it what it never was.

Your analogy is completely wrong. Film is higher resolution than the HDTV standard. Mono has fewer channels than Dolby 5.1. You're incorrectly asserting that upconverted content is the same as remastered content, when that couldn't be further from the truth.

yea tbs just zooms in & chops off the ends....like when tnt shows the star wars movies and does the same thing....if they arent gonna show the exact picture its not really HD to me.

OAR !!!

OAR has nothing to do with HDTV. And TBS didn't do anything. Sony went back to the original film and re-cut the entire series.

I read that when the original argument started and it still doesn't fly. Call it a high resolution transfer or remastered transfer but don't call it HD. If the OAR isn't widescreen it's either cropped to fit aspect or 4:3 aspect. But don't call it HD because right now that title is becoming completely meaningless as a standard of broadcasting.

We may as well start making 4:3 HD sets for everything in 4:3 that's been cleaned up. Why not? Since people are throwing around the phrase HD everywhere and sticking it on everything without any guidelines then we might as well remove all expectations about picture presentation.

Gilmore Girls is currently showing on ABC Family HD in 4:3, so I guess that's fine and also HD content, since the original was shot at 4:3 and it's currently being shown on a channel that has HD in the name. That seems to be the only qualification needed to be considered HD by marketing departments. Picture quality is irrelevant since the audience wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.

Why not scan an old 4:3 35mm print and blow it up and drop it into an IMAX film cell? That would make it a real IMAX movie too! Who cares if it wasn't actually filmed with IMAX cameras if the end result has the name on it?4:3 material mastered at HD resolution is considered HD. This is regardless of what the original aspect ratio is. If it's 4:3 then it can be zoomed, pillared or stretched for the target 16:9 aspect ratio. The last option is rarely if ever used for HD mastering.

The example of blowing up to IMAX is not the same. The resolution on 4:3 material can actually be higher than 1:85 and 2:35 film formats, although older films may be at a slight disadvantge due to earlier stock. They can still have more than adequate resolution for HD.

Upconversions are a whole other issue. Using 4:3 SD material and upconverting it pillared or stretched is not considered HD. Some, such as the BBC, also don't consider Super16 HD transfers as HD even though it is the correct aspect ratio and fills the screen. Their decision is based on the limiting resolution of the original format. Super 16mm under optimal contitions can create a good looking image, but stills falls short of what larger formats are capable of.

Widescreen SD upconverted is also not considered HD. Networks do not usually flag such material as HD. Once again while it does fill the screen, the limiting resolution of the original material disqualifies it.

A gray area is the use of optical and electronic filtering. One could reduce the resolution to SD levels, but that hasn't been a determing factor to whether it's HD. Of course we could also get into the HD-Lite issue but that again is another story.

One can create their own definitions, but they are meaningless if they contradict accepted standards. It instead becomes opinion, which of course everyone is entitled to.

Over 3000 posts and an AVS club member yet you don't understand the basics of HD? Unbelievable.

Unless it's shot in widescreen and shown in at least 16:9 I don't consider it HD no matter what marketing spin they use. It's just cleaner 4:3 SD.

Regardless of what you think, any film transferred to HD video is native HD, regardless of what is done with aspect ratio. This is due to the fact film inherently has higher resolution than HDTV.

Aspect ratio and resolution are two different issues.

In the case of older 4:3 HD film transfers, like The Wizard Of Oz & Gone With The Wind, they too have been HD with OAR maintained.

As far a TBSHD showing Hi-def episodes, I bet they've just been stretching the standard-def.

No. They're HD and 16:9. They are HD because they are on film. And they are true 16:9 since they "opened the sides". You can see this during the opening credits, since the actors names look like they are in the middle of the screen, to be 4:3 safe. Also, it's obvious from watching that it is NOT stretched. TBS stretchovision with non-linear stretching looks hideous. These Seinfeld episodes look beautiful.

I remember having this discussion a few months back when they started showing them in HD on TBS.

Over 3000 posts and an AVS club member yet you don't understand the basics of HD? Unbelievable.

By his definition, most of the NGC-HD isn't HD - nor is anything IMAX.

If the OAR isn't widescreen it's either cropped to fit aspect or 4:3 aspect. But don't call it HD

It sounds like you are the one trying to redefine "HD", the very thing you're accusing everyone else of doing.

Only some cities and some stations have the capability of recording HD content for syndication, so I won't see it in my area for some time. I'll stick with TBS.

look at the star wars movies on spike....when they "zoom" in to fit it in 16x9 it makes the picture blurry and not as detailed & they call that HD ? i dont think so....my upconverted oar sd dvds look as good as them in that situation.

Nope. It's not HD, it's just cleaner film transfer. It's bad enough that we've had the "standard" of HD being distorted literally for years by channels stretching 4:3 without this attempt to redefine it again to cover anything that's just been cleaned up and remastered.

It's like the wave of everything on the market that got tagged with HD because it was a buzz phrase.

It's the equivalent of taking a mono audio track, cleaning and remastering the single channel of audio and then feeding the same channel through every speaker and calling it Dolby Digital 5.1. Just because the audio got cleaned up with modern equipment doesn't make it what it never was.

So, Casablanca on BluRay or HD DVD, for example, is NOT 1080p High Def? Umm.....let's hope you are being schooled by the knowledgable here!

Only some cities and some stations have the capability of recording HD content for syndication, so I won't see it in my area for some time. I'll stick with TBS.
Hopefully they get to use SD copies of the new master. The old 480i one is painful to watch.

So does this mean they're going to re-release the DVDs in 16:9 and higher resolution? If so I might finally get around to buying all 9 seasons. :)

So does this mean they're going to re-release the DVDs in 16:9 and higher resolution? If so I might finally get around to buying all 9 seasons. :)

i see a seinfeld blu-ray complete series box set november 2009. :D

Hopefully they get to use SD copies of the new master. The old 480i one is painful to watch.

You're right about that, and in recent weeks, the SD version have gotten even WORSE. Looking at the original source files, there's some kind of high-frequency noise in there, which taken by itself, you could sort of ignore -- but once that hits the encoder for the digital broadcast, it gets REALLY ugly, as the encoder is trying to compress all that noise.

So does this mean they're going to re-release the DVDs in 16:9 and higher resolution?

I'm sure they will release the series on Blu-ray at some point, but if they're just the 16x9 cropped versions, I'll pass.

I always want OAR.

Note that OAR is not always equal to "as originally broadcast".

There have been instances of a program filmed/shot in widescreen format but also framed for 4:3 for television broadcast because that was all that was available to broadcast at the time.

So... it is possible for a show that we all originally saw in 4:3 to actually exist as a 16:9 master that was actually intended that way. In this case, I applaud finally being able to see the whole thing as the director intended.

But I don't want a zoom/crop job just for the sake of filling my screen, thus losing some of what was originally there intended for me to see.

So... it is possible for a show that we all originally saw in 4:3 to actually exist as a 16:9 master that was actually intended that way. In this case, I applaud finally being able to see the whole thing as the director intended.

Not in this case though. The show was shot for 4x3. I was there for some of the original telecine sessions, and can tell you for a fact that there was no thought of 16x9 back then. Plus, one just needs to look at the 16x9 cropped version to see that they don't look right -- no big-time DP would frame shots like that.

I'm sure they will release the series on Blu-ray at some point, but if they're just the 16x9 cropped versions, I'll pass.

Ditto. Seinfeld was a 4x3 show and no matter how carefully they crop it it's still vertical pan and scan.

Not in this case though. The show was shot for 4x3. I was there for some of the original telecine sessions, and can tell you for a fact that there was no thought of 16x9 back then. Plus, one just needs to look at the 16x9 cropped version to see that they don't look right -- no big-time DP would frame shots like that.

Agreed, and I knew that for Seinfeld... which is why I went on to say I didn't want a zoom/crop job just to fill my screen. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, the production team specifically decided NOT to film/shoot in HD or widescreen during the final season or two even though some shows were beginning to do that already because they knew they were near the end and didn't want to change horses midstream.

I wouldn't mind seeing HD transfers of Seinfeld in OAR... but honestly, I own the DVDs already... so unless the Blu ray were given to me as a gift I don't think the show is any funnier than it already is in HD so I'm happy with what I have. I feel the same way about Everybody Loves Raymond, even though most of that show after season 3 (I think 3) was aired in HD too... and those DVDs were widescreen releases.

On the flip side, if I had not already bought Seinfeld... then I'd probably wait to see if the Blu ray release was done... but if they do a zoom/crop to 16x9 then I'm not sure I'd pay more to get those when the DVDs could be had in OAR much cheaper.

Agreed, and I knew that for Seinfeld... which is why I went on to say I didn't want a zoom/crop job just to fill my screen.

Ah, my apologies ... I didn't read your message close enough. I would have to think there would be a huge uproar if they ever released this series on Blu-ray and only offered the zoomed/cropped version. Now for broadcast, I can sort of understand it, as you're dealing with a mass audience, the majority of which probably won't accept a 4x3 image as being HD.

This is good news for me. I like to watch Seinfeld in HD but sometimes the great episodes that I would like to watch are on one of my local HD stations but in SD.

Does this line concern anyone else? :

"SPT has also created a complete HD graphics package it will supply to stations to assist them in creating their own local promos, as well as sales presentations."

So instead of snipes and/or station bugs we will be getting ads during shows now?

This is good news for me. I like to watch Seinfeld in HD but sometimes the great episodes that I would like to watch are on one of my local HD stations but in SD.

Does this line concern anyone else? :

"SPT has also created a complete HD graphics package it will supply to stations to assist them in creating their own local promos, as well as sales presentations."

So instead of snipes and/or station bugs we will be getting ads during shows now?

No, the graphics are for the stations to place their own branding on the promos that are supplied by the syndicators. These promos run during normal commercial breaks throughout the day.

Ah, my apologies ... I didn't read your message close enough. I would have to think there would be a huge uproar if they ever released this series on Blu-ray and only offered the zoomed/cropped version. Now for broadcast, I can sort of understand it, as you're dealing with a mass audience, the majority of which probably won't accept a 4x3 image as being HD.

I feel pretty much the same. I'd prefer the syndication be in OAR too, but I won't rant about it... I just wouldn't put any new money down on a Blu ray that way... but I can watch on TBS and be ok with the zoom. I have to say it looks MUCH improved over the stretch-job they used to do with Seinfeld on TBS.

Not in this case though. The show was shot for 4x3. I was there for some of the original telecine sessions, and can tell you for a fact that there was no thought of 16x9 back then. Plus, one just needs to look at the 16x9 cropped version to see that they don't look right -- no big-time DP would frame shots like that.

Since you were there, I've got a question. Since the show was shot on 35mm film, did they throw away the film canisters after they transfered it to videotape? If they were to come out with Blu-Ray Seinfeld DVD's, wouldn't they want to create them from the original 35mm film and that would produce a wider picture?

Since you were there, I've got a question. Since the show was shot on 35mm film, did they throw away the film canisters after they transfered it to videotape?No. The 35mm film is what the HD masters are made from; doesn't matter if it's Blu-ray or for HDTV video syndication.

Side-by-side comparisons of the 4:3 and 16:9 versions clearly show that the 16:9 versions have a significant amount cropped from the top and bottom. The sides were opened up a bit, but most of the difference came from cropping. See here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14578659#post14578659), here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14589811#post14589811), and here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14593148#post14593148).

FWIW, I like the 16:9 versions on TBS and I hope those are the ones shown on broadcast HD syndication. Which ever way you show it, something is being cropped. To show it 4:3, the sides are cropped. To show it 16:9, the top and bottom are cropped. I'd personally rather watch the 16:9 versions with the sides open instead of 4:3 HD.

Since you were there, I've got a question. Since the show was shot on 35mm film, did they throw away the film canisters after they transfered it to videotape? If they were to come out with Blu-Ray Seinfeld DVD's, wouldn't they want to create them from the original 35mm film and that would produce a wider picture?

Just to be clear, I was there for a few of the transfer sessions of the original network versions. They definitely didn't throw away the film, either back then or after the new HD transfers were done. That stuff will always sit in a vault, as it is the original material.

Although there is some evidence that there is a little extra on the sides in the HD versions, this is more than likely just the result of the framing done by the telecine operator. The original transfers may not have been zoomed out to the very edge -- this was (is) often at the discretion of the operator and/or DP. For the HD versions, they likely zoomed out as far as possible before hitting the edge of the film frame, as it would result in less top/bottom cropping.

35mm has an AR of 1.37, right? That is cropped to 1.33 for TV. So instead of cropping the sides slightly there cropping the top and bottom quite a bit. I say they should show the full frame. SD gets centercut, HD people can zoom and purist (don't tell that extra .4 ruins the show) leave it alone.

fwiw our local affiliate plans on showing it in HD. it's still a preliminary date (1/26) according to them.

fwiw our local affiliate plans on showing it in HD. it's still a preliminary date (1/26) according to them.

It's official, at least as of yesterday. I have in my hand the notification from Sony of the feed times. First episodes will be for air on 1/26 (two episodes fed per day, though some stations only air one).

It's official, at least as of yesterday. I have in my hand the notification from Sony of the feed times. First episodes will be for air on 1/26 (two episodes fed per day, though some stations only air one).

Ah sweet. Can't wait! WNYW shows both episodes each night :)

Just a reminder: The syndicated SEINFELD HD episodes start tomorrow! (1/26) It will be interesting to which stations carry it, and which don't. It is flagged as "HD" in both the DirecTV and TiVo guides, so somebody was at least on the ball in getting out the information. Of course, just because it says HD in the guide doesn't mean that particular station is going to show it that way.

Unless it's shot in widescreen and shown in at least 16:9 I don't consider it HD no matter what marketing spin they use. It's just cleaner 4:3 SD.

Do you consider a movie like Iron Man, Cars, or Speed Racer on Blu-Ray not HD, because it has black bars at the top and bottom? Or is it only when the sides are pillar boxed that you pull out this odd reasoning?

WNYW-DT FOX5 NYC is broadcasting it in HD.

WUTB-DT My 24 in Baltimore is showing Seinfeld in HD! 4:3 on the analog channel, looks like the non-cropped 4:3.

HD in Sacramento too (KTXL). NOT in HD in San Francisco (KTVU).

Fox 4 in Kansas City is 4:3 and looks like SD but it says 720p. Zap2It listing says HD but doesn't look like it to me.

I'll stick with the DVDs. I have the complete set. :)

Fox 4 in Kansas City is 4:3 and looks like SD but it says 720p. Zap2It listing says HD but doesn't look like it to me.

The syndicated HD versions are 16:9 -- if you're seeing 4:3, then they are airing the SD version. Your receiver says 720p because that's the stream that the station is broadcasting -- but that doesn't mean anything relative to the program contained within.

Here's the HD and SD frames overlayed to show the framing for HD.
The bottom of the 4:3 area is not being shown on the 16:9 master.
http://thumbnails14.imagebam.com/2486/8a483024857562.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/8a483024857562)
Free Image Hosting by ImageBam.com (http://www.imagebam.com)

Will check out my local station tonight.

4:3 SD on WFLD-DT Chicago.

It's still in 4:3 SD in LA's My Network 13. This has got to be the most useless HD channel period!!

My local station (WB39 in Texas) showed last night's episoe in HD.
It looked clearer than the TBS-HD broadcasts. I'm guessing it was clearer since it was OTA and not E*.

WUTV Fox29 in Buffalo is showing it in HD. I only watched a minute or two last night, but it looked very good.

After years of waiting for this, and now having watched several episodes, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I really don't care for the way this looks. The cropping is just not good, especially when there is anything other than a wide shot -- things are just plain TOO BIG. It looks wrong and it is difficult (for me anyway) to watch.

Is there a way to do a compromise? Open the sides. Crop some of the bottom and top but not as much as they have done. Then stretch parts of the frame that are not important like background stuff. If some frames are too tightly packed to stretch, then just crop more. Do it on a scene by scene basis. But never stretch the important parts of the frame.

I personally prefer OAR and I despise stretching. But there is just too much compromise with the cropping.

After years of waiting for this, and now having watched several episodes, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I really don't care for the way this looks. The cropping is just not good, especially when there is anything other than a wide shot -- things are just plain TOO BIG. It looks wrong and it is difficult (for me anyway) to watch.I've noticed that too and had the same impression. Imagine how claustrophobic the Judge Reinhold "close talker" scenes will seem.

Is there a way to do a compromise? Open the sides. Crop some of the bottom and top but not as much as they have done. [...] I personally prefer OAR and I despise stretching. But there is just too much compromise with the cropping.

I would guess that if there was a compromise, they would have already done it. As far as I know, all that exists as far as HD versions go are 4x3 (which were downconverted for the DVDs), and these zoomed/cropped 16x9. But I won't pretend to know all that was done ...

I've noticed that too and had the same impression. Imagine how claustrophobic the Judge Reinhold "close talker" scenes will seem.

Oh man, I hadn't thought about that one. "Claustrophobic" is a good way to describe what I feel when I watch these. "Uncomfortable" would be another. But if this is snug, you should see what it looks like on the SD channel of providers like DirecTV -- in many (most?) areas, they are centercutting the station's DTV feed for that channel, so when "Seinfeld" is on, not only are you losing a lot of image because of the zooming, but both sides are being cut off! I was looking at that tonight -- that's really bad.

Is there a way to do a compromise? Open the sides. Crop some of the bottom and top but not as much as they have done. Then stretch parts of the frame that are not important like background stuff. If some frames are too tightly packed to stretch, then just crop more. Do it on a scene by scene basis. But never stretch the important parts of the frame.


They did open up the sides a little bit. I guess it could have been worse if they'd just cropped the original 4:3 frame.

I hear that WFLD doesn't have the equipment to play these in HD. Must be embarrassing for an O&O.

It's still in 4:3 SD in LA's My Network 13. This has got to be the most useless HD channel period!!

I can top that.

WJW Cleveland. Still SD. This was the first FOX O&O in the nation to have HD newscasts back in late 2004. But no HD recording capability.

WEWS(ABC) and WKYC(NBC) both record and show HD syndication.

WJW isn't an O&O anymore, so even though Fox is running down the list upgrading their stations for full HD capability, it'll probably be stuck right where it is for a long time to come.

WJBK-DT FOX Detroit, O&O, still SD.

WUTV Fox29 in Buffalo is showing it in HD. I only watched a minute or two last night, but it looked very good.

Looked great! For some reason though, WUTV FOX29 broadcasts in 720p whereas the other main networks are all 1080i.

But the new Seinfeld still looks great at 16x9 and 720p.

Looked great! For some reason though, WUTV FOX29 broadcasts in 720p whereas the other main networks are all 1080i.

But the new Seinfeld still looks great at 16x9 and 720p.

The reason is, they are a FOX affiliate.

Funny thing about WNYW... on the SD feed, they have the transparent local "FOX5" bug on the bottom right with time and temperature, but on the HD feed, there's no bug at all. I'm pretty sure this is the first HD syndicated show on WNYW, so it may be some time before they have it worked out.

SD still on WTTG, Washington DC.

I can top that.

WJW Cleveland. Still SD. This was the first FOX O&O in the nation to have HD newscasts back in late 2004. But no HD recording capability.

WEWS(ABC) and WKYC(NBC) both record and show HD syndication.

I e-mailed WJW, the Chief Engineer of WJW responded on 1/29 with the following:

"We hope to have the equipment in place to transmit Seinfeld in HD sometime next week."

So it looks like if all goes well WJW will be showing Seinfeld in HD very soon.

I e-mailed WJW, the Chief Engineer of WJW responded on 1/29 with the following:

"We hope to have the equipment in place to transmit Seinfeld in HD sometime next week."

So it looks like if all goes well WJW will be showing Seinfeld in HD very soon.

Amazing!! :eek: That new company might actually be doing something right for a change. And a Local TV LLC station will have HD syndication before network O&Os. Wouldn't that be beautiful! :D:D:D

Looked great! For some reason though, WUTV FOX29 broadcasts in 720p whereas the other main networks are all 1080i.?

As noted, FOX is 720p, as is ABC & MyNetworkTV. CBS, NBC, PBS & The CW are 1080i.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=164671

Saturday 7:30 pm show NOT in HD on WNYW. "The Jimmy"

Beat me to it. Was about to post, tonight's episode not in HD on WNYW. I wonder what happened..

Must have been a local issue. "The Jimmy" is in HD on KTXL Sacramento right now ...

I've messaged a station engineer. Let's see what they say...

More likely than not they forgot to hit the HD switch..

I did notice a number of audio dropouts in the episode. It's possible they decided not to air it because of this.

This doesn't make any sense?

Received this from the station engineer:

The second run or weekend runs of Seinfeld come in SD not HD so we are not able to play it out in HD. The weeknight versions come in HD.

That's weird.

He's misinformed about that -- the weekend episodes are sent in HD as well.

WJBK-DT FOX Detroit, O&O, still SD.

:(

Zap2it listings for WDAF in Kansas show the Saturday episode of "Seinfeld" is not in HD. They are consistent. Yesterday, next Saturday, and the week after next Saturday are listed as not HD. Other days of the week show HD in the listings for "Seinfeld," although I have not seen an actual HD broadcast yet.

Zap2it has it listed in HD for WNYW. It was in HD on other stations. Not sure what happened.

Watching the second weekend episode ("The Doodle") in HD right now on KTXL Sacramento:

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4287/seinfelddoodledc1.th.jpg (http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4287/seinfelddoodledc1.jpg)

"The Understudy" not in HD again on WNYW. I'll assume this is a local issue? I'll try to get in touch with the programming dept. and see what's up.

I e-mailed WJW, the Chief Engineer of WJW responded on 1/29 with the following:

"We hope to have the equipment in place to transmit Seinfeld in HD sometime next week."

So it looks like if all goes well WJW will be showing Seinfeld in HD very soon.

Wednesday of "next week". Still no Seinfeld in HD. 7 or 11pm.

"The Understudy" not in HD again on WNYW. I'll assume this is a local issue?

Must be. "The Understudy" is in HD in Sacramento.

Holy crap, I just turn to My13 to check this out and I did a huge double take, I could not believe that Seinfeld is in HD now.

Awesome shiet!

I'm in LA Ca. channel 13


It's the Marisa Tome episode, too funny!

Wednesday of "next week". Still no Seinfeld in HD. 7 or 11pm.

It's February 25 and not ONE episode of Seinfeld has been shown in HD yet.

"Next Week", my ass! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Oh man, I hadn't thought about that one. "Claustrophobic" is a good way to describe what I feel when I watch these. "Uncomfortable" would be another. But if this is snug, you should see what it looks like on the SD channel of providers like DirecTV -- in many (most?) areas, they are centercutting the station's DTV feed for that channel, so when "Seinfeld" is on, not only are you losing a lot of image because of the zooming, but both sides are being cut off! I was looking at that tonight -- that's really bad.

For the past few weeks channel 13 here (KCOP) in Los Angeles has been airing cropped versions of episodes on their SD channel. So imagine the already awkwardly cropped 16x9 HD framings cropped again to 4x3. It's hideous.

Haven't been in this thread for a while... but over the weekend noticed local WRAZ was showing Seinfeld in HD. These were 16x9, similar to the way TBS had been showing them in HD.

Still SD in Detroit, WJBK-DT FOX O&O.

This in HD for me. yah!

This in HD for me. yah!

That's just great.

Where and from what station; city and call letters?

For some reason Fox 5 in D.C. shows some of the episodes in HD and some in SD. Don't know why that is the case. There does not seem to be any pattern to it also.

WTXF showed last night's episode "The Chicken Roaster"(one of my favs) in HD. I'm not sure exactly when they started, but I think it has been sometime in the last couple weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing more HD seinfeld somewhere else other than TBSHD!

That makes 5 of the big 6 network affiliates in Philadelphia:
KYW(CBS)
WPVI(ABC)
WTXF(FOX)
WPHL(MNT)
WPSG(CW)

capable of HD syndication with the exception of WCAU(NBC).

That's no surprise, they just got HD news going earlier this year, they are always last with things like this.

WNYW (FOX) NY had been HD at 7:30 but not recently.

It's been in HD for several weeks on KRCW in Portland. They're the only station here that has syndicated shows in HD.

It looks great. The early 90's episodes are fairly grainy while the later seasons look as good as any show on television today. There were lots of focus errors. Apparently whenever a character was in Jerry's kitchen, they'd set the focus on the cereal boxes behind them.

The only times the cropping has looked awkward is when one character is standing behind a sitting character, then you have the top of one character's head and the bottom of the other. 99% of the time it looks as if it had been shot in 16:9. The cropping lets you see every eye roll and facial expression perfectly.

That's just great.

Where and from what station; city and call letters?
My13, Los Angeles, KCOP. ;)

WNYW (FOX) NY had been HD at 7:30 but not recently.
Yeah, I don't know what's up. Also, the weekend shows have never been in HD, although many people here have confirmed their affil has broadcast these shows in HD.

Anyone in the Atlanta area spot 'Seinfeld' in HD? Zap2it indicates HD, but it has been SD the couple of times I've caught the show. I'm watching it OTA.

Are any other networks showing season 9 episodes this week? Here in Philadelphia, WTXF(FOX) has shown only 2 or 3 of the 6 this week in HD. The others were in SD. The HD ones have a couple scenes where there is severe flickering(film like, not compression artifacts or breakup), it looks like a hiccup in the transfer. I am guessing the ones in SD, the HD transfer was so messed up it was unplayable or something.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this in other cities with Season 9 eps(some of my favorite ones!), and if every station's HD copies of season 9 episodes are messed up or just WTXF's? That's another question, for syndication of shows like this, does the station air the show via a connection to Sony somewhere(like a streaming TV show online), or do they have a local copy(akin to playing a video from your hard drive)?

The HD ones look great, but I am not interested in archiving some favorite eps if they are only in SD.

Still in SD in Cincinnati via WXIX even though the D* guide shows it as HD. Grrr...

Loving the few I see on TBS.

Are any other networks showing season 9 episodes this week? Here in Philadelphia, WTXF(FOX) has shown only 2 or 3 of the 6 this week in HD. The others were in SD. The HD ones have a couple scenes where there is severe flickering(film like, not compression artifacts or breakup), it looks like a hiccup in the transfer. I am guessing the ones in SD, the HD transfer was so messed up it was unplayable or something.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this in other cities with Season 9 eps(some of my favorite ones!), and if every station's HD copies of season 9 episodes are messed up or just WTXF's? That's another question, for syndication of shows like this, does the station air the show via a connection to Sony somewhere(like a streaming TV show online), or do they have a local copy(akin to playing a video from your hard drive)?

The HD ones look great, but I am not interested in archiving some favorite eps if they are only in SD.

I think we are, but I am not sure. I will have to check. I know the end of December we were running some season 8's in HD. Sony isn't distributing them in order. Some months you get a week of one season in order, some not in order and then other weeks, you get other seasons totally out of order. There seems to be no rhyme or reason at times which episodes are distributed.

Also remember, the SD version is sent via a file server to stations as video files and the HD version is sent one time daily in real time so if a station misses a HD feed, there is no refeed and the station is forced to take the SD to fill the spot. Weekday HD Seinfeld is fed at 12:30am ET Monday through Friday while the weekend HD Seinfeld are fed at 5:00am ET Friday mornings for weekend play.

Just to give you some inside baseball, stations do not have the complete library of Seinfeld or any current syndicated program. Each episode is fed about 2 days ahead of air date. The Seinfeld you see on Monday was fed to the station on Thursday so the station only keeps about 3 or 4 episodes at any one time for a certain broadcast time.

Seinfeld, like many other syndicated programs, will allow what is called "double runs" meaning the show has two airings a day. The first run is normally repeated about 2 to 3 weeks later in the second run time slot. In my own stations case, we air first run Seinfeld at 11pm and the second run at 11:30pm. The same episode that aired at 11pm will rerun again in the second airing about 2 weeks later. The difference between the airings are the national commercials Sony (the distributor) has sold. For that reason, stations do not hold on to the episodes beyond the air date. The next airing (two weeks later) will have different national commercials/sponsors. So stations are constantly ingesting the latest feeds of syndicated programs so the correct national commercials are played. If a station doesn't, they lose the rights to broadcast that show. Those national commercials pay most of the distribution freight for these shows.

Stations for years have been getting syndicated programming via file delivery services instead of real time sat feds as in the old days. The best known was Pathfire (they were recently bought out and the name has changed to something else, but everyone still calls it Pathfire). A station has a terminal and a server and the programs just magically appear on the server several days ahead of airing to be taped or ingested into a stations playback server. When HD came along, the download servers were too small to handle the size of HD programs (an average Seinfeld HD 30 minute show in professional HD format is about 12G) so distributors have gone back to real time feds for the HD distribution until the servers are upgraded to handle the larger files. Server companies have now just started to install HD servers. We just got one from a company called Pitch Blue that not only will distribute HD commercials but HD programming as well. Any HD programming is suppose to start sometime this spring is what we have been told. I am not sure if the commercials have started to be honest but the hardware is sitting there running. Waiting.

Right now, the 5 syndicated HD programs we take, we get them off sat feeds since the HD versions are not available via download servers yet.

foxeng, thanks for the inside info. I was wondering why our local Fox station had a couple of Seinfeld eps in HD, but then returned to SD. Now I know.

foxeng, thanks for the inside info. I was wondering why our local Fox station had a couple of Seinfeld eps in HD, but then returned to SD. Now I know.

The GM of KDVR I worked with when he was the General Sales Manager here at my station. I know him real well. When we went stereo in the 90's, the joke was when was he going to bring in enough money so we could go SAP! Ah, the good old days!

My local station pulled Seinfeld from their 10:00 PM lineup :(
For years I have watched Seinfeld at 10:00. I guess I'll have to change now.. ha

My local station pulled Seinfeld from their 10:00 PM lineup :(
For years I have watched Seinfeld at 10:00. I guess I'll have to change now.. ha
That's a shame. :p