Ugh, please go back an edit. I was reeled in on that one. :D

Oh, and changing your settings to max the posts per page does really help. I recommend it.

So did anyone actually broadcast a HD signal from either race?

I don't think so. I watched the Canadian GP on TSN and I have TSN-HD as well and it was on that, but it was all 4:3. It may have been 480p instead of 480i, not sure, but since I've got a 4:3 CRT HDTV, it had horizontal bars and vertical bars, so I just watched it on regular TSN. As for the USGP today, I watched that on Speed (and switch to TSN during commercial). TSN-HD had it on as well, but it was again 4:3 "HD" whatever it may be, didn't look any better than 480i, again may have been 480p, only watched it for a min or two as I can't stand the vertical bars on top of horizontal ones.

I'd also like to mention that F1 races on TSN-HD have been like this (4:3) since I got TSN-HD last season. All of last season was like this and all of this current season too. Didn't notice a difference for the Canadian GP or US GP.

I don't think so. I watched the Canadian GP on TSN and I have TSN-HD as well and it was on that, but it was all 4:3. It may have been 480p instead of 480i, not sureNo one broadcasts 480p.

So did anyone actually broadcast a HD signal from either race?Don't know if it was produced in HD, but definitely no one broadcast in HD in North America.

These are the guys that don't race on ovals right?

not only that:

NO bump-drafting?
NO girlfriends fighting in the pits?
NO "reach up there 'n pull them belts tight ONE MORE TIME!"/"BOOGITY! BOOGITY BOOGITY!"

geez... what's the point? :-P

seriously, though, this is really great news!

I doubt they'll ever be able to do it but the mack of all macks would be if they could do in-car HD in F1 - THAT would be seriously cool!

however by the early 90s HiVision had CCD cameras AND digital VTRs (albeit quite unwieldy open-reel 1" in the first instance).

But only half as unwieldy as open-reel two-inch tape !!!!!!!!!!!

Yes kids, videotape didn't ALWAYS come in a handy plastic box that threaded itself...

Don't know if it was produced in HD, but definitely no one broadcast in HD in North America.

On a related note- does anybody know what sort of video the FIA crews are using? It looks like film but it's obviously video, since you can watch it live via the jumbotrons at the track.

NO girlfriends fighting in the pits?
Aww no girl fights?? put that in bernie's ear, :) some of those F1 gilrfriends are HOT. and the Grid Girls are yummy. the grid girls in Canada were smoking more that the start burnouts.

I would rather keep F1 on Speed in non HD before I could stand listening to Derek Daly and Ralph Shaeen commentate another race :confused: over at CBS. Derek Daily is a fricken idiot. He just does not have a clue to what is going on. Neither does Ralph but at least he does pretend to. I would have been better off turning off the volume.

Erik


+1
But HD Speed would be the best...

Bump... Just trying to keep this thread alive.

Bump... Just trying to keep this thread alive.Yeah, nothing has changed.

Somewhat off topic, but when I was at the USGP, they had a booth for Kangaroo TV (http://kangaroo.tv/). These devices look really cool. They were offering free rent for the day, as a marketing test, but you had to arrive in the morning -- first come, first serve -- and they only had a few hundred available (for a crowd of 100,000). I didn't bother, but hope to get a chance to try one sometime...maybe at the Petit LeMans when we go in September.

Tyres for the British Grand Prix of course! (They take the tires off when they reach British waters...)

Yes of course, you need tyres for the kerbs

Now that Fox has the Canadian,US,French & United Kingdom Grand Prix's will they be in HD? We can only hope.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6210614

TF1 in France will broadcast all grand prix in 16:9 according to f1-live.com. The world feed should be in 16:9. No word from TSN.

We can hope that Fox gets something that is even better than the regular 4:3 feed (which hasn't always been bad). I doubt that we would see a 16:9 broadcast on Speed though.

Aww no girl fights?? put that in bernie's ear, :) some of those F1 gilrfriends are HOT. and the Grid Girls are yummy. the grid girls in Canada were smoking more that the start burnouts.

Wow i hadn't thought of that-Japanese GP Racequeens in HD!!!!!:)

extend the pre-race show to a full hour!!!!!!

This will be awesome if it's on CBS.

TF1 in France will broadcast all grand prix in 16:9 according to f1-live.com. The world feed should be in 16:9. No word from TSN.

It is painful to watch the Australian GP (only down the road a bit) in 14:9 stretched from 4:3 after it being 16:9 years back. This year it is rumoured to be 16:9 HD which is what I want to hear but nothing has been said locally. They are pushing Prime Time AFL in HD here so you would think that the same network would promote this to death... but nothing.

As long as it is 16:9, it will be an improvement. I wish Ten (the local network who play F1 in Australia) would shoot it themselves but that is not their choice. We also had the V8 supercars in 4:3 but now another network has stolen them so who knows what will happen with that sport.

It also has to be kept in mind that Europe has almost no HD infrastructure. I think they have one DBS channel for HD. Aside from Australia, Canada, and Japan, there is pretty much Zero HDTV out there. Until that changes, I doubt we'll see anything improve for the European Series. (F1 & WRC)

I have read about a special "digtial" PPV package that F1 had a few season ago. I think it was also 540i/p 16x9 (what ever that PAL Widescreen standard is). So it was a near HD experience. They also had multiple camera angles to choose from. Sorta like Champ Car's Race Director.
Yeah, F1, WRC and the Top Gear series really deserve HD treatment.
I don't know HDTV infrastructure in Europe, but Top Gear wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear) claims that current Top Gear format -- since 2002 -- is broadcasted in 720x576, anamorphic 16:9. All Top Gear episodes available on the internet -- again, in current format -- are widescreen. Of course, those MPEG4 clips have reduced quality so they are nowhere near 720p and could as well be converted from widescreen PAL.

I am curious does anyone watches/broadcasts widescreen SD PAL? Do they sell widescreen PAL TVs in Europe at all?

I agree. I think the quality of SPEED's F1 team is the reason I enjoy watching F1 so much. I can't watch CBS's coverage.
Both are utter crap.

... current Top Gear format -- since 2002 -- is broadcasted in 720x576, anamorphic 16:9. All Top Gear episodes available on the internet -- again, in current format -- are widescreen. Of course, those MPEG4 clips have reduced quality so they are nowhere near 720p and could as well be converted from widescreen PAL...Well 720x576 is just standard definition for widescreen PAL (what you would get with a Region 2 DVD), so there is no reason I can see to expect there would be 720p versions of Top Gear anyway

Yeah, don't let the 720 in the wrong place fool ya. In the US, the HD resolution is 1280x720 vs the PAL 720x576. With that said, I'd sure love to have a look at that 576i 16:9 copy of TopGear, that show is great.

This will be awesome if it's on CBS.
I'm pretty sure that all F1 race are on FOX/Speed this year. Any HD chances would have to be on FOX.

Yeah, don't let the 720 in the wrong place fool ya. In the US, the HD resolution is 1280x720 vs the PAL 720x576. With that said, I'd sure love to have a look at that 576i 16:9 copy of TopGear, that show is great.Oh my, right. Stupid me.

By the way, I am a bit happy that Discovery channel stopped airing Top Gear, because now I switched to original show and I can see the difference -- yep American versions were castrated. I wonder why would they bother airing the show at the first place. It was obvious from the beginning that you cannot broadcast a program in States if its anchors call F150 Lightning rubbish and say that Chrysler Crossfire looks like a dog doing poo-poo (and it does look like it indeed).

I am curious does anyone watches/broadcasts widescreen SD PAL? Do they sell widescreen PAL TVs in Europe at all?

I can answer for Australia - of course we sell SD widescreen TV sets. I have one right next to me now, in fact, a lot of TVs are SD only here since all content is in widescreen but not too much HD. Mind you, this is quickly changing and you would be crazy to get a non-HD TV unless you are on a budget (SD CRT is around AU$500, SD LCD AU$1200 and HD LCD/CRT upwards of AU$3000 roughly).

Remember, unlike the US, Australia has been digital for a few years now so everything is always widescreen from News to Sports and everything in between. We have a few local HD shows but most are nature style, studio based or something similar. We do however get almost all US based shows in high definition.

Yeah, don't let the 720 in the wrong place fool ya. In the US, the HD resolution is 1280x720 vs the PAL 720x576. With that said, I'd sure love to have a look at that 576i 16:9 copy of TopGear, that show is great.

You seem to have your numbers mixed there. The formats are as follows.

720x576i - SD anamorphic widescreen (all content is this on SD station)
720x576p - HD *shudder*, certain networks get away with calling this HD
1280x720p - HD, unlike what you said, this is an actual HD resolution for us too
1440x1080/1088i - HD as expected
1920x1080/1088i - HD as above
1920x1080p - Not broadcast but on Blu-Ray, etc.

The only difference we have to the US (besides the 50Hz) is that all SD content is widescreen and not 4:3. All shows that are 4:3 are shown inside the 720x576 frame with black either side. Of course, when stretched to 16:9, the correct ratio would be 1024x574 compared to the 480i/p used in the states.

As for F1, I said in another thread, it was widescreen years back but since changed to 4:3. From the rumours it is said to be at least WS if not HD (which would be good although the local station that shows it runs at 1920x1080i @ ~13.5Mbps which is a bit low for fast motion sports... then again, with AFL coming soon, perhaps they will up the bitrate and drop the guide channel for the duration of the race.

The only difference we have to the US (besides the 50Hz) is that all SD content is widescreen and not 4:3.Interesting. I thought that widescreen SD has never caught on but seems that I was wrong. How long do you have widescreen TVs and shows in Australia? AFAIK, in States all SD is 4:3. CRT SD TVs with progressive scanning never caught on either.

Those... er... samples of TG that I have a chance to watch are 512x288 at best and are still very watchable especially with MPEG NR turned on. So widescreen PAL must be almost as good as 720p HD. Well, maybe not so because it is interlaced. Anyway, I think that unlike NTSC, there is much less incentive to switch to HD from widescreen PAL.

Interesting. I thought that widescreen SD has never caught on but seems that I was wrong. How long do you have widescreen TVs and shows in Australia?

We are similar to the UK and other PAL regions where SD WS is the norm. How long has there been widescreen SD sets? Quite a few years now, even before the networks started digital TV - analogue is of course still 4:3 although sometimes has black at the top bringing it to either 16:9 for shows such as ER (on the SD station) or 14:9 for most other shows to either show it is available in WS and/or HD or simply to give more picture.

These days, if you go to a shop you can still get a 4:3 set but you really wouldn't buy one besides the price. Pretty much all new TVs are either LCD or Plasma and SD widescreen or HD.

It is strange then for us that America will be all digital (no analogue at all) before we are since we have had all shows in SD WS for ages and a lot of US content is only starting to get a 16:9 aspect ratio.

I should mention however that on free to air, we only get five stations here. You can pay to get more (most widescreen too) but it isn't as popular as it should be due to the pricing (~AU$107 per month for them all).

Those... er... samples of TG that I have a chance to watch are 512x288 at best and are still very watchable especially with MPEG NR turned on. So widescreen PAL must be almost as good as 720p HD. Well, maybe not so because it is interlaced. Anyway, I think that unlike NTSC, there is much less incentive to switch to HD from widescreen PAL.

Widescreen PAL as good as 720p? Not really all all. It is nice to have it fill the 16:9 display but it really is nowhere near as good as 720p. Then again, only one station uses 720p with another to come next year (it should be).

BTW, if you are interested in the guides you could always check out www.yourtv.com.au for an Australian TV guide.

analogue is of course still 4:3 although sometimes has black at the top bringing it to either 16:9 for shows such as ER (on the SD station) or 14:9 for most other shows to either show it is available in WS and/or HD or simply to give more picture.14:9 is the weirdest format, we have one station here in San Diego that aires in 14:9. I don't get it. It equally bad for 4:3 and 16:9 sets. Have you ever had 14:9 TV sets on sale?

Seems that early Top Gear shows (at least first two series) are shot in 14:9, then they switched to 16:9.

These days, if you go to a shop you can still get a 4:3 set but you really wouldn't buy one besides the price. Pretty much all new TVs are either LCD or Plasma and SD widescreen or HD.About 20 years ago Sony opened a first factory in San Diego area, belonging to a foreign capital. The factory was making trinitron tubes. Closed last year. Tube TVs still can be bought, there were about 5 of them in the nearest shop, other 50 or so were LCD/plasma/projection.

It is strange then for us that America will be all digital (no analogue at all) before weThis is for over-the-air only, and the deadline has been moved for at least three times already.

Widescreen PAL as good as 720p? Not really all all. It is nice to have it fill the 16:9 display but it really is nowhere near as good as 720p. Then again, only one station uses 720p with another to come next year (it should be).So what is the dominant format for HD in Australia? In states it seems 1080i, only couple of major networks use 720p. Caught today's NASCAR on Fox in HD. What can I say? The picture was pretty good, but NASCAR is of no interest to me. The cars are nowhere stock as they were in the olden days, the oval is boring, and the car's specs are out of stone ages, like the engine MUST be a pushrod and has to use a carburetor. NASCAR is a dead end of car evolution. F1 in HD would be a delight.

14:9. I don't get it. It equally bad for 4:3 and 16:9 sets. Have you ever had 14:9 TV sets on sale?

The local news on one station zooms 4:3 material to 14:9 but in widescreen digital, it is not common to see. There are also no TVs at this ratio.

Seems that early Top Gear shows (at least first two series) are shot in 14:9, then they switched to 16:9.

I thought that the original was 4:3 before the BBC switched to 16:9 (I think this was in 2000)

Tube TVs still can be bought, there were about 5 of them in the nearest shop, other 50 or so were LCD/plasma/projection.

That is the thing, they are still around but before too long they will disappear from the shelves completely. LCD technology is pretty good anyway so there is no great loss for most people.

This is for over-the-air only, and the deadline has been moved for at least three times already.

We keep shifting all the time. I never understand it either, you can get a set top box for FTA for as low as AU$60, surely if you have a TV you can afford this cost in the next five years (date is 2012 at the moment here).

So what is the dominant format for HD in Australia? In states it seems 1080i, only couple of major networks use 720p.

1080i would be the norm I guess you could say. Although next year it will be 50:50 with one network still using 576p (still an absolute disgrace to HDTV).

F1 in HD would be a delight.

There are now many reports from New Zealand through to England that the Formula One this Sunday will be 16:9 but little about HD. I would be pleased if we could just see all the races in widescreen even if not HD. Next month we are getting the Golf from CBS -> Ten for the first time in 1080i high definition (we get Letterman is the same format) so it would be possible... but I am still sceptical.

With big FOX airing the Canadian and USGP's, I wonder what the chances are of getting an HD feed from Bernie?

We have Stand B Penthouse seats for our Cup tickets and a set of five high up in the middle of turn 3 for the 500. Those turn 3 seats are sweet, probably the best unobstructed view at Indy.

We've been trying to get a foot in the door to Stand E Penthouse for the 500 for almost a decade now, nothing doing. NASCAR Penthouse seats were easy pickins for penthouse seats but the 500 is another story. I beleive they've been gobbled up by team owners decades upon decades.

A trip to the GP at Indy would be nice but between a trip to Kansas City and a trip to Iowa Speedways inaugaral IRL event this year we're tapped out for race weekends.

I'll be looking for you all from my easy chair.

See you at Indy!

So the Formula 1 coverage started today and is finally in 16:9 widescreen SD. Shame about the lack of HD but at least it looks better than what was before. Now all I can hope for is the rest of the season being WS but I guess that won't happen any time soon. At least I can enjoy it while it is down the road in Melbourne.

I watched last night on SpeedTV (a SD only channel) and it was not letterboxed.

Offline hasn't posted his location in his profile, but from his comment about being down the road from 'bourne, I'd say he lives Down Under.

Yeah, they've had HD in Australia for a while now.

TSN-HD is showing Adelaide qualifying in widescreen SD. Looks quite nice.

Offline hasn't posted his location in his profile.

I could have sworn I had - it is added now and yes, I am Australian.

Back to the F1, now that FOM has gone widescreen it now makes 100% coverage of the sport here to be 16:9. The last few years have been a joke with the red frame rather than the standard black and I actually find it more enjoyable as there is no distractions. The 1080i upconversion isn't too bad either but the watermark (14:9 safe) for the network is a bit much. Surely we all know what station we are watching by now.

It should be a good race tomorrow, 2pm local start. It might also make it easier elsewhere if the talked about night race happens (Bernie said as soon as next year during an interview but that is a bit optimistic). 8pm would give a 6 hour difference so the rest of the world could watch at a more reasonable time... although we will still have to wait for the 6am US races that can be a killer.

TSN-HD is showing Adelaide qualifying in widescreen SD. Looks quite nice.

Adelaide? The race hasn't been there for years :). It is the Melbourne F1 GP these days.

Here are some pics I found at another forum.

http://www.luke-hamilton.com/a/Formula.One.2007.Round.01-Free.Prac.Australia.English.Xvid-HAM.jpg

It will happen for us someday.

BTW: Did you see Sato get into the top 10! Big Improvement over Super Aguri last year.

BTW: Did you see Sato get into the top 10! Big Improvement over Super Aguri last year.

Thats because of their 'customer' cars from Honda basically. I'm very impressed so far with the WS SD I saw in qualifying in MELBOURNE (not Adelaide) last night. In Canada TSNHD is broadcasting the signal and it looks good.

FOX is carrying 4 of the races. Are any of those slated to be HD? I see two might be, Toronto and one other...but with Bernie doing all races in HD and widescreen,
surely FOX could do it? I'd love the 5.1 DD sound more than the HD. :D

Thats because of their 'customer' cars from Honda basically. I'm very impressed so far with the WS SD I saw in qualifying in MELBOURNE (not Adelaide) last night. In Canada TSNHD is broadcasting the signal and it looks good.

Why would TSN-HD air just the widescreen version and not the full blown HD? Am I missing something here? :confused:

I think that the race is not available in HD, only Widescreen SD.

I think that the race is not available in HD, only Widescreen SD.


Aargh! That sucks... It just started and it sucks in SD on my new 5070. :-(

f.

Early pre-race coverage is in 4:3 on TSN-HD.

EDIT: TSN-HD has switched to 16:9 SD. This would be so nice in HD... :(

The widescreen looks so great, I might resort to grabbing the torrent of it instead of watching the 4:3 Speed coverage.

Early pre-race coverage is in 4:3 on TSN-HD.

EDIT: TSN-HD has switched to 16:9 SD. This would be so nice in HD... :(

You live in Florida and get TSN HD? Cool, how? I really enjoyed the race and i'm pretty sure that the Canadian GP will be broadcast in HD on CTV. Anyways, good race tonight and very impressed with Lewis Hamilton.

Great race it was, just finished here half an hour ago at 5pm. Full 16:9 SD coverage as said but no sign of HD so I assume it won't happen anytime soon.

So did the speed channel resort to 4:3? That would be a shame as it looked fantastic in widescreen, not near HD but still highly watchable. I won't spoil it in case you are on a delay or haven't yet seen it but a good start to the season nonetheless.

Great race it was, just finished here half an hour ago at 5pm. Full 16:9 SD coverage as said but no sign of HD so I assume it won't happen anytime soon.

So did the speed channel resort to 4:3? That would be a shame as it looked fantastic in widescreen, not near HD but still highly watchable. I won't spoil it in case you are on a delay or haven't yet seen it but a good start to the season nonetheless. It was 4:3 SD on Speed here in the Washington DC area.

One question though, is the SD quality in Europe and Australia the same as here in the US? I was over in Sweden and Germany when the World Cup was going on. The picture quality looked really good even though neither one of my cousins had HD TVs.

It seems to be better here than US sources. Last I checked, just like DVD, US uses 480i compared to the 720x576i we have. I still watched it upconverted to 1920x1080i on the HD network (UC happens when not native HD). I will try and get a few captures later to compare (although the F1 was terribly interlaced due to the high speed).

You live in Florida and get TSN HD? Cool, how? I really enjoyed the race and i'm pretty sure that the Canadian GP will be broadcast in HD on CTV. Anyways, good race tonight and very impressed with Lewis Hamilton.

Broker for Canadian programming in the USA. Do a search here and you'll find answers. Perhaps this will be the year we see some F1 in HD, although I'm doubting it at this point. Unless Bernie sees it as a priority, it will linger on as an afterthought. I've said it before, someone needs to drag him in front of a LARGE HD set and throw a NASCAR race on.

The one reason that makes sense for WS SD only is that the majority of viewers are from regions which don't have a high uptake yet of HDTV. I have said before that it would be great to have but there simply aren't enough viewers to justify the cost... although if you are changing cameras once, why not make them future-proof.

I still also want to see how they hold up at the night race (next year?).

Edit: Some images from the event, taken from a ~14Mbps 1080i stream and resized.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE MELBOURNE RACE BELOW








Murray Walker - (Non-F1) interviews

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8498/formula1widescreensd02gd5.th.jpg (http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8498/formula1widescreensd02gd5.jpg)

Race shots - Accident shows in car and external views

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1216/formula1widescreensd03ey5.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1216/formula1widescreensd03ey5.jpg) http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/1626/formula1widescreensd04ue4.th.jpg (http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/1626/formula1widescreensd04ue4.jpg) http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5056/formula1widescreensd05bw6.th.jpg (http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5056/formula1widescreensd05bw6.jpg) http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7605/formula1widescreensd06ym1.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7605/formula1widescreensd06ym1.jpg) http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4964/formula1widescreensd07xc8.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4964/formula1widescreensd07xc8.jpg) http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7204/formula1widescreensd08tj8.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7204/formula1widescreensd08tj8.jpg)

Post Race Interview

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4040/formula1widescreensd09qk9.th.jpg (http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4040/formula1widescreensd09qk9.jpg) http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/776/formula1widescreensd10yx4.th.jpg (http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/776/formula1widescreensd10yx4.jpg)

Commentary box with Bill Woods and Jeremy Shaw (Non-F1)

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8918/formula1widescreensd11of1.th.jpg (http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8918/formula1widescreensd11of1.jpg)

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting (http://imageshack.us)

Kimi looks better in scarlet regalia than in that boring shiny silver, eh?

Nice way to kickoff the career with the Team of the Prancing Horse. If the rest of the season could be as good as this race, we might be in for a four way tussle between Kimi, Massa, Alonso and... Hamilton !! :D

Great start to the season, and I wish I could see it in at least WS SD, if not HD. :o

It seems to be better here than US sources. Last I checked, just like DVD, US uses 480i compared to the 720x576i we have. I still watched it upconverted to 1920x1080i on the HD network (UC happens when not native HD). I will try and get a few captures later to compare (although the F1 was terribly interlaced due to the high speed).

It does not make a difference. 480i is at 60Hz so it captures the same amount of pixels as 576i at 50Hz per second. 60Hz has a lot less blurring visible than 50Hz especially during car race.

The widescreen looks so great, I might resort to grabbing the torrent of it instead of watching the 4:3 Speed coverage.

Do not judge the picture on these screen grabs. Picture quality on TSN was not much better than on Speed channel, besides of course being widescreen.

Great race it was, just finished here half an hour ago at 5pm. Full 16:9 SD coverage as said but no sign of HD so I assume it won't happen anytime soon.

So did the speed channel resort to 4:3? That would be a shame as it looked fantastic in widescreen, not near HD but still highly watchable. I won't spoil it in case you are on a delay or haven't yet seen it but a good start to the season nonetheless.


Speed Channel is 4X3 SD only. They do not have HD version. To show the race in widescreen in US they would have to put it on one of HD channels. They will not do that however, because they paid too much money for the broadcast rights.

It was 4:3 SD on Speed here in the Washington DC area.

One question though, is the SD quality in Europe and Australia the same as here in the US? I was over in Sweden and Germany when the World Cup was going on. The picture quality looked really good even though neither one of my cousins had HD TVs.

You missed the World Cup in HD in US then. It looked fantastic.

Watched the Oz GP this weekend. It was pretty good - Forza Ferrari!!

Man-oh-man it looked like $#!t, though.

In December I picked up a a new 50PH9UK plasma and an HD-A2 player. Between movies and the occasional TV show, our viewing has been almost exclusively HD for months now.

What a shock to back to watching F1 in in SD. It's a frickin' joke, really. If I were a NASCAR fan (puke, puke) I could watch it all in HD. But for the "pinnacle of motorsport", no, no, no...

Even my wife was pissed.

I sure wish they would get with the program.

Do not judge the picture on these screen grabs. Picture quality on TSN was not much better than on Speed channel, besides of course being widescreen.

I grabbed a high quality x264 cap from Australia. It looked pretty good, but for the time and the bandwidth needed to grab it, I will continue to watch the Speed broadcasts.

You missed the World Cup in HD in US then. It looked fantastic. I did catch a couple of games in HD on ABC and ESPN2. They were really nice and sharp. But I was talking about overall, the digital channels looked better over there. I would love to watch that over SD, would never pick it over HD though. I don't know if you have seen the digital channel quality over in Europe but it is nice. I would love to watch GolTV and FSC games with that quality over the lousy 480i we get.

But here is the bad thing, over in Europe and Australia, at least when I visited last summer, they are way behind us as far as HD TV sets and HD channels go. Most of their TV sets were just HD READY. I looked at SKY HD's website and it will cost a fortune to buy the equipment and subscribe to their service.

I really like most of the new liveries, especially that of Renault/ING. I'm hoping Honda's is temporary, though: what a mess. It's a step in the right direction, though. F1 liveres were becoming almost uniform with so few unique color schemes over the past few seasons. I miss the days of Jordan, Orange/Arrows and Jaguar when the grid had a more unique look to it.

Ever since I saw the T-cars using the bright-yellow indicators above the cockpits, I wished they would use that as the other #1/#2 indicator because with such bad feeds, it was sometimes difficult to tell the difference between red and black from a distance. Kudos to F1 for making this change!

Watched Australian GP in WD grabbed from channel "ten" whatever that is. The whole race was compressed into 700MB to fit one CD with only 352 scanlines, still it was watchable. I am pretty sure that normal PAL WD is very watchable. Formula 1 looks so natural in WD! Much better than on Speed Channel. Truly as if I were in a cockpit. Great race!

But Truli was in the cockpit.

But Truli was in the cockpit.

O' Reilly !!

Hopefully it will happen on fox (HD)

But as I have seen in the past, when you get your hopes up...you set yourself up for disappointment.

Maybe in a few years.

Nothing but SD and 4:3 here in No. Cal.
When are they going to hire a coach to stop Scott Speed from saying, "Yeah-No"?

Nothing but SD and 4:3 here in No. Cal.
When are they going to hire a coach to stop Scott Speed from saying, "Yeah-No"?

Hopefully AFTER they hire a coach to improve his overall driving abilities - (inferior car and all, but) he DOES have ground to make up :)

It is painful to watch the Australian GP (only down the road a bit) in 14:9 stretched from 4:3 after it being 16:9 years back. This year it is rumoured to be 16:9 HD which is what I want to hear but nothing has been said locally. They are pushing Prime Time AFL in HD here so you would think that the same network would promote this to death... but nothing.

As long as it is 16:9, it will be an improvement. I wish Ten (the local network who play F1 in Australia) would shoot it themselves but that is not their choice. We also had the V8 supercars in 4:3 but now another network has stolen them so who knows what will happen with that sport.Well, here in Canada on TSN HD it was in 16:9 - a vast improvement over last year's pillarboxed 4:3 upconversion on my 120" front PJ :D

As a bonus the Speed channel coverage was not blacked out as per usual (presumably because they weren't offering "equivalent" HD coverage), so we could switch back and forth when one or the other went to commercial (the difference in overall quality was not that great other than being 4:3 SD on Speed, which points more to the world feed being 16:9 SD upconverted rather than true HD).

Whether it actually was upconverted 16:9 SD (as I read on SpeedArena) I don't know, although it did not seem to be "full" 1080i detail, but I've waited sooo long for TSN HD to give me widescreen F1 I don't care.

Apparently the new F1 TV satellite uplink contract signed for the next 4 years will see HD trucks at all 8 European races, so Fox will shoot themselves in the foot if they are the only major network NOT to offer F1 in HD this year (although as Americans seem to prefer NASCAR, maybe it doesn't matter to Fox so much, especially if there is competition for their HD trucks from America's favourite pastime).

Well, here in Canada on TSN HD it was in 16:9 - a vast improvement over last year's pillarboxed 4:3 upconversion on my 120" front PJ :D

As a bonus the Speed channel coverage was not blacked out as per usual (presumably because they weren't offering "equivalent" HD coverage), so we could switch back and forth when one or the other went to commercial (the difference in overall quality was not that great other than being 4:3 SD on Speed, which points more to the world feed being 16:9 SD upconverted rather than true HD).

Whether it actually was upconverted 16:9 SD (as I read on SpeedArena) I don't know, although it did not seem to be "full" 1080i detail, but I've waited sooo long for TSN HD to give me widescreen F1 I don't care.

Apparently the new F1 TV satellite uplink contract signed for the next 4 years will see HD trucks at all 8 European races, so Fox will shoot themselves in the foot if they are the only major network NOT to offer F1 in HD this year (although as Americans seem to prefer NASCAR, maybe it doesn't matter to Fox so much, especially if there is competition for their HD trucks from America's favourite pastime).


F1 is not done in HD only widescreen period. Info about this was posted all over the place. Just because they use HD capable truck it does not mean HD. They just use the truck in SD widescreen mode.

Watched Australian GP in WD grabbed from channel "ten" whatever that is.

What do you mean "whatever that is". It is one of the three commercial stations we get in this country, just as you would get NBC, CBS, etc. They did a high quality production overall for the three full days. We had practice right through to the race done in full widescreen but there were far too many commercials.

Be thankful you still have a selection, having 3 stations isn't very enjoyable most times although we do get most shows within around two months these days.

What a shock to back to watching F1 in in SD. It's a frickin' joke, really. If I were a NASCAR fan (puke, puke) I could watch it all in HD. But for the "pinnacle of motorsport", no, no, no...

Even my wife was pissed.

I sure wish they would get with the program.

Kinda funny how you can play an F1 game in HiDef (PS3) but can't watch a real race in it.

BTW: Did you see Sato get into the top 10! Big Improvement over Super Aguri last year.

Super Aguri is a sham. I'm totally w/Frank Williams and Spyker on this one.

I loved Steve Matchett's comment about Honda spending $300 million on the new, slower car....something about ballast doing the same job for a much lower price.

As reported on my TV listings website RaceFanTV, I don't expect SPEED to be HD capable until 2009. Hence, even though I can get F1 in Canada on the TSN-HD channel in non-HD 16:9 widescreen format already, I don't expect SPEED (which has a long-term contract to broadcast F1 in the USA) to be able to offer F1 in HD until it upgrades to HD. However, this year, FOX will broadcast four GPs (Canada, US, France, Britain), so it would be technically possible for FOX to braodcast the non-HD 16:9 format on its HD channel -- or perhaps proper HD will be available by then.

They did a high quality production overall for the three full days. We had practice right through to the race done in full widescreen but there were far too many commercials.

This season, every race is produce by FOM with FOM crew.

As reported on my TV listings website RaceFanTV, I don't expect SPEED to be HD capable until 2009. Hence, even though I can get F1 in Canada on the TSN-HD channel in non-HD 16:9 widescreen format already, I don't expect SPEED (which has a long-term contract to broadcast F1 in the USA) to be able to offer F1 in HD until it upgrades to HD. However, this year, FOX will broadcast four GPs (Canada, US, France, Britain), so it would be technically possible for FOX to braodcast the non-HD 16:9 format on its HD channel -- or perhaps proper HD will be available by then.

FOX may show it in widescreen as they do that with some of their shows.

What do you mean "whatever that is".That was not meant to be offensive :) I just know nothing about the channel, all I see is a watermark. But considering its format and commentators' accent I should have deduced that this is an Australian channel.

They did a high quality production overall for the three full days. We had practice right through to the race done in full widescreen but there were far too many commercials.The race itself did not have many commercial breaks, only four or so, which were promptly removed by a nice guy who made a TV rip :)

Watching sports in the US is a pain. Commercials all over the place. My wife likes watching figure skating, they put commercials as often as after every two dances, sometimes even after one dance. I hate American TV for that. One can watch movies commercial-free by subscribing to HBO or ShowTime, but watching commercial-free sports is -- as far as I know -- impossible.

Speed Channel is included in the most expensive package of my cable provider (almost hundred bucks a month), yet I cannot watch F1 GP commercial-free! The whole point of sports shows is to cram as much ads as possible into them and show to as large audience as possible, Super Bowl being the ultimate ad show intermitted with guys throwing a ball. When people watch Super Bowl just because of ads, it is sick.

Considering that SpeedTV got rights for F1 and say ESPN got rights for tennis championship I doubt that someone else would be able to broadcast the same sports shows ad-free. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Do not judge the picture on these screen grabs. Picture quality on TSN was not much better than on Speed channel, besides of course being widescreen.

I'm glad somebody finally pointed this out. The feed that TSN was showing may have been WS, but it was definitely lo-def WS, not the acceptable digital WS like, say, FOX's Arrested Development or PBS's Motorweek, which are not HD but still look pretty darn good. This was like letterboxed SD such as British Touring Car Championships that Speed had earlier this year. Seen on an HD set it has black around all 4 sides. Some people blow this up to fill the screen and that looks like exactly what TSN did. Did not look good at all. We are still a ways away from F1 in HD

I only got to watch the race last night, as we were in FL for the 12 Hours of Sebring. I think this will be a great season. Can't wait until we go to the USGP.

Malaysain GP TSN-HD grabs.

Racing Action in 16x9
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/thefatguyjj/f11.jpg

16x9 Nose Cam
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/thefatguyjj/f12.jpg

that don't look HD...? Looks like 16x9 SD

I didn't say it was HD. It was off the HD channel. It's evident on TV, and especially on computer that it's 16x9 SD.

I would take 16x9 SD instead of the Speed feed. Maybe when the Spped HD channel shows up on D* later this year ot next year we'll see a widescreen version of the F1 feeds.

At least it's not as bad as the utter crap NBC is giving for the ChampCar race. But then CBS and NBC suck when it comes to coverage of any real motorsports.

I downloaded the ITV feed of the Australian GP and though it was SD, the WS adds a lot to the overall presentation. I have accepted that we may not see HD F1 for some time, but watching WS can definitely tide me over. I watch the races live on Speed and then download the WS version and watch that as well. Makes a huge difference.

WS IS excellent!

I've been playing F1 (VERY intermittently - I'm embarrassed to admit MotorStorm completely kicks its heniey in terms of satisfying, quick gameplay) on the PS3, and the visuals are literally better than the live coverage on Speed!

... and then download the WS version and watch that as well. Makes a huge difference.

Link, please.

No linky to copywrighted materials allowed here. He's likely talking about a torrent download anyway.

That's correct, torrent download.

I haven't been here in a while so I am catching up. I think all but 2 races are being captured in HD this year.

If Fox/Speed won't come across with the races in HD there is still some hope for people in Canada.

RDS holds the broadcast rights for Canada. They have made a request to get their HD channel on the air by late summer. F1 is big in Quebec so they could make a special effort to get it on the air in HD. Now TSN get their feed from RDS. I have always assumed that we weren't getting the F1 races in HD on TSN-HD because RDS couldn't pass it through or never bothered to get the rights in HD. That may be all about to change. I sent an email to TSN asking about all this but never got a response.

I can't see any reason why Fox wouldn't broadcast their 4 races in HD if it was allready shot in HD.

I haven't been here in a while so I am catching up. I think all but 2 races are being captured in HD this year....What is your source for that info, because I don't believe it is true yet. I was hoping maybe the USGP might get the HD treatment, but I wouldn't count on it.

RDS or TSN doesn't produce the Canadian Grand Prix. Formula One Management does and they are renting equipment from Dome Production and Bell Canada using local crew.

As for I know, FOM is producing every race using all the same equipment (SD 16:9), except for races outside Europe and Asia.

TSN/RDS get their video feed from FOM using Telesat. TSN get their audio feed from ITV.
RDS use to get their feed from Radio-Canada.

I think our best chance of getting a F1 race in HD this year is the USGP, assuming it's produced by FOX/Speed. But that's just my speculation as there have been no announcements to that affect. Personally I doubt it. Maybe 2008 will have better news. Also, by this time next year, I'm hoping we'll have Speed HD on D*. Maybe we'll at least get the WS feeds.

The USGP is also produced by FOM.

The USGP is also produced by FOM.Are you sure? FOM does not produce all races (I think just the Europe races). Some are produced by the host. I'm pretty sure (but not positive) I've seen Speed TV cameras at the USGP every year. They definitely have a large presence at the track.

I did a major search on this a few weeks ago and found a very definitive source I have not been able to find again. But I will keep digging. Any one who wants to be skeptical until I find it again. I understand. I would be the same way.

http://theracingline.net/forum/showpost.php?p=7446&postcount=1
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/03/08/f1-set-for-hd-tv-coverage/

# Formula One Management will become the sole host broadcaster for all 17 Grands Prix for the first time in 2007. Coverage will be produced in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen and a High Definition feed will also be made available to broadcasters, although it's unclear as yet which countries, if any in 2007, this will be broadcast to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Formula_One_season#_note-Investment_in_MK_after_F1_TV_deal_is_secured

New Contracts
SISLink Sign Four Year Grand Prix Deal With ITV Sport

Fri, 2nd, Mar 2007,


SISLink has won the contract to supply ITV Sport with satellite facilities for its F1 coverage or the next four years.

The deal, beginning with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne this March, will see the satellite service provider responsible for uplink provision of 16 of the 17 worldwide events.

All satellite connectivity will be provided from each international location by SISLink. Also included within the contract is two-way broadband IP over satellite and 100% turnaround connection, handled in the UK via SISLink's London Teleport.

Supporting the extensive, high-profile coverage, will be a dedicated dual antenna HD truck which SISLink are building exclusively for the eight European events. The truck, which is designed for maximum resilience, is set to become one of the most complex and highly specified uplink trucks ever built. Every part of the truck will be fully redundant with uplink diversity to include separation of RF chains, power supplies and baseband connectivity. Additionally, the truck will comprise a complete UPS system to prevent any picture loss and deliver a totally reliable and robust solution.


This important sporting contract further strengthens the relationship between SISLink and ITV, which began with the award of the contract to provide 17 uPod systems across the UK for ITV Regional News in 2005. Since then SISLink has worked with the ITV group on many projects and major events, the latest being the coverage of the Super Bowl in Miami on February 4th

David Meynell, Managing Director, SISLink, explains "SISLink are delighted to have secured this significant and prestigious long term contract with ITV Sport which underlines our position at the cutting edge of broadcast provision. We will be supplying ITV Sport with the most advanced satellite uplink truck we have ever produced, using new technologies allowing us to offer an unrivalled level of service at extremely cost effective contract rates. Our relationship with ITV Sport is very important and will allow us to showcase our capabilities to the Industry as we continue to invest in new equipment and technologies in order to meet the demand for the provision of high-quality uplinks for major sporting events."

Europe's primary satellite service provider has proven its capabilities in the domain of major sporting events, including Champions League football, athletics and horse racing. SISLink is also currently halfway through a significant contract to supply complete coverage for the European PGA Golf Tour as it makes it way across the world.

With the largest independent fleet in the World, comprising over 100 uplink trucks, SISLink is in the process of increasing their already substantial capabilities for covering the most crucial sporting events. To cope with the demand for these and other high-quality broadcast events, the company is building additional HD trucks and upgrading their second teleport in Milton Keynes to provide even more extensive facilities.

"ITV Sport is delighted to be working with SISLink who have demonstrated their commitment to ITV by designing and building the new truck. The truck offers us increased resilience and flexibility whilst also offering HD capabilities, an ideal solution in a fast changing environment." Jon Pearce, Technical Producer - ITV Sport

Orders in the last few months for Grass Valley HD cameras have included those in the USA with National Mobile Television, New Century Productions, Lyon Video and Colorado Studios; in Europe, Alfacam, Euroscena, Formula 1, Outside Broadcast, the European Parliament, Videotime and Presteigne; and in the Middle-East Al Jazeera International.

http://www.broadcastbuyer.tv/publish/Thomson_136/Thomson_Continues_High-definition_Production_Leade_9270_9270.shtml

Well, if a HD feed is available, then I wonder why TSN-HD would be showing the SD widescreen instead of the HD feed?

It's not because the feed can support HD that the production is done in HD. It is produce in SD WS.

is done in HD. It is produce in SD WS.
PAL SD WS converted to ATSC HD would still look better than NTSC SD. I assume the reasons are that SpeedTV has no HD channel and that onsite interviews are done by SpeedTV itself supposedly using NTSC SD cameras. Also I wonder about the technical aspects, does FOM shoot the whole thing using only one set of cameras (like PAL SD WS) and then converts to other systems and aspect ratios, or they have several sets of synched cameras (at least two: PAL WS and NTSC) and perform no conversion. In the latter case delivering F1 in WS would involve additional conversion which FOM guys or SpeedTV guys may not be up to.

In any case HD or not, I got used to download BBC broadcasts lately, these broadcasts are WS and look pretty good even having only 288 or so lines, they also have very few ads (which is stripped anyways by the guys who make the vid available), so it is watchable from the beginning to the end.

Yesterday's SpeedTV broadcast had at least 15 advertising breaks (I stopped counting at 10th break), so it does not really matter to me if it were in HD, it still would suck. I would understand this much advertising if SpeedTV was a clear channel, but it is not, it is included into packages that we are paying for. Some cable operators have SpeedTV only included into its most expensive package. I am not going to pay for their advertising.

Hey Speed guys if you are reading this thread, I am going to unsubscribe from your crappy feed if you continue to shove that many ads into my throat.

The race itself was great!

PAL SD WS converted to ATSC HD would still look better than NTSC SD. I assume the reasons are that SpeedTV has no HD channel and that onsite interviews are done by SpeedTV itself supposedly using NTSC SD cameras. Also I wonder about the technical aspects, does FOM shoot the whole thing using only one set of cameras (like PAL SD WS) and then converts to other systems and aspect ratios, or they have several sets of synched cameras (at least two: PAL WS and NTSC) and perform no conversion. In the latter case delivering F1 in WS would involve additional conversion which FOM guys or SpeedTV guys may not be up to.

In any case HD or not, I got used to download BBC broadcasts lately, these broadcasts are WS and look pretty good even having only 288 or so lines, they also have very few ads (which is stripped anyways by the guys who make the vid available), so it is watchable from the beginning to the end.

Yesterday's SpeedTV broadcast had at least 15 advertising breaks (I stopped counting at 10th break), so it does not really matter to me if it were in HD, it still would suck. I would understand this much advertising if SpeedTV was a clear channel, but it is not, it is included into packages that we are paying for. Some cable operators have SpeedTV only included into its most expensive package. I am not going to pay for their advertising.

Hey Speed guys if you are reading this thread, I am going to unsubscribe from your crappy feed if you continue to shove that many ads into my throat.

The race itself was great!

They do not use PAL or NTSC. These refer to analog composite video. They use HD cameras running in SD mode. That still does not mean, that they can have HD feed. They can run output at 576/50Hz which suffers from blurring during fast motion as 50Hz can't capture mtion as well as 60Hz. When it comes to video 576/50Hz or 480/60Hz carry the same amount of information. SpeedTV cameras used in the broadcast would be the same format as FOM production, and then converted to desired output. Mixing up standards in production would create nightmares.

Well, if a HD feed is available, then I wonder why TSN-HD would be showing the SD widescreen instead of the HD feed?

They have been getting their feed from RDS who owns the rights to F1 in Canada. RDS does not have their HD facilities ready yet, so are probably unable to pass an HD feed through yet.

The TSN-HD Bahrain coverage was in a wide screen SD format. My guess is that it was a conversion of the WS format they have been using in Europe. On my 65" it was a bit of an improvement but I am still waiting for the real deal.

They have been getting their feed from RDS who owns the rights to F1 in Canada. RDS does not have their HD facilities ready yet, so are probably unable to pass an HD feed through yet.


You are wrong.

TSN/RDS get their video feed from FOM using Telesat Canada and Bell Canada. TSN get their audio feed from ITV.
RDS used to get their feed from Radio-Canada, because SRC have the facilities to receive it and it's just the other side of RDS's building.

RDS owns FRENCH rights to F1.
TSN owns ENGLISH rights to F1.
Both are own by CTVGlobemedia (80%) and ESPN (20%)

ITV doesn't broadcast in the F1 in HD, TF1 doesn't broadcast F1 in HD and NHK in Japan doesn't broadcast the F1 in HD.

TSN/RDS get their video feed from FOM using Telesat Canada and Bell Canada. TSN get their audio feed from ITV.
As for I know, FOM is producing every race using all the same equipment (SD 16:9), except for races outside Europe and Asia.
Do you have any thing to back this up?

The presence of a permanent FOM coverage team should also ensure the transition of Formula 1 to widescreen and high definition over the coming season.
http://theracingline.net/forum/showpost.php?p=7446&postcount=1

Do you have any thing to back this up?


http://theracingline.net/forum/showpost.php?p=7446&postcount=1


F1 is not in HD period. Only widescreen. Maybe next year. There is no true HD feed.

I work for Bell Canada, video transmission division.

More F1 HDTV News

F1 to offer High Definition TV coverage (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/58776)

Looks like things are ramping up for HDTV, although Bernie is playing it down at the same time. What a weasel.

F1 coming in HD later this year....

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/58776

F1 coming in HD later this year....

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/58776And DirecTV is supposed to offer the Speed Channel in HD later this year. Wonder if the two will actually come together for us?

I'm not slamming D*, but if I recall, I think that FOX backpeddled after D* announced that they would have SpeedTV-HD. Fox said that they still might have just a FOX Cable Network HD channels which would be a composite of programs from their Cable channels (FX, Fox Movie, SpeedTV, etc..). Kinda like how DiscHD is an outlet for all the Discovery Network, or Univerial has all the NBC Networks (SciFi, etc..).

Still, I know that SpeedTV-HD will one day be a reality.

Ecclestone - "The trouble with High Definition is that there are not many people who have got the equipment to receive it, so there is not much point"

I don't understand this reasoning. It would seem that F1 viewer demographics are more closely aligned with HD adoption than other programming that has already transitioned to HD.

Upmarket viewers with lots of disposable income are the most valuable demographic from an advertiser standpoint. That is the same demographic likely to already have HD or be favorably influenced by the availability of F1 in HD.

IOW it's not what % of the GENERAL TV viewer base have HD, but what % of the viewer base for F1 programming have HD. Also what is the advertising value of catering to that demographic segment.

Ecclestone - "The trouble with High Definition is that there are not many people who have got the equipment to receive it, so there is not much point"

I don't understand this reasoning. It would seem that F1 viewer demographics are more closely aligned with HD adoption than other programming that has already transitioned to HD.

Upmarket viewers with lots of disposable income are the most valuable demographic from an advertiser standpoint. That is the same demographic likely to already have HD or be favorably influenced by the availability of F1 in HD.

IOW it's not what % of the GENERAL TV viewer base have HD, but what % of the viewer base for F1 programming have HD. Also what is the advertising value of catering to that demographic segment.I'm sure he's talking mostly about Europe, which doesn't have the adoption/availability for HD that we do. The US HD audience for F1 is probably not that large either. So Bernie is probably not far off the mark in his belief that most of the F1 audience isn't prepared/able to receive HD.

Hello all,

Read my first post on the following thread here...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=855137

And what I am about to write makes sense.

The same FOX engineer who told me the information in that post also mentioned that FOX will not carry any F1 races in HD this year, period (meaning Speed). So, you'll have to wait until 2008 at the earliest to see any F1 in HD. Unless, of course, you travel to Canada, Australia, or Europe/Asia. Not that this is great news, as most talk has been "well, maybe". But now it's official: forget F1 HD in 2007 here in the US.

Watched 2007 Montreal GP yesterday on Fox. Sucked almost in any imaginable way, meaning it was FS/SD instead of WS/HD, had more ads than real action and the overlays were downright insulting, considering that advertised baseball and basketball games will be aired in HD. The comments were ok though.

I have downloaded all previous races from the net, they are WS/SD/PAL by BBC and look very even after compression to 288 lines. I wonder did BCC get FS feed from the last race in Montreal? It just does not make sense. Why not shoot it in WS like European/Asian races and upconvert to HD for american broadcast? Do they carry equipment from event to event or they install equipment locally?

The race itself was great. It is amazing that Kubica did not even break a leg after such a massive crash. Hamilton was pulling away like a pro, not a single mistake!

It was shot in WS as it was available in WS on TSN-HD. I wonder if Fox is playing down F1 because they are so tight with NASCAR. I can't think of any other reasonable reason not to just pass through the WS signal.

No Press Conference even though they clearly had 10 minutes to burn...so lame

I hate the American's treatment of F1

No Press Conference even though they clearly had 10 minutes to burn...so lame

I hate the American's treatment of F1
Oh I see because All Americans got together and decided they didn't want it in HD, Show the Press conference and show it in 4:3.

The fact is any TV company has to worry about stock holders which means you show whats important and not the rest.

The Advantage to Speed is all of it is the kind of things the channel was made to show and ratings above 500,000 would be considered a decent to good showing.

Fox has other things to worry about like the 200 million 4:3 TVs in a america and real ratings. Who would you rather burn, people who understand what 16:9 and 4:3 is and understands that not everything is in 16:9 or the millions of new viewers that will think that the picture looks really really small on their TV and turns the channel.

Fox has other things to worry about like the 200 million 4:3 TVs in a america and real ratings. Who would you rather burn, people who understand what 16:9 and 4:3 is and understands that not everything is in 16:9 or the millions of new viewers that will think that the picture looks really really small on their TV and turns the channel.Alright, I'm calling B.S. on that. HD and widescreen have been around long enough that if a widescreen source is available it should be shown, and there's really no good reason not to from a viewer standpoint.

If people are confused or upset by widescreen on their 4:3 screens then they've certainly had plenty of time to adjust mentally and live with it, or do something about it.

Alright, I'm calling B.S. on that. HD and widescreen have been around long enough that if a widescreen source is available it should be shown, and there's really no good reason not to from a viewer standpoint.

If people are confused or upset by widescreen on their 4:3 screens then they've certainly had plenty of time to adjust mentally and live with it, or do something about it.

And such audience would probably not care much about F1 in the first place. F1 is for people who appreciate technology and the cutting edge. People who just want bump and grind will just watch Monster Truck Mayhem or Nascar.

No Press Conference even though they clearly had 10 minutes to burn...so lame

I hate the American's treatment of F1

The local station in Australia didn't play it either and I hear that ITV in the UK did the same. It looks like there was a time and/or sourcing issue for the interviews.

BTW, as per the other thread, it was 16:9 here which looked fine upconverted to 1080i.

It looks like there was a time and/or sourcing issue for the interviews.
There were 4 safety car periods, which is unusual. I was beginning to think we are watching a NASCAR race, except that the debris on track was real and not imagined. :rolleyes:

There were 4 safety car periods, which is unusual. I was beginning to think we are watching a NASCAR race, except that the debris on track was real and not imagined. :rolleyes:

Tony....is that you????? ;)

BGL

Tony....is that you????? ;)

BGLDamn...busted.

Ok. Meet in the trailer at 6am to discuss.

Ok. Meet in the trailer at 6am to discuss.But shucks, I'm really hankerin' to make some right hand turns. Makin' 3 lefts to go right is gettin' old.

Do they carry equipment from event to event or they install equipment locally?

And now back to our original thread...

The Canadian GP was filmed w/HD cameras. My PC is dead but I have photographic evidence of this fact and will post it as soon as I've got a working motherboard.

The local station in Australia didn't play it either and I hear that ITV in the UK did the same. It looks like there was a time and/or sourcing issue for the interviews.

Based on the number of laps run behind the pace car, did they exceed the 2-hour TV window? I haven't watched the TV broadcast of the race and I was too tanked to ponder whether they passed the time limit while I was at the track.

Based on the number of laps run behind the pace car, did they exceed the 2-hour TV window? I haven't watched the TV broadcast of the race and I was too tanked to ponder whether they passed the time limit while I was at the track.

They did not exceed the allotted block of time for the whole race, but they probably ate into the block allowed for the race itself so that the post-race festivities and interviews could be accommodated completely within the overall time allotted. Though I am disappointed at shortened post-race coverage, I could understand why.

It was shot in WS as it was available in WS on TSN-HD. I wonder if Fox is playing down F1 because they are so tight with NASCAR. I can't think of any other reasonable reason not to just pass through the WS signal.
Keep thinking.

And now back to our original thread...

The Canadian GP was filmed w/HD cameras. My PC is dead but I have photographic evidence of this fact....
We'll see.

Did you know that many TV cameras these days use HD lens, regardless of their being HD or SD?

Did you know that many TV cameras these days use HD lens, regardless of their being HD or SD?
I've heard about HD TV antennas, you know these that are able to pick up digital radiowaves. I haven't heard about HD lenses. I've heard about anamorphic lenses though.

We'll see.

Did you know that many TV cameras these days use HD lens, regardless of their being HD or SD?

Nope. Any idea if this is or isn't?

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o107/colossus_27/F1camera-1.jpg

http://www.canon.com/bctv/products/digi86xs.html

http://www.canon.com/bctv/products/img_pro/digi86.jpg

Did anyone catch this news story that the Silverstone race with be broadcast in a group of UK Cinemas in HD?

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=31881

From the article:

The race will be shown in 30 multiplexes belonging to the Vue Cinemas chain in HD Quality and Dolby Digital 5:1 Surround Sound. There will be no commercial breaks.


Sounds interesting... I wish they'd pass that feed on to broadcasters. *sigh*

Argh!! I just returned from Vacation and found that my USGP on FOX was not protected, so my DVR bumped it for stupid Smallville re-runs and other nonsense shows. Damn Those 1am showings on my CW station! Stoopid me.

Argh!! I just returned from Vacation and found that my USGP on FOX was not protected, so my DVR bumped it for stupid Smallville re-runs and other nonsense shows. Damn Those 1am showings on my CW station! Stoopid me.F1 and ALMS get highest priority in my DVRs. We were there for the race, drove back and watched it on FOX...in widescreen! (nice surprise).

You can probably google for the ITV feed if you still want to see it.

Luckily my Father in Law had a new HD Set and a 622. So I was able to see it. It looked very odd and the Sony LCD was stretching things in a odd way. I later discovered that he had the output on the 622 set to 480p. I change it to 1080i and everything looked great after that.

But still, I wanted to have my own copy of the race. I have my feelings that the next two races will not be in widescreen and that the USGP was going to be the only one since it was domestic.

F1 and ALMS get highest priority in my DVRs. We were there for the race, drove back and watched it on FOX...in widescreen! (nice surprise).

You can probably google for the ITV feed if you still want to see it.

alt.binaries.f1 :D

I guess that the USA, normally as a leader in HDTV, will be behind Europe for Formula 1 in HD. Speed TV has no HD channel and they reported that they won`t go HD in the next future because there are just a few races in HD.

Many tv stations in Europe are able to pick up a HD Signal just in time, I mean ITV can and some more. They provide Widescreen for F1 races since 2007.


Doug

I guess that the USA, normally as a leader in HDTV, will be behind Europe for Formula 1 in HD. Speed TV has no HD channel and they reported that they won`t go HD in the next future because there are just a few races in HD.

Many tv stations in Europe are able to pick up a HD Signal just in time, I mean ITV can and some more. They provide Widescreen for F1 races since 2007.

DougDirecTV has already announced that Speed HD is being added this year. Where does your info come from stating Speed will not do HD in the near future.

I guess that the USA, normally as a leader in HDTV, will be behind Europe for Formula 1 in HD. Speed TV has no HD channel and they reported that they won`t go HD in the next future because there are just a few races in HD.

no races in HD? Speed is basically 95% NASCAR which is broadcast in almost nothing less than HD...they'll have plenty of HD content for SpeedHD

I think that there will be plenty of HD on Speed if Fox gets behind it like they did with FOX Sports on the Network

Didn`t they release a presser last year which says that? I have to re-check it. Well, that would be good news.

I guess end of the year means the last two three races in Asia. The FIA needs to be HD anytime soon, I mean HD in the USA is a standard right now and the european side (biggest market for F1) is growing so fast in HD.

Doug

Did anyone catch this news story that the Silverstone race with be broadcast in a group of UK Cinemas in HD?

Bernies greed is limitless. I have a feeling he is headed for another disaster here. If he is thinking that the future of F1 in HD is ether in theaters like WWF or PPV he is in for a nasty shock. HD is just expected these days. If it isn't in HD next year I just won't watch it period. With his plans to turn F1 into a spec series there could be no F1 at all in a couple of years.

I always chuckle when i see Speed Channel highlights on ESPN SportsCenter in HD, yet they only have an SD channel.

Just baffles me that all their NASCAR coverage (Truck Races, qualifying from all 3 series, practice from all 3 series, the all-star race, pre and post race coverage that is all doen in HD) plus the 16x9 F1 races and thats a majority of their content.

Do their studio shows with pillars if needed until they get new sets or upgrades, but Speed is one channel that could go HD just in seconds. Even if its just for their live/replay content

If he is thinking that the future of F1 in HD is ether in theaters like WWF or PPV he is in for a nasty shock.

It is only for the UK since there are 4 drivers from the area and one at the head of the pack. This isn't a normal thing for them to do and will be a one-off for the UK viewers only.

BTW, the French GP Qualifying was widescreen as always in Australia - how was the US coverage?

TSN-HD is up in 16:9 SD, pre-race was 4:3. PQ isn't all that great. The ESPN tennis is much better. Oh, well. It is nice to have the screen filled up with live F1!

...while Australia has to sit through over an hour of Big Brother trash in order to get -at least- a 90 minute delayed race. You would think that we would have it live at 10pm which would suit the networks. Why can't Australia get a dedicated station such as Speed TV!?

Its tape delayed, but 16x9 SD on Fox in the US. Just went to commercial, but the minute i saw looked pretty good. Will watch more as F1 is typically good racing.

Just back from commercial and the 16x9 upconvert to 720p on Fox is great. Top notch PQ for an SD production.

The on car shots are a little grainy, but everything else is great for SD

WNYW-DT NYC - FIOS NJ
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/1125/snapshot200707010002bp8.th.jpg (http://img521.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200707010002bp8.jpg)http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/31/snapshot200707010003jr5.th.jpg (http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200707010003jr5.jpg)
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/5451/snapshot200707010004cp6.th.jpg (http://img124.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200707010004cp6.jpg)http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/1588/snapshot200707010001fr8.th.jpg (http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot200707010001fr8.jpg)

WOW F1 and it's NOT in pastel-vision! This is definitely better than Speed's broadcast picture quality. I'm watching Fox WTTG-DT 5.1 off the air from Washington DC. The format is 16:9, 720P 5.1 surround. However it's not Highdef or even highdef lite. It's an improvement, a much appreciated improvement but I want the best PQ. Is this just a very clean upconvert from an SD downconvert of the origanl feed?

I just returned from the USGP where FOM covered the whole race in 1080i which is available all through the F1 camp on 16:9 format monitors, which I have seen. According to my anonymous source it is then down-converted due to bandwidth limitations on the satellite.

I also asked if any "bootleg" HD copies existed of the races, even DVD but nothing...something to do with instant death raining down from on-high......

Now back to the race.........

Here's a picture of one of the cameras covering the USGP. As for the current French grand prix....... it is on I think, all we have had for the last twenty minutes is <insert favorite expletive> adverts.......grrrrr.

WOW F1 and it's NOT in pastel-vision! This is definitely better than Speed's broadcast picture quality. I'm watching Fox WTTG-DT 5.1 off the air from Washington DC. The format is 16:9, 720P 5.1 surround. However it's not Highdef or even highdef lite. It's an improvement, a much appreciated improvement but I want the best PQ. Is this just a very clean upconvert from an SD downconvert of the origanl feed?

I just returned from the USGP where FOM covered the whole race in 1080i which is available all through the F1 camp on 16:9 format monitors, which I have seen. According to my anonymous source it is then down-converted due to bandwidth limitations on the satellite.

I also asked if any "bootleg" HD copies existed of the races, even DVD but nothing...something to do with instant death raining down from on-high......

Now back to the race.........

If you read this thread and others on F1, no races this year have been done in HD, just widescreen SD

bona-fide crystal clear HD, I think the in car cams may have been streched but they were still full screen correct aspect ratio. I have SD DirecTV but I watch HD OTA in stunning clarity and brightness on Sony 35" CRT. No mention of this ANYWHERE - just idly checked as I do each time its broadcast on the networks, and lo and behold - no - I wasn't dreaming.

Even the Speed Channel graphics, etc were full HD

bona-fide crystal clear HD, I think the in car cams may have been streched but they were still full screen correct aspect ratio. I have SD DirecTV but I watch HD OTA in stunning clarity and brightness on Sony 35" CRT. No mention of this ANYWHERE - just idly checked as I do each time its broadcast on the networks, and lo and behold - no - I wasn't dreaming.

Even the Speed Channel graphics, etc were full HDI watched the race FOX-HD OTA. It was upconverted 480 widescreen and definitely not HD. And if it had been, FOX and the Speed commentators would most likely have made a point of it.

I watched the race FOX-HD OTA. It was upconverted 480 widescreen and definitely not HD. And if it had been, FOX and the Speed commentators would most likely have made a point of it.

But the graphics overlays all looked like they were in HD. That said, I've seen some golf coverage on NBC that was advertised as HD but looked about the same as the French Grand Prix on Fox today. The pic quality improved when the Toyota commercials came on (real HD) so I do not think we were really seeing HD today. Still looked so much better than what i am used to on speed channel.

A top notch production by FOX/Speed, and a very good sign of what is to come on Speed HD. Even the season recap and Racing Per Matchett feature were in WS. They also squeezed in some on-the-grid time with Peter, which I assume was possible because the tape delay allowed them to edit out some parts (like the time between checkered flag and the podium).

Its 480p via digital component. On a screen less than 50" it would be tough to tell its not HD, very good production today.

Nice picture today on Fox, horrible racing. As usual for F1. This will be a short-lived experiment in the USA.

Nice picture today on Fox, horrible racing. As usual for F1. This will be a short-lived experiment in the USA.

I didn't think it was horrible, i'm an F1 novice, but I thought the tacing was good. I enjoyed the competition, pit strategy, having to use different tire compounds, same pit crews for different teams, much tougher on course passing, etc.

Accelerating to ~100mph in 6 secs, then down to ~15mph in 3 secs to go through a hairpin and stay on course is amazing

I think F1 is more entertaining than NASCAR, because of the interesting venues and the twisty turns. NASCAR consists of left turns only, and seems to go into cautions about every two laps.

NASCAR's cars sound cooler, because the F1 cars sound like a high pitch whine, instead of a growl like with NASCAR.

Those British announcers all sound like that British judge on DWTS, so that is a point against F1.

Wow that was a boring race...nice picture but boringggg

I didn't think it was horrible, i'm an F1 novice, but I thought the tacing was good. I enjoyed the competition, pit strategy, having to use different tire compounds, same pit crews for different teams, much tougher on course passing, etc.

Accelerating to ~100mph in 6 secs, then down to ~15mph in 3 secs to go through a hairpin and stay on course is amazingAgree about the cars - technically speaking, they are amazing. I mean, 600kg's (around 1300lbs.) of weight with the HP that they have results in the incredible acceleration and braking that you see. But when I say horrible racing, I mean that there is very little close-up racing between competitors. Yes, there are twists and turns and the fuel and tire strategies are interesting, but the head-to-head racing is almost non-existent. The position you get in qualifying determines in large part how you will finish.

So it's not a race, it's an exercise in watching a line of cars running around the track single-file for 70 laps, hoping that some car or crew will make a mistake costing enough time so that there might be (gasp) a position change. And the 'race' itself is too short - they finished in about an hour and a half yesterday.

What does an F1 ticket cost? I know a good NASCAR ticket is $100+.

What does an F1 ticket cost? I know a good NASCAR ticket is $100+.

Fortunately, the USGP general admission cost is only $60...Montreal is well over $100 USD and the other races are even more expensive...

What does an F1 ticket cost? I know a good NASCAR ticket is $100+.

I have great tickets (Paddock) for the Brickyard 400 and they are $85.00

Just what in the hell were you people watching? I guess you guys were sleeping when Alonso was trying to pass Heidfeld or Fisi? :)

Good race and FINALLY, the local Fox channel pulled its head out of its butt and broadcast the widescreen feed. Footage looked great.

RYNBERG Good retort! I suspect that the naysayers were only able to see the left hand turns :) I don't understand why people can't grasp that the F1 cars/drivers are on the limit the whole race and even the slightest gaff will cause disaster. To me that is much greater drama than "floor it and turn left" and hope for the best.

TPM

BTW, GA to the USGP is Fri-Sat, while GA to Montreal is Fri-Sun

Just what in the hell were you people watching? I guess you guys were sleeping when Alonso was trying to pass Heidfeld or Fisi? :)

Good race and FINALLY, the local Fox channel pulled its head out of its butt and broadcast the widescreen feed. Footage looked great.

OK so let me get this straight, you're getting excited about two attempted passes in a 70-lap race?

Whether they turn left or right or go straight shouldn't matter - what should matter is how competitive the racing is overall.

OK so let me get this straight, you're getting excited about two attempted passes in a 70-lap race?

Are you kidding? That great battle between Alonso and Heidfeld was awesome.

I also can't stand the amount of caution flags in NASCAR. If a pebble rolls out onto the track they bring out the caution flag. At least in a 90 mins F1 face there will be no cautions (mostly) but in a 4hr NASCAR race there will only be 2hrs of actual green flag racing.

Agreed - the number of cautions in the average Nascar race is ridiculous, and I agree with Tony Stewart's remarks before (which he had to take back) saying that some are thrown just to spiff up a boring race. You could also add TV timeouts to that. F1 is way better in that regard, and the main reason why the races are so short.

I think the cautions in NASCAR occur where drivers suddenly realize they're holding a steering wheel, and that it has function, so they get this urge to turn it. If they turn it left -- ever so slightly, not too much -- that's green flag racing. Otherwise, a caution occurs. :D

BTW, GA to the USGP is Fri-Sat, while GA to Montreal is Fri-Sun

Nope...the Season Pass for the USGP is Fri-Sunday...Fri-Saturday you can sit wherever you want while Sunday you must sit on the grass in the in-field...

Montreal doesn't have GA I don't think...and you don't get to sit wherever you want on Fri-Saturday...plus tickets are more expenisve

Are you kidding? That great battle between Alonso and Heidfeld was awesome.

I also can't stand the amount of caution flags in NASCAR. If a pebble rolls out onto the track they bring out the caution flag. At least in a 90 mins F1 face there will be no cautions (mostly) but in a 4hr NASCAR race there will only be 2hrs of actual green flag racing.

They also showed good battles between other drivers (of whose name i have not a clue) for points and poistion. Not a lot of passing, but very exciting.

That shot out of the Pits where one driver took his fuel hose with him was pure comedy.

Nope...the Season Pass for the USGP is Fri-Sunday...Fri-Saturday you can sit wherever you want while Sunday you must sit on the grass in the in-field...

Montreal doesn't have GA I don't think...and you don't get to sit wherever you want on Fri-Saturday...plus tickets are more expenisve

I forgot you can get a GA ticket for raceday (sun) at indy. We have seats, so I am used to getting the GA Fri-Sat only. Yes, montreal has GA on Sunday, there just isn't much room to stand and not very good spots at that.

TPM

I forgot you can get a GA ticket for raceday (sun) at indy. We have seats, so I am used to getting the GA Fri-Sat only. Yes, montreal has GA on Sunday, there just isn't much room to stand and not very good spots at that.

TPMWe have tickets in A Penthouse, but have been thinking about abandoning them next year in favor of GA tickets. We seem to enjoy the infield for practice/quali so are considering that for race day. OTOH, there's a rumor the track will be reversed and a chicane added at the end of the straight (what is now GP turn 13) -- to support what will be the MotoGP race. If that happens, our present tickets would have us sitting right around the brake point in to that chicane.

Of course, that all assumes Bernie's greed doesn't ruin it for us.

Run the chicane through the vendor area huh? That will be tough with the tunnel being there.

Run the chicane through the vendor area huh? That will be tough with the tunnel being there.Turn 11-12 is at the vendor area. Turn 13 is the Indy/NASCAR turn 1, and what's at that corner (Indy 1st Turn Terrace) can be re/moved for a chicane.

MotoGP cannot use the track as is. Too dangerous.

Watched French GP (did not finish it, too many ads), and British GP. The on-the-grid coverage with Peter was definitely in HD, good job Fox/Speed. Everything else was very watchable SD widescreen.

Countless ads kill me. Ad break after 3-4 laps, and every break is 3 laps long. Are you kidding?!? I turned off French GP in the mid-show, I could not take this torture anymore. I watched British GP till the end only because I started from lap 20 or something, and my wife wanted to watch too. Once I counted 7 laps without ads, this was bliss, I even got nervous thinking maybe something happened, maybe the guy who presses the we-will-return-after-these-messages button got a stroke or something. If he did, they found a replacement guy.

Racing Per Matchett is the second worst thing after countless adverts. No, actually it is worse than ads, because ads sell you something, while RPM only steals time, it has ZERO information, and it ruins the pace. RPM sucks!!! If you want to inform viewers about F1 tech, then do it before the race, and don't take viewers for brainless monkeys, give away real technical info not generic bla-bla.

Overlay ads taking one half of the screen is another source of anger. I don't care for baseball or football or basketball, at least at the moment. Just freaking show me the GP! I suppose some brainiac decided that since the show is in widescreen now, they can squeese more ads while letting people watching through the keyhole. Sort of PIP, but kind of PIP that cannot be turned off. Bright idea, folks.

I hope Speed broadcast will have less ads, otherwise I cancel my subscription, I had enough. By the way, Cox includes Speed in their most expensive package. Why should I watch it? Speed it useless. It is 4:3, it has ads despite that it is a premium channel, and it broadcasts crap like Pinks. Same with Discovery channel, it broacasts Mythbusters crap after they took down Top Gear.

I say, make Speed in HD, put back WRC, add something like BTTC/DTM, add Top Gear (or Fifth Gear if you are too chicken for Clarkson's sense of humor, and NO editing for American public please), add Japanese Best Motoring, maybe something else... Pull out stupid Pinks, this is MTV-grade show. And no ads! I will gladly pay 10-15 bucks a month for such a lineup. After all, HBO/Showtime are premium channels that cost $10-12 bucks each, why Speed HD cannot be a channel like this? I got tired from a hundred of useless channels in a $25 package, I want a la carte!

Nice picture today on Fox, horrible racing. As usual for F1. This will be a short-lived experiment in the USA.
There were no accidents? No fires? No one died? Boooring.

NASCAR's cars sound cooler, because the F1 cars sound like a high pitch whine, instead of a growl like with NASCAR.
NASCAR cars sound like tractors compared to F1. According to NASCAR rules, the engines should be pushrod V8. Toyota had to design an engine by 50-year old blueprints. I wonder whether Toyota ever produced V8 pushrod.

I don't get the affectation with pushrod engine burble. Mustang/Camaro sound like a truck. Harley sounds like a truck with muffler cut off, heck, most choppers have their mufflers cut off. Is this supposed to sound masculine? I got my own hormones, thank you.

I'm with you on every point Ungermann. Just not has jacked up as I sense you are. As far as too many commercials, I give the race a 30 minute head start then watch it delayed on my DVR. Can't get the lost laps back but can avoid the commercial BS.


but the head-to-head racing is almost non-existent. The position you get in qualifying determines in large part how you will finish.

So maybe they should set the grid up with the fastest guys starting from the back? Fun to watch but not too fair.

So it's not a race, it's an exercise in watching a line of cars running around the track single-file for 70 laps, hoping that some car or crew will make a mistake costing enough time so that there might be (gasp) a position change.

While I'll agree that it seems processional, it is very much a race. Yes, a slower driver pins a lot on the hope on the faster guy making a mistake. That's all he has because he's not faster and he can't count on numerous full course cautions to artificially close up the field to give repeated unfair advantage to slow guys. Every driver is very aware that someone is breathing down his neck and is racing his ass off trying to stretch the gap. As someone else said they are constantly on the very edge of disaster. The slightest bobble can erase seconds off the gap (not to mention get you crippled or killed). Don't be lulled into thinking they're just driving around and that it's not a race.

I love the overlaid ad that took up over 50% of racing...that was great...well done Fox

OK so let me get this straight, you're getting excited about two attempted passes in a 70-lap race?

Whether they turn left or right or go straight shouldn't matter - what should matter is how competitive the racing is overall.

Competitive? Do you mean on the track or artificially? Do you know that when NASCAR actually permits a race to run green-to-checker, the winning car typically leads by what, 34-40 seconds? There's a reason NASCAR doesn't allow it to happen often, and it ain't got diddly to do with "competitive" racing.

While this happens in F1, as often as not the gap between first and second is much closer. When you consider you've got nine, to as many as 11 different chassis constructors, and many different engines, it's downright amazing just how competitive F1 cars really are.

Considering NASCAR uses a 'spec car' that somehow gets morphed into Dodge/Chevy/Ford/Whatever by vinyl decals and a sponsor's decree, I think it's astonishing just how often the 'rules' are used to force artificial parity into a car formula that's about as diverse as IROC.

Racing Per Matchett is the second worst thing after countless adverts. No, actually it is worse than ads, because ads sell you something, while RPM only steals time, it has ZERO information, and it ruins the pace. RPM sucks!!! If you want to inform viewers about F1 tech, then do it before the race, and don't take viewers for brainless monkeys, give away real technical info not generic bla-bla.

Gotta differ- Steve Matchett is the best thing that's happened to US racing TV in years. Consider, we used to have Derek Daly and intellectual giants like Bobby Unser.

The tech-snippets are interesting- yeah, I'm an engineer- but I'd rather they were run before the race, or maybe during the gap between the podium and the press conference. Too much stuff is shown during the races.

Zero information? Please.

Overlay ads taking one half of the screen is another source of anger.

Agreed, this was downright infuriating.

Same with Discovery channel, it broacasts Mythbusters crap after they took down Top Gear.

Mythbusters has done a hell of a lot more for the US audience's understanding of science than Top Gear, or any other show, for that matter. Considering a typical American knows more about Paris Hilton than Newtonian mechanics, I think calling it crap is way off-base.

That aside, Top Gear oughta be on Speed anyway, along with WRC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6760617.stm

Well, that about takes care of F1 at Indy or anywhere else in the USA.

Brian

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6760617.stm

Well, that about takes care of F1 at Indy or anywhere else in the USA.

Brian

How many millions did IMS spend on that roadcourse? Looks to me like Tony George lost his rump on this one. Seeing him fail pleases me, though this time it's more Bernie's voracious greed than anything else.

Maybe George will invite ChampCar to run on the roadcourse.

How many millions did IMS spend on that roadcourse? Looks to me like Tony George lost his rump on this one. Seeing him fail pleases me, though this time it's more Bernie's voracious greed than anything else.

Maybe George will invite ChampCar to run on the roadcourse.Tony spent $60M. Yes, he lost on it.

I like ChampCar (going to Road America next month, but mostly for ALMS), but I doubt it would make money for Tony (not that he would ever think twice about it -- even the rumored reunification is a lost cause). It's on life support as it is. The MotoGP race has a better chance.

Good race and FINALLY, the local Fox channel pulled its head out of its butt and broadcast the widescreen feed. Footage looked great.
not sure what happened in SF, but the British GP was 4:3 again, after having the French in 16:9. BAH!! Damn you, KTVU!

"We didn't reach an agreement. Let's see if we miss America,"

ouch

not sure what happened in SF, but the British GP was 4:3 again, after having the French in 16:9. BAH!! Damn you, KTVU!

Yep, that was sure a disappointment.

I'm pretty disgusted there won't be a 2008 USGP...glad I went in 2006 but was planning on going again next year. Oh well.

I'm pretty disgusted there won't be a 2008 USGP...glad I went in 2006 but was planning on going again next year. Oh well.We've gone the last 5 years and are also really disappointed. But we also follow ALMS, so we plan to replace the USGP with another race. This year went to Sebring, and will be at Road America next month and Road Atlanta in October. Since USGP 2008 is out, we may go back to Sebring again (which we weren't planning on before the demise of USGP).

I will just go to Montreal instead. At least I will once the kids are big enough that I can actually escape for a weekend. :D

sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but this is the closest i could find to my concern. i'm finally about to make the transition to hd. the only worry i have is whether speed (f1, motogp, world superbike, etc) from dish network will be tolerable at on a 52" lcd. it presently looks good on our 13" tube. :) i'm hoping to take in my dish DVR to a local big screen shop and see for myself (if they'll let me hook it up), but hoped someone here could give their experience. thx.

sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but this is the closest i could find to my concern. i'm finally about to make the transition to hd. the only worry i have is whether speed (f1, motogp, world superbike, etc) from dish network will be tolerable at on a 52" lcd. it presently looks good on our 13" tube. :) i'm hoping to take in my dish DVR to a local big screen shop and see for myself (if they'll let me hook it up), but hoped someone here could give their experience. thx.

Don't sweat it! I've been watching F1 on Speed on a 60" SXRD for three yrs now and it still looks better than most analog channels.

I've been watching SD motorsports on a 61" DLP. It looks OK.

DirecTV will be adding Speed HD this fall. Next year F1 will be produced in HD. I'm hoping the two come together, but when it comes to Speed channel I make no assumptions about them doing anything sensible for road racing fans. Dumb reality shows and NASCRAP tend to take precedence over anything else.

The funny thing is that F1 on my Plasma looks about the best of any of the SD programs that I watch on it. Still SD on the big screen is tough on the eyes, especially DBS. I heard FiOS is very good with SD.

guys, many thanks for the feedback. i'm glad to hear it's acceptable screens >50". i didn't realize that speed hd was in the works; that's great news, but like you say, it's only the first step since i could care less if pinks or nazkar is hd. verizon/fios is supposed to be trenching our neighbhood this fall (northern virginia), i think, so maybe it'll be available by the time i'm ready to plunk down $$$$ to make the switch. thanks again.

With Speed HD now up on D*, any chance we are going to see Interlagos upconverted to HD from Widescreen SD this weekend?

With Speed HD now up on D*, any chance we are going to see Interlagos upconverted to HD from Widescreen SD this weekend?I was also wondering whether we would get the widescreen feed.

I read that Speed will do ALMS and Rolex GrandAm in HD next year.

So is Speed actually available in HD on D*?

This article from their site says not until Feb. '08.

http*//www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/autoindustry/40671/

(sorry about the "fake" link, I've been lurking for a while, but this is my first post)

I'm trying to decide whether to go with D* or Dish and according to the Dish CSR, Speed isn't even on their "coming soon" list.

So is Speed actually available in HD on D*?

This article from their site says not until Feb. '08.

http*//www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/autoindustry/40671/

(sorry about the "fake" link, I've been lurking for a while, but this is my first post)

I'm trying to decide whether to go with D* or Dish and according to the Dish CSR, Speed isn't even on their "coming soon" list.

D* has what will be the Speed HD feed coming into a channel, but everything has been SD with black pillars so far.

However, the HD feed with SD looks much better than the previous SD feed I had on Comcast

Speed HD is available on D*

However, you are correct that there will be no true HD feed until February.

As I understand it (according to posts on the Speed forums), they are still providing their regular feed to D* and D* is upconverting and distributing. Thats why there was no widescreen feed on the last GP - Speed still have no capability to do such things.

As you might expect though that actual picture quality is better since the HD version gets more bandwidth than the D* SD channel.

http://www.speedtv.com/_assets/library/img/medium/180932_speed_hd_logo.jpg

SPEED Goes High Definition
Written by: Erik Arneson
Charlotte, NC – 10/1/2007


SPEED will make its move to High Definition in 2008, beginning Feb. 7 with 100 hours of NASCAR on SPEED HD from Daytona Speedweeks.

“With the Gatorade Duel 150’s on SPEED, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, NASCAR RaceDay and all of the other programming SPEED will deliver surrounding the 50th Anniversary of the Daytona 500, this is one of our most visible times of the year for the network and the perfect time to launch our move to HD,” said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. “SPEED already offers some of the most action-filled programming on television and the move to HD in 2008 enhances all of it exponentially.”

Topping the 70-million U.S. household mark and coming off four consecutive years of ratings growth in 2007, the move to High Definition is the next step in the evolution of a network that has added more than 30 million homes since being fully acquired by Fox Cable Networks in 2001.

“SPEED is now one of the most important and popular of all the national cable sports networks, so it’s somewhat inevitable that we provide our many partners and their customers with this HD companion,” said Michael Biard, Senior Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Marketing for Fox Cable Networks.

In addition to its season-long, at-track coverage of NASCAR, with programs including NASCAR RaceDay, Trackside, NASCAR Victory Lane, Tradin’ Paint, NASCAR Live!, NASCAR Performance and Go or Go Home, SPEED also will explore opportunities to bring other racing series and special events to viewers in HD in 2008.

“Over the course of the 2008 season, SPEED will be transitioning all of its event programming to HD,” said Rick Miner, SPEED Senior VP of Production and Network Operations, who is shepherding the project. “We already are in discussions to design and commission the development of remote HD production facilities that will be in full use in 2008.”

In addition to its HD programming surrounding the 50th Anniversary of The Great American Race from Daytona, SPEED also will be ready to launch new seasons of its popular automotive and motorcycle lifestyle programming in HD, including PINKS, PINKS All Out and Super Bikes!

In a move that began earlier this summer, SPEED programming is now commissioned in true 16:9 HD.

In addition to the bold moves on the television side, SPEED’s interactive division will raise the bar as well, with a re-launch of a completely re-tooled SPEEDtv.com slated for early February. The new site will feature dramatic across the board improvements in depth and timeliness of motor sports news and information, delivered through a new wide-screen format that is optimized for easy navigation, interactivity with mobile and other applications, social networking and customization. Registered SPEED Insiders (www.speedtv.com/insider) will get a sneak peek at the new SPEEDtv.com in early in January.

SPEED is the nation's first and foremost cable television network dedicated to motor sports and the passion for everything automotive. From racing to restoration, motorcycles to movies, SPEED delivers quality programming from the track to the garage. Now available in more than 77 million homes in North America, SPEED is among the fastest-growing sports cable networks in the country, the home to NASCAR on SPEED and an industry leader in interactive TV, video on demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services.

© Copyright 2007 SPEED Channel. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/autoindustry/40671/

nice post. thx. now let's hope the int'l motorsport feeds will soon start arriving in HD also. i can't tolerate the domestic programming.

Too bad Speed and Fox aren't doing the Rolex 24 Hrs. in HD (unless they surprise us). I personally couldn't give a rat's arse about NASCRAP.

Me neither but it sounds like F1 HD this year! Very excited. HD Le Mans and all the Speed sponsored petit-cups would be very welcomed as well. Lots to look forward to in '08

Too bad Speed and Fox aren't doing the Rolex 24 Hrs. in HD (unless they surprise us). I personally couldn't give a rat's arse about NASCRAP.

Supposedly they are. We'll see.

2000 LEFT TURNS IN GLORIOUS HIGH DEFINITION

Can't wait!

Well, the Rolex 24hr uses the road course, so there are right turns involved here. Plus plenty of great Champ Car drivers (past, present, and should have beens).

Don't count on F1 in HD this year either. The races are filmed in HD, but Formula One Management (Bernie E.) does not release the HD feed for broadcast. Sooo, I'm sure Speed Channel would love to show it in HD, but unless a new arrangement has been made do not count on it. IF we're lucky we will get up-converted widescreen SD which is available in Europe...which would be a significant improvement over the regular SD. I'm not counting on that either though. :-( We'll see, but I'd be flabbergasted to see F1 in HD this year.

Don't count on F1 in HD this year either. The races are filmed in HD, but Formula One Management (Bernie E.) does not release the HD feed for broadcast. Sooo, I'm sure Speed Channel would love to show it in HD, but unless a new arrangement has been made do not count on it. IF we're lucky we will get up-converted widescreen SD which is available in Europe...which would be a significant improvement over the regular SD. I'm not counting on that either though. :-( We'll see, but I'd be flabbergasted to see F1 in HD this year.

Why would they film it in HD and not have it available to viewers in HD, seems very odd to me. Do they hog the HD feed for their own top secret masturbatory pleasure. I know F1 is pretty controlling but this seems pretty petty on their part if what you say is true. Unless Eccie boy wants a king's ransom for the feeds.

It has always mystified me as well as many others that a sport at the cutting edge of technology in every facet is so behind in their television presentation. F1 should have been one of the first HD sports presentations on TV but they continue to act like this. I just want the races in HD darn it. I would even pay on demand for the HD feed.

it wouldn't surprise me if bernie wants an extra zero on the check for the HD feed. i love f1, but i don't support extortion. :) hopefully motogp, sbk, btcc, etcc, dtm, australian supercar, etc will be more reasonable.

it wouldn't surprise me if bernie wants an extra zero on the check for the HD feed. i love f1, but i don't support extortion. :) hopefully motogp, sbk, btcc, etcc, dtm, australian supercar, etc will be more reasonable.

Probably exactly what it is, a shame if you ask me. In this day and age of High def to not have F1 presented in High Definition is surreal. If money is the issue then it makes you wonder when will HD coverage ever happen in that case.

Sorry off topic question. Is there any way to watch F1 and/or Speed F1 coverage over the Internet? I don't currently pay for cable/satellite and just have an antenna. One possible site for this (seef1.com) seems to be down. If not then I guess I will need to sign up for cable again and pay the fees just to see F1. Thanks. Will

any thing new on this front? My cable company does not have Speed in HD, so I am thinking about moving to D*. What is the story on the Speed HD? Any new word on F1 being broadcast in HD?

Bringing it back!

any thing new on this front? My cable company does not have Speed in HD, so I am thinking about moving to D*. What is the story on the Speed HD? Any new word on F1 being broadcast in HD?

Bringing it back!

Only a few providers have Speed in HD

Speed in HD (http://www.speedtv.com/article/get-speed-in-hd-today/)

• DirecTV
• Cablevision of Marion County
• Chesnee Communications, Inc.
• Foothills RTC
• Openband Multimedia, LLC
• Sjoberg’s Cable TV, Inc.
• Standard Tobacco dba Bracken Cablevision

Nothing official, but at worse I would expect the F1 races to be upconverted from 576i to 720p, just like the races on Fox last year. You'll get a decent 16x9 image and if F1 goes full HD, then I can't see Speed not picking it up.

Only a few providers have Speed in HD

Speed in HD (http://www.speedtv.com/article/get-speed-in-hd-today/)

• DirecTV
• Cablevision of Marion County
• Chesnee Communications, Inc.
• Foothills RTC
• Openband Multimedia, LLC
• Sjoberg’s Cable TV, Inc.
• Standard Tobacco dba Bracken Cablevision

Coming soon to RCN, too, according to this (http://www.rcn.com/pdf/chicago_lineups_2008-01-14.pdf).

Thinking I am switching to DTV.

Thinking I am switching to DTV.

Just so you know. DTV=Digital Television (OTA) D*= Directv E*=EchoStar (Dish Network)

Sorry for the confusion.

I have been checking the speedtv website daily waiting for them to post the schedule for the first F1 race this year March 14, 15, 16. Finally today they have filled in the schedule, and they (gasp) DO list the practice, qualifying, and race from Melbourne in HD! Woo Hoo! Now, I don't know if this will be an upconverted feed, or a genuine HD feed, or possibly even a mistake by whomever filled in their schedule, but it's looking like this could be the year we finally get F1 in Hi-Def. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

I hope so, of course. But..I will believe it when I see it.

Sort of like when NA open wheel racing becoming big again.

I have been checking the speedtv website daily waiting for them to post the schedule for the first F1 race this year March 14, 15, 16. Finally today they have filled in the schedule, and they (gasp) DO list the practice, qualifying, and race from Melbourne in HD! Woo Hoo! Now, I don't know if this will be an upconverted feed, or a genuine HD feed, or possibly even a mistake by whomever filled in their schedule, but it's looking like this could be the year we finally get F1 in Hi-Def. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Sweet! Now all I need is for Verizon to add SPEED HD :(

Sure would be nice if my apartment complex would upgrade their D* stuff for Mpeg-4 in the next month...

they (gasp) DO list the practice, qualifying, and race from Melbourne in HD!

I would say that it is a mistake. While it would be great to be wrong, the local broadcaster here in Australia has made no mention at all of it being in HD and they have been hyping high definition sports.

The advertising says "Nascar, AFL, Golf in HD" and only "also watch the Formula 1" with no HD tag which they deliberately don't have. If it is in HD, we in Aus would be advertising it like crazy, but it just isn't happening.

It could also be an upconverted feed, which would be a lot better than the 4:3 SD we've gotten to this point here in the states. Depends on what they are qualifying as "HD".

It could also be an upconverted feed, which would be a lot better than the 4:3 SD we've gotten to this point here in the states. Depends on what they are qualifying as "HD".

Fox showed 3 races last year in widescreen. Speed was only 4:3 as they had no HD channel.

take the bad with the good:

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/sebring-alms-in-hd-australian-grand-prix-opens-international-racing-seasons/

Fox showed 3 reaces last yyear in widescreen. Speed was only 4:3 as they had no HD channel.

The HD channel was up on D* for the Brazilian race, but it was still shown 4:3. Lets hope they do it right this year and at least give us the 16:9 feed.

The HD channel was up on D* for the Brazilian race, but it was still shown 4:3. Lets hope they do it right this year and at least give us the 16:9 feed.

It was just a place holder with upconverted SD.

The HD channel was up on D* for the Brazilian race, but it was still shown 4:3. Lets hope they do it right this year and at least give us the 16:9 feed.

I would look for it to be the same as last years races on Fox that were 576i upconverted to 720p.

It was just a place holder with upconverted SD.

That's right, they didn't actually got to HD until February this year.

That's right, they didn't actually got to HD until February this year.

January, started with Supercross

Sweet! Now all I need is for Verizon to add SPEED HD :(

Same for Comcast. :mad:

Sweet! Now all I need is for Verizon to add SPEED HD :(

Same for Comcast. :mad:

And Dish...

In the words of Jim Rome...Bang your Monkey!!!

http://www.speedtv.com/article/get-speed-in-hd-today/

That's right, they didn't actually got to HD until February this year.

OK January , but that was still after Brazil.

F1 is not done in HD only widescreen period. Info about this was posted all over the place. Just because they use HD capable truck it does not mean HD. They just use the truck in SD widescreen mode.

That's correct, but they are filming in 1080p50

Hopefully this year they will change the broadcast itself to 1080p also.

That's correct, but they are filming in 1080p50

Hopefully this year they will change the broadcast itself to 1080p also.

No they are not. If anything it is 1080i/50Hz in 50Hz countries and then they switch the truck to 60Hz in 60Hz countries. There are no HD trucks that do 1080p. While there are Sony 1500 cameras that are 1080p internally they output either 1080i or 720p.

I'm still confused on this whole matter. Speed TV does not exist as an "HD version" channel yet. Therefore, are we going to be able to see the F1 races in HD at all or is all the advertising about the races in "HD" a complete farce? Basically, is the race going to appear like a 480i channel and need to be upconverted by the TV as it has been in years past? Someone please give me the simple answer.

The 1st race is a week away :D and I want to make sure I am prepared.

Thank you.

I'm still confused on this whole matter. Speed TV does not exist as an "HD version" channel yet. Therefore, are we going to be able to see the F1 races in HD at all or is all the advertising about the races in "HD" a complete farce? Basically, is the race going to appear like a 480i channel and need to be upconverted by the TV as it has been in years past? Someone please give me the simple answer.

The 1st race is a week away and I want to make sure I am prepared.:D

Thank you.

Speed TV HD exists on D* on channel 607 since last year. They show a lot of Nascar in HD, but they also did auctions in SD widescreen and other stuff. The channel originates in 720p, so it is either true HD or upconverted SD.

I'm still confused on this whole matter. Speed TV does not exist as an "HD version" channel yet. Therefore, are we going to be able to see the F1 races in HD at all or is all the advertising about the races in "HD" a complete farce? Basically, is the race going to appear like a 480i channel and need to be upconverted by the TV as it has been in years past? Someone please give me the simple answer.

The 1st race is a week away :D and I want to make sure I am prepared.

Thank you.

As CKNA stated, there are systems with Speed HD available. D* being just one of those.

No one has been able to say with any real authority if the races will be in true HD, upconverted widescreen, or still 4:3 upconverted. We'll find out shortly.

Speedtv's guide has it listed as HD, but that may not be real. The consensus is that it will be upconverted 16:9.

No they are not. If anything it is 1080i/50Hz in 50Hz countries and then they switch the truck to 60Hz in 60Hz countries. There are no HD trucks that do 1080p. While there are Sony 1500 cameras that are 1080p internally they output either 1080i or 720p.

I actually spoke with the team at Montreal last year and they said they film in 1080p50. What they do in the trucks before it is broadcast is a different matter.

This year I will try and get a quick interview in MPEG with one of the team if I can.

They said they film in 1080p50 regardless of which country they're in, because 50Hz countries are still the biggest viewership.

I actually spoke with the team at Montreal last year and they said they film in 1080p50. What they do in the trucks before it is broadcast is a different matter.

This year I will try and get a quick interview in MPEG with one of the team if I can.

They said they film in 1080p50 regardless of which country they're in, because 50Hz countries are still the biggest viewership.

Well, they were wrong. They can't do 1080p50 or 60 as it does not exist outside of experimental. Obviously person that told you that has no clue. They need to switch between 50Hz or 60Hz as the picture would flicker horribly anywhere that there is discharge lighting, like the pits or post race conference.

Yep - the HDC1500 cameras being used work internally at 1080/50p or 60p - and output 1080/50i or 60i (or 720/50p or 60i) at the other end of the camera cable.

The only way of getting 1080/50p or 60p from them is to take the dual link HD-SDI output from the camera head (not practical in OB situations) or use a 3rd party fibre system - which nobody does yet.

Whoever said they were running in 1080/50p was misinformed. (And camera guys don't always know what is coming out the end of their cable - they often just frame the picture with the vision guys configuring the cameras...)

But only half as unwieldy as open-reel two-inch tape !!!!!!!!!!!

Yes kids, videotape didn't ALWAYS come in a handy plastic box that threaded itself...

Yep - and editing on ONE VT machine was possible with razor blades and the right kit that let you paint on die to "see" sync pulses. (ISTR that the last 2" razor edit in the Beeb was around 25 years ago on a football - aka soccer - match) The first edit I sat in was an Electra 2" electronic edit of a BBC drama shot on location as multicamera recorded to 2" The edit panel had Nixie tubes for the timecode display!

BBC News still had a PAL 2" Quad machine in their multi-format area until well into just a few years ago - the last one to be used in anger at TVC. (The 2" archive was transferred to D3 Digital Composite - itself now being transferred via TRANSFORM to uncompressed component digital 10 bit SD data files on LTO3 tape)

(The 2" archive was transferred to D3 Digital Composite - itself now being transferred via TRANSFORM to uncompressed component digital 10 bit SD data files on LTO3 tape)

8-bit actually. Apparently, the Transform decoder doesn't put anything useful in the 10th bit and the data in the 9th can easily be folded back into 8-bits. And you gain a 20% reduction in storage needs too ;)

Steven

8-bit actually. Apparently, the Transform decoder doesn't put anything useful in the 10th bit and the data in the 9th can easily be folded back into 8-bits. And you gain a 20% reduction in storage needs too ;)

Steven

Sorry - could have sworn I saw 10 bits quoted in the article on archive transfers.

Steven - you really do know everything!

Are the cams mounted on the cars shooting in HD as well?

Any chance of the Melbourne race being in HD? I get the BBC feed on TSN HD in Canada.

Are the cams mounted on the cars shooting in HD as well?

Any chance of the Melbourne race being in HD? I get the BBC feed on TSN HD in Canada.

The BBC haven't had F1 rights for quite a few years now. If you get Brits commentating it will be the ITV F1 team - who took over from the BBC. (*)

ITV are the main commercial terrestrial competitor in the UK for the non-commercial BBC.

(*) BBC Resources provide ITV with OB facilities in Europe - but that is a separate issue.

Are the cams mounted on the cars shooting in HD as well?

Any chance of the Melbourne race being in HD? I get the BBC feed on TSN HD in Canada.
Cams monted on cars are SD widescreen, not HD. HD wireless cameras are available and are used a lot in US, but they are still little too big for F1 cars due the size of the transmitter. They can use them in NASCAR where they put them inside the cars.

That's correct, but they are filming in 1080p50

Hopefully this year they will change the broadcast itself to 1080p also.

There are no 1080p broadcasts anywhere. 1080i and 720p is all there is.

There are no 1080p broadcasts anywhere. 1080i and 720p is all there is.

Yes I'm well aware of that - typo on my part.
I meant, go HD instead of SD.

Well, they were wrong. They can't do 1080p50 or 60 as it does not exist outside of experimental. Obviously person that told you that has no clue. They need to switch between 50Hz or 60Hz as the picture would flicker horribly anywhere that there is discharge lighting, like the pits or post race conference.

They don't switch between 50Hz and 60Hz at the camera-end though, because they don't suddenly stop broadcasting across the Earth depending on which region they're in.