WFAA in Dallas, TX just flipped the HD switch this morning on their news. They had a featured story showing their new production room and equipment that they are now using to make the switch to a 16:9 HD format.

I heard them say that WFAA will be the first in North Texas to broadcast in HDTV, but who would have been the first in Texas? Is it a Austin Stations?

North Texas Channel 8 in DFW Just aired its first news cast in HD! I just caught the end of it. They had a segment on the news about it. Ill watch it again at 6.

Nashville's WTVF-DT Newschannel 5 went HD for its newscast a couple of days early this evening, premiering the Friday 5 PM broadcast. I can't say that I blame them for doing a trial run to get the kinks out before the Super Bowl coming out show. The studio shots looked good with a gorgeous piano black desk. Remote shots were mostly 16:9 480i shots (including a helicopter shot) except for one 1080i shot outside their studio. Weather maps are in HD and look great. Most graphics for formatted for 16:9 and 4:3 (much like the networks do for sports broadcasts) with the exception of some "perp" slides. A very nice launch!

WFAA, Dallas ABC (Belo)
Belo Launches Hi-Def News in Dallas
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6413200.html?display=Breaking+News

KHOU, Houston CBS (Belo)
High-definition TV news makes local debut Sunday
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/4523207.html

WTVF, Nashville CBS (Landmark)
NewsChannel 5 Starts HDTV Broadcasts
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=6036704

WTVF's new HD news looked great last night. More of an impact than I expected.

-Reagan

I hope this is as good as any other place to post my question. Why do my local HD stations (Cleveland) have to switch to SD when scrolling weather bulletins across the screen?

It is because the local operation can't superimpose graphics over the HD network feed and keep it in HD - and instead have to take the SD feed (rather than a downconversion of the HD feed I would guess), super their SD graphics over that in the SD domain, and then upconvert this for the HD service.

It is a limitation of the graphics and/or vision mixer/network handling at the local station.

AIUI in many stations the HD set-up is minimal - just passing the network HD feed through with a simple hard cut to any local SD material (local commercials, news and locally replayed programming) upconverted to HD being broadcast on the HD digital feed.

KCRA 3 news In Sacramento is set to go HD sometime in February. Not sure about the date though.

KCRA 3 news In Sacramento is set to go HD sometime in February. Not sure about the date though.

Word on the street is that it might happen this week ...

That's what somebody said was supposed to happen last week.

That's what somebody said was supposed to happen last week.

Well, you know how this stuff goes -- people set goals, and then something unexpected causes a delay. I'm still hoping to see something this week, based on what my sources are telling me ...

So far nothing here in the Hartford DMA. I emailed each of the local stations in the area. WTNH (ABC) plans to be in "True HD" by 2009. WTIC (Fox) has no plans for HD news. WFSB (CBS) did not respond yet but they are building a new studio to be ready in fall-2007 which I assume will mean they will be ready for HD. They ran a couple of HD promos during the SuperBowl. WVIT (NBC) is NBC O&O so I assume they will be following the O&O movement towards HD sometime soon. Wish we would get something here. :/

There are reports (http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbc/nbc_news_moving_to_hd_other_notes_from_the_town_hall_meeting _52283.asp) Steve Capus, executive producer of "NBC Nightly News", announced in a recent internal meeting NBC Nightly News will go HD in March, with HD field cameras coming in 2008. This appears to have been confirmed by NBC itself (http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=578).

This marks the first time a major nightly American newscast will shift production to HD. As much network news content is provided by local affiliates, of which roughly 98% are still producing in SD, I think NBC will find it challenging to put together a complete HD presentation, so this could put increased pressure on NBC affiliates to upgrade their local newscasts to HD. As well, this could increase pressure on the other network news operations.

in NY, my NBC news is in HD. Gotta love it. Once some game shows and the news go HD, you know things are getting good

KCRA 3 news In Sacramento is set to go HD sometime in February. Not sure about the date though.

Latest word on this is now that they are shooting for this coming Monday (Feb 12) at 5pm ...

There are reports (http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbc/nbc_news_moving_to_hd_other_notes_from_the_town_hall_meeting _52283.asp) Steve Capus, executive producer of "NBC Nightly News", announced in a recent internal meeting NBC Nightly News will go HD in March, with HD field cameras coming in 2008. This appears to have been confirmed by NBC itself (http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=578).

This marks the first time a major nightly American newscast will shift production to HD. As much network news content is provided by local affiliates, of which roughly 98% are still producing in SD, I think NBC will find it challenging to put together a complete HD presentation, so this could put increased pressure on NBC affiliates to upgrade their local newscasts to HD. As well, this could increase pressure on the other network news operations.

Considering that just about everything else produced live in 30 Rock is in HD now, it's not a stretch to change the Brian Williams show to HD. The biggest problem is not the production of the show itself since they have plenty of experience now doing the Today Show for 3 hours a day, every day. The biggest problem will be handling the field content...virtually all of it will likely be 480i and hopefully that will be 16:9 when possible. But in far off places and war zones, that may not yet be possible. What would be nice to see is HD cameras in regional bureaus like L.A. or Washington DC which often are used for reports or talking head commentary. HD cams in regular field reporting locations like the White House or Pentagon would be nice if they could pull it off.

After that, the news division could turn their sights to Dateline. Since much of that show is shot with field cams days or weeks earlier and edited, you could do a lot of that show in HD. And finally there's Meet the Press. If memory serves me correctly, I think the set for that show was done for HD way back in the late '90s when the local DC NBC affiliate was doing HD testing. Ironically, the show itself has never been in HD. If it were updated to HD, I'm sure they would probably ditch the current "HD" set for another one. :)

Of course the biggest problem for all of this is cost. With GE desperate to cut costs across the board with NBC Universal, this could be the biggest challenge for doing all their news shows in HD. If equipment for some of the production of these shows was scheduled to be replaced and updated anyway, then the overall cost of the project would be less.

KCRA (Sacramento) is now running on-air promos stating that today's 5pm newscast will be in HD ...

in NY, my NBC news is in HD. Gotta love it. Once some game shows and the news go HD, you know things are getting good

Ch 7 (WABC) in NY also has news in HD, although I think WNBC looks better. WCBS and local FOX news is still SD.

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are already in HD.

KCRA (Sacramento) is now running on-air promos stating that today's 5pm newscast will be in HD ...

And it's official - KCRA in Sacramento is now broadcasting their news in HD. All looks good, from what I was able to watch.

And it's official - KCRA in Sacramento is now broadcasting their news in HD. All looks good, from what I was able to watch.

I posted some screenshots over in the Sacramento OTA thread for anyone interested:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9761414&&#post9761414

So has anyone heard of what's up with KGO news ?? They had several commercials about going HD and now nothing. I know they were redoing the studio but that's over with ( or so it seems ) and still no HD. So where's the beef..... er..... HD ??

Laters,
Mikef5

Yeah, early Feb. is creeping away. It's a lot of work though.. At least we knowHD is imminent

So has anyone heard of what's up with KGO news ?? They had several commercials about going HD and now nothing. I know they were redoing the studio but that's over with ( or so it seems ) and still no HD. So where's the beef..... er..... HD ??

Laters,
Mikef5
Frankly, I'm happy with just KTVU being HD. It's regarded as the top newscast in the bay area and it's already in HD. The rest going HD would be nice, but that fact alone would not get me to watch them. It would be nice if one of the remaining 3 did go HD though so we could get an 11pm HD newscast, I don't watch KTVU at 10pm.

Dallas ABC Affiliate WFAA-8 just announced their news in HD...haven't watched it yet.

http://www.wfaa.com/hdtv/

EDIT: I should have read the thread first, way late with this. Sorry!

Frankly, I'm happy with just KTVU being HD. It's regarded as the top newscast in the bay area and it's already in HD. The rest going HD would be nice, but that fact alone would not get me to watch them. It would be nice if one of the remaining 3 did go HD though so we could get an 11pm HD newscast, I don't watch KTVU at 10pm.
Don't get me wrong, I love KTVU's HD news, they really do the news the right way. Too bad Leslie left before we could see her in HD :p but that's a whole story in it's self and I'm shocked at why she left. I just want them all to be HD, but I was wondering what the hold up was with KGO since they had made those commercials saying the news was going HD along with View from the Bay.

Laters,
Mikef5

Ch 7 (WABC) in NY also has news in HD, although I think WNBC looks better. WCBS and local FOX news is still SD.

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are already in HD.


Fox is in SD, but the chopper shots are in HD.

What are the odds of a newscast moving to be letterboxed if it's HD?

Would the 4:3 viewers even care anymore? NBC does it to all their HD primetime and I haven't heard any demonstrations in the streets yet.

What are the odds of a newscast moving to be letterboxed if it's HD?
I don't believe any HD newscasts broadcast in letterbox on their SD channels. They should, though. Forget center cutting, all HD material should be letterboxed in SD.

KTLA (Channel 5) Tribune CW in Los Angeles has been HD for a couple of weeks. KABC has been all HD in news for some time now.

The word is KNBC will be coming "soon" with KCBS later in the year. No word on plans for KTTV Fox 11 or Fox-owned (MNTV) KCOP13. Presumably independent KCAL-9, owned by CBS, will convert to HD news when the mothership does. It has already begun broadcasting all Lakers games in HD and says it will do all 49 of its Dodgers games this season in HD, too.

KGO's blog says a soft launch is this weekend
http://newsdirectorblog.abc7news.com/2007/01/pardon_our_dust.html#comments

KGO's blog says a soft launch is this weekend
http://newsdirectorblog.abc7news.com/2007/01/pardon_our_dust.html#comments
Thanks for the info and the link, looks like there will be another news channel in the Bay Area in HD to compete with KTVU, now to get the other 2 to do the same ;) .

Laters,
Mikef5

in regards to Los Angeles news, KCAL and KCBS should convert their news to HD sometime in the Spring. Don't know when KNBC is going that direction. But it's possible that the addition of NBC Nightly News in HD in March could mean something real soon.

WFAA in Dallas, TX just flipped the HD switch this morning on their news. They had a featured story showing their new production room and equipment that they are now using to make the switch to a 16:9 HD format.

I watched this morning....all studio shots and all location shots were in HD, not too shabby.

One of the first? Sure, that's easy to say. The first? No.

KOMO-DT -full HDTV with some 16x9 SD
KING-DT - studio only HD

both in Seattle (totally spoiled here, you have no idea)
Actually, KOMO is not HD. They have HD studio cameras, but an SD switcher. Almost all video and graphics are shown 16x9 and most of it looks great. But, it's not HD.

From Don LaCombe, Operations Director at KOMO:

"Here’s what we do at KOMO 4. We create all of our elements in wide-screen digital, which is not HD, but is much better than traditional analog television. We upconvert and broadcast all of those elements in HD. The end product is such a stunning improvement that many of the manufacturers of pure HD equipment haven’t found a market for their HD products, yet, because HD is still relatively expensive. Our studio cameras are HD cameras, but our switcher is not, therefore we use the widescreen digital output of our cameras for News."

I don't believe any HD newscasts broadcast in letterbox on their SD channels. They should, though. Forget center cutting, all HD material should be letterboxed in SD.

Problem with that is what happens with 4:3 SD material upconverted. If you pillarbox this as 12P16 when you upconvert (which is the best solution for resolution/quality), and then letterbox the output, you end up with window box / postage stamp, which viewers absolutely hate, especially when you consider many 4:3 SD viewers are 4:3 SD viewers because they are watching on smaller sets, where postage stamping can be incredibly annoying.

If you upconvert 4:3 SD using 14P16 (as we do in the UK for News - though this is SD 4:3 to SD 16:9 conversion) or 16F16 then you end up with a major resolution loss - which will cause the SD material to look dreadful in HD.

Annoying as it is - there is a very valid argument for retaining 12F12 (i.e. 4:3 centre cut) conversion for SD outlets whilst SD 4:3 archive / agency / live shot material still needs to be upconverted.

Another argument is graphics. If you are designing your HD graphics to be legible in SD - then 12F12 conversion (i.e. centre cutting) ensures they stay as large as possible on SD outlets, whereas if you broadcast as 16L12 (i.e. 16:9 letterbox) on SD, your HD graphics need to be bigger in HD to be legible on SD...

(For 12F12 your 1080/720 lines are scaled to 480, for 16L12 your 1080/720 lines are scaled to just 360 lines. Therefore graphics need to be much bigger in HD if you 16L12 transfer)

Problem with that is what happens with 4:3 SD material upconverted. If you pillarbox this as 12P16 when you upconvert (which is the best solution for resolution/quality), and then letterbox the output, you end up with window box / postage stamp, which viewers absolutely hate, especially when you consider many 4:3 SD viewers are 4:3 SD viewers because they are watching on smaller sets, where postage stamping can be incredibly annoying.

If you upconvert 4:3 SD using 14P16 (as we do in the UK for News - though this is SD 4:3 to SD 16:9 conversion) or 16F16 then you end up with a major resolution loss - which will cause the SD material to look dreadful in HD.

Annoying as it is - there is a very valid argument for retaining 12F12 (i.e. 4:3 centre cut) conversion for SD outlets whilst SD 4:3 archive / agency / live shot material still needs to be upconverted.

Another argument is graphics. If you are designing your HD graphics to be legible in SD - then 12F12 conversion (i.e. centre cutting) ensures they stay as large as possible on SD outlets, whereas if you broadcast as 16L12 (i.e. 16:9 letterbox) on SD, your HD graphics need to be bigger in HD to be legible on SD...

(For 12F12 your 1080/720 lines are scaled to 480, for 16L12 your 1080/720 lines are scaled to just 360 lines. Therefore graphics need to be much bigger in HD if you 16L12 transfer)
On my local news, the only 4:3 programming are stories coming in from outside sources--CBS News, CNN, (and, for some reason, BBC) etc or the helicopter.
What about a crop? PBS does it on occasion when they air a story in HD or letterboxed SD that has 4:3 SD elements, and it actually doesn't look that bad, even on larger screens. Plus, it would only be for 1-2 minutes, or even less for just an aerial shot.
I was wondering about the graphics, but apparently it's not all that bad for what they've got. They showed the newscast about 75% letterboxed over the past few days (due to school closing information), and when I checked the SD channel, on a relatively small screen, the graphics were still pretty readable.

On my local news, the only 4:3 programming are stories coming in from outside sources--CBS News, CNN, (and, for some reason, BBC) etc or the helicopter.


Yep - I suspect the BBC stuff is fed 4:3 - because many broadcasters still expect SD=4:3. Interested to know how much BBC stuff gets onto CBS, as the BBC is partnered with ABC in the US. BSkyB (aka Sky News) is partnered with Fox and CBS AIUI, with ITV/ITN partnered with NBC. However I think most broadcasters have looser agreements with each other - though AIUI ABC have closer links with BBC correspondents. (ABC air BBC reports fronted by BBC reporters and attribute them to the BBC?)


What about a crop?


360 lines scaled to 1080 doesn't sound that great to me... Think I'd rather have the full 480?


PBS does it on occasion when they air a story in HD or letterboxed SD that has 4:3 SD elements, and it actually doesn't look that bad, even on larger screens. Plus, it would only be for 1-2 minutes, or even less for just an aerial shot.
I was wondering about the graphics, but apparently it's not all that bad for what they've got. They showed the newscast about 75% letterboxed over the past few days (due to school closing information), and when I checked the SD channel, on a relatively small screen, the graphics were still pretty readable.

Well physics is physics - if you take a 1080 line broadcast and scale it to 480 you have more resolution than if you scale it to 360 (i.e. letterbox). If you wish to take fuller advantage of the HD resolution and embrace smaller type faces then you need to use the full SD res for downconverts?

Here in LA, only KABC-DT broadcasts HD from one of their helicopters, the rest of the newscast is SD. CBS O&O stations are considering upgrading to Sony XDCAM HD equipment and may go HD soon; for LA, that would be KCBS-DT and KCAL-DT.
sorry, but you are incorrect.
KABC 7 in LA broadcasts their news program in HD.
It is not just the helicopter.

Sure, some other their footage may be SD, but their studio broadcast is in HD.

Also KCAL-9 reports to have 9-1 as an HD channel, although I cannot recieve it.

KABC HD is pretty funny.

Lately they have been advertising their Million Watt MegaDoppler HD Weather Radar.


This thing is ridiculous. It's not that hard to forecast the weather in LA -- I mean its 80 here today. But this thing has been wrong about the arrival, intensity and duration of every storm this season.

And the silly thing is not High Def. Every self promoting news Clip shows their HD Mega Weather Radar.... And we get an SD radar image behind a carrot colored meterologist (Raines) both of which appear to be guessing weather its going to rain or not.

They are pretty conscious about some of their SD feeds and footage. Cause they will do split screens or inserts a good portion of the time, so that the SD is not Blurry strecthed to fill the screen.

Dave B

Cleveland update - not yet, but a local media blog which has been right about this topic before says CBS affiliate WOIO/19 (and sister MyNetworkTV outlet WUAB/43) will convert their "19 Action News" to HD "by the end of February".

This definitely will make Cleveland the only four station market for local HDTV news, as the FOX, NBC and ABC affiliates are all doing HD news.

KGO SF/Bay Area news is broadcasting in HD now. I just noticed today's 5pm broadcast is in HD. Field reports are non-HD 16x9.

Boston seems to be the largest market where HD news is still a dream.

KABC HD is pretty funny.

Lately they have been advertising their Million Watt MegaDoppler HD Weather Radar.


This thing is ridiculous. It's not that hard to forecast the weather in LA -- I mean its 80 here today. But this thing has been wrong about the arrival, intensity and duration of every storm this season.

And the silly thing is not High Def. Every self promoting news Clip shows their HD Mega Weather Radar.... And we get an SD radar image behind a carrot colored meterologist (Raines) both of which appear to be guessing weather its going to rain or not.


WBAL has "HD Doppler", which they advertise frequently, but their newscast isn't even in HD!

They also stretch all of their SD programming, so maybe they think they are fooling someone. (Sadly, they probably are.)

WBAL has "HD Doppler", which they advertise frequently, but their newscast isn't even in HD!

They also stretch all of their SD programming, so maybe they think they are fooling someone. (Sadly, they probably are.)
WXYZ, which was the first (and so far only) station in Detroit to do HD newscasts still has 100% SD weather, and the vast majority of their field reports are 4:3 SD as well. I've only seen 16:9 SD for major events. It's kind of pathetic, but at least they took a step in the right direction.

WDIV stretches their newscasts, but doesn't stretch any regular programming. They actually advertise this as a good thing!

WXYZ, which was the first (and so far only) station in Detroit to do HD newscasts still has 100% SD weather, and the vast majority of their field reports are 4:3 SD as well. I've only seen 16:9 SD for major events. It's kind of pathetic, but at least they took a step in the right direction.

WDIV stretches their newscasts, but doesn't stretch any regular programming. They actually advertise this as a good thing!
WXYZ semi-regularly has one report from the field that is 16x9, it is just not limited to major events.

WXYZ semi-regularly has one report from the field that is 16x9, it is just not limited to major events.
I must miss it every time it happens, because I can only remember them using it for the World Series from Comerica Park.

I must miss it every time it happens, because I can only remember them using it for the World Series from Comerica Park.
I'm always surprised to see it when I do, but I saw them doing a field report from South Lyon in 16x9 during the school closing recently and for a report from the Lodge when it was shut down. I have seen it a few other time besides that and the World Series, but it does seem to be totally random when it gets used.

I know that HD remotes are still a big deal, but I'd at least like to see them use more 16:9 SD. It can't be much different than 4:3 SD. And there's no excuse for the weather, they just need to upgrade that stuff. It seems like most stations that do HD news also have HD weather.

Boston seems to be the largest market where HD news is still a dream.

Channel 5 will be doing the news in HD this Spring

Channel 5 will be doing the news in HD this Spring
WCVB 5 (ABC) is a Hearst-owned station, so that would make a lot of sense.
(BTW, what's up with WBZ's new logo? I thought CBS had their mandate, and now the station moves AWAY from the mandate?)

WCVB 5 (ABC) is a Hearst-owned station, so that would make a lot of sense.
(BTW, what's up with WBZ's new logo? I thought CBS had their mandate, and now the station moves AWAY from the mandate?)

As far as WBZ goes they are going back to the original logo's and dropping the CBS thing. I guess they figure they should go back to their roots seeing as they are really struggling these days.

As far as WBZ goes they are going back to the original logo's and dropping the CBS thing. I guess they figure they should go back to their roots seeing as they are really struggling these days.
I really don't get why stations try to localize branding so much. Why not align your newscast with (the) most successful network? Plus, it helps travelers out. If they're just browsing around in the hotel, trying to orient themselves, WUSA 9 or Local 13 doesn't really help, whereas NBC 4, ABC 7, FOX 5, The CW Washington, helps out alot more.
The stupidest naming I've seen yet is "9 News Now".

Spokane local news:
CBS - No, looks sad on HD set
NBC - Yes, KHQ broadcasts in 4:3 in at least 480p. My favorite.
ABC - No. Sadly KXLY pioneered their HD channel in Spokane several years ago but their local news cast is a horrible stretched "pretend" HD. Not sure why they do that.
FOX - No.

I really don't get why stations try to localize branding so much. Why not align your newscast with (the) most successful network? Plus, it helps travelers out. If they're just browsing around in the hotel, trying to orient themselves, WUSA 9 or Local 13 doesn't really help, whereas NBC 4, ABC 7, FOX 5, The CW Washington, helps out alot more.
The stupidest naming I've seen yet is "9 News Now".

Certainly you must be joking.

The TV stations couldn't give a fly f... about travelers.

They dont count in the local ratings and have no relevance.

Why not align your newscast with the most successful network? Because as we have seen in the last 10 years the networks have all risen and fallen.

The successful local news operations just keep chugging along.

Your posts is far more stupid than the name 9 News Now.

As far as WBZ goes they are going back to the original logo's and dropping the CBS thing. I guess they figure they should go back to their roots seeing as they are really struggling these days.
Actually it's not WBZ's original logo. If it really wanted to go back to the day's when it's news operation was #1, WBZ should use the old Group W stylized "4" logo. The new "WBZ" logo looks rather plain and amateurish looking. The best logo in Boston now I think is the WHDH "circle 7". The 2 worst are the "WBZ" and sister station "38" logos.

WFTV (ABC - 9) covering central Florida (Orlando) is showing in HD. And about half of the field reporters are shown in HD.

We have 3 stations in HD. NBC, Fox, and now ABC - and this is Cleveland, Ohio. I believe ABC joined the fold last week.

Actually it's not WBZ's original logo. If it really wanted to go back to the day's when it's news operation was #1, WBZ should use the old Group W stylized "4" logo. The new "WBZ" logo looks rather plain and amateurish looking. The best logo in Boston now I think is the WHDH "circle 7". The 2 worst are the "WBZ" and sister station "38" logos.

I would agree with that. I still want Fox 25 togo HD so I can see Maria even better every night.

I noticed KCBS/KCAL purchased music updates from a vendor for the launch of their HD newscast

Not local HD news--but I can't find the thread

NBC Nightly News was supposed to go HD "in March"
....not that I'm expecting it tonight, but do they have a date yet?

Not local HD news--but I can't find the thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798701&highlight=nightly

Not local HD news--but I can't find the thread

NBC Nightly News was supposed to go HD "in March"
....not that I'm expecting it tonight, but do they have a date yet?
No date's been announced. But, I've seen several reports indicating it's the second half of the month.

I know that HD remotes are still a big deal, but I'd at least like to see them use more 16:9 SD.

If the field cameras/camcorders are SD 4:3/16:9 switchable models then - you just switch them to 16:9. If they are 4:3 only - you stay 4:3. Ideally you need a digital component SNG or digital microwave link backhauling live material (and to take the SDI output from the camera) to fully benefit - as composite 16:9 looks far from great - especially poor quality microwave composite circuits. (It looks bad in SD 16:9 - it must look awful in HD)

It all depends on when the station last upgraded their field cameras, and how much they spent.

If they are still shooting on Beta SP - then they'll be 4:3 cameras almost certainly. If they are shooting DVCPro/DVCam/Beta SX/XD Cam/P2 etc. AND they bought high-ish end models - then they may be aspect ratio switchable in SD.

(In the UK the BBC, ITN and Sky started to move mainly to DVCPro/DVCam in the late-90s - from around 1997 - in England for network and regional/local acquisition and live reporting, with some Beta SX in the BBC Nations. They bought DSR500s/DSR570s/LDK1x0s+DVCPro devices - all of which were switchable - as the BBC was already broadcasting a news channel in 16:9, and it was clear 16:9 SD - not HD - was going to happen ASAP - and it did. Cheaper DVCam/DVCPro/BetaSX models weren't switchable and were 4:3 only - some operations bought them, but have since had to retire them...)

Of course the latest HDV Camcorders - like the Z1 and similar - are also candidates for shooting SD 16:9 on a budget...

8 News San Diego went HD. Who cares, still nothing worth attention. By the way, their graphics for wheather news is horrible, overcompressed MPEG with visible artefacts. I don't know how have they managed to screw these still images up so badly.

KYW 3 (CBS O & O) in Philly is going HD on April 2. Expecting WCAU (NBC O & O) to go HD 3/26 when NBC Nightly News goes HD. That would cover all news in Philly in HD.

Still "0" HD local news in the nations 7th largest market-Boston. But there are indications that WCVB may be going soon.

KYW 3 (CBS O & O) in Philly is going HD on April 2. Expecting WCAU (NBC O & O) to go HD 3/26 when NBC Nightly News goes HD. That would cover all news in Philly in HD.
Really?

WTXF-FOX-HD
WPVI-ABC-HD
WCAU-NBC-Apparently 3/26
WPHL-MyNet-Covered by WCAU
KYW-CBS-Going HD 4/2
WPSG-CW-Covered by KYW

OMG You're right!
Congratulations Philadelphia. You not only have all your affiliates in HD, you have all 6 networks doing HD news.

I've been tracking that one for a while, and while a bunch of reports say they are, it may not be true.

I posed this question a couple months back and got this answer:

"They had HD cams, and the equipment to broadcast HD, but they were still using the old intro, and graphics all for 4:3 SD. All field shots were still 4:3 SD.

However, about 2 weeks ago they revealed a totally new news studio, have more HD graphics, new theme music, and changed the logo. HD bug remains the same. I don't really watch the 10:00 news, but I think the field reports are still 4:3."

Any insight? For me, the question is whether the studio is in HD - the switcher, routers, studio cams, graphic equipment etc.?

Really?

WTXF-FOX-HD
WPVI-ABC-HD
WCAU-NBC-Apparently 3/26
WPHL-MyNet-Covered by WCAU
KYW-CBS-Going HD 4/2
WPSG-CW-Covered by KYW

OMG You're right!
Congratulations Philadelphia. You not only have all your affiliates in HD, you have all 6 networks doing HD news.

Lucky you, our cheap as hell locals here in NYC still haven't all gone HD. Only
WABC - HD (frankly only the studio is hd, everything else is winged)
WNBC - HD (much better in this department)

I have no idea why WCBS, WNYW(Fox), CW11, MY9 are not hd and don't think they ever will. But congrats to WCBS they finally added an HD Chopper and we haven't heard the end of it. Whoopty-do to them.

This is the only thing that will make me watch the local news, seeing it in HD, till the novelty wears off. So outside of ABC and NBC local I never watch the news on the others till they go HD.

Lucky you, our cheap as hell locals here in NYC still haven't all gone HD. Only
WABC - HD (frankly only the studio is hd, everything else is winged)
WNBC - HD (much better in this department)

I have no idea why WCBS, WNYW(Fox), CW11, MY9 are not hd and don't think they ever will. But congrats to WCBS they finally added an HD Chopper and we haven't heard the end of it. Whoopty-do to them.

This is the only thing that will make me watch the local news, seeing it in HD, till the novelty wears off. So outside of ABC and NBC local I never watch the news on the others till they go HD.
Some affiliates aren't necessarily cheap, they're just cheap on technology. Our ABC affiliate (soon to become the largest without HD news) maintains a media empire with ABC7, a 24/7 cable news station, and now The Politico, but can't seem to find the cash to get Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy in HD or replace their graphics that (at least look like they) are from 1997.

Still, I find it hard to believe that the network FLAGSHIPS haven't made the upgrade yet. I know CBS Corp was upgrading its affiliates, so WCBS should come soon. Tribune upgraded KTLA a while ago, so CW11 should be next.
My9 has enough issues to deal with. :p

KYW 3 (CBS O & O) in Philly is going HD on April 2. Expecting WCAU (NBC O & O) to go HD 3/26 when NBC Nightly News goes HD. That would cover all news in Philly in HD.

Unfortunately, WCAU isn't going HD for local news anytime soon and the CW won't be doing their morning news in HD, either.

Lucky you, our cheap as hell locals here in NYC still haven't all gone HD. Only
WABC - HD (frankly only the studio is hd, everything else is winged)
WNBC - HD (much better in this department)

I have no idea why WCBS, WNYW(Fox), CW11, MY9 are not hd and don't think they ever will. But congrats to WCBS they finally added an HD Chopper and we haven't heard the end of it. Whoopty-do to them.

This is the only thing that will make me watch the local news, seeing it in HD, till the novelty wears off. So outside of ABC and NBC local I never watch the news on the others till they go HD.

FYI WNBC's studio is HD, field material and live shots are stretched 480p ... as no newsgathering microwave frequency as of now and the forseeable future can handle an HD signal. WNBC is in the process of testing various camera systems - right now the field cams are Sony disc-based cameras that shoot stretched 480p only .... if they purchase the system it'll be 1080i.

Unfortunately, WCAU isn't going HD for local news anytime soon and the CW won't be doing their morning news in HD, either.
WCAU is an NBC owned & operated (O&O) station. NBC announced last fall around the time when WNBC in NYC went HD on the local news that they will be upgrading the local news at all their O&O stations to HD over the next several years. But I don't see anything on the Philadelphia local threads about WCAU local news going HD next week.

We have 3 stations in HD. NBC, Fox, and now ABC - and this is Cleveland, Ohio. I believe ABC joined the fold last week.

Yeah, I've mentioned this a few times on this very thread :)

And get ready...at some point, some day, whenever all the stars come together, the CBS affiliate will be HD.

If they flip, everyone will be in HD in this market...and since the CBS affiliate owns the MyNetworkTV/ex-UPN outlet, that 10 PM show would be in HD, too.

Oh, and while I'm here:

FOX O&O WJW/8 Cleveland, the first station in this market to go HD with news, has now debuted the market's first HD-equipped helicopter - "SkyFOX HD". (Yes, that's the standard FOX O&O branding, used on the company's NYC flagship WNYW/5.)

In Los Angeles: KCBS, KCAL Join HD-News Club
All CBS O&Os to have HD News In Next Year
By Michael Malone Broadcasting & Cable 3/26/2007

Two CBS-owned stations in Los Angeles are in the final stages of a move to a new state-of-the-art digital broadcast center, joining the growing legion of broadcasters doing high-definition news. KCBS executives have relocated their offices to the CBS Studio Center lot in Studio City, around eight miles to the northwest of the current site on Sunset Boulevard. The news anchors and teams have already begun rehearsals, and everyone's shooting for an April 21 start date for high-definition news at KCBS and sister station KCAL.

The new site is a massive 140,000- square-foot structure, featuring the Jerry Dunphy Newsroom (named for the legendary Los Angeles anchor), and a pair of 5,000-square-foot sound stages for KCBS and KCAL, a CBS-owned independent station. The lot is rich in television history; KCBS executives say vintage programs Gunsmoke and Leave It to Beaver—and, more recently, CSI: New York and Big Brother—were shot there.

Planning for the move has been in the works since the KCBS/KCAL duopoly was formed almost five years ago. The hardest part, say its chief planners, is maintaining the stations' combined 11½- hour daily news output while worrying about getting phones hooked up and finding those missing files.

“It's a new environment, new systems, new technology, but there's no time to regroup,” says Patrick McClenahan, KCBS/KCAL's senior VP/station manager. “You get everyone trained, and you hit the ground running.”

Fortunately for CBS, McClenahan and KCBS/KCAL President/General Manager Don Corsini are old hands at moving station operations. McClenahan helped build the Prime Ticket (now Fox Sports Net West) facility years ago in Century City, Calif., and Corsini oversaw KCAL's move into the current KCBS headquarters four years ago.

But neither compares in scope and scale with the present undertaking. “[The new site's] size will blow you away,” says CBS Television Stations President/CEO Tom Kane. (CBS executives won't reveal what the facility cost.)

KCBS will become the third station in the Los Angeles market to offer hi-def news; KABC launched it in conjunction with the Super Bowl in 2006, and KTLA recently added some HD newscasts. More than three dozen stations offer HD news nationwide, including Fox O&Os in Cleveland and Philadelphia; ABC-owned stations in New York, San Francisco and Chicago; and NBC flagship WNBC New York. Among the national news programs, ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today air in hi-def, and NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams went HD this week (B&C, 3/19, p. 18).

While high-definition television is a logical enhancer to primetime programs and sports (KCAL introduced hi-def Lakers basketball last month), CBS executives say the audience is coming around to watching the local news in HD, too. “The demand is what I call eventual,” says Kane. “It's utility viewing, as opposed to event viewing. But if you watch a newscast in HD, you say, 'This is a better viewing experience.'”

CBS considers hi-def news a good fit for Los Angeles, with the market's high penetration of HD televisions. And offering the whole newscast in HD, including field reports and graphics, is a way to keep pace with KABC, which has been winning the Los Angeles news wars. “Eyewitness News [KABC] did it first,” Corsini says, “so from a competitive standpoint, moving to the hi-def world is the natural thing to do.”

All of CBS' 17 stations are at some stage of shifting to hi-def news. KYW Philadelphia is also moving into a new facility—a 120,000-square-foot, fully HD building in the heart of the city—and will kick off hi-def news to coincide with the Phillies' home opener April 2. “It's been an awful lot of long days and nights, but we're ready,” says President/General Manager Michael Colleran.

WCBS New York rolls out HD news next month, and stations in San Francisco and Miami, among others, are also slated to make the leap in the near future. Says Kane, “Over the next year or so, all of CBS' [O&Os] will do HD news.”

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6427588

O&O?
Owned and Operated.

Thanks, I just figured it out and deleted the msg...

KABC -CH 7.1/53.1 Los Angeles

From Wikipedia:

On February 4, 2006 the station debuted upgraded HD studio cameras, switcher, a new news set, updated graphics and new theme music. Along with the in-house upgrades, several of the station's weather cameras have now also been upgraded to HD. The station's HD studio signal is down-converted for SD broadcast. In addition to KABC, KTLA also broadcasts its local news in High Definition, and also has an HD capable helicopter. KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV will also begin broadcasting in HD in the Spring of 2007.


Newscasts


Weekdays

* Eyewitness News HD This Morning - 5:00 - 7:00 a.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 11 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
* Eyewitness News HD @ 4 p.m. - 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 5 p.m. - 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 6 p.m. - 6:00 - 6:30 p.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 11 p.m. - 11:00 - 11:35 p.m.

Saturdays

* Eyewitness News HD This Morning - 5:00 - 7:00 a.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ Noon - 12:00 - 12:30 p.m. (occasionally pre-empted by ABC Sports programming)
* Eyewitness News HD @ 4:30PM - 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 6 p.m. - 6:00 - 6:30 p.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 11 p.m. - 11:00 - 11:35 p.m.


Sundays

* Eyewitness News HD This Morning - 5:00 - 6:00 a.m.
* Eyewitness News HD This Morning - 7:00 - 8:00 a.m.
* Eyewitness News HD This Morning - 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
* Eyewitness Newsmakers - 11:00 - 11:30 a.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 4:30 p.m. - 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 6 p.m. - 6:00 - 6:30 p.m.
* Eyewitness News HD @ 11 p.m. - 11:00 - 11:35 p.m.


We here in LA like HD
:p

In Los Angeles: KCBS, KCAL Join HD-News Club
All CBS O&Os to have HD News In Next Year
By Michael Malone Broadcasting & Cable 3/26/2007

Two CBS-owned stations in Los Angeles are in the final stages of a move to a new state-of-the-art digital broadcast center, joining the growing legion of broadcasters doing high-definition news. KCBS executives have relocated their offices to the CBS Studio Center lot in Studio City, around eight miles to the northwest of the current site on Sunset Boulevard. The news anchors and teams have already begun rehearsals, and everyone's shooting for an April 21 start date for high-definition news at KCBS and sister station KCAL.

Any idea where they built on the lot?

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2427/map20021e38ba2cmc4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

There is a brand new Office Building w/ Studios in the area Bungalows 23-27 used to be.

WFTV (ABC - 9) covering central Florida (Orlando) is showing in HD. And about half of the field reporters are shown in HD.
Looks pretty good too. When I watch local news, which isn't too often b/c I hate local newscast, I only watch WFTV because of the HD.

I forget which channel but, there is one here in Orlando that claims they broadcast in "digital widescreen" but it is only stretched SD. It's pathetic and the station is pathetic for trying to pass it off as widescreen.

I forget which channel but, there is one here in Orlando that claims they broadcast in "digital widescreen" but it is only stretched SD. It's pathetic and the station is pathetic for trying to pass it off as widescreen.
WDIV in Detroit does the same thing. It is pathetic, but the word is that they'll be doing real HD pretty soon.

Looks pretty good too. When I watch local news, which isn't too often b/c I hate local newscast, I only watch WFTV because of the HD.

I forget which channel but, there is one here in Orlando that claims they broadcast in "digital widescreen" but it is only stretched SD. It's pathetic and the station is pathetic for trying to pass it off as widescreen.
Let me guess it is WKMG Local 6 that stretches their newscast. They are also a Post-Newsweek station like WDIV in Detroit that does the same thing.

There is a brand new Office Building w/ Studios in the area Bungalows 23-27 used to be.

why would they build the KCBS News Studios surrounding the Big Brother House :confused:

no

Some affiliates aren't necessarily cheap, they're just cheap on technology. Our ABC affiliate (soon to become the largest without HD news) maintains a media empire with ABC7, a 24/7 cable news station, and now The Politico, but can't seem to find the cash to get Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy in HD or replace their graphics that (at least look like they) are from 1997.But there's one thing they do have: local news ratings. Indeed, they're quickly rising toward the top of the ratings, even though it may be the next decade before they're in HD, not to mention that that they may be alone in SD-land after the end of this year (with two other stations rumored to go HD soon).

In DC, here has been a local station, WUSA, which has been HD with their news for almost two years. The studio pictures look pretty good, and the graphics are impressive. Their ratings are still in the toilet.

I can understand why WUSA built their HD studios. At the time, it was early in the HD news age, and there was little to no data on whether or not HD helped ratings. But now the data is in through many markets, and no, HD doesn't help enough in the ratings, especially for the multi-million dollar cost of upgrading existing studios vs. keeping the current HD infrastructure for little to no cost. There's no money in upgrading, and face it, these news operations are businesses before anything else.

At this time, journalistic quality is still the one thing that determines ratings, apparently. This will probably change over time, but for now, it is what it is.

The key with WJLA is that they spend their money not on fancy new equipment for their HD channel (indeed, their SD upscaler is terrible), but news anchors. They have the the best news team in the area. I personally find them the best in DC. They spent money to create two subchannels, one that's arguably the best local weather channel in town, the other a local interest channel (http://www.localpointtv.com).

HD is a beautiful gimmick, and currently not worth the cost of upgrading existing studios.

With KYW and KCBS, they were building brand new studios at completely new locations, and the cost of building each for HD isn't too much more than SD by now. As the time will come where HD is the norm in local news, they might as well equip the studios for it now vs. later + at further cost. I applaud them for making the right business decision.

See this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=824213)

But there's one thing they do have: local news ratings. Indeed, they're quickly rising toward the top of the ratings, even though it may be the next decade before they're in HD, not to mention that that they may be alone in SD-land after the end of this year (with two other stations rumored to go HD soon).

In DC, here has been a local station, WUSA, which has been HD with their news for almost two years. The studio pictures look pretty good, and the graphics are impressive. Their ratings are still in the toilet.

I can understand why WUSA built their HD studios. At the time, it was early in the HD news age, and there was little to no data on whether or not HD helped ratings. But now the data is in through many markets, and no, HD doesn't help enough in the ratings, especially for the multi-million dollar cost of upgrading existing studios vs. keeping the current HD infrastructure for little to no cost. There's no money in upgrading, and face it, these news operations are businesses before anything else.

At this time, journalistic quality is still the one thing that determines ratings, apparently. This will probably change over time, but for now, it is what it is.

The key with WJLA is that they spend their money not on fancy new equipment for their HD channel (indeed, their SD upscaler is terrible), but news anchors. They have the the best news team in the area. I personally find them the best in DC. They spent money to create two subchannels, one that's arguably the best local weather channel in town, the other a local interest channel (http://www.localpointtv.com).

HD is a beautiful gimmick, and currently not worth the cost of upgrading existing studios.

With KYW and KCBS, they were building brand new studios at completely new locations, and the cost of building each for HD isn't too much more than SD by now. As the time will come where HD is the norm in local news, they might as well equip the studios for it now vs. later + at further cost. I applaud them for making the right business decision.

See this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=824213)


Let's not also forget that the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric was #1 her first week.

3 weeks later...... :D

After the hype disappears, people revert back to their old habits.

why would they build the KCBS News Studios surrounding the Big Brother House :confused:


That map is old, Big Brother House moved up next to Stage 18. That whole area near the bungalows is where the new building exists.

I think everyone needs to remember that it is much more than just adding HD cameras to a news studio to get things in HD. The studio video switcher has to be upgraded to HD and the master control switcher has to be upgraded to HD. Neither one is cheap and it is time consuming work that takes months to get installed and set up. That doesn't even count that the graphics equipment, if not upgraded to HD must be at least able to do 16:9 and then upconverted to HD to work with the studio video switcher. Then the news graphics have to be redone for 16:9 which is a several month process even if done in house or they have to be outsourced to a graphics house at some expense and again several months. Most news sets are not setup for 16:9 so that means either trying to make a set work by modifying it or building a new set which means it has to be designed and built, which means more money and at least 6 months or longer. We haven't even talked about field cameras and getting that HD material back to the studio and then editing it. (Much more money) Then how do you format the SD version? Letterbox? Center cut? Separate master controls, one for SD, one for HD?

As far as syndicated programs in HD, you need the HD receivers, HD recording source, HD playback source and then that HD master control switcher I talked about earlier. And oh yeah, do you center cut the HD program for the analog channel or do letterbox (more equipment costs) or do you run separate SD and HD versions of the show, making the playback more complex by basically having two master controls, one for SD and one for HD. (did we just talk about that?)

And those are just the MAJOR issues that have to be ironed out for HD broadcasting. The formating on the SD channel being maybe the biggest issue, particularly with analog shutdown less than 2 years now, what happens to all of that center cut/letterbox/parallel SD equipment that is no longer useful. That all has to be brought out on the books as well on the bottom line.

Truth is most stations are replacing SD equipment with HD equipment on their regular equipment changeout time schedule so the cost for all of this is spread out over years and they don't have to take a multimillion dollar one time hit since they just did a multimillion dollar one time hit with the new digital transmitters. Remember, stations are businesses first and they have to protect the bottom line or they don't stay in business.

Believe me folks, if it was only studio cameras, or HD receivers, you would have many more stations doing HD news and HD syndicated programming. And in time, it will happen.

Okay, little update for KNBC - they aren't in HD yet, but they are only 2 more aspect degrees wide away from HD :D

From what I hear, they're in 14:9 SD widescreen now instead of 4:3 SD, as requested by viewers. It's not HD, but they are getting there, and may launch an HD version of The Channel 4 News later this year.

Okay, little update for KNBC - they aren't in HD yet, but they are only 2 more aspect degrees wide away from HD :D

From what I hear, they're in 14:9 SD widescreen now instead of 4:3 SD, as requested by viewers. It's not HD, but they are getting there, and may launch an HD version of The Channel 4 News later this year.
Sounds like a stretch/crop of the 4:3 SD news.

I don't know of much technology that natively outputs 14:9.

But, I agree, it will probably one of NBC's next O&Os to go HD. NBC only owns 10 stations, and 8 of those are in large markets, and 1 of them is already HD. It definitely shouldn't take as long as CBS or FOX to upgrade.

My bet is on KNBC, WRC, or WCAU to go HD next.

But there's one thing they do have: local news ratings. Indeed, they're quickly rising toward the top of the ratings, even though it may be the next decade before they're in HD, not to mention that that they may be alone in SD-land after the end of this year (with two other stations rumored to go HD soon).

In DC, here has been a local station, WUSA, which has been HD with their news for almost two years. The studio pictures look pretty good, and the graphics are impressive. Their ratings are still in the toilet.

At this time, journalistic quality is still the one thing that determines ratings, apparently. This will probably change over time, but for now, it is what it is.

The key with WJLA is that they spend their money not on fancy new equipment for their HD channel (indeed, their SD upscaler is terrible), but news anchors. They have the the best news team in the area. I personally find them the best in DC. They spent money to create two subchannels, one that's arguably the best local weather channel in town, the other a local interest channel (http://www.localpointtv.com).

HD is a beautiful gimmick, and currently not worth the cost of upgrading existing studios.

I applaud them for making the right business decision.

See this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=824213)

You've made an awful lot of definitive statements here. What are your sources when you say that "journalistic quality" determines ratings? Has some source rated WJLA to have "journalistic quality".

"HD is a beautiful gimmick..." also seems to be your opinion. Obviously WUSA thought it was "worth the cost" and last time I checked, Gannett was still "in the black". Gannett made a business decision to upgrade all of their stations. Are you privy to their business strategies where they indicate that this was done as a "gimmick"?

NBC has laid off folks over at WRC that I would have thought lost them some viewers, but that is my opinion. There are lots of rationales to explain why people may or may not watch a specific newscast within a market. In my opinion, HD is a factor, as is personalities, as is quality of the telecast, as is... any number of things.

I think that Gannett, GE (NBC), and the folks who own WJLA all have business strategies geared to making more money through improved ratings or reducing costs. And you better believe that they are spending a lot of effort considering how HD might affect that. And in my opinion, WJLA is going to be at a real disadvantage when they wake up one day to realize that they are the only newscast in the DC market that's in SD. Of course, I have some background in marketing and one of the first rules of marketing is that "It's more important to be different than to be better." Maybe WJLA's difference will be their lack of an HD newscast and they'll figure out how to use that to their advantage. But in my home, all of my TVs are HD sets with the pretty (but gimmicky) pictures, so WJLA's newscast rarely is tuned in when WUSA's pictures are much more pleasing to the eye.

My bet is on KNBC, WRC, or WCAU to go HD next.I'd pick KNBC. I remember reading that WRC was toward the bottom of the upgrade list, and KNBC has far more potential viewers than WCAU. Also, don't forget the desires of KNBC's local viewers to have widescreen news, prompting the recent 14x9 "placeholding" stretch-crop-whatever situation.

What are your sources when you say that "journalistic quality" determines ratings?Admittedly, I don't have such "sources". Let's put it this way: What elements are there in local news? There's story selection. Then there's the person who writes it. How unbiased and fair, or otherwise, is the writing for each story? Then there's presentation. How do they say it? Is it firm? Uplifting? Gaudy? Fast? Slow? Also, how trustworthy are the anchors? How often have they been right with stories? Are they fixtures of the community? Are they relied on with vigor by viewers? The last three factors there are usually determined by local anchors. Then there are factors outside of journalistic quality, like PQ, set design, graphics, and the amount of commercials.

WJLA 7 has pretty bad graphics, a dated set, amateur-hour music, pretty much second-rate upconverters and encoders, and fast-growing ratings. How is that last part possible if technical quality is the only thing people judge a newscast on? No, I truly suspect it's because of the quality of the journalism.

Compare that with the great PQ, graphics. and sound of WUSA9. Hey, I thought the great equipment was supposed to wildly improve their ratings. :rolleyes: Maybe it's the story selection? I doubt it.

I suggest an experiment for you: Go watch a WJLA newscast (I suggest their morning one), and compare it with WUSA. If WJLA's news was in HD, would you be a regular viewer based solely on the quality of the news/journalism, or would you go back to WUSA? Since WTTG 5 and WRC4 are slated to go HD soon, you might as well do the same critique with them. Based solely on your sense of journalistic quality, who's the best, bad (or good) picture and all?

I suspect that, at least for you, the quality of the personalities + overall telecast quality - technical picture and sound quality = journalistic quality.
Has some source rated WJLA to have "journalistic quality".I was reading the most recent DCRTV.com best and worst list (http://www.dcrtv.com/bw2006.html), and many people there were basically saying how ABC7 was the best TV local news source, or how ABC7 was the only good local TV news source out there, and how many people were saying it vs. WRC, WTTG, and WUSA. (These are from local media fans, by the way.) Also, nobody complained that ABC7 wasn't in HD, and they therefore wouldn't watch it. No, I don't particularly love the digital channel's SD PQ, or the set, or the music, or some of the anchors' journalistic quality (Leon Harris and Tim Brant come to mind), but it seems to me that when people tune into the news, they want to have high-quality journalism, not high-quality picture, though that last part helps sometimes.

Do you remember when WJLA was in the ratings doldrums? They were third or fourth in most timeslots, and needed help. So WJLA did something bold and different: They paid lots of money to get big names to work for them. They wooed Doug Hill, Gordon Peterson, and Maureen Bunyan from WUSA. They brought in Doug McKelway from WRC. They brought in Leon Harris from CNN. These were big names, who delivered quality journalism, and big ratings at their old haunts. They were trusted names in the area, and in one case, around the country. Then they brought in Allison Starling for some eye candy + hard journalism in the mornings. You know what? Their ratings are up. They're giving News4 (WRC) a run for their money at 5 PM, and occasionally beating them in the 25-54 demos. They've had heavy gains in most other, if not all, newscasts, and they so far haven't showed signs of peaking, lack of HD and all. I suspect that if 7 hasn't needed HD to get those ratings gains so far, then they won't need it for a good while longer.

What people want is hard news, with the right delivery, and the right amount of relief for less morbid stories. That's the best way I can describe it right now. I can't completely describe the "x factor" that's there when the newscast feels right. Whatever it is, no other station produces newscasts throughout the day that are, on average, as good as channel 7's. There's a gulf between the average quality of 7 and 9, 4, and 5 that's so large, many to most people will look past the lack of HD. 7's news is far and away the best in the early mornings. I really want to say that kind of praise about WUSA9, but I can't truthfully do that. I can say that they have the best weather department in town overall, but that's not saying as much, unfortunately, and 7's close behind there.
"HD is a beautiful gimmick..." also seems to be your opinion. Obviously WUSA thought it was "worth the cost" and last time I checked, Gannett was still "in the black".Of course Gannett's still in the black, because they're such a large company -- they can absorb the losses with other TV stations and their newspapers. They'd be more in the black if they never upgraded.
Gannett made a business decision to upgrade all of their stations. Are you privy to their business strategies where they indicate that this was done as a "gimmick"?No question that they didn't find it a gimmick -- they believed that there was some ratings incentive at the time they upgraded, which was early in the age of HD news. They were wrong. They're humans, so they can make a mistakes. ;)
NBC has laid off folks over at WRC that I would have thought lost them some viewers, but that is my opinion.Give them time. We'll see what the layoffs will do with long-term ratings, especially at 5 and 11 PM. We'll see where switchers switch -- I suspect that most of them will go to 7, not HD9.
There are lots of rationales to explain why people may or may not watch a specific newscast within a market. In my opinion, HD is a factor, as is personalities, as is quality of the telecast, as is... any number of things.HD is a factor? Not to most. People with HDTVs may watch things because they're in HDTV. But what about those without HDTVs? A supermajority of homes still don't have even one, and won't for a while, so what the big deal with HD broadcasts to them? Also, WJLA's 480i news quality is very sharp on their analog OTA station. It was also very sharp on 7-3, in the days that WJLA re-fed its SD channel digitally OTA. That could easily be replicated for fiber delivery to cable headends.
I think that Gannett, GE (NBC), and the folks who own WJLA all have business strategies geared to making more money through improved ratings or reducing costs. And you better believe that they are spending a lot of effort considering how HD might affect that.GE, Gannett, and CBS have a lot more money to work with than Allbritton. That's something to look at.
And in my opinion, WJLA is going to be at a real disadvantage when they wake up one day to realize that they are the only newscast in the DC market that's in SD. Of course, I have some background in marketing and one of the first rules of marketing is that "It's more important to be different than to be better." Maybe WJLA's difference will be their lack of an HD newscast and they'll figure out how to use that to their advantage."In recent months, other stations have begun broadcasting their news in HD. We at ABC7 News haven't had the time. We're too busy covering the stories you want most. We're too busy sweating every detail, making sure you get the most accurate information [insert Doug Hill reading weather data on his computer]. We're too busy making sure you get breaking news first. While they're working to show you every pore, at ABC 7 News, we're working to give you the best news in Washington."

carltonrice, I know that you have taken a liking to HDTV, and that at a personal level, it's important to have the best possible viewing quality as often as possible. There aren't many people around that are like you; AVSers are a special breed of people that seem to end up finding this website somehow. :) But face it, at a business level, it's not always the best decision to go HD for local news, especially for smaller companies like Allbritton. Local stations, no matter how good or bad they might be, can't provide news if they're not in business.

I think everyone needs to remember that it is much more than just adding HD cameras to a news studio to get things in HD. The studio video switcher has to be upgraded to HD and the master control switcher has to be upgraded to HD. Neither one is cheap and it is time consuming work that takes months to get installed and set up. That doesn't even count that the graphics equipment, if not upgraded to HD must be at least able to do 16:9 and then upconverted to HD to work with the studio video switcher. Then the news graphics have to be redone for 16:9 which is a several month process even if done in house or they have to be outsourced to a graphics house at some expense and again several months. Most news sets are not setup for 16:9 so that means either trying to make a set work by modifying it or building a new set which means it has to be designed and built, which means more money and at least 6 months or longer. We haven't even talked about field cameras and getting that HD material back to the studio and then editing it. (Much more money) Then how do you format the SD version? Letterbox? Center cut? Separate master controls, one for SD, one for HD?


One day I will tell you how fast we got several of them up and running - and it will blow your mind.

You can get it on damn fast if you are willing to pay the price to get it done damn fast.

As stated before $3M to do bare minimum to make it happen $6M+ to do it right under a normal timeline.

You've made an awful lot of definitive statements here. What are your sources when you say that "journalistic quality" determines ratings? Has some source rated WJLA to have "journalistic quality".

"HD is a beautiful gimmick..." also seems to be your opinion. Obviously WUSA thought it was "worth the cost" and last time I checked, Gannett was still "in the black". Gannett made a business decision to upgrade all of their stations. Are you privy to their business strategies where they indicate that this was done as a "gimmick"?



Interesting comment....and an "awful lot of definitive statements here. What are your sources when you say that "Gannett made a business decision to upgrade all of their stations".

Especially considering the 10-K filed by Gannett with the SEC at the beginning of the month:

At the end of 2006, the company’s broadcasting division, headquartered in McLean, Va., included 23 television stations in markets with a total of more than 20.1 million households covering 18% of the U.S. The broadcasting division also includes Captivate Network, Inc.

The company is currently broadcasting local newscasts in High Definition (HD) in seven cities: Denver, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Phoenix. Denver converted to HD for its local newscasts in 2004, and Washington, D.C., in May 2005. St. Louis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Phoenix converted in 2006. These telecasts have been well received given the dramatic increase in sales of HD television.

7 of 23 does not make "all of their stations" in my book....which isn't even 30% in my book

I can tell you that Gannett hasn't upgraded the HD in the #12 TV Market in America - they can't even insert a crawl without going to 4:3 and still after years of trying, they still cannot sync up their 4:3/16:9 feeds so when they switch between 4:3 crawls and 16:9, you loose up to a full GOP - or roughly .5 seconds or more.

I think that Gannett, GE (NBC), and the folks who own WJLA all have business strategies geared to making more money through improved ratings or reducing costs.

Golly gee, Mr. Wizard....that's how business works?????? :rolleyes:

More definitive statements by you....unfortunately again your facts don't jive with Gannett's results released last week.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070315/gannett_sales.html?.v=1

AP
Gannett Feb. Operating Revenue Drops
Thursday March 15, 11:16 am ET
Gannett Pro Forma Operating Revenue Down in Feb. on Lower Broadcasting Sales

"Broadcasting revenue, including Captivate, tumbled 20.1 percent due to the absence of $22 million in Olympic revenue."

I can tell you that Gannett hasn't upgraded the HD in the #12 TV Market in America - they can't even insert a crawl without going to 4:3 and still after years of trying, they still cannot sync up their 4:3/16:9 feeds so when they switch between 4:3 crawls and 16:9, you loose up to a full GOP - or roughly .5 seconds or more.Gannett-owned KPNX has been doing HD here since last year, and they still can't overlay spam on HD and have the same problem with lost video on switching. The ability to do the news in HD is hardly an indicator of technical proficiency, as KPNX is one of the worst stations in town when it comes to flipping the HD switch reliably. The HD news is heavily filtered in the fleshtones so their anchors' faces look like CGI half the time. Their widescreen SD field reports don't look half bad though, and having the majority of the content as 16:9 is worth the upgrade even if very little of it is real HD.

As I said, you can get it on the air for $3M - or you can do it right for $6M+

We know how Gannett did it.

And you can get it on damn fast if money is no object.

That map is old, Big Brother House moved up next to Stage 18. That whole area near the bungalows is where the new building exists.

Looks like Google Earth hasn't been updated in a while either as they still show the old Big Brother house up there and no new "house" around Stage 18. How long ago was the move made?

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3444/cbsstudiocityur4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Admittedly, I don't have such "sources". Let's put it this way: What elements are there in local news? There's story selection. Then there's the person who writes it. How unbiased and fair, or otherwise, is the writing for each story? Then there's presentation. How do they say it? Is it firm? Uplifting? Gaudy? Fast? Slow? Also, how trustworthy are the anchors? How often have they been right with stories? Are they fixtures of the community? Are they relied on with vigor by viewers? The last three factors there are usually determined by local anchors. Then there are factors outside of journalistic quality, like PQ, set design, graphics, and the amount of commercials.

I agree. Obviously, you've thought about this a lot more than I have. I don't work in TV news and prefer to get my local news from other sources. So, when it comes to watching local TV news, I'll continue to go with WUSA on the rare occasion that I bother with it.


I suggest an experiment for you: Go watch a WJLA newscast (I suggest their morning one), and compare it with WUSA. If WJLA's news was in HD, would you be a regular viewer based solely on the quality of the news/journalism, or would you go back to WUSA? Since WTTG 5 and WRC4 are slated to go HD soon, you might as well do the same critique with them. Based solely on your sense of journalistic quality, who's the best, bad (or good) picture and all?


HD is a factor? Not to most. People with HDTVs may watch things because they're in HDTV. But what about those without HDTVs? A supermajority of homes still don't have even one, and won't for a while, so what the big deal with HD broadcasts to them? Also, WJLA's 480i news quality is very sharp on their analog OTA station. It was also very sharp on 7-3, in the days that WJLA re-fed its SD channel digitally OTA.

"In recent months, other stations have begun broadcasting their news in HD. We at ABC7 News haven't had the time. We're too busy covering the stories you want most. We're too busy sweating every detail, making sure you get the most accurate information [insert Doug Hill reading weather data on his computer]. We're too busy making sure you get breaking news first. While they're working to show you every pore, at ABC 7 News, we're working to give you the best news in Washington."

carltonrice, I know that you have taken a liking to HDTV, and that at a personal level, it's important to have the best possible viewing quality as often as possible. There aren't many people around that are like you; AVSers are a special breed of people that seem to end up finding this website somehow. :) But face it, at a business level, it's not always the best decision to go HD for local news, especially for smaller companies like Allbritton. Local stations, no matter how good or bad they might be, can't provide news if they're not in business.

I don't have the time really to do an analysis on the different newscasts in DC to see what I like/dislike about them. In fact, I'm originally from Baltimore, so I tend to watch their newscasts when I do watch the news moreso than DC. But at any rate, I do have an opinion that when I turn on the HD sets, I might as well be watching HD and there are very few non-HD programs that I watch.

Again, I can only speak for me. Allbritton was tardy on upgrading to HD back in 1999 which made many of us have to go to ABC2 in Baltimore to get Monday Night Football in HD back then and I guess their philosophy on HD will continue until they are the last hold out in the DC market.

Anyhow, great debate...

Interesting comment....and an "awful lot of definitive statements here. What are your sources when you say that "Gannett made a business decision to upgrade all of their stations".

Especially considering the 10-K filed by Gannett with the SEC at the beginning of the month:

At the end of 2006, the company’s broadcasting division, headquartered in McLean, Va., included 23 television stations in markets with a total of more than 20.1 million households covering 18% of the U.S. The broadcasting division also includes Captivate Network, Inc.

The company is currently broadcasting local newscasts in High Definition (HD) in seven cities: Denver, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Phoenix. Denver converted to HD for its local newscasts in 2004, and Washington, D.C., in May 2005. St. Louis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Phoenix converted in 2006. These telecasts have been well received given the dramatic increase in sales of HD television.

7 of 23 does not make "all of their stations" in my book....which isn't even 30% in my book

I can tell you that Gannett hasn't upgraded the HD in the #12 TV Market in America - they can't even insert a crawl without going to 4:3 and still after years of trying, they still cannot sync up their 4:3/16:9 feeds so when they switch between 4:3 crawls and 16:9, you loose up to a full GOP - or roughly .5 seconds or more.



Golly gee, Mr. Wizard....that's how business works?????? :rolleyes:

More definitive statements by you....unfortunately again your facts don't jive with Gannett's results released last week.

I didn't mean to imply that they had already upgraded all of their stations, but I read an interview a while back on Gannett and they are planning to upgrade all of their stations. And I was also not suggesting that every business strategy that a company institutes has the desired outcome.

Sounds like a stretch/crop of the 4:3 SD news.

I don't know of much technology that natively outputs 14:9.

But, I agree, it will probably one of NBC's next O&Os to go HD. NBC only owns 10 stations, and 8 of those are in large markets, and 1 of them is already HD. It definitely shouldn't take as long as CBS or FOX to upgrade.

My bet is on KNBC, WRC, or WCAU to go HD next.

AIUI there is no mass-market acuisition gear working in 14:9 - it is a compromise format used when converting between 4:3 and 16: 9 - and is in widespread use in the UK. The most common thing you see generating it - in both flavours - is on Aspect Ratio Converters - and these are devices you need in almost every edit suite and field truck if you are working in 16:9. (The BBC have at least one ARC in every news edit suite running tape - of which there aren't many - and every news links vehicle. They also have one for every incoming outside source feed line - so that 4:3 feeds can be ARCed as they are routed around the building and recorded/taken live)

For most 16:9 SD news outlets, legacy and overseas 4:3 material is cropped/zoomed to 14:9 pillarbox (but with no stretch - circles stay circular) You lose a little headroom on standard MCUs, and lose a little resolution, but the thin black bars on the left and right are not too objectionable. It is a good SD compromise between fuzzy full 16:9 zoom and thick black bars left and right, especially in news reports with a mix of 4:3 and 16:9 - which could be changing on every shot if a mix of "pool" cameras was in use - some 4:3 some 16:9.

Simiarly, a lot of 16:9 originated material is broadcast on 4:3 SD analogue outlets as 14:9 letterbox. This has smaller black bars top and bottom, but a little crop left and right. Again the black bars top and bottom cause fewer complaints from viewers than 16:9 letterbox, and appear less objectionable on smaller analogue displays.

The one 4:3 network news outlet in the UK - ITV News from ITN (Channel Four News from ITN is now 16:9) is pillarboxed to 14:9 for 16:9 digital outlets and suffers in comparison to 16:9 native BBC, C4, Five and Sky News as a result.

KVOA, the NBC affiliate in Tucson, AZ, owned by Evening Post, announced they will begin doing the news in HD "this Spring" (link (http://www.kvoa.com/global/Story.asp?s=6179531)). For those of you keeping score at home, Tucson is DMA #70.

I didn't mean to imply that they had already upgraded all of their stations, but I read an interview a while back on Gannett and they are planning to upgrade all of their stations.

Hmmmm.....let me give you a hint.....

The list of TV Stations that are doing news with plans NOT TO EVENTUALLY GO HD NEWS would be MUCH SHORTER than the list of stations THAT ARE PLANNING TO EVENTUALLY GO HD NEWS.

So I fail to see what made Gannett special of mention here.

Hmmmm.....let me give you a hint.....

The list of TV Stations that are doing news with plans NOT TO EVENTUALLY GO HD NEWS would be MUCH SHORTER than the list of stations THAT ARE PLANNING TO EVENTUALLY GO HD NEWS.

So I fail to see what made Gannett special of mention here.

That's exactly the point. The station we were originally discussing is lacking a plan vis-a-vis other stations in this market.

That's exactly the point. The station we were originally discussing is lacking a plan vis-a-vis other stations in this market.

No, they are not lacking a plan - just like most stations, they are not divulging their strategy to you or their competitors.

If you honestly believe that the ABC O&O in DC has no longterm plans for local HD, you are mistaken. Just because another station has already done it, as noted, it has not helped their ratings - nor is it making them more money.

No, they are not lacking a plan - just like most stations, they are not divulging their strategy to you or their competitors.

If you honestly believe that the ABC O&O in DC has no longterm plans for local HD, you are mistaken. Just because another station has already done it, as noted, it has not helped their ratings - nor is it making them more money.

Are you in this area? The ABC affiliate here in DC that we were discussing is not an O&O. It is owned independently by Allbritton.

No, they are not lacking a plan - just like most stations, they are not divulging their strategy to you or their competitors.

If you honestly believe that the ABC O&O in DC has no longterm plans for local HD, you are mistaken. Just because another station has already done it, as noted, it has not helped their ratings - nor is it making them more money.

the ABC station is NOT O&O by ABC, it is Allbritton and they have no immediate plans for their news to go HD as they do not want to pay the money out right now. Robert Forsyth mentioned it in a couple of his posts. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9871778&&#post9871778) But they did put out a 3rd subchannel, so it does appear that they want to make money and HD does not bring in the money and that is what it is all about.

These are the images of San Diego local "8 News", saved by DVico Fusion TV software, you can see that fields are not weaved, while a freeze-frame in the app displays a clear weaved frame.

The still images have noticeable macroblocking, but I attribute this to small filesize. I did not find how I could choose still quality, so this is automatic.

Images below are hosted by imageshack.us.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1899/8news01ii9.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news01ii9.jpg) http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6640/8news02jh7.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news02jh7.jpg) http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/917/8news03ne5.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news03ne5.jpg) http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8159/8news07vw3.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news07vw3.jpg) http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9278/8news04vw6.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news04vw6.jpg) http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6201/8news05yv2.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news05yv2.jpg) http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/9915/8news06vh8.th.jpg (http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news06vh8.jpg) http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/8831/8news08pg9.th.jpg (http://img186.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8news08pg9.jpg)

WBNS, channel 10 in Columbus will be the first HD local news in our market starting this Monday, April 2. They invited everyone on our local board to visit the studio and production facilities a couple days ago which was very cool of them. I didn't go but a bunch of folks did. Here's a link to the thread with pics.

http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/showthread.php?t=2492

the ABC station is NOT O&O by ABC, it is Allbritton and they have no immediate plans for their news to go HD as they do not want to pay the money out right now. Robert Forsyth mentioned it in a couple of his posts. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9871778&&#post9871778) But they did put out a 3rd subchannel, so it does appear that they want to make money and HD does not bring in the money and that is what it is all about.

When did ABC sell Channel 7 in DC :confused:

When did ABC sell Channel 7 in DC :confused:

Channel 7 in DC has never been owned by ABC.

Channel 7 in DC has never been owned by ABC.

I apologize. I stand corrected. For some reason, I was under the impression that ABC had purchased it during the 90s as there was so much talk about it at that time (and quite frankly never followed it that closely. For whatever reason, I thought that had materalized and gone through).

KTVK-DT 3.1 (Independent, owned by Belo) in Phoenix begins doing its newscasts and some other local programming in HD on 4/26 (link (http://www.azfamily.com/hdtv/)).

KYW in Philadelphia just went HD tonight. Some screenshots:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6049/0403h00m00ch31kywdt0dj9.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0403h00m00ch31kywdt0dj9.jpg)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2282/0403h00m10ch31kywdtnx3.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0403h00m10ch31kywdtnx3.jpg)

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2417/0403h00m16ch31kywdt0no2.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0403h00m16ch31kywdt0no2.jpg)

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7499/0403h00m17ch31kywdt1ic4.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0403h00m17ch31kywdt1ic4.jpg)

I've got more, PM me if you want more(I got about 17 total). Sorry the quality isn't the best on the last 2, the PC HDTV tuner doesn't as good a job with live motion HD screen captures. You can watch the tour on cbs3.com, but it's all pixilated and looks like garbage. On the news they showed the control room(s) and production rooms, news feed room, all in HD. I'm working on getting that exported to my computer, and uploaded(the tour, in HD).

Those KYW screens look very nice. What format are they using for remotes (4:3 SD, 16:9 SD, HD)?

Those KYW screens look very nice. What format are they using for remotes (4:3 SD, 16:9 SD, HD)?

Live remotes are 16:9 SD, but field reports taped and editted I'm pretty sure are in glorious HD! During the tour the anchor held up an HD disc(Blu-Ray I guess), and inserted it into an HD editor, and said that enables everyone to have instant access to that raw HD footage, across the station's network.

I could clearly see Sony XDcam HD cameras and Sony tapes that say "RE-23GB" 23GB rewritable.

Someone else will have to confirm that, but I'm pretty sure their non-live reports are in HD, (it sure looked like it!)

Their control rooms and studio look freaking amazing. WPVI and WTXF may have beaten KYW to the punch, but KYW's new digs look like they blow anyone out of the water. In one of the reports online, they said something about call them and set up a tour of their new facility! I bet if you got a time when someone with some technical expertise is availible for like 10-15 minutes, you could learn and see a lot of really cool stuff.

Did anyone notice how different Alycia Lane looked in HD? I hate to say it but she looked better in SD. On the other hand, Kathy Orr looked real nice, much better than in SD.

OT: Philadelphia Phillies looked good in HD on KYW

Admittedly, I don't have such "sources". Let's put it this way: What elements are there in local news? There's story selection. Then there's the person who writes it. How unbiased and fair, or otherwise, is the writing for each story? Then there's presentation. How do they say it? Is it firm? Uplifting? Gaudy? Fast? Slow? Also, how trustworthy are the anchors? How often have they been right with stories? Are they fixtures of the community? Are they relied on with vigor by viewers? The last three factors there are usually determined by local anchors. Then there are factors outside of journalistic quality, like PQ, set design, graphics, and the amount of commercials.

WJLA 7 has pretty bad graphics, a dated set, amateur-hour music, pretty much second-rate upconverters and encoders, and fast-growing ratings. How is that last part possible if technical quality is the only thing people judge a newscast on? No, I truly suspect it's because of the quality of the journalism.


Do you remember when WJLA was in the ratings doldrums? They were third or fourth in most timeslots, and needed help. So WJLA did something bold and different: They paid lots of money to get big names to work for them. They wooed Doug Hill, Gordon Peterson, and Maureen Bunyan from WUSA. They brought in Doug McKelway from WRC. They brought in Leon Harris from CNN. These were big names, who delivered quality journalism, and big ratings at their old haunts. They were trusted names in the area, and in one case, around the country. Then they brought in Allison Starling for some eye candy + hard journalism in the mornings. You know what? Their ratings are up. They're giving News4 (WRC) a run for their money at 5 PM, and occasionally beating them in the 25-54 demos. They've had heavy gains in most other, if not all, newscasts, and they so far haven't showed signs of peaking, lack of HD and all. I suspect that if 7 hasn't needed HD to get those ratings gains so far, then they won't need it for a good while longer.

"In recent months, other stations have begun broadcasting their news in HD. We at ABC7 News haven't had the time. We're too busy covering the stories you want most. We're too busy sweating every detail, making sure you get the most accurate information [insert Doug Hill reading weather data on his computer]. We're too busy making sure you get breaking news first. While they're working to show you every pore, at ABC 7 News, we're working to give you the best news in Washington."


Interesting blurb this morning from DCRTV.com about WJLA. It seems to contradict that their ratings are on the upswing.

Morale Sinks At 7 As Lord Tries To Boost News Numbers - 4/3 - From our mole at Channel 7: "As if morale at WJLA couldn't get any lower, management is planning a major shakeup over the next few weeks in an attempt to boost ratings after a disappointing February sweeps. The ABC station was down across the board, even coming in a distant fourth in two of its newscasts. Just six months ago they held the number two spot. WJLA veterans blame the drop in ratings on the influx of inexperienced reporters, and rotating anchors in the evening since the departure of Kathleen Matthews last fall. Now everyone is seeing their schedules juggled as management tries to beef up their morning and late shows... Insiders say if the ratings don't improve during May, news veep Bill Lord will be looking for a new job".....

I got the 3 minute video tour of the new KYW studio they showed on the first 11:00 HD news broadcast. MPEG2 full resolution. Unfortunetly I had to resort to megaupload, but it will work just be patient. It's about 400MB.

Download it here (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UDF6ECC6)

One of the anchors gives a great tour, showing:
-technical operations center
-HD video discs, from Sony XDCams
-Newsroom
-Assignment desk
-station control room
-main studio A
-A 150'' screen in the main studio! 12' across!

Of course it's described in pretty novice terms, but the HD shots of the control rooms and all the brand new HD capable equipment are worth a look.

Also a nice press release here (http://cbs3.com/press/local_story_089104413.html), describing the new studio. Of particular interest:

"The network-caliber Newsroom, designed by Janson Design Group in New York, will be the first newsroom in the market to be completely tapeless and high definition both in-studio and in the field. Built from the ground up in HD, the operation includes all new high definition cameras, editing equipment and a technical operations center. “We will be shooting all of our stories in high definition giving the viewer a more complete sense of literally ‘being there,’ says Vice President and News Director Susan Schiller. “This is the next generation of electronic news -- the biggest leap in technology since the 1970s when reporters first began reporting live on location from the field.”

Thanks! I'll check it out when I get home from work.

I didn't even know KYW news had gone HD. I thought it was still just WPVI.

Not sure if this was posted - I didnt get a chance to go thru all the pages. But in Chicago the ABC ch 7 broadcast is sweet. 16 x 9 great pic with a HD chopper camera too. I dont even check the other channels so they may have went up to HD but ch 7 ABC beat them to it.

Thanks! I'll check it out when I get home from work.

I didn't even know KYW news had gone HD. I thought it was still just WPVI.

FOX 29 news in Philly is in HD as well. But, I believe only the studio cameras. No graphics or field reports.

FOX 29 news in Philly is in HD as well. But, I believe only the studio cameras. No graphics or field reports.
That is correct

remind me never to ever use megaupload for any item

I've never understood why one of our local affiliates here in Kansas City doesn't jump on the HD express and wipe out the other local news channels. Everything I've read is that market share for local news outlets has jumped up precipitously every time a local affiliate migrates to HD for their news programming.

Right now, we're still stuck with the 4 network affiliates pumping us std-def typical news fare -- the "old someone/something stole/killed/burned...oh, and here's the weather" Frankly, I never watch the local news because it's always the same drivel; however, if one of them went to HD I actually would periodically tune in.

I've never understood why one of our local affiliates here in Kansas City doesn't jump on the HD express and wipe out the other local news channels. Everything I've read is that market share for local news outlets has jumped up precipitously every time a local affiliate migrates to HD for their news programming.
If there is a jump in ratings it does not last long. No one has shown a long term marked increase in ratings directly accountable to going HD.

Another CBS station made an "improvement" with their news broadcast. WHIO in Dayton is in 16:9 as of April 1st. Note I didn't say in "HD", just 16:9. That said, it looks damn good ! New graphics are part of the change too and they're sharp looking.

What they're doing with field reports and what not, I can't say. They seem to only like "bad" news and if that means leading the broadcast with 5-10 minutes of negative stories, they'll do it. I change the channel....

I've never understood why one of our local affiliates here in Kansas City doesn't jump on the HD express and wipe out the other local news channels. Everything I've read is that market share for local news outlets has jumped up precipitously every time a local affiliate migrates to HD for their news programming.

Right now, we're still stuck with the 4 network affiliates pumping us std-def typical news fare -- the "old someone/something stole/killed/burned...oh, and here's the weather" Frankly, I never watch the local news because it's always the same drivel; however, if one of them went to HD I actually would periodically tune in.

The local ABC, KMBC Channel 9 is building a new station off of I435 and 63rd St on the Missouri side. According to the website it should be equipped with HD stuff and I would assume it will start broadcasting their news in HD. Looks like they will move this summer, so just a few months away.

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/station/4499101/detail.html

I've never understood why one of our local affiliates here in Kansas City doesn't jump on the HD express and wipe out the other local news channels. Everything I've read is that market share for local news outlets has jumped up precipitously every time a local affiliate migrates to HD for their news programming.

Perhaps you can give us the links of "Everything I've read is that market share for local news outlets has jumped up precipitously every time a local affiliate migrates to HD for their news programming" as that is the most ridiculous (and farthest from the truth) statement I have read in some time.

And forget everything....just 2 or 3 would suffice.

Their control rooms and studio look freaking amazing. WPVI and WTXF may have beaten KYW to the punch, but KYW's new digs look like they blow anyone out of the water.Also a nice press release here (http://cbs3.com/press/local_story_089104413.html), describing the new studio. Of particular interest:

"The network-caliber Newsroom, designed by Janson Design Group in New York, will be the first newsroom in the market to be completely tapeless and high definition both in-studio and in the field. Built from the ground up in HD, the operation includes all new high definition cameras, editing equipment and a technical operations center. “We will be shooting all of our stories in high definition giving the viewer a more complete sense of literally ‘being there,’ says Vice President and News Director Susan Schiller. “This is the next generation of electronic news -- the biggest leap in technology since the 1970s when reporters first began reporting live on location from the field.”This is what happens when you build an HD news studio / control room from absolute scratch, like what KYW has done. The result is a much more high-tech environment than what you can get from retrofitting a current control room/building.

Let's see if they can report live and in HD first in the Philly market.

This is what happens when you build an HD news studio / control room from absolute scratch, like what KYW has done. The result is a much more high-tech environment than what you can get from retrofitting a current control room/building.


In all due respect, its pretty obvious you have never been involved in building one of these - because no one retrofits a current control room. It would be out of the loop for literally months at a time - which means they could not do the news up until that point, so literally 99% of the new HD News Master Controls are built from scratch.

KTVK in Phoenix going HD April 26: KTVK Preps For HD News (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6431668.html)

I'm not sure if anyone watching KABC Eyewitness News in LA noticed, but "home video" footage from the sinking of the M/S Sea Diamond off of Greece looked to be in HD and was shown that way, it looked better than the 16:9 SD remote footage. There was also HD home video footage from last week's fire near Burbank and Universal City. Has there been any other accounts of HDV home videos being shown in true HD on supported newscasts?

I'm not sure if anyone watching KABC Eyewitness News in LA noticed, but "home video" footage from the sinking of the M/S Sea Diamond off of Greece looked to be in HD and was shown that way, it looked better than the 16:9 SD remote footage. There was also HD home video footage from last week's fire near Burbank and Universal City. Has there been any other accounts of HDV home videos being shown in true HD on supported newscasts?

It wasn't HD, but widescreen SD.



There is no one doing local HD News in the TampaBay area, but the cable's BayNews 9 put 4:3 with Wings on today - which appears to be a step towards moving to HD News on the local cable outlet.

The graphics are still SD and 4:3, so it does not integrate well, but its clearly part of the equipment needed for making the transisition - and much further along than 95% of the TV stations in America.

Finally, last night (4-10) both NBC (KJRH) and CBS (KOTV) here in Tulsa had their weather bugs and scroll in HD.

WCBS is finally out of the dark ages...now in HD. Also, the new graphics aren't very good.

Article on KYW's transition to HD. Nothing earth-shattering, but some technical details inside.

Read it here (http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=31800)

Our local CBS station WKYT is now broadcasting local news in HD here in Lexington Kentucky. Our NBC station is right on their heels and will be very soon.

Great interview here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10342968&&#post10342968) that dives into some details on CBS's operations of converting news to HD.

Explains how they choose to go w/ optical discs(Blu-Ray) instead of memory cards.

Also some talk and blame on Nextel for taking longer than expected in buying microwave radio spectrums or whatever that whole conversion thing.

So does anyone know when KCBS/KCAL News will go HD in Los Angeles?

KCAL and KCBS will go HD on Monday, April 23.

Great interview here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10342968&&#post10342968) that dives into some details on CBS's operations of converting news to HD.


Also some talk and blame on Nextel for taking longer than expected in buying microwave radio spectrums or whatever that whole conversion thing.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10243917&&#post10243917

KCAL and KCBS will go HD on Monday, April 23.

I expect you will see several larger markets roll out HD News in the next few weeks as a ratings gimmick for the sweeps.

Conventional wisdom suggests Tampa will also get its first HD Local Newscast.

KCAL and KCBS will go HD on Monday, April 23.

On the contrary. Sources say the HD launch will happen today, April 21.
Here's a full article from tvspy.

VDO's New Graphics Package for KCBS and KCAL "A Joyous Experience"

Los Angeles: When station managers at KCBS and KCAL decided to transition to HD, they literally started from the ground up.

On Saturday, April 21st, the two powerhouse L.A. stations will begin broadcasting from a brand new 300,000 square foot building with all-new equipment and newly-designed sets.

Helping them make this tremendous transition is award-winning broadcast design firm VDO, who created "an amazing graphics package" according to Marshall Hites, V.P of Creative Services and Promotion for CBS2 and KCAL9, Los Angeles.

"We looked at a number of leading design firms, but VDO really 'got it'" said Hites. "You sometimes run into enormously talented people, but they go away and huddle in a corner. With VDO, it was truly an interactive design process. Every day, even several times a day, we were tweaking, changing, adapting altering VDO welcomed this process with open arms. It was truly a joyous experience."

"I can't wait for the premiere!" said Dianne Streyer, V.P. & General Manager of VDO. "It was a blast working with such a talented station team. Together, we really created a fantastic package, pushing the limits on every piece of gear. A large part of the package was VIZrt, designed and produced in our studios. I can't wait to see the overall look come to life."

"VDO was great to work with, both personally and professionally," said Otto Petersen, Design Director for CBS2 and KCAL9, Los Angeles. "They are amazing graphic designers, and totally on top of the latest technology. They were able to email us a full animated HD file in about 20 seconds." He added, "It's an immense package that's completely animated. Viewers will never again see a still graphic on our air again."

While the details of both stations' new looks will have to wait for the April 21 debut, Hites promises an "eye-popping, spectacular" experience for viewers. "People with high def will really feel like they're getting their money's worth out of their HD system."

Get those DVRs ready. It all starts with "CBS 2 Sports Central" this afternoon at 3PM. Stay tuned.

ABC -30 in Fresno,Ca. starts HD local news on Monday 4/23/07. Remote reports at first will be SD but that will change in the near future.

Get those DVRs ready. It all starts with "CBS 2 Sports Central" this afternoon at 3PM. Stay tuned.

I'm ready. It's even listed as HD in the DirecTV program guide, as are their newscasts.

http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=837446

I talked recently to a local news cameraman for a station that is now doing HD who was covering an event that I was recording with my Sony HC1 HDV camera. He was shooting with a 16:9 SD camera so I asked him when they would have HD field cameras and he said in about a year. Then he pointed to my camera and said, "I don't know why they can't make our cameras smaller and lighter if they can make one like yours." He had also just told me that the HD cameras were going to be larger and heavier due to heavier batteries since HD cameras suck power. I was informed by another ex news cameraman that the executives at the stations want the "big" field cameras as they look "important" even though they can cause injury for many news camera folks.

KCBS Sports Central is up and running in HD. News should debut in a few hours...

I talked recently to a local news cameraman for a station that is now doing HD who was covering an event that I was recording with my Sony HC1 HDV camera. He was shooting with a 16:9 SD camera so I asked him when they would have HD field cameras and he said in about a year. Then he pointed to my camera and said, "I don't know why they can't make our cameras smaller and lighter if they can make one like yours." He had also just told me that the HD cameras were going to be larger and heavier due to heavier batteries since HD cameras suck power. I was informed by another ex news cameraman that the executives at the stations want the "big" field cameras as they look "important" even though they can cause injury for many news camera folks.

Larger field cameras win in a number of areas. Most importantly they are more robust - very important if you are in the middle of nowhere - and accept much higher quality lenses (2/3" and 1/2" imagers with interchangable lenses are the norm for decent ENG) that you can switch depending on the requirement. Most decent ENG cameramen carry both a wide angle and a standard lens, and apart from the odd Canon HDV model, not many prosumer models can change lenses.

Also - HDV tape is not a robust format - certainly nowhere near as robust as DV (one drop out can lose a whole GOP not just a single frame) - and DVCProHD and XDCam require larger tape/disc transports, though P2 may not. (That said the latest P2 ENG model looks to be the same form factor as a DVCPro model)

my local news is broadcasted in HD here in St. Louis Missouri, KSDK

Great interview here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10342968&&#post10342968) that dives into some details on CBS's operations of converting news to HD.

Explains how they choose to go w/ optical discs(Blu-Ray) instead of memory cards.

Also some talk and blame on Nextel for taking longer than expected in buying microwave radio spectrums or whatever that whole conversion thing.
CBS starting broadcasting here in HD along with ESPN2 friday 4/19, YEAH!!!!!

WSOC here in Charlotte is apparently starting HD News today, at 6pm.

yes, seems most guys here in OKC make a huge deal out of a certain anchor ,that my wife went to school with, due to it........

I was informed by another ex news cameraman that the executives at the stations want the "big" field cameras as they look "important" even though they can cause injury for many news camera folks.
I can't imagine why he would be an ex-news cameraman.... :rolleyes:

Seriously, the thing people don't get about the larger cameras is they are big for a reason:

- The CCDs and recording heads are larger for better quality.
- The bodies and frames are very robust and can take a beating.
- The big cameras have professional connections that can allow them to go from ENG recorder to remote production camera to studio camera with little fuss.
- There isn't a palm-sized camera that can beat the optics of a full-sized pro unit.
- Show me a palm-sized camera that can hold a video flood that throw usable light more than 10 feet - or can power it without a belt pack.
- If you have more than one dockable deck, you can shoot for multiple clients on different formats without having to own multiple cameras.

I will admit, though....a big camera does get you more respect out in public than a little one. But to say that's the reason to use one is rediculous.

Larger field cameras win in a number of areas. Most importantly they are more robust - very important if you are in the middle of nowhere - and accept much higher quality lenses (2/3" and 1/2" imagers with interchangable lenses are the norm for decent ENG) that you can switch depending on the requirement. Most decent ENG cameramen carry both a wide angle and a standard lens, and apart from the odd Canon HDV model, not many prosumer models can change lenses.

Also - HDV tape is not a robust format - certainly nowhere near as robust as DV (one drop out can lose a whole GOP not just a single frame) - and DVCProHD and XDCam require larger tape/disc transports, though P2 may not. (That said the latest P2 ENG model looks to be the same form factor as a DVCPro model)

I don't think the guy was suggesting that they use HDV cameras. :) I've worked in broadcast TV and know about the robustness of the cameras. In fact that was what I told him was the camera he was using was built to stand up to a lot of use.

But he had a point. Look at how much smaller studio cameras have become over the years. Most of them are smaller than the $10K cameras sold a decade ago for industrial and educational use. As for media they are leaning towards P2.

As for lenses there are prosumer cameras that can change lenses so of course they would go for those (or something a bit more robust but not huge). I was amused by an article over on DVINFO about a lens solution for the JVC HD100 which cost more than two or three of the cameras. But if you want that kind of focus control that's what you have to get.

Of course there are some stations including one locally that have replaced their news cameramen with VJ's using consumer and prosumer cameras.

No HD News in Boston. WCVB does local news info show "Chronicle" in HD. NESN Red Sox Cable network does Sox and studio shows in HD.

I can't imagine why he would be an ex-news cameraman.... :rolleyes:

Seriously, the thing people don't get about the larger cameras is they are big for a reason:

Well, they still don't have to be THAT big.

Well, they still don't have to be THAT big.
It reminds me of the statement that Battlestar Galactica makes when they have a news conference on the show and the reporters all have small palm sized cameras. :D

Look at how much smaller studio cameras have become over the years. Most of them are smaller than the $10K cameras sold a decade ago for industrial and educational use. As for media they are leaning towards P2.


Don't totally agree there - 20 years possibly - but since the early 90s there have been few differences between high-end full-size and lightweight cameras in picture quality terms - certainly since the BVP70 vs BVP370 era, and the earlier BVP 7 was a reasonable camera in many situations. The larger models have mainly been easier to run with box-lenses (the lightweight models need a cradle and sometimes local power) and may have had larger buttons for talkback and viewfinder input selection - but apart from that there wasn't a huge difference.

Certainly 3 tube lightweight Sony BVP330s and Ikegami HL79s were in use in the 80s for general production in areas that full-size cameras would previously have been used. (The Beeb shot a lot of drama on both of these, along with the lightweight Fernsehs in the late 70s and early-to-mid 80s)

The BBC haven't had full-sized cameras in any of their main London studios for quite a few camera generations - they've been entirely lightweight based - as has BBC OBs since they went 16:9 and retired their BVP370s.

Certainly by a decade ago you had LDK100s and similar lightweight cameras that performed very well indeed - and indeed the LDK150 DVCPro camcorder variant was pretty well regarded.

Cameras have got a BIT smaller - but the 2/3" form factor hasn't changed THAT much.


As for lenses there are prosumer cameras that can change lenses so of course they would go for those (or something a bit more robust but not huge). I was amused by an article over on DVINFO about a lens solution for the JVC HD100 which cost more than two or three of the cameras. But if you want that kind of focus control that's what you have to get.


I think the issue is that 2/3" and 1/2" 3 x CCD (poss CMOS) sensors and lenses that suit them are still larger and heavier, so there is an advantage in a larger and heavier back-end to balance this on your shoulder. If you are arguing against shoulder mount then that is a different issue of course.

Other posters have made the valid points about the obvious requirement for reliable XLR and BNC inputs/outputs rather than unreliable phono and 3.5mm jacks, plus a requirement in many deployments for SDI (or HD-SDI) outputs for digital connectivity in the field. (The BBC run SDI to fibre boxes for many of their SNG lives these days - taking SDI digital component rather than poor quality composite to their live trucks)


Of course there are some stations including one locally that have replaced their news cameramen with VJ's using consumer and prosumer cameras.

Yep - I bet they look great...

If you have more than one dockable deck, you can shoot for multiple clients on different formats without having to own multiple cameras.



Yep - that was a very neat idea in the early days of camcorders when Beta SP and MII were kicking around, and Beta before them, though haven't dockable backs kind of died a death?

I certainly haven't heard of XDCam, P2, Infinity - or for that matter DigiBeta - dockable recorders. (ISTR that Beta SX and DV variants may have existed?)

WSOCTV here in Charlotte,NC started today at 6pm. All the broadcasts have looked great. They have various HD tower cams, studio cams, some field cams, chopper 9 going HD this week, and lastly soon their weather will be 100% HD. Here is the link for anyone that wants to read up more on it... WCNC and WBTV now need to play catch up!

http://www.wsoctv.com/hd/12501193/detail.html

No HD News in Boston. WCVB does local news info show "Chronicle" in HD. NESN Red Sox Cable network does Sox and studio shows in HD.

Agreed, where is WCVB on this? Seems everone is dragging there feet round here, they are the closest to getting it done (chronicle and some specials in HD), they even had breaking news in HD (well, once!). Sure, graphics set, new set, HD weather etc, but I will be perfectly content with HD studio shots, even w/ 4:3 graphics, for now!

Agreed, where is WCVB on this? Seems everone is dragging there feet round here, they are the closest to getting it done (chronicle and some specials in HD), they even had breaking news in HD (well, once!). Sure, graphics set, new set, HD weather etc, but I will be perfectly content with HD studio shots, even w/ 4:3 graphics, for now! NewsCenter5 was supposed to have converted to HD in the spring according to rumor. Well, here we are ¹/³ of the way through and still nothing. As the nation's 7th largest market, we're getting treated like the 107th largest market.

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but KING-DT in Seattle has upgraded their news to 100% 16x9 with full HD studio shots and a mix of sd/hd field reports. They also appear to be using sidebars on some stuff. I believe this happened a week or so ago. Before this, they only had 1 HD camera studio shot with limited use.
Seattle now has two stations, KOMO (ABC) and KING (NBC), both doing HD news with DD5.1. Good stuff.

Maybe someone already posted this info, but KFSN 30 (Fresno, CA ABC affiliate) goes HD with their local news today (4/23/07).

All of you folks outside of Boston may have local news in HD (and we don't) but we have the Red Sox (best record in the major leagues...at least at this moment in time)!!! Incidentally, how does HD news in Dolby 5.1 sound?

I doubt any stations have the ability to produce true 5.1 audio. KING is owned by Belo, and I know for a fact that Belo purchased Harris Neustar Multimerge audio processors for all of their stations. The purpose of this device is to clean up and convert all incoming audio to 5.1, regardless of the source being mono, stereo, or network 5.1. Just keeping 6 channels synced with each other through all the editing equipment would be a huge task with all the cuts and different sources in the average news broadcast, all for someing that provides no benefit over stereo.

I just wanted to add, that my local cbs station, wkyt, has a weather guy who's blog i read recently, and he stated that they were one of the few locals HD weather broadcasts right now. All the maps and graphics are in HD.

Does anyone else have their weather done in full HD yet?

WXYZ in Detroit still does the weather in SD, and they've been doing the news in HD for over six months.

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but KING-DT in Seattle has upgraded their news to 100% 16x9 with full HD studio shots and a mix of sd/hd field reports. They also appear to be using sidebars on some stuff. I believe this happened a week or so ago. Before this, they only had 1 HD camera studio shot with limited use.
Seattle now has two stations, KOMO (ABC) and KING (NBC), both doing HD news with DD5.1. Good stuff.
For the sake of accuracy, KOMO says it is actually only doing 16x9 SD. They don't have an HD switcher in their control room. Even though their studio cameras are capable of HD, they are set to wide screen 480i. (It is a common misconception that KOMO is doing news in HD, which has never been the case.) KING took a big step forward last week, adding a good deal of real HD content along with 16x9 SD video from the field.

As for 5.1, I believe KING, KOMO, and KIRO all use audio processors that both pass genunine 5.1 and also flag stereo sources as Dolby Digital, putting most of the audio into the center channel of 5.1 systems. These processors fix the the problems that stations have switching between stereo and 5.1 sources. But, news is still done in stereo, at best.

Does anyone else have their weather done in full HD yet?

KTVU in Oakland/San Francisco has HD weather graphics -- looks GREAT.

KTVU in Oakland/San Francisco has HD weather graphics -- looks GREAT.
WUSA 9 has HD weather graphics (with the exception of the doppler), and they even format maps for full 16:9. (i.e. only one graphic is protected for 4:3, the "9WeatherNow" bar at the top)
They've done this since 2005, when they were 16:9 SD graphics, but later upgraded to real HD last summer.

Incidentally, how does HD news in Dolby 5.1 sound?You could watch NBC Nightly News in HD and DD5.1 -- although other than the music at the beginning and end of the show, and just before commercial breaks, it's practically mono-aural (center speaker only). I've come to the conclusion that DD5.1 news is pointless unless field reports can use 5.1 to simulate what it's like from the cameraman's perspective. For example, if a honk comes from behind the camera and to the left, we should only hear it in the back left speaker in general. The operators must also resist the opportunity to lower the volume from the back speakers too much, and most productions lower the volume too much already...

So stereo should be used for HD news production unless there's absolute diligance in a proper 5.1 mix, and there are a lot of outdoor field reports. Shows with a lack of outdoor reports, like national news, should just remain stereo.

So stereo should be used for HD news production unless there's absolute diligance in a proper 5.1 mix, and there are a lot of outdoor field reports. Shows with a lack of outdoor reports, like national news, should just remain stereo.

I'd be surprised if field reports in stereo were on the cards in the near future.

Most news sound is done with either monaural personal mics (which could be panned in a stereo image if you had time) - often with a pair of mics routed to a track each, or with a single semi-directional mono rifle mic.

Editing is usually done in the relatively simple voice over on one edit track, sync and effects on the other. Trying to keep a sensible stereo image as well would not be something many news teams would be that worried about I'm afraid.

Stereo editing takes longer, requires more attention to detail, and in news editing timescales this isn't always possible. It is also VERY easy to screw up (get one leg out of phase and your mono viewers may hear a lot of silence instead of stuff happening in the middle... And there are LOTS of points in a news chain where audio can get mangled.)

EFP productions have often, historically, used M/S mics to gather stereo audio - but news doesn't really work like this...

Considering that there has been NO increase in ratings from ANY local station doing HD News, put 5.1 in your wish list that isn't even on the radar - but glad you are getting HD News considering it's lack of ratings at this point.

Considering that there has been NO increase in ratings from ANY local station doing HD News, put 5.1 in your wish list that isn't even on the radar - but glad you are getting HD News considering it's lack of ratings at this point.

Is there a ratings source that shows who is watching HD and who isn't? Last I was told by a local ratings guy in DFW was that nielsen doesn't separate out the HD ratings vs. the SD ratings.

I just wanted to add, that my local cbs station, wkyt, has a weather guy who's blog i read recently, and he stated that they were one of the few locals HD weather broadcasts right now. All the maps and graphics are in HD.

Does anyone else have their weather done in full HD yet?

WPVI-ABC in Philly has full HD weather, and HD doppler marketed as "StormTracker6 HD" Looks beautiful. I'm not sure about KYW(CBS) since they just went HD at the beginning of this month, but I'm pretty sure their radar is HD, all the graphics are HD. Make sense they got all new weather equipment since they built everything in that building from the ground up for HD, and did it right.

WSOC Weather is in HD here in Charlotte.

Considering that there has been NO increase in ratings from ANY local station doing HD News, put 5.1 in your wish list that isn't even on the radar - but glad you are getting HD News considering it's lack of ratings at this point.

Well that's not true.

I know because WSOC has gained at least 1 new viewer.

ME.... so I know there is a ratings increase.

Now if that is significant or even measured, is another thing. However there HAS been a rating increase.

Well that's not true.

I know because WSOC has gained at least 1 new viewer.

ME.... so I know there is a ratings increase.

Now if that is significant or even measured, is another thing. However there HAS been a rating increase.

There is no ratings increase if it does not measure in the ratings that count - 1 person is a statistical aberration anyway.

KTVK-DT (Ind, Phoenix, owned by Belo) launched their HD news today. Luckily for us, they seem to have gone all-out with HD graphics for everything. Studio shots are HD with the exception of their "flying" camera, which is widescreen SD. Field reports are widescreen SD. Currently, the helicopter is really poor 4:3 SD, but they expect to have that in HD next month. I have to say that my favorite part was the HD weather graphics. They really look great compared to the SD weather on the other HD news station in town. Without further ado, screencaps from the inaugural 4:30 newscast:
The opening shot
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/9471/20070426ktvk0openvq5.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk0openvq5.jpg)
The title
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/6113/20070426ktvk1introms3.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk1introms3.jpg)
Shot of the anchor
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4887/20070426ktvk2maindeskxt2.th.jpg (http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk2maindeskxt2.jpg)
A live field report
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/521/20070426ktvk3livefieldvm5.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk3livefieldvm5.jpg)
3D terrain/RADAR map
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/449/20070426ktvk5hd3dterraikb0.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk5hd3dterraikb0.jpg)
HD national satellite
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8407/20070426ktvk6hdnatlsatwb9.th.jpg (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk6hdnatlsatwb9.jpg)
Another field shot
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6751/20070426ktvk7snakesz1.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk7snakesz1.jpg)
What we see from the SD chopper right now
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8781/20070426ktvk8sdchopperud7.th.jpg (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk8sdchopperud7.jpg)
The new desk
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8017/20070426ktvk9deskcg1.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk9deskcg1.jpg)
Random cool looking HD shot they had on
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/595/20070426ktvk10closeupsi2.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk10closeupsi2.jpg)

An update:

Our local NBC station, WLEX, just went full HD on their local news and weather, looking good here in Lexington, 2 out of 3 in HD, still waiting on ABC, but their on air personalities, are the ugliest in town, :eek: so i'm not so anxious to see them, LOL

Quite a few stations have done HD on the local news in the past 2-3 months. Has anyone put together an updated list of the stations that now have their locals news in HD?

I don't know what the story is about, but I like the way she's explaining it :D

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/9576/ktvknews1siq4.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070426ktvk9deskcg1.jpg)

In case people missed this story link in the Hot Off the Press thread, seven (!) stations upgraded to HD this week for a total of 45 with HD local news: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6437665. I would guess a major reason for the large number in the same week is that they wanted to go HD at the start of May sweeps to gleam some extra ratings and publicity out of it.

Anyone want to guess how many stations will have HD local news, say by end of September, and then by the end of the year?

KFSN is in HD now, yet another ABC O&O - but they are using some of the worst graphics I've ever seen, they look alot like KABC's graphics. UGLY!

The local CBS affiliate (KTVN) went HD with their newscasts last month. They join KVRN (NBC) and KREN/KAZR (CW/Azteca) in the race for clarity. KREN and KAZR are sister stations and use the same studio for their broadcasts.

I have no idea if the ABC affiliate (KOLO) has any plans to convert, but you'd think they'd have to. I believe they're the oldest television news operation in town.

Anyway, all the HD broadcasts look great to me...

In St Louis, the NBC affiliate KSDK began HD news broadcasts in February, 2006--over a year ago! NBC National news just recently (04/2007) began HD broadcasts of the Nightly News with Brian Williams.

In Cleveland, Ohio NBC, ABC, and Fox in HD.

KARE likely means the first in HDTV news in their city. WUSA-DT here in Wash DC also has a big "First in HDTV" banner at the begining of the news, as well as all news promos throughout the day.

WUSA-DT and KUSA-DT (the tag-team of Gannett-owned stations in Washington, DC and Denver, CO) were the first local HD news stations in their respective cities (further, WUSA-DT is still the only local station to air *all* of their local newscasts in HD). Shockingly, neither is an NBC affiliate (NBC is home to the only national HD newscast outside of HDNews: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams).

The even larger surprise is that despite the overwhelming cost of doing so, NBC actually streams the HD version of "Nightly News". If you have broadband access (but not to OTA HD), you can catch the HD stream at http://nightly.msnbc.com.

Even better, NBC actually streams the HD feed (http://nightly.msnbc.com), so as long as you have broadband Internet access, even your local NBC affiliate or O&O not being up to scratch is no excuse.

Yep - I suspect the BBC stuff is fed 4:3 - because many broadcasters still expect SD=4:3. Interested to know how much BBC stuff gets onto CBS, as the BBC is partnered with ABC in the US. BSkyB (aka Sky News) is partnered with Fox and CBS AIUI, with ITV/ITN partnered with NBC. However I think most broadcasters have looser agreements with each other - though AIUI ABC have closer links with BBC correspondents. (ABC air BBC reports fronted by BBC reporters and attribute them to the BBC?)



360 lines scaled to 1080 doesn't sound that great to me... Think I'd rather have the full 480?



Well physics is physics - if you take a 1080 line broadcast and scale it to 480 you have more resolution than if you scale it to 360 (i.e. letterbox). If you wish to take fuller advantage of the HD resolution and embrace smaller type faces then you need to use the full SD res for downconverts?

The BSkyB/FOX partnership is because both are subsidiaries of the same company (News Corporation). While the BBC is partnered with Disney/ABC/CNN, what the partnership passes on, BBC is free to offer elsewhere (and lately, it's usually been CBS). CNNI offers first pick to ABC (after CNN US) then to CNN's US affiliates (not necessarily ABC affiliates, either; KXAS, the CNN affiliate for Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, is an NBC affiliate, and has been affiliated with CNN for over a decade). Oddly enough, though NBC actually runs the station, KXAS is *not* an NBC O&O (LIN Television still hold a minority interest in KXAS), even though Telemundo DFW and NBCU Distribution have spaces in the KXAS building in Fort Worth.

KLAS CBS news here in Las Vegas have been in HD since last september. I believe everything is in HD including non studio content.

WUSA-DT and KUSA-DT (the tag-team of Gannett-owned stations in Washington, DC and Denver, CO) were the first local HD news stations in their respective cities (further, WUSA-DT is still the only local station to air *all* of their local newscasts in HD). Shockingly, neither is an NBC affiliate...

KUSA is an NBC affiliate.

Well, atleast (finally) Boston will have some HD news. Starting Monday (5-14-07), WCVB will be HD, for news, at 5PM (dunno if its just for the 5PM news, or what)

However, its about time, and good that it will also go with there new set, which is supposed to show up monday , for us viewers.

Cant wait, set your DVR's!

Edit: Seems HD weather too, guess they really want to start with a bang, eh?

Well, atleast (finally) Boston will have some HD news. Starting Monday (5-14-07), WCVB will be HD, for news, at 5PM (dunno if its just for the 5PM news, or what)

However, its about time, and good that it will also go with there new set, which is supposed to show up monday , for us viewers.

Cant wait, set your DVR's!

Edit: Seems HD weather too, guess they really want to start with a bang, eh?
It's about time. It's a travesty that markets that are only a fraction of the size of the Boston market have had local HD now for a year or even longer in some cases. Let's hope that 4, 7 and 25 aren't far behind.

Any time table for KNBC-4 and FOX-11 News' going HD in LA? That would give all local LA news in HD.

Tuned into the 11pm News on ABC7/KGO and it seems like their weather is in full HD now.

Tuned into the 11pm News on ABC7/KGO and it seems like their weather is in full HD now.

I concur. Looks nice!

While their local news is not on the air yet (they're simulcasting sister station KEZI-Eugene), KOHD (ABC) is building a so-called "state-of-the-art" HD broadcast center.

This station in Bend, Oregon is owned by Chambers. Seems odd that they plan to broadcast their local news in HD beginning this Fall. This is market #194!!

Having worked in that market for a couple years, I don't believe the demand is there yet. But, what else would they do? Analog....? We'll see how they do. Word is that Chambers tends to not treat staff well and understaff.

Scripps Taps JVC for HD News

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/4/2007 11:17:00 AM

JVC has won a deal from Scripps Television Station Group to provide its HDV-format camcorders to support high-definition news production at all 10 Scripps stations.

Under the deal, which is by far JVC's biggest win to date for its ProHD format, Scripps will purchase more than 150 GY-HD250 ProHD camcorders, over 150 BR-HD50sProHD recorder/players, more than 300 DR-HD10060G HD hard disk recorders and approximately 100 DTV monitors.

Scripps had previously purchased JVC GY-HD250 cameras for WXYZ-TV, the Scripps ABC-affiliate in Detroit, Mich., to support HD news production there, and has experimented with the ProHD camera's ability to support live microwave feeds in HD.

"Our industry is in the midst of a major technical upgrade to high definition," said Scripps Vice President of Engineering, Michael Doback in a statement. "JVC's ProHD products enable Scripps stations to provide local news coverage—including remotes—in HD. This is the right solution, at the right time, and at the right price."

Scripps stations include ABC affiliates KNXV-TV Phoenix, WFTS-TV Tampa, WMAR-TV Baltimore, WXYZ-TV Detroit, WCPO-TV Cincinnati and WEWS-TV Cleveland; NBC affiliates WPTV West Palm Beach, WSHB-TV Kansas City and KJRH-TV Tulsa; and independent KMCI-TV Lawrence, Kan.

http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6448794.html

Tuned into the 11pm News on ABC7/KGO and it seems like their weather is in full HD now.
Ya, but who needs a weather report in So Cal? Waste of air time IMO.

Ya, but who needs a weather report in So Cal? Waste of air time IMO.Anchor: And now, the weather.

Weatherman: Sunny, 72.

Anchor: The next weather report will be in four days.

-- The Serious News, from "L.A. Story"

Ya, but who needs a weather report in So Cal? Waste of air time IMO.

Really? With the drought and the increase in brush fires, many encroaching on very high cost homes, weather reports are CRITICAL to know how the winds are blowing (and from which direction) and the possibility of rain that could help in fire fighting efforts.

KIRO-DT in Seattle went 16:9 for local news yesterday. Not HD, but much better.

In Seattle, our ABC, NBC, and CBS all do 16:9 news now, with NBC (KING-DT) doing full studio/weather HD.

The MyNetwork affiliate in SF-OAK-SJ DMA (KRON - channel 4) now has HD news. That leaves only the O&O NBC and CBS station with non-HD news.

Update: the MPEG4 feed from D* and OTA HD/Widescreen (you can tell that bottom scroll feed insn't stretched), U-Verse are SD upconvert (must be using the 4-1 subchannel instead of the 4-2 HD subchannel).

So anyone have updates on FOX/NBC O&Os going HD?

Seems like NBC did WNBC, and then just kind of forgot about the rest! :eek:

And who KNOWS what's going on with FOX. My station has the *random* HD studio camera (outputting in 4:3 SD), but the rest of them are SD cameras.

It's kind of sad, because DC's a HUGE market for news, and you would *think* it would be at the top of the companies' priority.
(We've only got ONE station doing HD news: WUSA, Gannett flagship)

ABC is in HD here in MA, but I wish NBC, CBS, and FOX would switch over.

http://mysite.verizon.net/nfriedman/ABC/1.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/nfriedman/ABC/2.jpg

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Nice how the 5HD logo is 16:9. :cool: Are all the graphics non-4:3-protected?

Are all the graphics non-4:3-protected?
I would bet that it's just the logo.

Lets see...in the NY DMA we have:

WABC-DT HD Studio/Weather ONLY
WNBC-DT HD Studio/Weather + 16:9 SD Field Reports
WCBS-DT HD Studio/Weather ONLY

So anyone know what's up with FOX, the CW, and MY9 over here? Ya know, the non-HD news broadcasts?

The MyNetwork affiliate in SF-OAK-SJ DMA (KRON - channel 4) now has HD news. That leaves only the O&O NBC and CBS station with non-HD news.

Update: the MPEG4 feed from D* and OTA HD/Widescreen (you can tell that bottom scroll feed insn't stretched), U-Verse are SD upconvert (must be using the 4-1 subchannel instead of the 4-2 HD subchannel).

Not exactly sure what you are saying in your "update." I watched tonight (via D* MPEG4) and the show was SD widescreen. Looks like they are attempting to remain competitive while not actually providing HD.

I was flipping through channels, and came across tonight's 9:00pm news on KRON. And to my surprise, they're now broadcasting in HD? I would have never thought that KRON would be the third station in the bay area to broadcast their newscast in HD.

Anyone know how long ago they switched?

I was flipping through channels, and came across tonight's 9:00pm news on KRON. And to my surprise, they're now broadcasting in HD?

Take a closer look -- it's not HD, but widescreen SD. At least it was the last time I watched, which was on Friday night.

WPTV Becomes 50th HD News Station

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/6/2007 5:34:00 PM
WPTV, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla., launched high-definition newscasts on Saturday night, Aug. 4, becoming the 50th station in the U.S. to offer at least part of its newscast in HDTV.


It is the second Florida station in as many weeks to launch HDTV news, following the lead of Scripps sister station WFTS Tampa, which began its HD newscasts on July 28. WFTV, the Cox station and ABC affiliate in Orlando, became the first Florida station with HD news in June 2006.


Scripps, which recently tapped JVC's Pro HD high-definition camera format as its newsgathering format of the future, has also launched HD news at WXYZ Detroit and WEWS Cleveland.


"The planning and work behind the scenes to convert our newsroom studio and control room is an all-consuming task and we are proud our team of engineers and station staff are the first to serve South Florida viewers in HD," said WPTV director of engineering Dave McKinley in a statement. "This is a great culmination of months of hard work by our entire team."

http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6465990.html

I noticed at the end of WABC-TV (ABC New York, NY O&O) 6:00pm news that the sports "Live shots" were in 16x9. Does anyone know if they finally switched over from 4x3? The live shot from Cooperstown, NY looked especially good for being so far away.

Summary of Local HDTV/EDTV Newscasts in Florida (In Chronological Order)
Orlando: WFTV (http://www.wftv.com/hdtv/index.html)/WRDQ (http://www.wftv.com/news/10723248/detail.html) (HDTV)
Fort Myers: WZVN (http://www.abc-7.com/articles/readnews.asp?articleid=13460&z=2&p=) (EDTV)
Tampa: WFTS (http://www.abcactionnews.com/content/about/hdtv/default.aspx) (HDTV)
West Palm Beach: WPTV (http://www.wptv.com/content/about5/hdtv/default.aspx) (HDTV)
Tallahassee: WTXL (http://www.wtxl.tv/global/story.asp?s=6924398) (HDTV)

Cross-posting for added visibility.

Please note any corrections/additions.

Stations with HD News

DMA City State ABC CBS FOX NBC CW MNTV IND
--- -------------- ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
1 New York NY WABC WCBS WNBC
2 Los Angeles CA KABC KCBS KTLA KCAL
3 Chicago IL WLS
4 Philadelphia PA WPVI KYW WTXF
5 San Francisco CA KGO KTVU
6 Dallas TX WFAA
7 Boston MA WCVB
8 Washington DC WUSA
9 Atlanta GA WSB WXIA WATL
10 Houston TX KTRK KHOU
11 Detroit MI WXYZ WDIV
12 Tampa FL WFTS
13 Phoenix AZ KNXV KPNX KTVK
14 Seattle WA KING
15 Minneapolis MN KARE
16 Miami FL
17 Cleveland OH WEWS WJW WKYC
18 Denver CO KUSA KTVD
19 Orlando FL WFTV WRDQ
20 Sacramento CA KCRA KQCA
21 St. Louis MO KSDK
22 Pittsburgh PA
23 Portland OR
24 Baltimore MD
25 Indianapolis IN WTHR
26 Charlotte NC WSOC
27 San Diego CA KFMB
28 Hartford CT
29 Raleigh NC WRAL WRAZ
30 Nashville TN WTVF
31 Kansas City MO
32 Columbus OH WBNS
33 Milwaukee WI
34 Cincinnati OH WCPO
35 Salt Lake City UT

38 West Palm Beach FL WPTV
43 Las Vegas NV KLAS KVBC
55 Fresno CA KFSN
63 Lexington KY WKYT WLEX
70 Tucson AZ KVOA
108 Tallahassee FL WTXL
110 Reno NV KRNV KREN KAZA


Not HD News (A list of stations broadcasting 16:9 EDTV News)

KRON San Francisco, CA
KOMO Seattle, WA
KIRO Seattle, WA
KSL Salt Lake City, UT
WZVN Ft. Myers, FL

Assuming your nice chart is those who do HD News (of some sort), forgot one! WCVB , Boston does HD news (in studio only, atleast)

KABC in Los Angeles should be on the list.

Could you decrease the table width or increase the window width so it will eliminate the horizontal scroll.

KMBC in Kansas City will be launching HD news as early as August 20th...

http://www.tvpredictions.com/kmbc081307.htm

Also, to add to that list... In Atlanta, WXIA produces a 10pm newscast for WATL (MNTV) in HD.

Seattle - KOMO (ABC) is not HD. Just 16:9 SD. KIRO (CBS) also went 16:9 SD earlier this summer. KING (NBC) is the only Seattle station doing news in HD.

Also, KING's newscasts on its duopoly station KONG are in HD as well.

KTRK (ABC O&O) in Houston began a soft-launch of HD news this week.

More details will likely be forthcoming in the near future when they officially launch it.

WDIV in Detroit is now doing HD news.

Out of interest - how HD are the HD local newscasts on stations that have upgraded?

In the main is it HD studio shots (and HD helicopters in some cases), but SD live remotes and "taped"(*) reports (in 4:3 or 16:9 SD upconverted), or are a lot of stations shooting and editing "taped"(*) reports in HD, and doing live remotes in HD?

(*) I realise that "taped" may be an anachronistic term if stations are using hard disc, optical disc or flash memory rather than tape to shoot material, and presumably most stations now edit non-linear and playout from server rather than physically cutting to tape and playing out from VTRs ?

Out of interest - how HD are the HD local newscasts on stations that have upgraded?

Most stations are doing either 4:3 SD or 16:9 SD remote shots because we are in the process of converting from analog remote microwave to digital remote microwave due to one of the nationwide wireless carriers (Sprint/NEXTEL) has "purchased" the bottom end of the broadcast 2 GHz ENG band and in exchange, NEXTEL has to replace EVERY piece of 2 GHZ analog ENG equipment nationwide including remote steering systems and antennas if what the stations have is not compatable with current specs. The end result is this should not be a burden to the stations in any way and NEXTEL can't delete service or features in the conversion either. The stations must have at least what they had before in analog. The upside for stations is that we get all new ENG digital gear that will allow HD remote shots and HD package transport back to the station via ENG links - FREE!

The changeout has just started and they say it will take a couple of years to completely change out the whole conuntry, so stations are looking at that as a catalyst to look at doing HD news. Only a couple of stations do total HD news now, studio as well as in the field. WRAL in Raleigh, NC being the first to do wall-to-wall HD news in 2001.

Miami Update
WDIV's sister station in Miami, WPLG-TV, will be going HD after they move into their new facility in 2009. Nothing on WTVJ in Miami yet. WFOR in Miami is rumored (http://www.exigi.com/fltv/2007/08/18/7s-complete-hd-overhaul/) to be close to HD and WSVN seems to have announced (http://www.exigi.com/fltv/2007/08/18/7s-complete-hd-overhaul/) an HD redo is coming soon.

If WSVN is going HD, WHDH/WLVI in Boston can't be too far behind.

Add WCPO-DT(ABC) Cincinnati to the list! First HD Newscast was this evening's at 6. Looks awesome. Remotes are either HD/SD widescreen/SD w/bars.

Also, WHIO-DT(CBS) Dayton has been broadcasting SD Widescreen for its newscasts since April of this year. Hopefully Cox will complete the upgrade to HD.

You can also ironically, add WDIV to the list as well. Seems like they went HD tonight too!

You can also ironically, add WDIV to the list as well. Seems like they went HD tonight too!
They went HD on Saturday, and I already mentioned them in this thread. :)

Most stations are doing either 4:3 SD or 16:9 SD remote shots because we are in the process of converting from analog remote microwave to digital remote microwave due to one of the nationwide wireless carriers (Sprint/NEXTEL) has "purchased" the bottom end of the broadcast 2 GHz ENG band and in exchange, NEXTEL has to replace EVERY piece of 2 GHZ analog ENG equipment nationwide including remote steering systems and antennas if what the stations have is not compatable with current specs. The end result is this should not be a burden to the stations in any way and NEXTEL can't delete service or features in the conversion either. The stations must have at least what they had before in analog. The upside for stations is that we get all new ENG digital gear that will allow HD remote shots and HD package transport back to the station via ENG links - FREE!

The changeout has just started and they say it will take a couple of years to completely change out the whole conuntry, so stations are looking at that as a catalyst to look at doing HD news. Only a couple of stations do total HD news now, studio as well as in the field. WRAL in Raleigh, NC being the first to do wall-to-wall HD news in 2001.

Ah - interesting. Over here SNG has kind of replaced microwave links for news live shots in most regions, probably because our regional TV arrangement is so different (we have fewer local TV operations spread widely apart, and the previous microwave infrastructure was pretty poor at providing decent coverage across the regions) Analogue microwave gear is still in use in some metropolitan areas (like London!) - but most curent DSNG trucks are digital component, and component fibre and radio camera links are used to allow a component signal path from end to end.

The one major change to newsgathering in metropolitan areas though, is the advent of city-wide digital radio camera receiver grids, allowing live remotes in our smaller cities to be done by a cordless single camera, without requiring a full live truck. In many cases the cordless camera works fine on its own, but most stations using the technology also have on-channel repeaters on the crew cars, allowing the signal to be boosted and longer range links.

Digital microwave circuits ARE being used for point-to-point links - but these are usually for production links, not news, where fibre isn't available.

DSNG is used here also, but very few stations use DSNG exclusively. DSNG as in the role of a Sprinter/Econoline ENG van is also not widespread here but it is growing with the Sprinter's getting most of the work for those since the DSNG dishes are small enough to be carried on Sprinter vans, something the old style big box were needed to carry the old analog SNG dishes. Sprinters are a new thing here in the US having been introduced a few years back when Daimler bought Chrysler. I am not sure how they will continue with them now since Daimler has sold Chrysler.

Most stations already have one big box van SNG that they have converted to DSNG and use Econoline vans for ENG. Some stations are getting the Sprinter vans (and a few have taken the cost plunge and bought Hummers!) and have both DSNG and ENG on them to use when beyond ENG range. Since our markets are pretty much what our coverage area is off of one transmitter, having several ENG receive sites with 7 GHz and 13 GHz intercity links is very common and in the long run is cheaper than buying DSNG time. Particularly when you have breaking news that last for hours like a major fire or hostage situation, even at $50 for 10 minutes, can get into some real bucks that local stations are not set up to handle so the capital outlay for ENG becomes very reasonable and every station I know who has ENG uses it everyday in a way we call, "being live for the sake of live" even if it is pitch black dark and the event ended hours before and all you see is the lighted reporter. (News people!!) You couldn't do things like that with DSNG on Sprinter vans on a day to day basis like we do now due to the cost. Even the NYC and LA stations continue to use traditional ENG (still analog at this time) for the major part of their newscasts and chopper reports, but many have/are now installing HD cameras and DENG links on the choppers in NYC and LA and it has moved down to some medium size markets as well. I think most are waiting on NEXTEL to buy it for them and I can't blame them.

First, the Nextel microwave upgrades started in 2005, and they have until mid 2008 to finish...it's just a slow process. Info: http://www.2ghzrelocation.com

Also, KPTV (FOX) and KOIN (CBS) in Portland (DMA 23) are both broadcasting 16x9 SD news.

DSNG is used here also, but very few stations use DSNG exclusively. DSNG as in the role of a Sprinter/Econoline ENG van is also not widespread here but it is growing with the Sprinter's getting most of the work for those since the DSNG dishes are small enough to be carried on Sprinter vans, something the old style big box were needed to carry the old analog SNG dishes. Sprinters are a new thing here in the US having been introduced a few years back when Daimler bought Chrysler. I am not sure how they will continue with them now since Daimler has sold Chrysler.

Most stations already have one big box van SNG that they have converted to DSNG and use Econoline vans for ENG. Some stations are getting the Sprinter vans (and a few have taken the cost plunge and bought Hummers!) and have both DSNG and ENG on them to use when beyond ENG range. Since our markets are pretty much what our coverage area is off of one transmitter, having several ENG receive sites with 7 GHz and 13 GHz intercity links is very common and in the long run is cheaper than buying DSNG time. Particularly when you have breaking news that last for hours like a major fire or hostage situation, even at $50 for 10 minutes, can get into some real bucks that local stations are not set up to handle so the capital outlay for ENG becomes very reasonable and every station I know who has ENG uses it everyday in a way we call, "being live for the sake of live" even if it is pitch black dark and the event ended hours before and all you see is the lighted reporter. (News people!!) You couldn't do things like that with DSNG on Sprinter vans on a day to day basis like we do now due to the cost. Even the NYC and LA stations continue to use traditional ENG (still analog at this time) for the major part of their newscasts and chopper reports, but many have/are now installing HD cameras and DENG links on the choppers in NYC and LA and it has moved down to some medium size markets as well. I think most are waiting on NEXTEL to buy it for them and I can't blame them.

Ah - analogue satellite news gathering hasn't been used over here for well over 10 years, and wasn't used much for regional news (many regions had no analogue satellite gear at all - and DID rely on microwave links at this point - compromising on the patchy coverage the technology provided), and have been using small dishes for years. Sprinters are the standard for most DSNG trucks - though there are now smaller vehicles running the Upod system (effectively Volvo estate cars - station wagons in US English? - or similar with a pod on their roof rails) which doesn't require an SNG trained engineer for operation. (They are controlled semi-automatically)

In the UK almost no regional news programme lasts longer than 30 minutes - the concept is totally different to the US model - so transponder time is far less of an issue, and most news broadcasters have bought out permanently leased transponders for news purposes.

In the UK almost no regional news programme lasts longer than 30 minutes - the concept is totally different to the US model - so transponder time is far less of an issue, and most news broadcasters have bought out permanently leased transponders for news purposes.

US licensees have to provide "public service" and "in public need" for "localism" for license renewal and to help provide that, we will go wall to wall for hours on end when something like a major fire, or car chase or something like that is happening locally and that goes into that "public need" category when license renewal comes up, plus, news has become a big money maker for the bigger stations and the competition is very keen and stuff like this goes a long way for the ratings so yeah, we don't mind spending up front for intrastucture like intercity microwave links and multiple ENG trucks to cover a single event to save the uplink charges. Now if a cable channel like CNN or MSNBC or FOX News Channel wants a local station to provide coverage, then we use their sat time that they buy in huge time blocks and it is not uncommon to stay up on the bird for hours at a time when they get interested in a local story or for huricane coverage.

Now if a cable channel like CNN or MSNBC or FOX News Channel wants a local station to provide coverage, then we use their sat time that they buy in huge time blocks and it is not uncommon to stay up on the bird for hours at a time when they get interested in a local story or for huricane coverage.

Yep - almost all UK network trucks are dual- or triple-path capable - allowing tape feeds and live reports to take place simultaneously from the same truck, or allowing live reports from separate anchors onto two different networks. (The BBC have standalone news bulletins on BBC One, but also have a continuous news channel or two - BBC News 24 and BBC World - and it isn't unusual to have separate reporters live on different outlets at the same time from the same truck, and extra audio channels are often allocated to radio reporters on the same site)

US stations are far more autonomous than UK ones - the UK regional programming is strictly scheduled, and it would have to be a HUGE story for a region to "opt-out" of networked programmes. (It does happen very occasionally)

(And to keep it on topic - the BBC have just converted their last UK regional news operation to 16:9 SD, after starting the conversion in 2000 when all BBC One/Two network news switched - News 24 having been SD 16:9 since launch in 1997. Only the Channel Islands operation in Jersey - which isn't strictly in the UK - is still 4:3 ARCed to 14:9 pillarbox. AIUI the new BBC Glasgow Pacific Quay operation has HD studios for their local news, though this will be broadcast SD for the foreseeable future.)

As of today, Kansas City finally has high definition local news. The ABC affiliate, KMBC 9 moved into their new studios and went live with their HD news at 5 p.m. today. It looks pretty good.

According to reports in the Greenville SC local reception forum, WSPA-DT in Spartanburg SC has switched its local news to HD as of yesterday (Monday 9/17). I haven't seen it yet myself, but I'll be sure to tune in tomorrow (oops, today). I haven't been watching them very much because their SD upconverted to HD has been the worst among the local stations, giving their anchorpeople a slightly ghastly appearance.

Ironically, just a few hours ago I was watching the 11pm news on WSOC-DT in Charlotte, which until now has been the only station in my viewing range with HD local news. But it comes in only occasionally at night, and Charlotte isn't really very "local" for me anyway. :p

Tonight I discovered that our CW affiliate, WYCW, has also switched its 10pm news to HD. It figures, because it and WSPA (CBS) are both owned by Media General and share the same production facilities and anchorpeople. The two stations must have both switched last week, but I didn't think to check WYCW until tonight.

The studio "look" of the two stations is similar, with different logos of course. I think they use different desks in the same studio, but I haven't seen enough overall pan shots to be able to piece things together. They both stretch 4:3 material from field cameras to fill the 16:9 frame, and they do it non-uniformly with more stretching at the edges. The distortion is very noticeable in scenes with a regular background (e.g. a picket fence or row of windows on a building), and when the camera pans around. :(

Anyone know whether FOX 5 or CW 11 news in NY is planning to go HD anytime soon?

Dallas now has 4 HD local newscasts: NBC (KXAS 5), ABC(WFAA 8), CBS(KTVT 11), TXA 21(owned my KTVT)

I guess it will be a long time before we get our news in HD here in Knoxville. None of our stations show any local programming in HD, even those that are like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. One station had a special they shot in HD, looked good and well done. Another station shows their commercials they shoot in HD, they are an indepedent and have no news programming.

None of our stations show any local programming in HD, even those that are like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

You are much less likely to get Wheel and Jeopardy in HD than local programming. Stations need to have the equipment to record and play back those programs in HD, which is much more difficult than having a few HD studio cameras which go straight through in HD. Which is why network programming is the only stuff in HD--it just goes straight through without any recording.

Anyone know whether FOX 5 or CW 11 news in NY is planning to go HD anytime soon?

Don't think so, FOX looks really ugly in SD.

Cleveland is up to a full complement of four local newscasts in HD, as CBS affil WOIO/19 has converted its newscast to HD. That also includes their 10 PM newscast on sister MyNetwork WUAB/43.

There are no more SD newscasts in Cleveland. (A cable news operation in Akron linked to the NBC affiliate is still in SD, as is a small market newscast on the edge of the market in Mansfield, but the "biggies" are all in HDTV now.)

Out of interest - how HD are the HD local newscasts on stations that have upgraded?

In the main is it HD studio shots (and HD helicopters in some cases), but SD live remotes and "taped"(*) reports (in 4:3 or 16:9 SD upconverted), or are a lot of stations shooting and editing "taped"(*) reports in HD, and doing live remotes in HD?

(*) I realise that "taped" may be an anachronistic term if stations are using hard disc, optical disc or flash memory rather than tape to shoot material, and presumably most stations now edit non-linear and playout from server rather than physically cutting to tape and playing out from VTRs ?

From what I can tell for Dallas:

- KXAS(NBC) is HD in studio only, and 4:3 with the same blue bars NBC uses nationally. Weather graphics are in HD. No HD sports highlights.

- WFAA(ABC) is totally HD and actually broadcasts in 1080i unlike all other ABC affiliates. Elaborate HD studio sets, HD on remotes, HD on heli-cams, Incredible HD weather maps(looks like you're displaying a program on your own computer), and some highlights in HD(never from the NFL and we know how their sports people feel about the NFL). The only 4:3 you get is stock footage. Sometimes that is even upconverted and I saw one story stretched. Otherwise, greatness. Really gives the impression they did a lot of research and put all their eggs into going HD.

KTVT(CBS) is totally HD. A couple of really nice HD sets(one yellow, one blue ), all HD cams on remotes, HD on the chopper. Some HD highlights. Very nice weather graphics, but not up to WFAA standards, and on some you can see jaggies. Great job though.

KTXA(KTVT owned, former UPN affiliate) is totally HD. Nice red colored set. Gets all of what KTVT gets.

I like their bright sunny look of KTVT vs WFAAs, but WFAA is just outstanding from the opening graphic to the end as far as HD goes and they've ramped up their music. Flat panels everywhere. Just a great presentation. All look great though. What's funny is that like with other HD, now its hard to watch news that's not in HD. Even KXAS is hard to watch vs WFAA and KTVT with everything they can get in HD.

Neat video on KYW's HD studio, they talk to the engineers and talk in some detail about construction of the new building, wiring it up, etc etc.

Watch it here (http://cbs3.com/specialreports/CBS.3.Engineers.2.605760.html)

They love touting that they are the first TV station in the US to build an HD studio from the ground up. After watching for a few months(they went live on 4/2/07), it looks fantastic. They never forget to "flip the switch" either, and have no subchannels(god I hope that stays!)