The 49th Grammys on CBS in HDTV & DD5.1
Live, from Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA
8pm ET


Blunt, T.I. Added As Performers

R&B legends Earth, Wind & Fire will also join Mary J. Blige and Ludacris on 49th GRAMMY Awards

From GRAMMY.com

The Recording Academy announced today that current multi-nominees singer/songwriter James Blunt and rapper T.I. will perform on the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards, and six-time GRAMMY winners Earth, Wind & Fire will join previously announced performers Mary J. Blige and Ludacris in a special GRAMMY segment.

Presenters added to the all-star lineup include multi-GRAMMY winners Burt Bacharach, Natalie Cole, and Reba McEntire, rapper/actor Common as well as actors Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders ("How I Met Your Mother"), actress/singer Mandy Moore, Academy Award winner Quentin Tarantino, and actor Luke Wilson.

Singer/songwriter James Blunt has five GRAMMY nominations: Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "You're Beautiful," Best Pop Vocal Album for Back To Bedlam, and Best New Artist.

Rapper T.I. has four nods for Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song for "What You Know," Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "My Love" (with Justin Timberlake), and Best Rap Album for King.

Previously announced performers include Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Chris Brown, the Dixie Chicks, Gnarls Barkley, Wyclef Jean, John Legend, John Mayer, Corinne Bailey Rae, Rascal Flatts, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Shakira, Justin Timberlake (solo performance and with the winner of the "My GRAMMY Moment" competition), the Police, and Carrie Underwood. Previously announced presenters include Joan Baez, Natasha Bedingfield, Tony Bennett, Lewis Black, the Black Eyed Peas, Nicolas Cage, Ciara, Ornette Coleman, Melissa Etheridge, Nelly Furtado, Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, Samuel L. Jackson, Queen Latifah, Pink, Rihanna, LeAnn Rimes, Chris Rock, Nicole Scherzinger (of the Pussycat Dolls), Seal, David Spade ("Rules of Engagement"), and Stevie Wonder.

The 49th GRAMMY Awards will take place live on Sunday, Feb. 11, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound on the CBS Television Network at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). The show also will be supported on radio via Westwood One worldwide and XM Satellite Radio, and covered online at GRAMMY.yahoo.com.

Nominees for the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

RECORD OF THE YEAR
"Be Without You," Mary J. Blige
"You're Beautiful," James Blunt
"Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks
"Crazy," Gnarls Barkley
"Put Your Records On," Corinne Bailey Rae

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
"Taking the Long Way," Dixie Chicks
"St. Elsewhere," Gnarls Barkley
"Continuum," John Mayer
"Stadium Arcadium," Red Hot Chili Peppers
" FutureSex/LoveSounds," Justin Timberlake

SONG OF THE YEAR
"Be Without You"
Johnta Austin, Mary J. Blige, Bryan-Michael Cox & Jason Perry, songwriters (Mary J. Blige)

"Jesus, Take The Wheel"
Brett James, Hillary Lindsey & Gordie Sampson, songwriters (Carrie Underwood)

"Not Ready To Make Nice"
Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison & Dan Wilson, songwriters (Dixie Chicks)

"Put Your Records On" John Beck, Steve Chrisanthou & Corinne Bailey Rae, songwriters (Corinne Bailey Rae)

"You're Beautiful"
James Blunt, Amanda Ghost & Sacha Skarbek, songwriters (James Blunt)

BEST NEW ARTIST
James Blunt
Chris Brown
Imogen Heap
Corinne Bailey Rae
Carrie Underwood

NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY:
· Pop, Dance, Traditional Pop and Rock
· Alternative, R&B, Rap and Country
· New Age, Jazz, Gospel and Latin
· Blues, Folk, Reggae and World Music
· Musical Show, Film/TV/Visual Media and Composing and Arranging
· Package, Album Notes, Historical
· Production, Non-Classical; Surround Sound; Production, Classical; Classical; Music Video

As expected, The Police open things up.

Very Nice PQ ..

...and sound.

Wow. I really enjoyed that. Deja vu 1984. I hope they'll be on again and do Everything She Does is Magic, but I suspect they'll do Every Breath She Takes instead.

Can I turn it off now?

Looks and sounds great TWCNY.
I’m psyched!

If you have an audio/video problem - pls add the station, OTA or Cable or DTV, etc...

Wow. I really enjoyed that. Deja vu 1984. I hope they'll be on again and do Everything She Does is Magic, but I suspect they'll do Every Breath She Takes instead.I vote for 'When the world is running down'.

If you have an audio/video problem - pls add the station, OTA or Cable or DTV, etc...
Hi Bob,

Perfect so far on WWJ-DT CBS Detroit via Comcast.

Hi Bob,

Perfect so far on WWJ-DT CBS Detroit via Comcast.


We made a few calls/emails to a few stations this week...... things should be better

If you have an audio/video problem - pls add the station, OTA or Cable or DTV, etc...
Dolby Digital cutting in and out in Salem, MA - WBZ-DT via Comcast HD (804) and through TiVo Series 3 - anyone experiencing this?

Absolutely fine via Comcast CBS-4 Boston. Whoever is producing the Grammy's this year is doing an amazing job mixing the sound.

Great PQ and sound so far on WWJ-DT Detroit OTA as well.

p.

Looks and sounds great...just as I would expect from this crew. These are the TOP people in television working on this show. It's basically the same crew that does it every year. Lighting Design is stunning, music mix is pretty good (though I felt the Dixie Chicks vocals were buried -- might've just been here though).

On the other hand all that fog and haze in there for the lighting effects is diffusing the picture slightly.

Great PQ and AQ. KYW-DT via Verizon FiOS.

...and sound.
Not here the DD is cutting in and out and many echos?

I am receiving it OTA. very very poor audio

We made a few calls/emails to a few stations this week...... things should be better
The journey to perfection never ends.

Not here the DD is cutting in and out and many echos?

I am receiving it OTA. very very poor audio


call letters?

Great PQ and AQ. KYW-DT via OTA :D

Dolby Digital cutting in and out in Salem, MA - WBZ-DT via Comcast HD (804) and through TiVo Series 3 - anyone experiencing this?
Yes same here very bad now after first commercial seems better.I am receiving it OTA.

Damn the close ups of Beyonce were awesome

Beyonce = HOTTTTT

PQ and Audio is stunning OTA from KMTV-DT here in Nebraska.

As requested, please include station call letters with all issue reports.

The Grammy's now has American Idol with Justin Timberlake. WTF?

From the early reports, Bob, congratulations!

Can't wait to see the west coast feed. :)

Absolutely fine via Comcast CBS-4 Boston. Whoever is producing the Grammy's this year is doing an amazing job mixing the sound.

Agreed; it's excellent. Turn it up!

Pore-vision HD with Justin Timberlake! (or Stevie Wonder Jr. as I like to call him)

I'm digging the animation package...looks great in HD. If that's Allen Wells' work...great job as usual. Dug the 16:9 lipstick camera on Justin Timberlake...although that announce to bring on Pink and TI was a cluster..

Dolby Digital cutting in and out in Salem, MA - WBZ-DT via Comcast HD (804) and through TiVo Series 3 - anyone experiencing this?
Audio has been fine since local break at the bottom of the hour.

Pore-vision HD with Justin Timberlake! (or Stevie Wonder Jr. as I like to call him)

Looks like a 16:9 snake-cam (LED light optional). Look for the wireless version next year :-).

Audio has been fine since local break at the bottom of the hour.
I'll follow up
thanks
Bob

Looks like total crap here in coastal South Carolina on WCSC DT. Lots of pixelation.

Time Warner Cable

Looks and sounds great on W*USA via Comcast in DC.

WTSP in Tampa is breaking up on BHN during the John Legend\John Mayer\Corine Bailey Rae portion

Pore-vision HD with Justin Timberlake! (or Stevie Wonder Jr. as I like to call him)

Why Stevie Wonder Jr.?

Justin Timberlake = Terrible.

Damn I love the way he plays guitar! Holy $hit he's good

Pore-vision HD with Justin Timberlake! (or Stevie Wonder Jr. as I like to call him)
You never saw Stevie at that age, did you? He was quite a bit more accomplished. Timberlake is 26, with two very popular solo albums to his credit.

Here is Stevie Wonder, age 26:
1962 A Tribute to Uncle Ray Motown
1962 The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie Wonder Motown
1963 Workout Stevie, Workout Tamla
1963 Little Stevie Wonder Motown
1963 The 12 Year Old Genius Motown
1963 With A Song in My Heart Motown
1964 A Call It Pretty Music Stateside
1964 Stevie at the Beach Tamla
1965 Stevie Wonder Motown
1966 Down to Earth Motown
1966 Up-Tight (Everything's Alright) Motown
1967 Down to Earth/I Was Made to Love Her Motown
1967 I Was Made to Love Her Motown
1967 Someday at Christmas Motown
1968 Eivets Rednow...Alfie Motown
1968 Alfie Motown
1968 For Once in My Life/Uptight Motown
1968 For Once in My Life Motown
1969 My Cherie Amour Motown
1970 Stevie Wonder Live Tamla
1970 Talk of the Town Motown
1970 Signed, Sealed & Delivered Motown
1971 Where I'm Coming From Motown
1972 Music of My Mind Motown
1972 Talking Book Motown
1973 Innervisions Motown
1974 Fulfillingness' First Finale Motown
1976 Portrait EMI
1976 Songs in the Key of Life Motown

I'd think Innervisions alone would do the trick.

I've always hated live musical performances on television, especially during awards shows. They are often overproduced, horribly mixed, and all-in-all not that entertaining. I always look forward to them, and am always disappointed. Tonight's performances, the production of them, and the amazing audio mix makes this the first time I have ever not been disappointed!

Great set, wonderful performance- Rae, Legend and Mayer..

Corinne Bailey Rae, what a beautiful voice.

Damn I love the way he plays guitar! Holy $hit he's goodYeah, John Mayer is good, Prince is better though. And he just won best pop vocalist? Heh. OK, whatever. Definitely from the Stevie Ray Vaughan mold.

Hey who was that piano player up there with him?

Great set, wonderful performance- Rae, Legend and Mayer..

Corinne Bailey Rae, what a beautiful voice.

It was very good!! Amazing voice..

Hey who was that piano player up there with him?

That amazing talent would be John Legend...

Nice day for CBS, Pebble Beach & The Grammy's...

Looks and sounds great. That set with Legend/Mayer et. al. kicked.

Made all that cash spend & tears wept getting right with HD worth it !

I've always hated live musical performances on television, ....am always disappointed. Tonight's performances, the production of them, and the amazing audio mix makes this the first time I have ever not been disappointed!Then I guess you missed last years Grammys. :cool:

Tonight, so far soooo good.

Yeah, John Mayer is good, Prince is better though. And he just won best pop vocalist? Heh. OK, whatever. Definitely from the Stevie Ray Vaughan mold.

Hey who was that piano player up there with him?

John Legend

damn.. i really wish they would air this live in the west coast lol.

Looks like total crap here in coastal South Carolina on WCSC DT. Lots of pixelation.

Time Warner Cable

Are they running any second channels??

Major kudos to a couple of people:

Bob Dickinson - the lighting design is incredible...it looks beautiful when the presenters take the stage. No stone left unturned, I've yet to see a shot that looks horrible in HD. I know there's got to be like 700 moving lights out there.

Ricky Minor (bald bass player: musical director) -- music direction is top notch..the house band that played behind John Legend and company sounded great.

Ken Ehrlich for putting on a good show tonight so far all good performances...usually its hit and miss but im impressed.

Then I guess you missed last years Grammys. :cool:
I saw only part of last year. Audio seems even better this year.

Great set, wonderful performance- Rae, Legend and Mayer..

Corinne Bailey Rae, what a beautiful voice.

Agree. First time hearing her sing live....

blurring on the motion wide shots (reminiscent of NBC NFL games) during the Shakira performance. WBZ-TV OTA. Wyclef isn't singing at all, until the rap part. But this is just about the picture, right?

Agree. First time hearing her sing live....First time I caught her was on SNL. Keep an eye out for the rerun. :cool:

You never saw Stevie at that age, did you? He was quite a bit more accomplished. Timberlake is 26, with two very popular solo albums to his credit.Ken, I'm aware what Stevie has done, just who Justin himself has admitted to trying to emulate.

It shows you how much the music industry has changed in the past 30 years. But we were lucky to have such amazing artists as Stevie, The Beetles, Motown, Stax/Volt, etc all existing at one time.

It was funny to hear that girl from the Black Eyed Peas reading off the teleprompter about Booker T and the MGs, their direct forefathers, while she had no idea who they were.

blurring on the motion wide shots (reminiscent of NBC NFL games) during the Shakira performance. WBZ-TV OTA. Wyclef isn't singing at all, until the rap part. But this is just about the picture, right?

Yea those wall projections are Barco iLites it looks like. They're tiny LED displays (like jumbotron displays in stadiums but like 1x1" and form a wall), they're not reproducing well. I switched to D* and it was really bad with that added compression. By the way WTF is with the botched announce carts?! That's twice now.

By the way WTF is with the botched announce carts?!

Just bang 'em on the console... works every time !!!!

Are they running any second channels??

I believe that they have a doppler radar channel via OTA. At least they used to. I havent done the OTA thing in a few years. Its not available thru TWC

Boo on the coverage for the Dixie Chicks.

It’s almost like the director was giving them every chance in the world to make a sound bite.

Why do they play the “get off the stage music” for others who are in the middle of saying something but when this Chick has nothing to say they give her all the time she needs?

Boo on the coverage for the Dixie Chicks.

It’s almost like the director was giving them every chance in the world to make a sound bite.

Why do they play the “get off the stage music” for others who are in the middle of saying something but when this Chick has nothing to say they give her all the time she needs?

No clue!! But I was really upset when they did that to Mary J, that was a great moment for her. GIVE HER TIME!!

...we were lucky to have such amazing artists as Stevie, The Beetles, Motown, Stax/Volt, etc all existing at one time...

I was just saying this to somebody again today. And on AM radio (remember?).

Boo on the coverage for the Dixie Chicks.

It’s almost like the director was giving them every chance in the world to make a sound bite.

Why do they play the “get off the stage music” for others who are in the middle of saying something but when this Chick has nothing to say they give her all the time she needs?


Hollywood politics

I was just saying this to somebody again today. And on AM radio (remember?).AM? What's Radio??????:confused:

Who was that guy who just performed that 60's shouter type song? Charles Barkley something. That was a lot of fun.

Ludacris- best acceptance speech so far…. Too funny. :D

AM? What's Radio??????:confused:


I think thats a new channel on Sirius :D

Sometimes I think they're too quick on the "play-em-off" trigger. As long as someone doesnt go exceptionally long I say let em have their moment. That's what the show is all about at heart is the handing out of awards. That's a telling statement about the nature of TV these days, when we're more concerned with getting off at 11 so local news can come on on time, rather than indulge in a moment that makes for great momentous television. In that way I think (and I've worked around a number of awards shows) are somewhat hypocritical in approach.

Ludacris- best acceptance speech so far…. Too funny. :D


Loved the shout-out to Bill O'Reilly

So far this is one of the best-looking HDTV broadcasts on my current provider.

I was blown away by the Gnarls Barkley performance.

Overall production quality is stellar and PQ is nothing short of stunning on KYW-DT on Comcast.

Great performance by Mary J. BEAUTIFUL!!

I'm watching on a delay (Shakira just finished shakin' that booty), but wanted to echo the great production quality commets. This looks and sounds superb on KHOU in Houston.

Oops, another announcer miscue over Seal...

Let's keep giving the Dixie Chicks air time!

By far the best awards show to date. Best picture and production by a long shot. Its been pretty much perfection thus far.

Stunning picture and production.

WCBS-DT via Cablevision

Hurrah for Canada's Dixie Chicks ... it is nice to see that they were not punished for standing up for what they believe (and what is right)!

The scary part is i know the Oscars will probably look better. For most of us who are used to seeing mostly sporting events and episodic dramas in HD, its a rare treat to see a live event in HD done exceptionally well. TV is all about the closeup and I'll tell ya the closeups are amazing on this show. This is probably the most difficult show to pull off technically (its no small feat to go from Cee-Loo, to a 30 piece orchestra for Mary J. Blige in the space of a commerical break and have it all WORK!).We're talking 600 microphones, 10 audio consoles, 600 - 800 moving lights, 20 cameras, etc. On top of that this show generally only gets one full dress runthru (unlike the Oscars which gets two or three). Its being held together reasonably well tonight (as it always does); it always feels like its a train wreck about to happen, but somehow Walter Miller (the director, who by the way is in his 80s, and been in TV since its inception) holds it together.

Oops, another announcer miscue over Seal...

Yeah, seems like there's a bit of a timing thing going on tonight...
[Perhaps some of the air from the musicians lounge might be getting into the production truck]

Too bad they arent awarding the Grammys to musical artists that deserve them rather than making a political statement.

The scary part is i know the Oscars will probably look better. For most of us who are used to seeing mostly sporting events and episodic dramas in HD, its a rare treat to see a live event in HD done exceptionally well. TV is all about the closeup and I'll tell ya the closeups are amazing on this show. This is probably the most difficult show to pull off technically (its no small feat to go from Cee-Loo, to a 30 piece orchestra for Mary J. Blige in the space of a commerical break and have it all WORK!).We're talking 600 microphones, 10 audio consoles, 600 - 800 moving lights, 20 cameras, etc. On top of that this show generally only gets one full dress runthru (unlike the Oscars which gets two or three). Its being held together reasonably well tonight (as it always does); it always feels like its a train wreck about to happen, but somehow Walter Miller (the director, who by the way is in his 80s, and been in TV since its inception) holds it together.

WOW!! These people are indeed talented.. They do very very good work.

Thanks for the info ABCTV99

...(Shakira just finished shakin' that booty)...

What's she & Wyclef gotta do to win something for that (catchy) song? They lost out at the AMA's tood.

Now if we can just get though the night without the RIAA yelling at us for stealing music it will have been an outstanding broadcast...

Stunning picture and production.

WCBS-DT via Cablevision

Same here: Comcast South Jersey. I feel bad for anyone watching who doesn't have HDTV and a Dolby 5.1 setup. A big "thank you" to everyone responsible!

Hurrah for Canada's Dixie Chicks ... it is nice to see that they were not punished for standing up for what they believe (and what is right)!

I was brought up to believe that "there's a time and place..." etc.

OK, I like the Eagles but 3 in a row

Too bad they arent awarding the Grammys to musical artists that deserve them rather than making a political statement.Sometimes those are the same thing.

Too bad some people feel the need to read politics into everything, even when it's not there.

Well, it was described as a tribute, and at least they're not doing really short snippets of a bigger selection.

I was brought up to believe that "there's a time and place..." etc.


Thank you. We all have our opinions and this is not the thread for those.

Carrie looked hot as hell, great legs. Anyone know how old she is?

23, wikipedia says...

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

Ornette: "Ornette: James Blunt"

First time I've actually seen a teleprompter blunder that wasn't in a movie starring Leslie Nielsen or Will Ferrell.

I was brought up to believe that "there's a time and place..." etc.

+1

Great iPod commercial. When are other companies gonna embrace HD for commercials? Kudos to Chevy too.

Too bad they arent awarding the Grammys to musical artists that deserve them rather than making a political statement.It has never been an accurate representation of contemporary music. Once in a while, through the years, they get it right but for the most part it has always been way off.

Go back through the 60’s and 70’s and see what music was out there and see who won awards—or more importantly—who didn’t win.

At least these days we can forget about the awards and just enjoy the show thanks to the top notch production and performances, regardless of how they come up with the winners.

I was brought up in the 60's with the likes of Joan Baez and Bob Dyan when there was another war that was wrong.

First time I've actually seen a teleprompter blunder that wasn't in a movie starring Leslie Nielsen or Will Ferrell.

First time I've seen Ornette Coleman asked to present a major award at the Grammys..perhaps that's why. It happens all the time. I remember Cameron Diaz giving out an award at the Oscars in 2000 and saying "and the Oscar goes to...for this rehearsal only..."

Ornette: "Ornette: James Blunt"

There's the Lawence Welk classic".

The prompter read "Tribute to the music of World War II"
It was spoken as "Tribute to the music of World War EYE EYE"

I was brought up in the 60's with the likes of Joan Baez and Bob Dyan when there was another war that was wrong. Is that when you moved there? :D

Damn, Smokey Robinson looks scared to death.

Enough of the political, unless you want time off AVS.

Damn, Smokey Robinson looks scared to death.

I thought the same thing. Strange to see so many kids in their 20's looking totally comfortable up there, and a seasoned performer like him look like he needs a change of underwear.

Re: Chris Brown

I guess you don't need to sing anymore to perform on the Grammys.

Damn, Smokey Robinson looks scared to death.

Botox

Great James Brown tribute- I think he would’ve enjoyed it. :cool:

Who did the original version of that Christina song?
:confused: James "put me in the ground already!" Brown!!

james brown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Man's_Man's_Man's_World

You guys were able to quote me before I could delete it. I thought so but phasesd out for a minute

Looks and sounds great in Detroit on WWJ, another great CBS HD performance.

Re: Chris Brown

I guess you don't need to sing anymore to perform on the Grammys.

Who cares.. I thought he did a great job(I liked the part when the two little kids joined him)!!

Just a little fun moment added.

I thought so but phasesd out for a minute :D i do that 50 times a day. :cool:

Who cares.. I thought he did a great job(I liked the part when the two little kids joined him)!!

naww he sounded terrible, he must have focused too much on trying to dance but he's no Usher.

Sometimes I think they're too quick on the "play-em-off" trigger. As long as someone doesnt go exceptionally long I say let em have their moment. That's what the show is all about at heart is the handing out of awards. That's a telling statement about the nature of TV these days, when we're more concerned with getting off at 11 so local news can come on on time, rather than indulge in a moment that makes for great momentous television. In that way I think (and I've worked around a number of awards shows) are somewhat hypocritical in approach.

Especially on a Sunday night when no network commitments are present after the show. The local networks should adjust in this instance.

Especially on a Sunday night when no network commitments are present after the show. The local networks should adjust in this instance.

I'm seen local stations cut out of the show to get their local newscast in, or worse run obnoxious scrolling tickers during the show proclaiming that the news will be on following the show. I'd bet in half the markets the locals wont stick with the show through the credits, most punch out as soon as the credits hit.

I'm seen local stations cut out of the show to get their local newscast in, or worse run obnoxious scrolling tickers during the show proclaiming that the news will be on following the show. I'd bet in half the markets the locals wont stick with the show through the credits, most punch out as soon as the credits hit.

We're in luck here in Detroit then, WWJ hasn't had a local newscast in years, so we get the whole thing until the very last credit has rolled. ;)

p.

We're in luck here in Detroit then, WWJ hasn't had a local newscast in years, so we get the whole thing until the very last credit has rolled. ;)

p.


Would be interesting to hear from viewers how their local affiliates perform in this regard this year.

did ludicrous have his mic sounding like that for effect? sounded like a bad mp3

James Blunt is on. Somebody please tell me he's going to keep his clothes on! :eek:

Hmm: "Previously recorded. Voting is closed" during James Blunts' performance.

Whoops.

Edit: is anyone else getting audio artifacts during the performance?

did ludicrous have his mic sounding like that for effect? sounded like a bad mp3It sounded like Karaoke. :rolleyes:

A shame-- they blew that production.
It sounded too much like they were singing with a taped vocal track.

did ludicrous have his mic sounding like that for effect? sounded like a bad mp3

Sounded like the same melody(?) from thousands of other rap songs ever since the first one was recorded.

It sounded like Karaoke. :rolleyes:

A shame-- they blew that production.
It sounded too much like they were singing with a taped vocal track.

From what I've seen from any past rap/R&B performance, that is par for the course. Put on your song, rap and/or sing right over the top. Saves on having to come up with a vocal-less performance track, I guess. Bugs the hell out of me usually.

p.

Major RF issues with James Blunt's microphone...has anyone noticed they havent given out an award in like 45 minutes

And the first award in 45 minutes is the American Idol one.

From what I've seen from any past rap/R&B performance, that is par for the course. Put on your song, rap and/or sing right over the top. Saves on having to come up with a vocal-less performance track, I guess. Bugs the hell out of me usually.True, and have you ever noticed how the rappers usually have their hands and mic. so close to their mouth (not that Ludacris did that tonight) covering their lip-synching.

And the first award in 45 minutes is the American Idol one.This is such a waste of time. Apparently CBS and the Grammy's are shooting for ratings here.

Instead of giving established artists their due (hence WHOLE POINT OF THE SHOW) they turn it into American Idol.

this amateur is really good :cool:

Tarentino: Last minute replacement for Robin Williams? Damn, so much charisma.

*Yawn* Dixie Chicks.

Give it to Blige for crying out loud.

Edit: Yay! They're playing them off!

Anybody ever see a younger looking and acting 80 year old than Tony Bennett? Man, he looks good for his age!

Great job by My Grammy winner, Robyn Troup.

Dixie Chicks??!

Mary J was ROBBED!!

My Grammy winner did a great job(very HOT)..

True, and have you ever noticed how the rappers usually have their hands and mic. so close to their mouth (not that Ludacris did that tonight) covering their lip-synching.

Even with Ti spitting on a backing track, he killed it on the Justin track.

Not a big deal, but I just got another pop to SD so that the local affiliate can slap their logo on the screen for 5-10 seconds. What's really odd is that they (KHOU) started doing local HD news broadcasts last week with the Superbowl. With an HD network feed and a local studio capable of producing local HD news broadcasts, they still have to drop to SD for the station identification crud? Disappointing.

The idol girl did okay (actually truthfully better than most real American Idol finalists) its no joke going up on stage at the Grammys in a well publicized performance. Justin Timberlake is obviously more comfortable on stage and carried the performance (but he's been performing on television for 15 years since the Mickey Mouse Club so that's no surprise - and is admittedly a bit of a ham). BTW what is with the play off music? It sounds like something from Lalo Schiffrin and Mission Impossible, I feel like something bad (or naughty) will happen if they don't stop talking. I also got terrible macroblocking on the strobes at the end of "My Love" Comcast in NYC couldn't handle it.

Dixie Chicks??!

Mary J was ROBBED!!

My Grammy winner did a great job(very HOT)..

... robbed is the only way to describe it. Maybe it's because I live in MA, but I have never heard the song they won the award for, until tonight.

LOL. Whenever they show the Dixie Chicks, I keep thinking Nathan Petrelli is going to fly out of his seat. (Heroes joke)

Great job by My Grammy winner, Robyn Troup.Mine too.

I hope they have some suprises up their sleeves (and I don’t mean the Chilies) to close out with a bang- like last years amazing show.

... robbed is the only way to describe it. Maybe it's because I live in MA, but I have never heard the song they won the award for, until tonight.

Please quote the post you're referring to. Too many in between.

LOL. Whenever they show the Dixie Chicks, I keep thinking Nathan Petrelli is going to fly out of his seat. (Heroes joke)

LOL...nice :D

I really hope the Police play again.

Mine too.

I hope they have some suprises up their sleeves (and I don’t mean the Chilies) to close out with a bang- like last years amazing show.

How about the newly reformed Van Halen with DLR on vocals and Wolfgang on bass?

I really doubt The Police will play again.

For some reason Justin Timerlake has played like 3x already. Every year he gets more and more stage time.

What a shame.

Hasn't anyone told these production companies that strobes+HD doesn't mix?

Great "**** in a box" line by Chris Rock! :D

Guess what guys and gals... the surprise was... CONFETTI!!!

(Actually creating some macro blocking on wide shots)

I really doubt The Police will play again.

For some reason Justin Timerlake has played like 3x already. Every year he gets more and more stage time.

What a shame.

He has great cross over appeal.. So they are going to keep using him!! Along with other artists who get alot of stage time.

Too many strobes and tooo much confetti...combined with TWCs crappy signal...im disappointed

Confetti is out of control.

Al Gore? Ummm... Al Gore?

Al Gore….. ok Ken…my lips are sealed…. :D

Yea WCBS went to absolute crap OTA, and on Comcast. The strobes refracting off the stage fog and then adding all that confetti, just resulted in a macroblocking nightmare.


...Al Gore?

...Al Gore?
Yeah, the guy who invented the Internet!

Guess what guys and gals... the surprise was... CONFETTI!!! :D too funny ...

but it's actually sad.

I don't know why.. But I wasn't surprise to see Vice President Gore at the Grammys..

Motion artifacts on WDJT Milwaukee have made portions of this unwatchable...

Suprising considering he's married to the woman responsible for explicit lyric album warning labels...

?? Everyone thinks they are a singer....

I'm watching the 40+Mb/s backhaul and it looked fine with all the strobes and confetti. The 16Mb/s encoder wasn't so happy.

.......wow ....VERY weak ending


.....enjoy-ed it gentlemen........thanxx


dave in nashville

I'm watching the 40+Mb/s backhaul and it looked fine with all the strobes and confetti. The 16Mb/s encoder wasn't so happy.


Damn you :)

album of the year??????????????????

Dixie Chicks: Seriously?

Seriously?

I've never heard a song off this album... who's making these decisions?

Edit: Thanks voiceover guy!

That timed out nicely...

That timed out nicely...

Seriously, I was thinking the same thing.

Dixie Chicks again. :rolleyes: {yawn}

Show looked beautiful and sounded great. Too bad you could have bottled the last 90 minutes and sold as a cure for insomnia. Technically, though, whoever has the Oscars will be hard pressed to make them look better than this.

Dixie Chicks: Seriously?

Seriously?

I've never heard a song off this album... who's making these decisions?

Edit: Thanks voiceover guy!

I'm with ya...

Dixie Chicks: Seriously?

Seriously?

I've never heard a song off this album... who's making these decisions?

Edit: Thanks voiceover guy!


So whats your point. I havent heard half of the rap that was performed tonight. Guess we both need to broaden our musical horizons.

I was surprised they would let the man who facilitated P2P music sharing anywhere near their show. Guess maybe the music industry is ready to make nice? ;)

Overall, a great first half to sit and watch and a great second half to watch while doing some other stuff. Here's hoping next year there'll be confetti *and* balloons for the finale...

p.

Yea WCBS went to absolute crap OTA, and on Comcast. The strobes refracting off the stage fog and then adding all that confetti, just resulted in a macroblocking nightmare.

Didn't see it at all here. (also Comcast, South Jersey - CRT rear projection)

G'night boys and girls. It's been fun!

KMTV-DT in Nebraska went SD 5 minutes before 10:30pm (right before album of the year got awarded).

Anyone know how old she is?24 i believe

Can't believe I missed the POLICE!! What did they do????????? :mad:

24 i believe

Can't believe I missed the POLICE!! What did they do????????? :mad:

A slightly different version of Roxanne. Not bad at all.

Only problems locally (WTSP) were opening 10 seconds sound was on 2 channel then switched to 5.1. And RHCP performance SD for first 30 seconds then switched over to HD.

Multicasting here so the confetti looked pretty bad.

Dixie Chicks had no competition so I am not surprised they won. I thaught the best performance of the night were Gnarls Barkley followed by Police then RHCP.

I remember Allan Wells used to frequent these forums (the graphics designer for the show and associate technical director)...well done.

How many years it for the Grammys in HD, 4? I've been watching all of them and the leaps in production quality are phenomenal. It will be hard to top this year's production. The sound was fantastic and the video as outstanding, I don't think there was a filter to be found, every close up was crisp and clear!

I was lucky to be able to enjoy the DD 5.1 sound, thanks to the cold weather WWJ from Detroit was coning in strong - only a few minor drop outs. I was afraid I'd be forced to watch one of my other CBS HD outlets neither of which has DD 5.1.

Overall great job CBS and crew A+

And RHCP performance SD for first 30 seconds then switched over to HD.

Multicasting here so the confetti looked pretty bad.


Also SD briefly on WJZ.

No subchannels, but confetti was still a bit of a problem.

Just now watching the Grammys from my DVR. WOW! I'll second the raves. Great job CBS. Bravo....

lmao.. anyone see Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkley almost fall??

damnit... why the hell did the dixie chicks win............ :mad:

Quote "It shows you how much the music industry has changed in the past 30 years. But we were lucky to have such amazing artists as Stevie, The Beetles, Motown, Stax/Volt, etc all existing at one time".

I cant believe you let this one slide.

yea.. what a letdown... dixie chicks..???? cmon.... here.. :mad:


WTF!! cmon! wtf is thiss??? album of the year.. arrrrrrrrrrrrg.. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

**** that.. they can't be compared to stevie, the Beatles, etc... the voters failed!

Just finished watching on my Tivo Series3. The HD feed from KIRO (Seattle, WA) looks crappy as usual - massive pixellation, macroblocking, etc (same as the Superbowl, in fact). Most likely due to the subchannel that shows nothing but the airport traffic...argh.

What a mess...and I was really looking forward to watching a great live event in HD, too. I was wondering what those folks who actually have a decent CBS affiliate were seeing during the RHCP+confetti performance...all I was seeing was a smear of pixels.

Anyone know any decent contacts at KIRO to complain? I guess I'll post over in the local Seattle thread and see if someone knows.

Here's hoping the Oscars will be an improvement (a sure bet, given that they're on ABC)!

Bah! Dixie Chicks.. ugh...

On the plus side, WWJ here in Detroit had minimal macroblocking which is always nice. It would be hard for any network to top the audio and video quality that CBS demonstrated last night.

O.M.G. Dixie Chicks!!!!?

The only people who bought their album are the grammy voters. Gahhh!

Scarlett, thanks I needed that.

http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/1732/kcbsdt021149thgrammyawaqq7.jpg

Overall great job CBS and crew A+

.....I just watched a minute or two of The Grammys while setting up our DSR530 to record Rome & Sopranos......

.....LOL.....when I turned it on Nicole Richie's dad was singing......I turned it off!

The music awards show I'm looking forward to is next Sunday's East Coast Music Awards www.ecma.com hosted by the Trailer Park Boys!

I've got the Dixie Chick's album and it's wonderful. They won because they're superb musicians and they produced a rollicking fun album to listen to. Every one of their 5 awards was richly deserved. God bless 'em and congratulations!

This show last night was aweful. It gets the three P's from me...piss, poor, pathetic!

nc

I thought the overall PQ and SQ was phenomenal last night (Watched OTA on WCCO Twin Cities).

How many years it for the Grammys in HD, 4? I've been watching all of them and the leaps in production quality are phenomenal. It will be hard to top this year's production. The sound was fantastic and the video as outstanding, I don't think there was a filter to be found, every close up was crisp and clear!

Overall great job CBS and crew A+
Indeed.

Unfortunately, a number of political comments had to be deleted after my warning, and suspensions will be forthcoming later today.

Ken H... i wish you were the mod in the HDDVD- and Games threads..... too much of off topic garbage

dixie chicks album was good but not great enough to get that much rave reviews

dixie chicks album was good but not great enough to get that much rave reviews
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2007-02-12T061717Z_01_N07388297_RTRUKOC_0_US-GRAMMYS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2007-02-12T061717Z_01_N07388297_RTRUKOC_0_US-GRAMMYS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22


ummm ok.... what was the point in this?

Same group of people producing the Oscars in 2 weeks (different producer and director of course) but the technical staff is almost entirely intact. Promises to be a good show. Preshow of course will also be in HD as well.

Outstanding picture and sound. Perhaps the best program of any kind produced in HD recently...

This show last night was aweful. It gets the three P's from me...piss, poor, pathetic!

nc

You talking HD quality or just the content in general?

The HD was damn near perfect from jsut about everyones comments

yea.. what a letdown... dixie chicks..???? cmon.... here.. :mad:


WTF!! cmon! wtf is thiss??? album of the year.. arrrrrrrrrrrrg.. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

**** that.. they can't be compared to stevie, the Beatles, etc... the voters failed!

I thought their album was definately one of last year's best.

You talking HD quality or just the content in general?

The HD was damn near perfect from jsut about everyones comments
Pardons, PQ was terrific (I wasn';t trashing the pic at all!). I didn't at all like the content. This had been the worst year for Grammy's I'd ever seen.

ummm ok.... what was the point in this?
Locally, the talk has been that the DC didn't like being considered "country" -- they feel they are an awesome act musically (not just country music). The fans here are outrradged at this.

I didn't watch the entire show, but there were two very noticeable problems with macroblocking while I was watching. The first was at the end of the Justin Timberlake performance. When the song ended and the bright white lights came on, my entire screen was affected. I had the same problem with the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance when the confetti dropped. From reading posts on other forums, everyone had these issues so why are people here not mentioning them? Have you become so used to problems with HD broadcasts that problems like the ones mentioned don't even phase you?

I didn't watch the entire show, but there were two very noticeable problems with macroblocking while I was watching. The first was at the end of the Justin Timberlake performance. When the song ended and the bright white lights came on, my entire screen was affected. I had the same problem with the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance when the confetti dropped. From reading posts on other forums, everyone had these issues so why are people here not mentioning them? Have you become so used to problems with HD broadcasts that problems like the ones mentioned don't even phase you?

Go back and read more of this thread.

I didn't watch the entire show, but there were two very noticeable problems with macroblocking while I was watching. The first was at the end of the Justin Timberlake performance. When the song ended and the bright white lights came on, my entire screen was affected. I had the same problem with the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance when the confetti dropped. From reading posts on other forums, everyone had these issues so why are people here not mentioning them? Have you become so used to problems with HD broadcasts that problems like the ones mentioned don't even phase you?

Yes, The bright lights part at the end of Timberlake's song was the worse microblocking of the night. I just couldn't remember which performance it was to comment on it.

Excellent picture quality and sound throughout the show. Kudos are definitely in order to the production crew, set designer, lighting sound, etc. Macroblocking was minimal even in the scenes mentioned above (98" projected image which shows it clearly when it is a problem). Watched OTA from WCAX in Burlington, VT which runs one weather subchannel. The station is a class act with a HD local bug, smooth switching to/from local, etc.

Dixie Chicks sounded pretty good on their songs. I think they're kind of the "feel good" choice this year after going through some rough times and boycotts, they've come back with some defiance, and the whole drama of their comeback likely played into the votes.

Shakira, looked amazing, she put on a few pounds in her belly and it looked sexy! She sounds terrible, but who cares? Between her and Beyonce, full-figured women are definitely getting their airtime, and I like it!

On a side note, bummed that the police only played 1 song! They let those rascal flats clowns play a cheesy three song tribute to the eagles (which sucked! why not just let the real eagles play a few?) And after decades apart, the police show up with one song? Weak.

i know ... at least Sir Paul McCartney last year did 2 songs and a duet with Jayz and Lincoln Park..... oh well... i guess they didnt arrest anyone after that performance

I've got the Dixie Chick's album and it's wonderful. They won because they're superb musicians and they produced a rollicking fun album to listen to. Every one of their 5 awards was richly deserved. God bless 'em and congratulations!

Amen to that, politics aside, I think that through diversity over the course of the last few years, this album was more powerful than any of their other ones (Goodby Earl anyone?) and the songwriting was superb. My musical interests are mainly classic rock, metal, and blues but I remain open minded enough to explore anything that sounds good. We picked this album up for one song, How Long Do You Want To Be Loved, from a TV drama and loved the entire album from track one to the end. While I cannot say they deserved FIVE Grammy's, their wins were for artisic merit.
I'm not normally a Justin Timberlake fan but I enjoyed What Comes Around immensly. It is not your ordinary boy band, white hip hop stuff he normally does. It seemed really heartfelt and I would hate to be the person that song was directed to!

I didn't watch the entire show, but there were two very noticeable problems with macroblocking while I was watching. The first was at the end of the Justin Timberlake performance. When the song ended and the bright white lights came on, my entire screen was affected. I had the same problem with the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance when the confetti dropped. From reading posts on other forums, everyone had these issues so why are people here not mentioning them? Have you become so used to problems with HD broadcasts that problems like the ones mentioned don't even phase you?

The confetti issue was mentioned several times in this thread. Did you read any of the previous posts? Personally, my display had no problem with it.

Shakira, looked amazing, she put on a few pounds in her belly and it looked sexy! She sounds terrible, but who cares? Between her and Beyonce, full-figured women are definitely getting their airtime, and I like it!

Shakira - "full-figured"? - what are YOU smokin'?????

her bottom is full figured... her top is looking for implants

Yes...a size 8/9 is full figured these days :)

Hi,

While I was watching the Grammy awards last night, right at the end when Red Hot Chilli Peppers were performing, they released snow-like stuff in the air where it covered everything.

My pictures got pixelated like crazy, specially when camera flashes were going on! It was horrible, like resolution dropped to 320*200... what is the culprit? I assume it's broadcating or bad compression, but not sure, which of the following could be contributing to this?

- TV: Sharp 37D90U 1080p Panel
- Receiver: Motorla 6412 v.III
- Cable: Component out to Receiver, HDMI out to TV
- Receiver: Pioneer Elite 72TXv
- Cable company: Shaw Cables - broadcasting at 1080i

Anyone else notice this? If so, is current HDTV not equipped to handle complicated scenees like that?

Most, if not all providers don't have the bandwidth to handle that much information on the screen that changed so quickly. It's not your Sharp TV, I can assure you.

Hi,

While I was watching the Grammy awards last night, right at the end when Red Hot Chilli Peppers were performing, they released snow-like stuff in the air where it covered everything.

My pictures got pixelated like crazy, specially when camera flashes were going on! It was horrible, like resolution dropped to 320*200... what is the culprit? I assume it's broadcating or bad compression, but not sure, which of the following could be contributing to this?

- TV: Sharp 37D90U 1080p Panel
- Receiver: Motorla 6412 v.III
- Cable: Component out to Receiver, HDMI out to TV
- Receiver: Pioneer Elite 72TXv
- Cable company: Shaw Cables - broadcasting at 1080i

Anyone else notice this? If so, is current HDTV not equipped to handle complicated scenees like that?

My guess is that it's your LCD HDTV, but I'm certainly no expert. I'm curious about the set types being used by others who complained here about this problem, and I'm guessing it's with the new technology sets (LCD, DLP, etc), as my rear-projection CRT had no problem displaying these segments.

Excellent picture quality and 5.1 was first rate! Kudos to CBS

Hi,

While I was watching the Grammy awards last night, right at the end when Red Hot Chilli Peppers were performing, they released snow-like stuff in the air where it covered everything.

My pictures got pixelated like crazy, specially when camera flashes were going on! It was horrible, like resolution dropped to 320*200... what is the culprit? I assume it's broadcating or bad compression, but not sure, which of the following could be contributing to this?

- TV: Sharp 37D90U 1080p Panel
- Receiver: Motorla 6412 v.III
- Cable: Component out to Receiver, HDMI out to TV
- Receiver: Pioneer Elite 72TXv
- Cable company: Shaw Cables - broadcasting at 1080i

Anyone else notice this? If so, is current HDTV not equipped to handle complicated scenees like that?


That's MPEG2 technology for you. Nothing wrong with your set. IMO, the Red Hot Chili Peppers segment should be used by all future video-compression-standards committees as a perfect example of a worst case scenario.

Flashing strobes AND confetti - no scene could be worse for an MPEG encoder to handle.

I have a local FIOS cable co. Was it me or did anyone else have every single performer without exception have a sound and or video dropout about a few seconds into the song that lasted only a second? It never happened on a single presenter or speaker only on the performers. I am thinking it was intentional to not let us get a perfect copy of the performances in HD/5.1. It was really weird. I have replayed this 5 times now since last nite to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Even my kids commented and thought it was weird.

I want to preface with some background on myself to make a point. I grew up in a white Irish Catholic family on Long Island with parents from Ireland. My dad played accordion by ear and we grew up listening to and surrounded by music. although a limited variety. I LOVE music. All kinds of music. I grew up in the 70's and 80's listening to hard rock and then 80's punk and techno and still listen to it today. I am not into rap or country that much but for some reason I like some of the rap performers like Ludacris, eminem and a few others.

I think the performances were awesome. I was impressed by the performers except a few. Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Corinna Rae, JOhn Mayer, Gnarls Barkley, Ludacris, and even Shakira with Wyclef were excellent. I believe you have to have a true love of music to understand, appreciate and listen to music of all genres. Some of these performers reach out to diverse audiences because they sing from the heart and soul and it touches people. Music isn't just about the sound, or lyrics. It is about the ability to reach out and rip out someone's heart and soul with your heart and soul from intense introspective songs and music to just downright having fun. Many of these performers score a ten in my book with the ability to do what I think makes music so wonderful.

Hi,

While I was watching the Grammy awards last night, right at the end when Red Hot Chilli Peppers were performing, they released snow-like stuff in the air where it covered everything.

My pictures got pixelated like crazy, specially when camera flashes were going on! It was horrible, like resolution dropped to 320*200... what is the culprit? I assume it's broadcating or bad compression, but not sure, which of the following could be contributing to this?

- TV: Sharp 37D90U 1080p Panel
- Receiver: Motorla 6412 v.III
- Cable: Component out to Receiver, HDMI out to TV
- Receiver: Pioneer Elite 72TXv
- Cable company: Shaw Cables - broadcasting at 1080i

Anyone else notice this? If so, is current HDTV not equipped to handle complicated scenees like that?
I got the same thing, but I guessed that it had to do with the cameras. MPEG 2 has never had any problems for me or my tv with flashing lights. I assumed the cameras had trouble focusing with the confetti. I dont know too much about that stuff, but it made sense to me.

I just went back and rewatched the Chili Pepper portion of the show and all I can say to those who had macro blocking problems blame your station/provider. I watched via WWJ Detroit OTA and I could count the pieces of confetti if I wanted to, even in the "snow storm" when Antony was front and just a bit off center, no blocking for me.

I have no idea what bit rate WWJ was putting out, Ken might be able to tell us, but it was a stunning picture all the way.

No blocking?!?!

I didn't watch the entire show, but there were two very noticeable problems with macroblocking while I was watching. The first was at the end of the Justin Timberlake performance. When the song ended and the bright white lights came on, my entire screen was affected. I had the same problem with the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance when the confetti dropped. From reading posts on other forums, everyone had these issues so why are people here not mentioning them? Have you become so used to problems with HD broadcasts that problems like the ones mentioned don't even phase you?
My guess is that it's your LCD HDTV, but I'm certainly no expert. I'm curious about the set types being used by others who complained here about this problem, and I'm guessing it's with the new technology sets (LCD, DLP, etc), as my rear-projection CRT had no problem displaying these segments.
Also using a CRT RP and didn't notice problems during the Chili Peppers. In addition to the end of the Justin Timberlake performance with the strobes, the worst scene I saw were the dancers during the Chris Brown performance with a combination of red outfits, fast moves and strobes. Overall, not too bad considering my CBS has 2 subs (MNTV and radar), but does stat-muxing with multi-pass encoders.

Ok, I am pretty sure it's not my TV, as I can watch all kinds of videos on it via PC, or play games at 1080P. Unless someone can explain it differently.

A couple of things could cause it:

- Poor compression (too much) at my cable company
- Losing signal quality going through my receiver

Anyone has any opinions?

thnx

I can't believe only 1 person mentioned Christina Aguilera. She can sing and perform very well though I am not a fan of her type of music. I think the MB many people are talking about is plain and simple MPEG 2 bitrate. That is the avdantage of the new HD formats!

Yeah I throw my hat in the ring and say the strobes did nothing to the PQ on the CRT RPTV I was watching. I also heard people say that strobes messed things up during the super bowl, but I didn't have anything come up there either. I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to LCD TV's but I can see how that might makes sense.

O.M.G. Dixie Chicks!!!!?

The only people who bought their album are the grammy voters. Gahhh!

I reall don't think there are that many Grammy voters. Not bad (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2007/0004500696&EDATE=) for an album that got no airplay.

- Losing signal quality going through my receiver

I was going to ask; why are you running the video through the receiver?

Boo on the coverage for the Dixie Chicks.

It’s almost like the director was giving them every chance in the world to make a sound bite.

Why do they play the “get off the stage music” for others who are in the middle of saying something but when this Chick has nothing to say they give her all the time she needs?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070212/...chicks_revenge
Country radio still cold to Dixie Chicks

By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 12, 6:10 PM ET



NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Country radio still isn't ready to make nice with the Dixie Chicks.

With a haul of Grammys Sunday, the Texas trio topped their comeback from their 2003 Bush-bashing comment that turned them from superstars to pariahs — but Music Row isn't welcoming them back into the country-music fold.

"Most country stations aren't playing the Chicks, and they aren't going to start now," said Jim Jacobs, owner of WTDR-FM, a country radio station in Talladega, Ala.

The awards might have the opposite effect, sparking another radio backlash against the group. Country broadcasters said Monday that the group's five Grammys show how out of touch the Recording Academy is from the average country fan.

"I think (the listeners) are outraged," said Tony Lama, program director for KXNP in North Platte, Neb. "This is rural, conservative America. They are just disgusted."

Country stations quit playing the Chicks in 2003 after singer Natalie Maines told a London audience: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.

Almost overnight, Maines became a lightning rod in the debate over the Iraq war, with conservatives blasting her for criticizing the president, especially while on foreign soil.

The Chicks sang about the controversy in their single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," which won Grammys as record and song of the year. Their album, "Taking the Long Way," won album of the year.

"I'm not ready to make nice. I'm not ready to back down," Maines sang. "I'm still mad as hell, and I don't have time to go round and round and round."

Country radio may not be ready to embrace them again, but the Grammy runaway suggests that a significant portion of the rest of the country has come around to their way of thinking. The president's approval ratings are down, and his party was ousted in the midterm elections.

"I'm slowly getting my faith back in mankind," Maines said Sunday.

But the rift with country-music radio seems impossibly wide. The Chicks have said they never felt at home on Music Row, even when they were a top-selling country act.

"If you're trying to offer an olive branch to country radio, that's not the way to do it," said Ken Tucker, Billboard country music correspondent. "The Chicks are celebrating being the outlaws."

The Grammy for best country album almost never goes to a mainstream Nashville act.

Bluegrass siren Alison Krauss and Union Station won the award last year for "Lonely Runs Both Ways," and Loretta Lynn won in 2005 for "Van Lear Rose." Neither got airplay on country radio.

The last time a country album won album of the year was 2002, for the movie soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" — a collection of old-time country that didn't fit the Nashville formula.

Johnny Cash won best country album in 1998 and then made headlines when his record company took out an ad showing a much younger Cash flipping his middle finger and thanking "the country music establishment in Nashville."


Wes McShay, program director of KRMD-FM, in Bossier City, La., said country fans understand that the big stars don't win Grammy awards.

"If you're talking about who's selling out 15,000-seat auditoriums, those acts are not awarded at the Grammys year after year," McShay said.

Consider the Country Music Association awards handed out a few months ago in Nashville: Entertainer of the year went to Kenny Chesney; the other big winners were radio favorites Brooks & Dunn Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts.

That the Chicks weren't even nominated for a CMA award shows how narrow-minded and parochial Nashville's Music Row can be, Maines said.

"Country music, as far as radio and the industry, they are all right there on four blocks in Nashville," Maines said after the show Sunday.

The Dixie Chicks peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard country charts with "Not Ready to Make Nice." That ought to disqualify them from winning best country album, said Jacobs, the Alabama radio station owner.

"How do you win country music album of the year, when country music radio is not playing you?" he said.

Dixie Chick Emily Robison said the Grammy organization is known for recognizing great albums that don't necessarily get played on the radio.
"Especially in country, it does have that tradition of honoring the unsung great albums," Robison said.

What I am trying to find out is who does Justin Timberlake have compromising pictures of? Maybe it's just me, but it seems like he gets to perform on the Grammy's every year lately and how many people can say that? Not only that, but he actually got to sing twice this year? Please!

After the Dixie Chicks and Beyonce both gave great performances we got him singing and doing so very weakly. I just don't see what the deal is with him. And of course he had about 20 other people singing with him on stage. I am guessing that's to hide his actual singing voice?

Relative to the show somewhat though a little off topic: I noticed a few HD commercials during the broadcast, and decided to e-mail a couple of the companies whose commercials were not in HD. I couldn't find contact information for a couple of them, but was able to get a response from Target. I'm hoping all of us here will let companies know that it's 2007 and they should be producing their commercials in HD for HD programs. Here's Target's response:

"I'm sorry to hear you're disappointed with our television ad during the Grammy Awards show.

Great products. Great value. That's what you've come to expect from Target, and we want our advertising to send the same message.

Your feedback is a big help to us; so we'll be sure to let our advertising executives hear what you have to say."

I was going to ask; why are you running the video through the receiver?

just for ease of changing sources. Component in, HDMI out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070212/...chicks_revenge
Country radio still cold to Dixie Chicks

By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 12, 6:10 PM ET .

Yes we all saw the "eyes shooting daggers of death" shot from the "Country Music" section of the audience ... who cares? :) "Ha, Ha" :D

BTW ... loved the Gnarls Barkley perfomance, Police ... OTOH, just were not up to their former levels.

I can't believe only 1 person mentioned Christina Aguilera. She can sing and perform very well though I am not a fan of her type of music. I think the MB many people are talking about is plain and simple MPEG 2 bitrate. That is the avdantage of the new HD formats! To be honest, I'm surprised to see all the great press she's getting for her rendition, because she's showed this level of talent for quite some time. (Hence why I didn't think to comment on it.) I'm not a big fan of her music, but I do think she's probably got the best pipes in popular music today.

I just went back and rewatched the Chili Pepper portion of the show and all I can say to those who had macro blocking problems blame your station/provider. I watched via WWJ Detroit OTA and I could count the pieces of confetti if I wanted to, even in the "snow storm" when Antony was front and just a bit off center, no blocking for me.

I have no idea what bit rate WWJ was putting out, Ken might be able to tell us, but it was a stunning picture all the way.I don't measure the rates, but since WWJ-DT has zero subchannels, it was full throttle.

I didn't get any blocking, except for the strobes at the end of one of the Timberlake performances.

I'm a big Christine Aguilera fan, thought she was great, and also thought the Crazy tune was quite well done. I'm a big Police fan too, but thought they were just alright.

I noticed the pixel blocking, as well. For me CBS HD is the biggest culprit in my area (Visalia/Fresno CA). I get HD locals via Comcast, which passes the HD local signals thru w/o adding any of their own compression. My local affiliate (KGPE 47), however, seems to compress the signal quite a bit (they also run their SD signal digitally, as well as "47.2"--another digital channel with alternate programming).

I figure it's on the affiliates end for me, since I watch the original CSI in HD via Comcast OnDemand. No real commercials--show runs about 45 min--and no pixel blocking during fast scenes. Plus, unlike my affiliate, the audio is 5.1. KGPE still doesn't pass CBS' 5.1 audio--2 channel digital only (receiver regurgitates it in ProLogic)

RP CRT here watching on Cablevision WCBS-DT.

Chili Peppers song looked amazing.

I was shocked that with the Confetti and the strobes that I didn't see Macroblocking, but it was nearly non-existant and looked great.

Anybody else seeing a trend here re: macroblocking?

Me: CRT-RPTV - no problem
ProTuber: CRT-RPTV - no problem
Marque1d: CRT-RPTV - no problem
Lexluthor: CRT-RPTV - no problem

Anybody else seeing a trend here re: macroblocking?

Me: CRT-RPTV - no problem
ProTuber: CRT-RPTV - no problem
Marque1d: CRT-RPTV - no problem
Lexluthor: CRT-RPTV - no problem
Wonder if some native progressive displays (LCD, etc.) have a problem de-interlacing pictures when there's a lot of inter-field motion.

Anybody else seeing a trend here re: macroblocking?

Me: CRT-RPTV - no problem
ProTuber: CRT-RPTV - no problem
Marque1d: CRT-RPTV - no problem
Lexluthor: CRT-RPTV - no problem

I still think it is the low bitrate. CRT may hide it better and LCD may emphasize it more but the source is the key. I get no MB with HD-DVD...I don't pretend to be an expert but this is my experience. I'm sure others will set us strait on the subject (hopefully).

I still think it is the low bitrate.

You are undoubtedly correct. Even with a full-on 19 Mbps, today's MPEG-2 encoders are going to be stressed when presented with a confetti storm or strobe lights -- there just plain are not enough bits to capture all of that information -- it's too random. Broadcast HD works, but in my opinion, it's on the edge. It doesn't take much for blocks to show up, and in the worst cases, it totally falls apart.

You are undoubtedly correct. Even with a full-on 19 Mbps, today's MPEG-2 encoders are going to be stressed when presented with a confetti storm or strobe lights -- there just plain are not enough bits to capture all of that information -- it's too random. Broadcast HD works, but in my opinion, it's on the edge. It doesn't take much for blocks to show up, and in the worst cases, it totally falls apart.

I think the same, my broadcaster supposedly does it at 13mbps, which is probably the reason for bad pixelation I saw.

I think the same, my broadcaster supposedly does it at 13mbps, which is probably the reason for bad pixelation I saw.

Ooh, yeah, 13 Mbps is really going to have problems dealing with that kind of material. As I said, even 19 Mbps isn't enough for this kind of picture content, so anything less is only going to aggravate the situation.

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/7764/kcbsdt021149thgrammyawsz2.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/185/tslite1kh2.jpg

OTA 1920x1080i 17+mbps. No multicasting. The PQ was good except when there is rapid flashing lights and strobes.

Imagine if this was on D* HD-Lite.

Having worked in live TV myself, although admittedly many years ago, I am in awe of the team responsible for this broadcast. From an engineering and technical point of view it was spectacular. and the director and his team deserve a medal (or at least an award).

By the way, congrats to Ken for keeping this thread on topic. This is, after all, the AV SCIENCE forum. There are plenty of places on the internet for airing political and other viewpoints.

From an engineering and technical point of view it was spectacular. and the director and his team deserve a medal (or at least an award).

They did, a 2002-2003 Emmy Award for the 45th Grammy Awards (at least that year's crew did, the first year it was in HD and 5.1.)

This violates my own rule against Award shows winning an Award from another Academy, but that's the way it goes...

Wonder if some native progressive displays (LCD, etc.) have a problem de-interlacing pictures when there's a lot of inter-field motion.CRTs have a more gradual rolloff in frequency response due to the gaussian spot shape. Fixed pixel displays like LCD and plasma require scaling if they are not fed native resolution video, which can cause frequency response bumps. Peaked mid frequencies emphasize DCT block boundries. As mentioned they also usually require de-interlacing which can adversely affect the performance of the scaler. Even with native resolution the pixel shape is similar to "boxcar" - flat across the pixel with a sharp edge to the nest one. It's one reason fixed pixel displays can have a sharper but harsher appearance.

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/7764/kcbsdt021149thgrammyawsz2.jpg

OTA 1920x1080i 17+mbps. No multicasting. The PQ was good except when there is rapid flashing lights and strobes.

Imagine if this was on D* HD-Lite.

EXACTLY what I saw! So, there's just not enuf bandwidth?

Johnny Cash won best country album in 1998 and then made headlines when his record company took out an ad showing a much younger Cash flipping his middle finger and thanking "the country music establishment in Nashville."Johnny had it right. :D They're just a bunch of rednecks.


ron

I know that this is a two day old thread....but just had a chance to watch my DVHS tape of this show. This was simply incredible PQ and AQ. Watched it originally on a 42" plasma...it looked nice...but on my 92" screen it is mind blowing. Bravo CBS for a A+ performance.

I know that this is a two day old thread....but just had a chance to watch my DVHS tape of this show. This was simply incredible PQ and AQ. Watched it originally on a 42" plasma...it looked nice...but on my 92" screen it is mind blowing. Bravo CBS for a A+ performance.

I think its important to point out that this is a NARAS & Ken Ehrlich/John Cossette show NOT a CBS production. In this case, CBS is the broadcaster, not the production company. The credit goes to the production staff on this show as generally there are very few CBS staffers involved in the production proper (and most of those are executives and marketing and sales folks, not technical personnel).

But CBS delivered the production to their viewers with some of the best fidelity that any network has. I'm always amazed that the lip sync on the Grammys is always dead-on, and that's not often the case on other programs.


Neither CBS nor any other network produce many of the shows they carry. It's the same on the Academy Awards. "Staff" employees are rare at any live event that the networks cover. That's because staff employees are pretty rare at the networks, period.