For those who follow this quadrennial event, the 2007 Women's World Cup is now underway.

Here is the televised HD schedule in the U.S., excluding repeat arinings, as it stands today from Yahoo TV:

09/10 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group A - Germany vs. Argentina
09/11 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - United States vs. Korea DPR
09/11 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group A - Japan vs. England
09/11 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - Nigeria vs. Sweden
09/12 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group D - New Zealand vs. Brazil
09/12 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group C - Ghana vs. Australia
09/12 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Norway vs. Canada
09/12 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - China vs. Denmark
09/14 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group B - Sweden vs. United States
09/14 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group A - Argentina vs. Japan
09/14 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group A - England vs. Germany
09/14 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - Nigeria vs. Korea DPR
09/15 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Canada vs. Ghana
09/15 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - Denmark vs. New Zealand
09/15 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Australia vs. Norway
09/15 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - Brazil vs. China
09/17 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group A - Germany vs. Japan
09/17 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group A - Argentina vs. England
09/18 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group B - Nigeria vs. United States
09/18 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - Korea DPR vs. Sweden
09/19 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Australia vs. Canada
09/19 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group C - Norway vs. Ghana
09/19 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group D - Brazil vs. Denmark
09/19 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - China vs. New Zealand

09/22 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 1 - Group A winner vs. Group B runner-up
09/22 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 2 - Group B winner vs. Group A runner-up
09/23 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 3 - Group C winner vs. Group D runner-up
09/23 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 4 - Group D winner vs. Group C runner-up

09/26 - 4:55am ET - TBD - Semifinal 1 - QF1 winner vs. QF3 winner
09/27 - 7:55am ET - TBD - Semifinal 2 - QF2 winner vs. QF4 winner

09/30 - 4:55am ET - TBD - Consolation Game
09/30 - 7:55am ET - TBD - Final

As for today's first match... wow, Germany sure put on a clinic against Argentina. There was definitely no lack of scoring in this game. I knew Germany was this good, but is Argentina just that bad?

Also, ESPN's scoreboard is in an awful position: I'd imagine it's even worse on their standard stations. The studio pieces are definitely in HD, while the game looks like SD widescreen on the main stadium camera, albeit very high quality, and near-HD on ground-level shots. Perhaps someone can confirm if any of these games will be broadcast in 100% HD.

None of the channel guide entires I saw had the HD flag and none of the ESPN ads had the ESPN/ESPN2 HD logo in them.

It's on the online HD schedule.

http://hd.espn.com/hd/schedule.jsp

For those who follow this quadrennial event, the 2007 Women's World Cup is now underway.

Here is the televised HD schedule in the U.S., excluding repeat arinings, as it stands today from Yahoo TV:

09/10 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group A - Germany vs. Argentina
09/11 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - United States vs. Korea DPR
09/11 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group A - Japan vs. England
09/11 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - Nigeria vs. Sweden
09/12 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group D - New Zealand vs. Brazil
09/12 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group C - Ghana vs. Australia
09/12 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Norway vs. Canada
09/12 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - China vs. Denmark
09/14 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group B - Sweden vs. United States
09/14 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group A - Argentina vs. Japan
09/14 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group A - England vs. Germany
09/14 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - Nigeria vs. Korea DPR
09/15 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Canada vs. Ghana
09/15 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - Denmark vs. New Zealand
09/15 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Australia vs. Norway
09/15 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - Brazil vs. China
09/17 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group A - Germany vs. Japan
09/17 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group A - Argentina vs. England
09/18 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group B - Nigeria vs. United States
09/18 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group B - Korea DPR vs. Sweden
09/19 - 4:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group C - Australia vs. Canada
09/19 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group C - Norway vs. Ghana
09/19 - 7:55am ET - ESPN-HD - Group D - Brazil vs. Denmark
09/19 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Group D - China vs. New Zealand

09/22 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 1 - Group A winner vs. Group B runner-up
09/22 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 2 - Group B winner vs. Group A runner-up
09/23 - 4:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 3 - Group C winner vs. Group D runner-up
09/23 - 7:55am ET - ESPN2HD - Quarterfinal 4 - Group D winner vs. Group C runner-up

09/26 - 4:55am ET - TBD - Semifinal 1 - QF1 winner vs. QF3 winner
09/27 - 7:55am ET - TBD - Semifinal 2 - QF2 winner vs. QF4 winner

09/30 - 4:55am ET - TBD - Consolation Game
09/30 - 7:55am ET - TBD - Final

As for today's first match... wow, Germany sure put on a clinic against Argentina. There was definitely no lack of scoring in this game. I knew Germany was this good, but is Argentina just that bad?

Also, ESPN's scoreboard is in an awful position: I'd imagine it's even worse on their standard stations. The studio pieces are definitely in HD, while the game looks like SD widescreen on the main stadium camera, albeit very high quality, and near-HD on ground-level shots. Perhaps someone can confirm if any of these games will be broadcast in 100% HD.

It is not in HD. It is upconverted digital widescreen. Host Broadcast Services only provides SD digital widescreen. Here is the link http://www.hbs.tv/ofe-52.html

It's on the online HD schedule.

http://hd.espn.com/hd/schedule.jsp

The online schedule lists HD events and since French Open they also list upconverted widescreen.

It's on the online HD schedule.

http://hd.espn.com/hd/schedule.jsp

But if you look at http://sports.espn.go.com/espntv/espnGuide, its not flagged as HD.

Could be a 16x9 SD upconverted to 720p

AFAIK there is no HD production at all from the women's world cup.

Kudos to ESPN for passing the widescreen SD picture even though the game is not HD. I wish more SD sporting events would just flip the cameras to 16x9 mode and pass the widescreen picture.

Kudos to ESPN for passing the widescreen SD picture even though the game is not HD. I wish more SD sporting events would just flip the cameras to 16x9 mode and pass the widescreen picture. Agreed. I appreciated the widescreen SD broadcast of Formula One races on FOX earlier this season, and while not the true HD we wanted, everyone agreed that 16:9 was a big step up from the normal 4:3 broadcast we get from SPEED.

It's a great upconvert, though. Sure the HD pre-game and halftime shows look great as expected, but the games themselves look much better than any women's games I've ever seen.

Indeed, except for the men's World Cup, which is pure HD, 16:9 SD is the standard for all other FIFA soccer tournaments (U-20, U-17, Confed Cup, Beach soccer). It's probably PAL, too.

What's been happening in the latest FIFA tournaments is that if the host broadcaster has HD gear, they will produce certain games in HD for local broadcast and downconvert to 16:9 SD for the international feed. That's happened at the U-20 World Cup in Canada and U-17 in South Korea.

The production standard for the event is SDI 625 16:9 (4/3 protected) with a stereo international audio feed.

The following basic feeds will be made available.

At the venue:

16/9 feed 4/3 feed

At the IBCC:

16/9 feed

The world feed is uplinked as 4:3, so congrats again to ESPN for taking the 16:9 feed, instead.

They really shouldn't put 16:9 SD on their HD schedule.

Indeed, except for the men's World Cup, which is pure HD, 16:9 SD is the standard for all other FIFA soccer tournaments (U-20, U-17, Confed Cup, Beach soccer). It's probably PAL, too.

What's been happening in the latest FIFA tournaments is that if the host broadcaster has HD gear, they will produce certain games in HD for local broadcast and downconvert to 16:9 SD for the international feed. That's happened at the U-20 World Cup in Canada and U-17 in South Korea.



The world feed is uplinked as 4:3, so congrats again to ESPN for taking the 16:9 feed, instead.

There is no PAL or NTSC in digital world. That is why they call it 16:9 SD. In countries where they use 60Hz FIFA feed is SDI (Serial Digital Interface) 525i (480i) 16:9. That is what was used in Canada for U-20 championship this year. CBC was the host broadcaster and they actually did some games in HD (1080i 60Hz), but they were only available on CBC. In countries with 50Hz FIFA feed is SDI 625i (576i) 16:9. China is 50Hz country. FIFA World Cup in Japan/Korea had SDI 1080i 60Hz for 48 games done in HD and SD feed was SDI 525i (480i) 60Hz 16:9. World Cup in Germany feed was in SDI 1080i 50Hz for HD and SDI 625i (576i) 50Hz 16:9. 2010 World Cup has not been decided yet as South Africa has very little fiber, no HD trucks and frankly, no HD at all. There is a talk of bringing HD trucks from US. So even though South Africa is 50Hz country FIFA feed may be produced in 60Hz.

They really shouldn't put 16:9 SD on their HD schedule.


I agree. However it is upconverted SD, so it looks little better than pure SD feed shown for example in some countries in Europe. Still I am not going to complain. I prefer upconverted 16:9 to upconverted 4:3.
Next year's Euro Championship will be all HD on ESPN.

They really shouldn't put 16:9 SD on their HD schedule.
It's a fine line ESPN is walking. For one thing, it isn't HD-quality, even if 576i to 720p upconversion is close. On the other hand, the HD subscribers are indeed getting some extra picture with SD 16:9 and there should be a way to let them know that.

Great game going on this morning. Some people may have DVR'd it so please no score talk.

It's a fine line ESPN is walking. For one thing, it isn't HD-quality, even if 576i to 720p upconversion is close. On the other hand, the HD subscribers are indeed getting some extra picture with SD 16:9 and there should be a way to let them know that.

They should just mark it as widescreen in their guide. 576i to 720p is not close to true HD, but looks good, if very high quality converter is used. Also, it is actually 288i to 720p as you are going from interlaced to progressive.

Great game going on this morning. Some people may have DVR'd it so please no score talk.


I agree. Great game and lots of drama.

quick question: Heather Mitts is there just, let's say, make the environment prettier, isn't she? ;) I mean, Julie Fondy made very interesting comments in the post-game match, but Heather.....

fyi>> The US match will be rebroadcast at 7:00pm on the Deuce and at 5:00pm on the Classic.