CNN HD topic - Page 3

Blitzer was in NY today. That's why it was HD.

So what exactly IS their deal when we know the show is capable of HD, the bureau is capable of HD and the DC studio is capable of HD?

The DC studio has HD cameras, but the production equipment probably isn't ready yet. If they're producing the show from NY, they can do it in HD. If it's produced from DC, it's gotta be SD.

HD cameras may be present, but is the control room HD? Is the switcher HD capable? Do they have upconverters in place? That, usually, is the hold up in these things.

Today Blitzer is in Atlanta, but they're using the D.C. screen.

Nice Catch! Thanks for posting it.

If that's the case, I'd like to see CNN's Atlanta studios go HD before or during summer. With MSNBC supposedly going HD by the 2nd quarter and FOX News Channel starting to establish their shows in HD, CNN can reset the tone and pressure the other networks to want to faollow suit.
I hope the person who posted this is right on the money. Previously I along with others were duped by someone on the board who claimed CBS Sunday Morning was in Hd when it really wasn't.

So when will the D.C. studios go HD?

Wonder when they'll upgrade CNN International to HD now that Atlanta's going to HD. Aren't they run from some kind of common infrastructure?

There's a press release from the company assisting CNN with the upgrade. They're saying they'd go live in February 2009. I guess there are some delays...

I'm too much of a newbie to post links, but here's the article.

The CNN Los Angeles bureau is home to its prime-time Larry King Live show. It also produces news and entertainment content for all of the CNN networks. In March 2005, management knew the bureau was in dire need of a major makeover. Space was tight and not ergonomic for bureau personnel, and technical spaces were tucked inside of closets and in hallways. Worse, the facility had critical decade-old broadcast infrastructure components. It was clear that the analog-based facility needed to be upgraded to accommodate CNN's decision to go HD. In November 2006, CNN selected Diversified Systems to design and implement the new facility. The key design goals were to:

* Choose equipment in line with CNN's other facilities, for ease of support and consistency across locations, including best-in-breed HD or HD-capable solutions that would accommodate expansion down the road.
* Anticipate a tapeless HD workflow, but integrate legacy workflow and equipment.
* Design a space that can better house staff, technical and production personnel and colocate production spaces in close proximity to an appropriately sized terminal gear room.
* Design a flexible production environment that can fluctuate between two extremes on a daily basis: a prime-time program, with a production staff of a dozen or more, to an overnight operation with one operator.
* Keep the existing facility on-air.

One new floor and a second repurposed floor in the existing building were provided for technical space. The design goals had to be achieved with minimal impact to existing bureau production and without compromising the on-air product. System integration was coordinated with the architect, consulting engineers, general contractor and building trades in phases. Because CNN was in the midst of developing its approaches to its HD network, Diversified's engineering team integrated new components into the design right up to the time of installation. This made it difficult to keep up with changes and design documentation, but it meant that the bureau would be the most up-to-date CNN HD facility.

CNN Los Angeles is a 24/7 business. Relocating a news bureau that transmits/receives upward of 40 feeds simultaneously to a new facility was a Herculean task. The bureau could only be brought offline for 30 hours over a single weekend. During that time, all nonupgradeable/nonreplaceable reception and transmission equipment had to be decommissioned, relocated, recalibrated and configured for continued operation within the new facility. The full staff needed to arrive on Monday morning, already trained and ready to operate within the new facility.

In February 2009, the 16-month collaboration will be successful.
Rikard

Any update on this? Just got CNN HD last week, anxious to watch Newsroom in HD.

The Situation Room is in HD today. If Blitzer would just stay in New York until upgrades are completed...

I wonder why it's taking so long to get their D.C. facilities upgraded to HD. All of their inauguration coverage back in January from here was in HD, and I figured they'd take that opportunity to upgrade their studios, but I guess not.

Given that CNN is finishing fourth in the ratings lately, the Atlanta facilities may be going HD on the back of HLN rather than CNN.

There was a time when CNN in HD would have been worth watching.

CNN Takes Canon's Widest Wide-Angle Lens

News Net to Use Equipment for HD Reporting

by George Winslow -- Multichannel News, 5/13/2009 1:13:55 PM MT

Canon's new HJ14ex4.3B portable HDTV lens, billed as offering the widest angle of any portable 2/3-inch lens available in the professional market, is already getting some traction. In a major deal, CNN will use the lens for HD newsgathering.

"We had a terrific reaction at NAB to the lens," said Larry Thorpe, national marketing executive at the Broadcast & Communications Division of Canon U.S.A. "We just closed a big one with CNN for 37 units, and we're in discussions with a number of other companies."

The new lens is the first major introduction of a high-end wide angle portable lens by Canon since the 2001 launch of the HJ11ex4.7B wide-angle lens. "The HJ11 was extremely popular with the production community," said Thorpe, particularly for high-end HD drama and documentary production, news-gathering and studio work, where it allowed wide shots of the entire set. "We expect the new HJ14 to have similar appeal."

In the eight years since HJ11 launched, a number of advances in optics and optical design tools allowed Canon to significantly improve the lens performance while providing an unprecedented wide angle, Thorpe said. "It is the best wide-angle lens we know how to build."

The new lens has a minimum focal length of 4.3mm, an improvement over the 4.7mm length of the HJ11 lens, and an angular field of view of 96.3 degrees in the 16-by-9 format. It also has a 14 times zoom range, which greatly expands the range of its use for HD productions.

Besides providing a wider angle and higher zoom ratio, advances in design tools, glass material, optical coatings and design techniques, such as the use of aspherical elements, have allowed Canon to improve the lens's performance.

The lens offers less geometric distortion -- an issue with all wide-angle lenses -- minimizes chromatic aberrations and curtails ghosting artifacts produced by strong light sources, Thorpe said. It also offers higher resolution at both the center of the picture and the edges.

In addition, the new design has made the lens easier to use and improved its ergonomics.

"We made a number of improvements based on the feedback we got from users," Thorpe said.

Depending on features, the lens is priced at $35,100 to $36,900.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/...id&source=link

Where is this CNN HD transition you speak of? I haven't seen it yet. CNN Newsroom was SD(which I expected, as it is out of Atlanta) but I was really hoping for Situation Room to be HD. Wolf needs to go to and stay at New York until they finish upgrading their studios. C'mon, give us something other than the crusty, cranky old Lou Dobbs in HD!!

But there is one upside to CNN HD: no stretching, even on commercials!

I know - I've been getting kind of frustrated with how long it's been taking. I've actually been watching a lot of FNC lately (which is a big compromise for me due to non-hd realated reasons) because their broadcasting so much more HD during the day now. Their production is actually very good.

I've even tried looking for an email address for this guy that was quoted in some news articles when CNN-HD launched (Bob Hesskamp, VP of CNN Broadcast Engineering and Systems Technology) but nothing turned up. I'd love to ask him what the timeline looks like.

I was watching GPS with Fareed Zackaria (sp?) the other day and during the episode it actually switched from HD to SD at least twice! This was not some b-roll or whatever, this was the actual show, the same studio shot. It was the interview with Musharraf actually, the beginning was in HD I think, then off to commercial, and it came back in SD and then changed back to HD for a brief period, and then back to SD. What is up with that?! I just don't get it, I want to watch CNN in some nice looking HD, not that crap SD with those awful looking pillar bars. Yuck.

Oh no!! They added FAUX at the same time they added CNN, and I've only watched FNC less than one minute in the whole day---just to see what it looks like. I'd never watch that crap over CNN, even if CNN was in black and white, fuzzy analog stretchovision. Rick Sanchez and Wolf Blitzer are my two favorite shows.

Oh no!! They added FAUX at the same time they added CNN, and I've only watched FNC less than one minute in the whole day---just to see what it looks like. I'd never watch that crap over CNN, even if CNN was in black and white, fuzzy analog stretchovision. Rick Sanchez and Wolf Blitzer are my two favorite shows.

Is Rick Sanchez in a different studio today? Definitely not where Newsroom is normally...it does look like New York but I'm not sure.

couldn't agree more about the American Morning weather boxes being a major drawback. with those, plus the other boxes on the bottem 1/3 of the screen... I think there are like 15 boxes most of the during that show... alwasy twirling a expanding/contracting... horrible. I have no idea what they're thinking.

I DESPISE THE BOX GRAPHICS!!!

I cannot stand the disembodied boxes, especially the one serving as the lower third with the person's name, location, etc. I hate the way the box is constantly changing its size as the text inside the box changes. And I can't stand the bug area either. The animated show logo is too much. The more I watch CNN, the more I realize the previous graphics would be far superior to this for a HD presentation. I liked the full width banner where on the text changed and there wasn't an animated bug. Also, I miss the news crawl. The new style crawl is obnoxious.

They used to not have the sides of the screen constantly polluted with weather info?

Yes, that's relatively new.

true but kiran chetry has never looked better than in hd

Me having CNNHD is also relatively new.

I hope the Atlanta project happens soon. I watch CNN Newsroom at 3pm every day and at other times throughout the day. I'd love to watch HD news, instead of trading black bars for red "HD" bars.