2012 MLB in HDTV

The Marlins open the season in their new stadium.

Josh Johnson, not John

I love baseball, but man, this "one-game, wild card playoff" thing is really hard for me to stomach. It just serves to cheapen the regular season further yet, IMO

Chances are, you're gonna occasionally get an under-.500 team in there. And if they end up winning it all, well.......

If you don't see that as being uncool now, wait'll your home team loses in that circumstance, especially if they won their division, or busted their @$$e$ to do it or get in on the old wild card.

Or, to put it another way, the four games that meant so much on the last day of last season(which some have called the greatest day in baseball, ever) would now mean absolutely nothing...

And hey, I don't have to have another wildcard team to be upset. Over 162 games the Brewers proved themselves to be 6 games better than the Cardinals. If it wasn't for the wildcard, they wouldn't have had to prove it all over again in a 7 game series So the gate has already been open, its just getting wider.

Watching ESPN via D*. Not getting much in the surrounds. ESPN is DD 5.1 now, right? Not that silly circle surround? PQ is typical ESPN 720p, mediocre but not terrible.

Those bright lime green walls should be interesting on a bright sunny day.

Or it gives a much higher incentive to actually win your division instead of just settling for a wild card.

And I dont see how it doesnt add interest in the last few games of the season, much more teams would hypothetically have a chance of continuing on.

that is a very good point. Having to play a 1 game winner take all game, and then play a series against the team with the best record in the league, will make it harder on the wild card teams. Which is how it should be.And outside of the unique situation of last year, it would create more interest for the last few games in theory. There are pros and cons either way you look at it. I don't like how it lessens the importance of the regular season, but the wild card already did that. And as much of a tradionalist as I am, I do have to admit feeling lucky to have witnessed what the Cardinals did...and I'm a Brewers fan.

I'd say that there is very little chance of that happening. In fact, no chance.

I agree.

I wasn't a fan of adding a Wild Card to the playoffs back in the 1990s, because it rewards teams that don't win their division. But, now that ship has sailed, and I think this move actually is an improvement.

Adding a second wild card in each league will give division winners a decided advantage because:

1) They will get to set their rotations for the playoffs while the WC teams will surely be using their best available pitcher for the 1-game WC playoff.

2) They avoid having to play in a 1-game WC playoff, which is certainly a small sample size - and is pretty much a coin flip in baseball. Avoiding that situation is an advantage.

I suspect we will see fewer Wild Card teams in the World Series going forward - and if so, this move will be a success in my mind.

Going to be away this weekend and was hoping to catch some games at the in-laws since they don't pay for EI like I do.

Thanks

Yes they are, until 04/15.

Thanks!

Somehow hanging with the in-laws will be more....tolerable now!!!

MLB Network for another season is distorting the aspect ratio of the RSN games it airs by squishing the video up to leave space for their score bar.
That space is not even needed as most regional sports networks leave room for the score bar. It's annoying and they should stop doing it.
They also are still doing those giant noisy animated disgusting snipes at the bottom of the screen during games.
You would expect MLB Network to have more respect for the games they air.

I was at the game Wednesday, 4/4/12, in Miami. The new Marlins' Park is an extremely nice facility: interesting and in some ways unconventional architecture. Seating is extremely close to the field and virtually every one of the 37,000 seats has a great game view. The roof was opened prior to this Opening Day game for ESPN (took about 15 minutes max.)--but I understand that the roof will be closed for all but 10-12 games this season. The green walls really aren't that distracting in person; however, the sculpture in center field is, well, er, bizarre....

I'm waiting for a foul ball (or an errant try at a foul ball catch) to hit and crack/break the fish tank in the backstop area. Anyone got an over/under on how many games it will take?

You know, maybe Time-Warner Cable San Diego is onto something. If the Padres are going to be bad in 2012 (like they were in 2011), maybe we should be spared the humiliation of having to watch.

They're sure making my Dodgers look like world beaters these first 2 games.

Watching the Giants game last night I was very discouraged (and highly annoyed) to discover that Comcast SportsNet Bay Area has cranked the audio compression up to a ridiculous level. That is difficult to listen to. It has sounded great for years, but now the crowd noise is being sucked up to maximum volume at all times, and the limiter is pounding down on Kruk and Kuip's voices. Horrible.

Ever since I got Time Warner Cable to do a line test and reduce the "noise" on the frequency that cable internet is on, streaming mlb.tv premium via ethernet to the PS3 & 1st generation Roku player (via wifi) has been nearly flawless. I've been getting consistent HD streaming and hardly any of that variation of high quality streaming to crappy streaming every other minute or any freezes during the game in which the spinning circle appears. Needless to say, I'm very ecstatic!

Sounds like they've been taking lessons from KPIX(CBS) which compresses the crap out of the audio on their scripted dramas, it's so bad it can almost become physically discomforting, everything sounds as if it's compressed into a 3db "dynamic" range.

Both stations should take lessons from KNTV(NBC) on how to set their dialnorm levels.

Yep, that's exactly what it sounds like. I had to give up on KPIX after sending them many complaints, because it does give me a feeling of physical discomfort, just as you described. Unfortunately, not many others seem to have the same reaction or even notice, which baffles me. The CSNBA audio completely destroys the feeling of the game -- the crowd noise is the same whether there's a pitching change or a home run. I sent a complaint through their website, csnbayarea.com, and encourage others to do the same. I watched one spring training game on KNTV, and it was fine.

Seems odd, considering Comcast is the majority owner of CSN-BA & KNTV today there would be such audio differences, that the 2 channels vary wildly when it comes to audio.

Even more odd, last season, there was a marked difference between CSNBA and CSN-California. While CSNBA sounded fine, CSNCA (which carried the A's games) was super compressed. I would have to think they probably share the same technical facility, but obviously they had only installed the monster-compressor on CSNCA. I used to tune past the A's game and think "wow, glad I'm not an A's fan -- I couldn't listen to that." Now, my team's channel has been infected.

The MLB on FOX pre game is being done from MLB Network Studios with Matt Vasgersian.

In the FOX broadcast booth there is a video matrix wall behind Joe and Tim that looks horrible because it's to close to the camera.

That's not a video wall but rather a piece of transparent netting that put in place to knock down the brightness of the background. Otherwise, the brightness of the field would overpower the lighting on the talent. Unfortunately, because it's like a screen door, it can cause problems if it's too close to the camera and the "holes" in the screen can be resolved.

Edit: Hmmm, on second look, that is pretty bad. I've never seen a screen that was that coarse. Might have been a video screen.

It's a screen, and has been used by FOX for years. Looks about the same as it always has.

WJBK-DT FOX Detroit, via OTA. Looks and sounds good.

PHI @ PIT from CSN is being show full frame on MLN Network alternate feed.
Anyone getting NYY @ TB have video below the score bar area?