So You Think You Can Dance - Season Two  

According to everything I've been able to dig up, yes, it will be widescreen SD.

Still the best widescreen 480p on the market today! Oh wait it is the only widescreen 480p reality show right? Can't wait to see it tonight also. They showed a clip where a guy tries to do a flip or something and he totally smashes his face into the ground. Priceless! The things people will do to get on camera. Like the guy who had done so many head spins all of his hair wore off and he had a callous on his head.

I saw that spot and that would be the only reason I'd watch it. If the whole show was stuff like that I'd be a regular. Bad dancing is way more entertaining than good dancing.

Head callous, that's hilarious.

Season 2? I don't remember a season 1. Sleeper is right.

My folks were big fans of it last season, maybe I'll give it a go tonight.

Last season, when they had everyone on stage dance (and that weird Russian, I think, blonde chick stare into the camera), all I could think of was Mike Meyers and SPROCKETS! Everyone......DANCE!!!!

Given that my wife and I are ballroom fans we like that it was included, and of course watching people make fools of themselves makes us ALL feel better.

Can't wait.

=NLK=

Each time she was on I said to my wife in a russian accent "touch my monkey. Go ahead, touch him!"

I think the most obnoxious part of this show is he dark haired chick who does nothing just go "whooo-hoooo".

these auditions aren't as good as watching an idol audition.

There aren't enough crazy people and the judges are too bland and nice

The one with the horse teeth? Last year she alternated between being a mean instructor and a screaming idiot. It'll be interesting to see which one shows up this season.

Then it don't belong in this forum, am I not correct.

Wolfie

What I don't like about it so far (only one episode aired):
1) they replaced Lauren Sanchez with Cat Deeley (who???)
2) so far, if any belly dancers showed up (they had several at last year's New York audition), they were left on the cutting room floor.

True, but if Fox News Sunday and COPS is any indication, it might be a good idea to leave this thread in the HD forum so we don't get new posts popping up each week asking if this program was in HD.

Which btw...there were many shots of the judges last night that was easy to tell it was not HD.

Lauren Sanchez is very pregnant and still on the local KTTV news. Somehow I don't think that would work for a dance show. The "English Twit" is here for the season.

The SYTYCD studio shows will originate from a HD capable studio, but I'm fairly certain that it will be in SD widescreen. American Idol remains the only broadcast HD reality show at the moment. There is talk that ABC's Dancing With The Stars will share that status in September, but nothing definite yet. CBS's Rock Star was thinking about it, but it's looking doubtful. My opinion is widescreen SD would be better on that show than 4:3. All four shows originate from the same facility.

The significant cost increases for HD shows makes it harder to justify for the summer realities (which American Idol was in season 1). The percentage of HD viewers is still pretty low. I expect that to change dramatically in the next couple years. These are the final days of SD much like the middle 1960s was the end of B&W TV.

No, you are wrong. That issue was settled long ago.

How and when was that settled? Is this the 16:9 forum?

In a sense it is. I would think the only reason this show would use 16:9 is for HD programming. Last I checked, this is the HD Programming forum. Discussing the results of this approach seems relevant.

OK - next year I'm starting this thread:

Survivor - (don't post or read unless you view it upscaled and stretched to 16:9 on an HD display

The key word is "stretched". Survivor is shot SD 4:3 for a 4:3 display. The HD upconversion is pillared. There is no consideration at all for HD on Survivor ... yet. So You Think You Can Dance is shot in 16:9 specifically for the HD network. There is no stretching needed to make it fill the HD screen. In fact, the SD is a stretched version of the original 16:9 SD. While it's not recorded in HD, the SD format used is for the HD audience.

If Survivor decides to use 16:9 SD, then I think it would be a valid subject for HD discussion.

16:9 does not mean HD. There are lots of things in the universe that are 1.78 aspect ratio, and they're not all HDTV. Hell my toilet tank lid is 2.25:1 (18" x 8") but it's not HDTV either.

What about the plethora of 16:9 commercials shown on 4:3 shows? Those aren't HD either I don't think.

This is silly I know, but let me tell you a little story. About 15 years ago I worked for a high tech company in Redmond WA, and a strip mall store opened up that sold nothing but CD-ROM software. I think it was called Silver Platters. Can you imagine? No floppy disks allowed. Couldn't talk about 'em even.

Maybe we should rename this forum "TV Programming". Let's get real.

16:9 SD is a broadcast standard in Europe, but has never been in the US. Letterboxed 16:9 material shown on 4:3 is either matted for effect or downconverted from a HD master. Either way the SD format is still 4:3.

This forum is here to discuss programming that is made for the HD format. Shows shot in 16:9 SD for US domestic broadcast are done so for one purpose: for upconversion to HD. While it's a compromise in quality, upconversion from 601 can look pretty good and getting better with newer deinterlacing algorithms. HD DVCPRO, HDV and 16mm are also compromises to the best possible technical quality. Even the Spirit 2 datacine does not achieve full 1080 resolution in telecine mode.

Native HD costs were probably out of the question for this show. Fox could just do the show in SD 4:3, but they decided that they would use SD 16:9 for a full screen presentation to the HD audience. When HD costs decrease the 16:9 SD format compromise will become extinct. That's the present reality of HDTV.

As for CD ROMS, floppy discs, strip malls and toilet tanks, you lost me there.

The point is, CD-ROMs weren't the point. The program on the CD-ROM was the point.

Is whether or not something is 16:9 all this forum boils down to? Is there a cutoff point of bitrate, resolution, etc. that makes it worthy of discussion, regardless of the program itself?

Just as it's not the CD ROM but rather the program that's on it, the qualifier here is not the original SD 16:9 format but rather it's intent to supply programming that's aimed to the HD audience.

During the period when FOX was only doing 480p widescreen and before they started doing HD, the moderators decided that discussion of those programs should be allowed in this forum, much to the chagrin of many of the purists here.

This is correct. Further discussion of the issue is pointless, and will be deleted.

CHEERS to FOX for being the only network to have 16X9 reality shows (AFAIK)! It should set the bar for Survivor, Amazing Race et al.

That English twit is Nigel Lythgoe who along with Simon Fuller thought up American Idol. AI was based on their already very popular Pop Idol in GB. He is also one of the Executive Producers of SYTYCD, so I think he'll be a judge as long as he wants to. He does know what he's doing though because he was a world champion ballroom dancer in his time.

BTW, that blond girl that had just graduated from high school? She is smoking hot. I hope she sticks around for the competition.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the English twit you were talking about was the new host - Cat Deeley.