[habscolts]

Why don't the networks who are showing a show that is not in HD, like Scrubs or Survivor, not show the commercials that are normally in HD in HD? It seems like it wouldn't be an issue with the local stations since they are just passing the HD feed from the station.

 

[Marcus Carr]

FOX often does.

 

[coyoteaz]

A lot of (non-Fox) stations don't pass the network HD feed for SD programming so they can more easily spam their logos and news promos over the show. Incidentally, Fox's 16:9 commercials are upconverted 480i SD, not HD.

 

[Marcus Carr]



Quote:
Originally Posted by coyoteaz /forum/post/0


Incidentally, Fox's 16:9 commercials are upconverted 480i SD, not HD.

Their promos are SD but they do show HD commercials during SD shows.

 

[JimboG]

Commercials? Aren't those the things I fast forward past when watching a show on my DVR?


Actually, the rise in HD commercials does make it harder to use the fast forward button. You no longer can just look at the black bar on the side of the screen and stop forwarding once there is 16:9 programing again.


I gotta admit, I usually will give an HD commercial the benefit of the doubt and watch it at least one time. Can't say that about most SD commercials. I wonder if this behavior is common enough among HDTV owners to justify creating HD ads instead of SD ads.

 

[maharg18]

I don't know about other networks, but CBS often does not even send an HD signal to affiliates when programming is in SD, so they must upconvert.

 

[NetworkTV]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JimboG /forum/post/0


Commercials? Aren't those the things I fast forward past when watching a show on my DVR?


Actually, the rise in HD commercials does make it harder to use the fast forward button. You no longer can just look at the black bar on the side of the screen and stop forwarding once there is 16:9 programing again.


I gotta admit, I usually will give an HD commercial the benefit of the doubt and watch it at least one time. Can't say that about most SD commercials. I wonder if this behavior is common enough among HDTV owners to justify creating HD ads instead of SD ads.

In a related thing, I find I actually watch more commercials when I use the skip forward button as opposed to fast forwarding. I think the reason is, I only catch little snippets of ads as they go by when I skip, while I get the gyst as they fly by and I essentially blow them off.


There are many times I'll catch an obscure moment in a commercial that makes me go back to see what it was.


Of course, certain campaigns will make me watch, no matter what. For example, I love those Mac commercials and watch them nearly every time I see them.


For me, it's not whether they're in HD or not - it's whether they are entertaining or not.

 

[dline]



Quote:
Originally Posted by maharg18 /forum/post/0


I don't know about other networks, but CBS often does not even send an HD signal to affiliates when programming is in SD, so they must upconvert.

It varies. I believe NBC delivers a full-time feed on their "HD" feed whether it's actually HD or not, and that ABC and CBS do likewise at least in primetime when they can. (This is based on how I've observed my local affiliates "behave" as they switch the two.) CBS used to have issues in prime on Sundays during football season, though, when the NFL games ended at different times and "split" the network, which meant a lot of times we wouldn't see Sunday prime in HD. Hopefully that's changed ...


If there's nothing on the HD feed, the station has to locally upconvert the SD/analog feed. Taking the HD feed if there's nothing on it can be embarrassing, as some ABC viewers may have noticed when their stations accidentally aired the HD test loop, or as I noticed on my CBS station when color bars appeared after an NFL game instead of 60 Minutes.