[cpto]

There has been a lot of discussion on AVSForum about Survivor in HD. Seems that the consensus is that ain't gonna happen in our lifetimes.


But there is an alternative - Fox-like - that would give a better picture, native 16 x 9, and would be relatively cheap for Survivor to implement (given the cash cow that the program must be.)


Get rid of the old camcorders and start using professional DV camcorders, such as the Sony DSR-570WSL. These would give a much higher resolution 16X9 picture for the digital feed and could also be used for the standard feed (at 4:3, even the cropped picture should exceed NTSC bandwidth restrictions.)


In addition, they're lighter and cheaper, which should make the photographers happy, too.


Even cheap consumer DV camcorders give a good picture at 16:9, and some of them have been used for large-venue showings, such as The Blair Witch Project.


Perhaps we should stop complaining about what - given the current price and scarcity of HD field equipment - we can't have, and suggest that reality shows go one step up from the current equipment and give us what they can afford, now.


Could Bob Ross or anyone else in this field comment on this?


Rick

 

[Ken H]

Based on what I know of CBS (see http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=My+Day+at+CBS ), I don't think this is in the cards. CBS is fully dedicated to HDTV, period.

 

[cpto]

Ken - thanks for the thread you posted.


I know that CBS is dedicated to HD, but I think there may be times when an incremental improvement is better than no improvement at all.


Currently you have the option of watching the digital broadcast of Survivor (with the left and right black bars), or of watching a fuzzy full screen NTSC picture with the top and bottom missing (unless you like horizontal distortion.)


All I was suggesting was that barring the availability of sufficient HD cameras, CBS and other networks could increase the resolution of shows such as Survivor at relatively little cost.


Of course, I'd suspect Survivor 12, The Mall of America, to be full HD.


Rick

 

[Geoff]

Or Asbury Park for Survivor 12

 

[Geoff]

Hey , what happened to Ricks E. St. Louis joke?

Now my Asbury joke doesn't make any sense.

 

[cpto]

Sorry, Geoff. You got caught up in an edit.

 

[YardleyBill]

re: Asbury Park


I got it, even without the E. St. Louis comment.

 

[davez]

This is slightly off topic, but does anyone know if Eco-Challenge (EC) was recorded in HD? I've seen the HD EC promo on the Discovery HD Theater on the old channel 199.


EC also uses much fewer cameras than survivor as they only focus on about 4 teams.


Both are Mark Burnett productions, which is what got me thinking.

 

[David McRoy]

Careful viewing of the Eco Challenge video that is part of the Discovery HD Theater demo loop reveals that most of it was shot in HD video but some shots appear to have originated from pro-sumer standard-definition camcorders capable of 16:9 aspect ratio.

 

[kromkamp]

I doubt EC uses fewer cameras, because:


a)just because they only show primarily ~4 teams doesnt mean thats all they captured. Unless they somehow know ahead of time exactly which teams will be the top 3?


b)Eco challenge takes place over hundreds of miles. They must have multiple camera 'way-station' groups that take over rather than have 1 camera team follow a team from beginning to end. Unless the camera team is made up of past eco-challenge players, that is


c)If you think about it, Survivor is really only 2 teams, and as previously stated, much more well-confined.


Andy K.