F1 not in HD

[JasonD]

OK seriously whats the deal? Its supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport and its not broadcast in HD? I can get Nascar, Monster Truck and Tow Guys Garage in HD but not Formula 1?

[UltimateDanGTR]

Its all down to one man. Hes short, got white hair, stupid glasses.

for some reason he has not sold a HD contract or some other stupid excuse.

[Sonic]

Most likely because the angry dwarf has a plan to sell the HD rights to pay per view some time in the not so distant future.

[schmenke]

HD cameras and associated equipment would have to be made available at the circuits. Not sure it the equipment is the responsibility of the FOM or the local broadcasters?

[markabilly]

a few years ago, abc broadcast the indy gp in high def on regular tv broadcast signals, no need for cable here locally...

it was so fabulous, we went to see the race in person

[Dave B]

HD cameras and associated equipment would have to be made available at the circuits. Not sure it the equipment is the responsibility of the FOM or the local broadcasters?
With the exception of Monaco and Japan, all the races are produced by FOM. All the trackside cameras are HD, and the onboards are being upgraded but are already sufficient quality that most people don't notice when they're upscaled. As has been said, it's all down to Bernie's wallet not being fat enough - he'll surely ask broadcasters to cough up even more money for access to an HD feed.

Hopefully the local crews at Monaco will give way to FOM soon - there's only so many times I can cope with 50% of my screen being taken up by Zepter logos on the footbridges.

[markabilly]

BTW--I think it was telecast in 03 (or maybe 02?) in HD (over the air)--watched it at a friends house on a 50 inch plasma---IT was INCREDIBE picture----but the commercials and the broadcast crew were the usual.........
So six years ago, and the images were wide screen and fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!

And now we in the usa are still stuck with SD from speed (but even nastycar or the "international racing losers" are using HD and have done it for years!!!)

I can see some countries might not have it (especially those third world losers who pay him so well) and bernie maybe is afraid once you see it in hi-def, you will turn off the races that are not.....................or with wide screen you will see more empty stands at those thrid world countries

then there may be some in car camera issues, but that has not slowed down IRL

[schmenke]

...And now we in the usa are still stuck with SD from speed ...

I thought I recently saw Speed TV advertising HD broadcasting...? Not sure if it was necessarily for F1 coverage though.

[JasonD]

I thought I recently saw Speed TV advertising HD broadcasting...? Not sure if it was necessarily for F1 coverage though.

Yes Speed does offer some shows in HD, but not F1.

[philipbain]

With the exception of Monaco and Japan, all the races are produced by FOM. All the trackside cameras are HD, and the onboards are being upgraded but are already sufficient quality that most people don't notice when they're upscaled. As has been said, it's all down to Bernie's wallet not being fat enough - he'll surely ask broadcasters to cough up even more money for access to an HD feed.

Hopefully the local crews at Monaco will give way to FOM soon - there's only so many times I can cope with 50% of my screen being taken up by Zepter logos on the footbridges.

I distinctly remember back at the Japanese GP in 2006 that they had HD onboard pictures which looked astoundingly good. I agree that F1 is lagging behind other sports badly with HD, the World Cup in 2006 was in HD, the Olympics in 2008 were in HD and F1 always claims to compete with these events for being the top dog in world sport yet no HD, despite the fact that F1 is the exact sort of sport that would benefit from HD coverage with it's visually vibrant fast paced action. Even A1GP is in HD for Pete's sake, looks great in HD too! I'm sure NASCAR is in HD in North America, unfortunately Sky Sports in the UK that cover NASCAR over here, despite having 3 HD channels don't as yet supply HD coverage of NASCAR, ditto for Indycar.

PS. World Touring Cars on Eurosport HD looks bloody brilliant too!

[Mark]

Just look at how long F1 took to swtich to widescreen, never mind HD!

[markabilly]

Yes Speed does offer some shows in HD, but not F1.
oh yeah, not only all the nasty car stuff, but even some of the pink slips is in high def

worse part is that the speed f1 races look much better on my 1992 mitisbushi crt, than they do on a 60 inch high def plasma as none of the high definition big screens do a decent sd conversion to their large screens :mad: :mad: :mad: