I’ve now been watching HDTV for a decent part of a week, and I’m still amazed at the lack of HDTV content out there. HDTV has been on the air since 1998. That’s 8 years. There is just over 2 years left until analog content gets switched off. Now I realize that it’s only beginning to near critical mass now, but where is all the HDTV content? Most major prime-time shows on the big 4 are HD. But there are some puzzling omissions. I understand The Simpsons not being in HD, or even American Dad for Faimly Guy. But what about Survivor? That show would be a real showcase for HDTV, yet I was amazed to find out it was SD. Tuning around it looks like my local news isn’t in HD. CBS Sunday Morning, one of my Mom’s favorite shows, is not in HD.
Then there is the Discovery Channel. They have a whole Discovery HD Theater channel (which I haven’t been able to watch yet due to CableCard problems). I’ve looked at the listings for it though. The one series that they air that I watch is American Chopper. I’m sure it looks nice. But where is Myth Busters? That show would be fantastic in HD with all the explosions and other stuff they do. How about Dirty Jobs? If I can’t see the individual specs of dirt, it’s not dirty enough.
Then there are commercials. In all the HDTV I have watched, I’ve seen FOUR commercials in HDTV. One was Apple’s latest iPod Nano commercial (which looks great). The second was for Disney Parks (also looking great). The third was for Pier One (I think) of all places. The last was for Jay Leno.
But what about the commercials for CSI, Law & Order, and other shows? The shows are in HD. They ADVERTISE that those shows are in HD.
The commercials are not (except for Jay).
Then there is the extra fun issue of letter-boxing. I’ve been paying attention and more than a few commercials (especially political commercials) are letterboxed these days. Do you have any idea how STUPID a letterboxed SD screen looks on a HDTV? It’s one thing for a show (which I’ll adjust my TV for) but for the odd commercial it just looks dumb.
Then I can bring up the issue of the on screen text. When watching SD content, the on screen text on TV shows and sports games lines up with the left edge of the screen or the right edge. When watching HD… it’s in the same spot above the picture. That means it’s sort of floating half-way between the left edge of the screen and the middle of the screen. While that’s odd, the bug (or channel logo) down in the corner is usually in the right spot. Some of the sporting events I’ve tuned past had the graphics do the same thing. To use up the extra space on the left side of the screen… they just filled it up with a continuation of the graphic (with no text on it). It served no purpose but to obstruct 20% more of the screen.
I think I figured out part of the reason last night. While watching a show on my local CBS affiliate I noticed that when they came to/from the commercial breaks the bug would move and you might even see a few frames of video duplicated. It seems like they are running the show in HD OVER the SD feed of their station. So when the show is not on, it’s just the normal feed (unless they play an HD commercial). In other words, they don’t seem to be broadcast in “HD”, they seem to be broadcasting in SD with some HD programs inserted… if you get my meaning. It’s really rather odd.
