It is annoying, but better than regular def.

I'm not so sure...their SD camera shots appear as crisp to me as a YouTube video.  It's horrible.

NBC was making such a big deal about how many cameras they were using for this tournament...they left out the fact that most or all of the handheld cameras are SD.

It's been this way all season with NBC's HD coverage.  The constant switching between HD and SD cameras is incredibly annoying.

Yes, he called them country club greens. The speed was slow and the grain was annoying to him. He fully understood he was being very emotional right after his round, but, he said he felt he played way too well for the results.

He also said they should return them to they way they were. Memories....

Well, Ernie...

Everyone played the same greens....and someone actually won the tournament on those same greens....

Ever wonder what the Pro's would think of your home course conditions? Most of us would clobber them for being so picky....

Joe

What puzzles me is that most if not all SD sports coverage looks way better than the SD footage from NBC's "HD" golf telecast.  Its like watching an interview of Barbara Walters with the soft focus filters and all.

Cheers,
HeavyB

Ernie Es was just interviewd on XM radio, he had the quote of the year.

"These greens are horrible".

The new greens are Mini Verdae which I have found to be an outstanding surface at the few courses in South Carolina that have them. The surface is tight & firm, and can be maintained extremely fast if necessary. I don't understand Ernie's comments unless the greens just weren't mature enough.

What puzzles me is that most if not all SD sports coverage looks way better than the SD footage from NBC's "HD" golf telecast.  

That was my point...NBC's SD is worse than SD.  I hope they do something in advance of the US Open.

NBC's hand-helds are are wireless, which means, because of the delay involved in digital TV, they have to be analog. That means standard definition rather than high definition. (Yes, you may think you've read this before; this is a rerun.)
CBS is all-HD at The Masters because Augusta National doesn't allow the relay balloon or high tower to mar its skyline (or a blimp, for that matter, which the smart viewer will note NBC had and was in HD. But it was never used for live action shots, just live beauty shots and replays of action, which means no sync worries for cutting back and forth).
The wireless delay dilemma meant NBC had two equipment options:
1. Use standard definition cameras that could shoot in 16:9, thus allowing a fine standard definition picture, only widescreen, but at least sharp.
2. Use standard definition cameras that shoot in the original 4:3, and blow up the middle of the picture to make it fit in widescreen. That yields about a 1930s experimental-era 300-line picture instead of the standard 525 or the 1080 NBC uses in HD.
There is a technical term for this: crud.
The solution: Bury cable all through Sawgrass, a la Augusta National, to allow for an all-HD show.
And order a few miles more cable for Oakmont, NBC's next biggie.

Quote from: Tim_Cronin on May 14, 2007, 12:53:43 AM

The solution: Bury cable all through Sawgrass, a la Augusta National, to allow for an all-HD show.
And order a few miles more cable for Oakmont, NBC's next biggie.

You mean to tell me that they just went through a doze it under scrape off all the grass redo here, and noone thought to lay down some subterranian cable or conduit for cable for HD broadcasts?  Man someone should loose their job for that decision.

I don't know for sure. Hazarding a guess based on walking around tournaments and tripping over cables for years everywhere. Except Augusta, where all you see are connecting points at the edge of fairways.
Hey, jobs are hard to come by. It's only TV golf.

Thanks for starting the thread, I thought for a second it might just be my new TV.

CBS at Byron's place was much better on every shot, from closeups, to walking cameras, to everything. If I'm the PGA, NBC gets an earful this morning.

At least Johnny was okay yesterday.

Is wireless HD impossible?

Wireless HD is possible, but very expensive.  I get wireless HD at my house, via DirecTV.

And perhaps they did lay down cable at Sawgrass, and NBC just hasn't yet upgraded their hand-held cameras.  I imagine that the PGA Tour is leaning on NBC to treat the PLAYERS like CBS treats the Masters.

And it's all a moot point for me.  Now that the PLAYERS concludes on Mother's Day, I realize that I will never again be able to watch it.

This conversation is completely warranted. From what I know, most-to-all of the stationary cameras established in the towers are HD with the walking/portable cameras SD.   CBS did this at the Masters up until 2 years ago – it is a complete farce that the USGA and PGA would allow NBC to continue without spending the cap ex to upgrade to all HD or at least minimally upconvert to HD from SD on its mobile cameras.  I can’t imagine advertisers are happy either given that the demographics of those with HDTVs are primary targets for their products.

It would sure be nice to see the Church Pew at Oakmont in full HD…..