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Final ESPN 3D NCAAF games announced with a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl surprise
Mad you missed ESPN's previous 3D college football broadcasts and worried it might not come back? Then get your DVRs and calendars at the ready, because the network has announced its remaining 3D college football broadcasts will follow the Boise State Broncos as they play the University of Hawaii on Saturday, November 6th at 3:30PM ET and Idaho on Friday, November 22th at 9PM ET. Combined with the first ESPN 3D NCAAF game, this means the heavily debated Broncos will at least temporarily hold the record for most 3D appearances in college football history. Sadly, it won't enhance their bid for the biggest 3D game of the season -- you know, the Tostitos BCS Championship on January 10th. But even if the blue turf's weak schedule woes keep them from the title, at least one of their records could still improve by returning to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl -- which ESPN also shared will be aired in 3D. Obviously waiting is no fun, but unless you jacked Adam Sandler's DVR from Click, reading our college football kickoff review can help pass the time until game day arrives.
ESPN 3D hits the west coast for Oregon/UCLA game tonight
So far, ESPN 3D's college football coverage has been all Eastern and Midwest games, but tonight we'll see some Pac-10 action as the top ranked (depending on which poll you consider to be valid) Oregon ducks take on UCLA at 9 p.m. It's also the first Thursday night broadcast for the channel, before it features Michigan State/Northwestern on Saturday. Two events in one week something to celebrate? That's the way it is for now in 3D. BTW, if you're in Portland and 3DTV-less, check out a Sony-sponsored tweetup for 3DTVs, Google TV and most importantly, a tailgate with food and beer.
My Mac Setup: Gameday Edition in the UK
My girlfriend Danielle recently emigrated from the US to live with me in Wales. Her move meant leaving behind family and friends, but most importantly she abandoned decent live coverage of her beloved Michigan Wolverines. Here in the UK, our only broadcast option for college football is ESPN America with a paltry 75 non-Bowl games per year. In the first five weeks of the season, only two Wolverines game were broadcast, and one of those was two days after the game was played. Even if you're prepared to go illegal and use bittorrent to download the broadcast, sports fans abroad still need to tiptoe around spoilers for anything up to a few days after the game. Yesterday, just a few hours before the grudge match with Michigan State, she discovered ESPN Player; the Flash-based streaming service offers excellent coverage of college football games for £13 (around $20) per month, and unlike many streaming options it isn't locked down to be US-only (commenter SimDan notes it doesn't work in the US at all, a complete list of countries it's available in is in the ESPN Player FAQ). Sadly, I couldn't find a DVI-HDMI cable to show the game on my television, so she was facing the prospect of having to watch the big game on a small screen -- a 13" Macbook Pro, to be exact, complete with tinny speakers and optional lap-cooking technology. Hardly ideal. Fortunately though, if there's one thing I know how to do, it's how to solve problems with too much technology. So I jury-rigged the system you see in the picture above.
ESPN 3D's fourth college football broadcast is Auburn/South Carolina
ESPN 3D will keep things rolling in week four of the college football season by featuring Auburn, again, as it hosts Steve Spurrier and South Carolina on September 25. That of course makes Auburn the first repeat on the schedule, after this weeks matchup with Clemson. Now that that's announced, we have two questions: Will all of ESPN 3D's games be on the eastern half of the country, and with an abundance of SEC speed on the field from both teams, can 3D cameras possibly hope to keep up with the action before busting into flames?
ESPN 3D review: college football kickoff
The 2009 BCS National Championship game showed us the potential of 3D sports broadcasts but now it's 2010 so while Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow have taken their game to the NFL, ESPN 3D has made it a reality for viewers at home. Last night's Boise St./Virginia Tech matchup was the first of 13 the network plans to air including the next BCS Championship game so we didn't waste any time plugging in a 3DTV and taking a look. Check after the break for our impressions and a bit more explanation on 3D technology (Still not up to speed? Check out our post-CES breakdown of 3D tech for the home right here.)
ESPN 3D schedules 13 college football broadcasts this season; Va. Tech / Boise St. is first
After unveiling the standard college football schedule, ESPN has seen fit to reveal the first three of the 13 games it plans to broadcast in 3D this season. Boise State will face Virginia Tech on September 6, a Monday night, while Ohio State and Miami will do battle September 11, before Clemson and Auburn have their ACC/SEC grudge match September 18. The plan is to have a college football game on ESPN 3D "almost" every week of the season, with the last being the BCS National Championship game January 10. Announcements regarding NBA, college basketball and Winter X Games 15 scheduling are on deck, but this weekend it's all about the Summer X Games 16.
ACC, Big 12 upgrade to HD instant replay
We're still not sure which school in the conference is ready to challenge for a BCS bowl again, but the ACC is following the other bigs by upgrading its instant replay systems to high definition. Just like the Pac-10, Big Ten and MAC it's using DVSport equipment, while the Big 12 announced earlier this month its universities would follow the SEC and go with XOS Digital's technology to give referees a clearer second look at the action. We'll be keeping an eye out to see who gets the better calls this season and in the future -- or at least until one or more of the conferences no longer exists.
Pac-10 refs will see HD instant replays this season, find a new reason for blowing big calls
Just like the Big Ten and SEC, Pac-10 schools will be upgrading to DVSport's HD Replay system for the 2010 football season. They got a trial run this past weekend at the Oregon spring football game, just a bit too late to give Oklahoma back the ball in one of the bigger instant replay officiating mistakes in history. Mountain West, Sun Belt, Conference USA -- you're on the clock.
Big Ten, MAC football get HD instant replay for the refs, but the SEC was faster
It's been a few years since the NFL made the jump to high definition instant replay, and it's absolutely time it arrived in college football as well. The SEC announced plans to switch last month and today the Big Ten and Mid-American Conferences mentioned they will upgrade their systems as well. The Pac 10 tested HD replays back in 2008 but is still mentioned by the provider it shares with the SEC, XOS Digital as a standard def conference, along with the Big 12, Sun belt and others. It's silly that we should have a better look at the action from home than the refs charged with calling the game so we hope they get new hardware soon, although they could always be waiting for the right time to put 3D glasses on the zebras before investing.
The best HD sports on TV this week
In what is the closet college football will ever get to a real championship game, #2 Alabama meets #1 Florida in Atlanta on Saturday at 4pm. This is probably the hottest ticket in college football too as you could buy a really nice HDTV for what a decent set of tickets to this are going for on the second hand market. As much as we are looking forward to college football this weekend, it also, sadly, marks the end of real football because we all know that bowl games are just glorified scrimmage games. So be sure to catch one of the other great conference championships before its too late. CFB #2 Alabama vs. #1 Florida CBS 4:00 PM Sat #10 Georgia Tech vs. Clemson 8:00 PM Sat #5 Cincinnati at #15 Pittsburgh ABC 12:00 PM Sat #3 Texas vs #22 Nebraska ABC 8:00 Sat NFL Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts CBS 1:00 PM Sun Minnesota Vikings at Arizona Cardinals NBC 8:20 PM Sun Baltimore Ravens at Green Bay Packers ESPN 8:30 PM Mon NHL New Jersey Devils at Buffalo Sabres 7:00 PM Wed Vs NY Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers 7:00 PM Mon Vs NBA Boston Celtics at San Antonio Spurs 8:00 PM Thurs TNT Chicago Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers Fri 8:00 PM ESPN
CBS College Sports has 43 HD games on the schedule
The world needs another cable sports network as much as it need more credit card debt, but if we have to continue to be forced to subscribe to another 24x7 channel to ensure that we have access to as much HD sports as possible, than so be it. The big news this year for CBS College Sports -- as far as we're concerned -- is that every single one of its 42 college football match-ups will be presented in HD. This will mostly consists of games from the Mountain West, C-USA and military teams, which should make for some pretty good games. Now if only our provider carried the network in HD we'd be all set.
3D College football is actually quite enjoyable
It's no secret that as much as we love HD, we're not a big fan of 3D. It isn't that we just hate anything 3D, it's just that the demos we've seen haven't impressed. Well we're happy to report that we actually kinda enjoyed our time at the BCS Championship game in 3D. In fact there are actually a lot of things going for the idea, but to us the 3D aspect is just icing on the cake.
74th Heisman Trophy Presentation is the first in HD
Whether Tim Tebow grabs his second Heisman Trophy this Saturday or the hardware goes home with Sam Bradford or Colt McCoy, the winner will make history as the first one broadcast in high definition. Available on ESPN HD, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV you can catch the December 13 awards show in a variety of ways, with replays planned for ESPNU. HD's a natural fit, not that we've missed the extra resolution on Lee Corso's face each year, but the inevitable endless highlight reels (and clips of proud, tearful parents and coaches) leading up to the actual award should finally be available in their proper glory. The show kicks off at 8:00PM ET, we guess this puts the first 3D Heisman presentation on the clock.
BCS Championship game live 3D broadcast coming to CES, movie theaters
Just in case you thought 3D was only for Thursday night NFL games and NBA playoff matchups, Fox Sports is broadcasting the first college football game in the format January 8. CEO David Hill dropped the info during the 3D Entertainment Summit, acknowledging plans to bring the 3D feed to CES (finally, we won't have to miss the big game this year -- like we'd ever watch an SD feed stretched on cheap hotel plasmas) and select movie theaters, but balked at pushing technology forward. Citing costs absorbed by broadcasters in switching to high definition, he's looking towards consumer electronics manufacturers to turn over HDTV profits and start another round of upgrades for early adopters. While they argue over who picks up the check we don't expect more than a few demos here or there, but with Panasonic, LG and others already taking the baton it's just a matter of time, maybe when ESPN takes over things full time in 2011?
ESPN snaps up BCS rights starting in 2011, antenna viewers SOL?
ESPN recently announced it's locked up the rights to televise all the college Bowl Championship Series games beginning in January 2011, but that's not making everyone happy. The National Association of Broadcasters is airing a beef on the side of those who prefer to experience major sporting events -- particularly those featuring publicly funded institutions -- via free OTA broadcasts, not to mention the potential for further delaying a playoff system. The upside for viewers of course is the sports giant's commitment to high definition broadcasts and ability to deliver on multiple platforms, and playoff or no playoff, someone was going to grab those TV rights. Any OTA diehards planning to make the switch or say goodbye to the BCS in a couple of years?
MountainWest Sports Network makes HD debut November 22
Despite BYU's fall from the national championship picture, MountainWest fans have something to cheer about as the The Mtn - MountainWest Sports Network makes the leap to HDTV broadcasting Saturday, November 22 with a doubleheader of Colorado State/Wyoming and BYU/Utah college football. Also in HD on The Mtn are all the pre and postgame shows, giving a planned nine hours of sweet, sweet high definition. Now, about that whole needing a sidecar to pour a regular drink thing...[Via KSL]
College football refs get a taste of HD instant replay tomorrow
A season after instant replay met the NFL, the Pac-10 is trying out high definition instant replay equipment from XOS Replay Systems during Thursday's USC vs. Oregon State game. The reason for the scoreboard packing higher res than the replay hood? After investing six figures in SD equipment four years ago, colleges are reluctant to spend the money all over again, but the All Things Trojan blog reports Oregon State's larger-than-normal replay room will give officials a chance to check SD & HD systems side by side, at which time the choice should become clear. Now, about that call during the Washington/BYU game...
Battle college football mascots in EA's All-Play
If you enjoy football games but aren't into the NCAA, it looks like NCAA Football 09 might still have something entertaining to offer. Granted, it's the silliest of features -- and rather pointless, in the grand scheme of things -- but we'll be the first to say that watching teams of mascots throwing the old pigskin made us smile. Where else can you play football as a team full of elephants? Of course, if you do like college football, this is just an added bonus. Interested parties can NCAA Football 09 All-Play to release next week on the 15th in North America.
All FSN's College Football games will be presented in HD
This may really turn out to be the year for HD football. We kinda expected the NFL to go all HD, but we were shocked to hear that all of ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN U games would be presented in HD; and we are even more shocked to hear that all 31 of FSN's College Football games will be presented in HD this year. This really just leaves the smaller providers like Jefferson Pilot in the SD world, but at this rate we wouldn't be one bit surprised to hear that it is going HD too.
All live 2008 NCAA Football games on ABC / ESPN networks to air in HD
Not that we're trying to rush the summer away or anything, but August can't get here soon enough. Shortly after hearing that CBS would be producing every single NFL game in high-definition, in flies word that all live 2008 NCAA College Football games shown on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN U will also be available in glorious HD. Granted, there's a shot you won't even have those four networks in HD before the season begins, but at least your local watering hole will. For a look at the current schedule (which is far from complete), check out the goods in the read link. Rest assured, we'll be geared up for the network opener (August 28, 8:00PM on ESPN HD) as NC State shows South Carolina how it's done down at Williams-Brice Stadium.
