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The Price is Right does daytime in high-def
This summer, we had assumed The Price is Right had finally gone HD during the daytime, but unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Instead, we were forced to wait a few months until its 37th season began. As of this week, however, the fabled game show is back and clearer than ever in sparkling high-definition. Viewers will also notice a freshened set, bigger prizes and a new game as well. Add one more to the list of reasons your boss should let you work from home.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Western North Carolina's WLOS takes local news to high-def
The Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson DMA just netted itself another local station with HD news: WLOS (ABC). Starting this week, the station -- which serves the western parts of both North and South Carolina -- will be broadcasting from its new set and studio, which features a "rotating desk with two different back drops, more than two dozen HD monitors, new HD studio cameras, HD graphics, and the advanced HD 'Sky Watch' Weather Center." The station is just about a year late on being numero uno in the market, as rival WSPA-TV (the local CBS affiliate) took its local news HD in September of last year. Nothing wrong with choices, though.[Thanks, PopWeaverHDTV]
Chicago's CBS 2 going HD on September 22nd
With practically every other broadcast station in Chicago already beaming out local news in HD, we can only say that it's about time CBS 2 made its move. As the station slides to a new headquarters at Dearborn and Washington Streets across from Daley Plaza, it will also begin airing its newscasts in beautiful high-definition. We're hearing that ratings have been on the decline of late (that's what you get for not keeping with the program!), but hopefully the switch to HD will be a shot in the arm, er, meter. Give it a look on September 22nd.[Thanks, Stephen]
Charleston, South Carolina's WCSC-TV bringing HD news on 9/29
Hey, Charleston -- ready for some HD news? We sure hope so, as local CBS affiliate WCSC-TV is making the fateful switch on September 29th. According to the South Carolina station, viewers will see a "huge change" in how things look, and aside from that, it's pretty proud of being the first local broadcaster in the state to air its news "completely in high-definition." Kudos, Charleston, so who's next?[Thanks, Mike]
Oprah & Ellen & Dr. Phil & Entertainment Tonight & The Insider enter HD tomorrow
We know, you're all politics, sports, tech and other "serious" subjects when it comes to your HDTV programming schedule, it's just you have this...friend who watches daytime syndicated programming. Tell your "friend" that talk show hosts Ellen, Oprah (only a year after initially rumored) and Dr. Phil will all make the jump to glorious high definition. Later in the day, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider make the jump to 720p/1080i (depending on your local station and if they're ready to handle syndicated HD at all), complete with newly built sets and likely a few extra layers of makeup. Anything else your "friend" is still waiting to see get a resolution bump? Check after the break for a video tour of ET's new HDTV-ready digs.Read - Dr. PhilRead - Entertainment Tonight & The Insider
The Price is Right goes HD in daytime, too
Some four months after The Price is Right made the leap to high-definition on Friday nights, the daytime variant of the famed game show has now followed suit. During today's first pricing game, host Drew Carey proudly proclaimed that the show was now airing in HD during the day, after which kids home from school and grandparents with TVs from 1982 celebrated and did nothing, respectively.[Thanks, Justin]
NBC affiliate brings local HD news to Louisville, KY
No longer will Louisville residents have to sit around and wonder when their local news will finally be in HD, as NBC affiliate WAVE-TV has just made the long-awaited transition. This station becomes the first in the city to deliver local newscasts in high-definition, and we're told that three HD cameras will be used in the studio in order to capture anchors in stunning detail. Unfortunately, WAVE won't be replacing the field cameras just yet, so live-on-location reports will still be seen in grainy SD. Oh, and these folks also brought in a makeup consultant in order to handle the whole "now you can see my wrinkles" situation. Sigh.
HDTV Listings for June 10, 2008
What we're watching tonight: ABC (720p) brings Game 3 of the Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals at 9 p.m. Discovery (1080i) has Deadliest Catch at 9 p.m., and the season finale of The Alaska Experiment at 10 p.m. History (1080i) has Mega Disasters at 10 p.m. HDNet Movies (1080i) premieres Masked and Anonymous at 8:05 p.m. ESPN HD (720p) has the Jim Mckay Tribute Show at 9 p.m.
The View to spend in a week in Las Vegas, tape show in HD
Just after hearing that the Ellen Degeneres Show would be going HD in a few short long months, another daytime favorite (or not, depending on perspective) will also be dipping its toes in the wondrous waters of off-site high-definition. Reportedly, the infamous chit-chat show is set to tape a week of episodes from Sin City next month, as it swoops in on Caesars Palace in Las Vegas from June 23rd through 27th. The excursion will mark the first time The View has broadcast in HDTV while on location, though no details of further involvement were mentioned. [Image courtesy of Yahoo!]
Poll: Do you still watch SD programming?
With just south of a hundred HD channels on carriers like DirecTV, and even dozens on the average cable operator, one may wonder if there's even a reason for turning to an SD station anymore. Here at the Engadget HD lair, there's only a few programs still shot and delivered in standard-def that we catch ourselves watching, but we'll admit, it's been an awful long time since SD programming consumed more than 10-percent or so of our viewing. Not too tough a question for you this week: do you still find yourself flipping to SD networks with the growing amount of HD content out there? If so, how much? And be honest -- is it solely due to your wife's obsession with America's Next Top Model?[Image courtesy of Rickey] %Poll-14248%
SportsCenter changes up the formula starting August 11
The daily SportsCenter rotation marks time for many a sports junkie, but starting this fall, everything will be different. Timed for the start of the Beijing Olympics, SportsCenter is switching to a live edition from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. News vet Hannah Storm will host from 9 a.m. until noon each day, in an effort to balance with ESPN2's morning programming and ESPNews. Smaller tweaks include a continuous Bottom Line news ticker that scrolls headlines throughout the show and commercial breaks, and an ESPNews-style Rundown vertical listing of upcoming stories. Next spring ESPN takes the wrapper off its Sony-powered LA studio, debuting a 10 p.m. PT / 1 a.m. ET live SportsCenter broadcast skewed for the West Coast. Endless reruns of SportsCenter throughout the night and early morning have been a fixture for more than a decade, this adjustment strikes us on the level of political unrest, a weakening dollar and global climate change. [Via Variety]
Oprah's latest giveaway is HD for all
Don't feel bad, we're not saying you missed out on a Kuro/XEL-1/what-have-you giveaway, gadget mavens. One thing is for sure, though -- Oprah understands that HD is about more than just sports and nature. Since rolling out her "OWN" network in conjunction with Discovery Health, the one-woman media empire has decided that she can't be outdone by the likes of Big Bird and is bringing her namesake "Oprah Winfrey Show" to HD beginning this fall. We're not sure that the picture quality will make the content more appealing to us personally, but we won't be able to give it the "how good can it be, if it's not in HD?" brush-off anymore!
Timing, money among reasons for channels getting HD treatment
Pixel for pixel, we'd take MOJO HD over TBS HD everyday of the week. Why? Because 100-percent of the content aired on the former is in gorgeous high-definition, while the vast majority of material shown on the latter is in ghastly stretch-o-vision. For those that have wondered why certain channels get HD treatment and some don't, Sound and Vision has taken an in-depth look to unearth the reasons why seemingly worthless networks such as QVC have an HD channel lined up while scores of HD junkies can't get their carrier to land SciFi HD, USA HD or dozens of other channels with worthwhile high-def programming. Needless to say, timing and money rank pretty high on the list, but other conveniences such as simulcasting and having loads of "pretty" content available helps nets "jump the line." Hit the read link for the full spill.
NHL Live HD simulcast now on NHL Network
Fans of NHL Live should know the noon broadcast is now on TV, straight from the studios in New York to NHL Network. Hopefully, hosts Don La Greca and E.J. Hradek have their HD makeup ready for the spotlight, since theirs is the first satellite radio program to make the jump to HDTV. Faces made for radio or not, we figure they've got to be better than listening to the skinny Mike (from Mike & Mike on ESPN) go on and on about his hair.
The Price is Right... in HD, of course
Truth be told, The Price is Right has indeed been airing in high-definition for the past couple of weeks just as we heard it would, but we figured it prudent to affirm that yes, the famed game show is indeed now in high-definition. As far as we know, CBS will continue broadcasting the daytime mainstay in high-def after its stint on Friday nights is up, so be sure and set that HD DVR for all you folks holding it down with the 8 to 5 whenever.[Thanks, Jerry H.]
Sunrise Earth Viewer's Choice Edition Part Deux
It's that time of year again, Sunrise Earth is asking its viewers what they'd like to see first thing in the morning. With BD Live-compatible Blu-ray players, piles of cash and supermodels out of the question, we can choose from ten possible sunrises, which will be whittled down to five episodes broadcast in the third quarter of this year. Each locale represents a vast improvement over our brick wall-facing window so we're not picky, but take a look at the list after the break then hop over to Discovery and tell them what you want to see.
Telemundo kicks off HD production in Mexico
Spanish-language network Telemundo is adding to our slate of telenovelas as it's just started production of El Engaño (The Betrayal) in HD. Telemundo has been airing in HD in some areas for a few months now, but this is the network's first HDTV production done in Mexico.
HDTV Listings for June 8, 2007
What we're watching: We thought Standoff was cancelled, but it's on tonight, so we 'll take a look at that or Nicholas Cage in The Weatherman on Showtime.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
The Weather Channel HD to debut later this year
The Weather Channel finally set a timetable for the debut of its long-awaited high definition broadcast for the second half of this year. The 24 hour network says one of its biggest challenges is redoing all of the weather graphics for HDTV, while still looking good on 4x3 SDTV screens. The channel will be one of DirecTV's new stations, but also expects to hit cable networks very soon. Cable headends will have to upgrade their equipment to allow for HD inserts of localized weather broadcasts which should be deployed next year. If you're a fan of those "live from the hurricane" shots, the Weather Channel plans to convert those gradually, along with all of its studio-based shows making the change to 1080i by mid-2008.
Virgin Media, Buena Vista ink deal to give UK more HD on demand
While UK users were recently able to catch America's biggest game in crisp HD glory, it now looks like HD lovers on the other side of the pond have even more reasons to celebrate. In a recent deal between Virgina Media and The Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista International Television (BVITV), hit network series such as Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Daybreak, Ghost Whisperer, Night Stalker, and Alias will soon be available in high-definition via Virgin's TV-on-demand service. Although further details were scant, it was also noted that this was probably not the last deal the UK would see in terms of adding additional HD on demand offerings this year, and while a specific timetable wasn't set, Virgin Media stated that the content should be available "before month's end."
