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NBA to go all-out with HD at tonight's All Star game
We're sure you've been taking in the Las Vegas festivities this weekend on TNT-HD, but we've actually got something a bit more exciting that Boston's Gerald Green finally giving the Celtics something to cheer about. Similar to other sporting events that have been upping the ante on their HD arsenal, the NBA will be using a whopping 30 camera crews and 10 high-definition cameras to capture the 2007 All Star matchup. Moreover, we expect TNT's indoor broadcast to look slightly better than the rainout we all had to endure when watching the Super Bowl, but be sure to catch the game tonight at 9:00PM EST and then drop a comment as to how glorious (or not) you thought the broadcast actually was.
NBA's 2007 All-Star Game in HDTV... and 3D
If you can't afford a courtside seat at this weekend's NBA All-Star Game festivities, the league is testing a new way to "change the way we see the game" -- sans the chance of rubbing elbows with various celebrities. Guests in Las Vegas, will go to the Mandalay Bay hotel instead of the Thomas and Mack Center where the game is being played, and don special glasses to view view a 3D high definition version of TNT's broadcast of Saturday and Sunday night's activities. Five 3D camera systems have been installed around the arena by Pace, and according to the NBA's VP of operations and technology, the HDTV widescreen broadcast will allow them to avoid many cuts and camera movements, hopefully minimizing any shaky cam effect some complained about during the special SkyCam broadcast last year. If you can't make it to Vegas to check things out, you can still see this technology at work this season, as a similar broadcast during the NBA Finals is already planned. No word on plans for a "belligerent drunk" simulator, so either way we still have a long way to go towards simulating the real game experience in a theater and someday in the future, at home.Read - Variety Read - Broadcasting & Cable
HDTV Listings for October 27, 2006
What we're watching: The World Series could be all wrapped up tonight, as the Tigers and Cardinals play Game 5 in St. Louis. Surprisingly, we've got not one but two HD season premieres tonight. Las Vegas on NBC finally returns, and on Showtime Masters of Horror kicks off its second season.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
DirecTV adds HD locals in Austin, Cincinnati and Las Vegas
Sure bandwidth issues are forcing DirecTV to play musical chairs with its HD channel lineup, that hasn't stopped it from adding local stations in several areas recently. Austin, Cincinnati and Las Vegas are all among the cities to get MPEG-4 local broadcasts. As with the others, to get the new stations you'll need a new dish and receiver. According to the press release, this brings the count of cities with local HD via satellite to 42, covering 62 percent of US households, and contiuing on track to provide 150 national HD stations plus 1,500 local in 2007. The new stations are: Austin, Texas KEYE/CBS, KVUE/ABC and KTBC/FOX Cincinnati, Ohio WKRC/CBS, WCPO/ABC, WXIX/FOX and WLWT/NBC Las Vegas, Nevada KTNV/ABC and KVVU/FOX
Samsung's handsets at CTIA
So we're here in Vegas for the opening ceremonies of CTIA, which officially opens its doors tomorrow. We checked out Samsung tonight at the Official CTIA Press Rception; they didn't have a whole lot of anything to play around with that we haven't already seen before (the D807 and T719 were present), but we also caught a quick glance of the A930 from the last time we were in Vegas: CES. More hands on pics after the break, but unfortunately we couldn't snag the new T509 and there just wasn't a whole lot new to show you from Sammy (at least not right now, anyway).
ESPNZone HD
Ok, so you might not be able to get the Super Bowl in HD via your cable provider, but if you live near an ESPNZone you are in luck. The ESPNZone's in New York, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore are all going to be fully high definition in time for the big game February 5th. Now word on the exact equipment or resolutions, but ESPN is going with Philips LCD's, plasmas and projectors.The upgrade is more than just screens however, as each location is equipped with HD-compatible satellite and cable receivers, not to mention all the cabling and switching equipment that had to be upgraded. Chicago, Anaheim, Atlanta and Denver ESPNZone's won't be ready in time for the Super Bowl, but will be upgraded later this year. I've never been to one of these, but I've driven past the Las Vegas location so many times in PGR3 I feel like I have. Any HDBeat readers planning on getting their 720p fix at ESPNZone?
