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I've been an HDTV guy for about 14 months since I bought my 50-inch Panasonic LCD. I love all sports except the NBA. Hence the need to finally catch up with the technology and get on board with HD.

Here's the problem, I have yet to see ANY golf broadcast in High Definition. A guy here at work told me that the Masters was in HD on CBS but I don't believe him. At the time, my provider didn't carry CBS-HD.

Does anyone else know the reason for this? I have written emails to all of the major sports networks, asking the question. It has gone without response.

I have a feeling it's due to the way golf is broadcast. With so many cameras spread out over such a large area, there must be some issue with the transmission.

Wouldn't the Mercedes be INCREDIBLE in High Def???

I have seen only a couple of golf programs in hi def thus far. CBS has covered events in hi def as well as ESPN. It hasn't been as impressive as watching other sports like football or hockey but it was still nice. I'm sure the Mercedes will be in hi def as well as the Masters though. How can you not with all the color and pagentry of those venues?
Enjoy!

See, the thing is, I watch at least parts of EVERY tournament and have never seen any golf in HD. Including last year's Mercedes. If something is being broadcast in HD, you know it. There's no gray area. Even though it's being shown on your CBS-HD channel, it's not necessarily in HD. Like I said, if it's High Def, it's like night and day versus not High Def...

Dude, I've got a 61" plasma on my wall so the detail is VERY evident. I know the difference between enhanced and hi def. Everything on ESPN hi def is broadcast in hi def except the commercials. They boadcast a few partial rounds of the PGA and a lot of the Champions Tour events. CBS aired a few tourneys in hi def. If you notice wide open outdoor events are not as impressive as indoor or arena/stadium type venues where the focal point of the lens isn't as great.

I am going to have to politely disagree with you on this one. I just haven't seen any HD golf with my own eyes. Maybe your provider is providing something that mine isn't.

Hopefully someone else will chime in on this...

The Masters is in HDTV...watched it last year...

HDTV is still new...so there are just not enough cameras to go around to broadcast all the golf outings. There was a backlog in production in building HD cameras. Soon there will be enough to go around.

I have just purchased a 62" widescreen DLP a month ago and I am hooked on HDTV. I know a little about technology and HD and here is some of the information that I know. I have found a difference in HD quality when comparing different stations like ABC and Fox. I have never had good HD reception through ABC (mainly) and sometimes CBS except one time... and that was during the Macy's Day parade broadcasted on ABC. Even if your station/channel is labled in HD and your cable provider and TV is capable of HD, your not necessarrily going to get High quality HD or full potential of the HD. The amazing picture quality of HD comes from and depends on the cameras that are broadcasting the show. I spoke to a friend of mine who works for an nba team and works with their video production department and he enlightened me about a few HD facts when watching sports. This is the info I'm relaying through him. [HD is easier to broadcast during Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey as compared to golf. The reason is because there are less HD cameras that are necessary for specific angles and shots. I know it sounds funny, and seems like the companies would be able to have full reign of HD cameras, but their not fully ready yet. That is why (if youv'e noticed) every single program or station on your television isn't in HD yet. Broadcasters are just not ready yet.]

I have to agree with the claim that the 2005 Masters was telecast in HDTV. I watched it on my new big screen Sony!

Ok, so based on those responses, my co-worker was right claiming he watched the Masters in HD last year. Now I can't WAIT till April.

Anyway, I understand all of the HD dynamics, meaning that it starts with the camera used in the filming. No HD camera, no HD broadcast. Period. And that just because you are tuned to CBS-HD or FOX-HD it doesn't mean you are watching an HD broadcast.

I still believe that is has mostly to do with the number of cameras covering a golf tournament. That's A LOT of fiber-optic cable running along the ground for fans to keep walking over. The Masters being in HD makes sense. It's a tournament that is always played there, obviously, so maybe they have wired up the course below the ground so they can provide HD.

On a similar note, how many HD channels does your provider carry? I only have 11 and 4 of them are movie channels.

I am also a HDTV Junkie! My wife & I went to a store in town the week before the Super Bowl to replace a DVD player last year and ended up getting a 55 inch Sony HDTV. It has changed the way we watch tv. Much to my disappointment, our local cable company does not have Fox & ABC in Hi Def (so no Super Bowl). Needless to say, we rarely watch any programming on Fox & ABC. If it is not on ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, NBC or CBS it is just not the same. It makes **** tv show tolerable with the crisp picture and surround sound.

Also, we watched three of the four rounds of the Masters last year on High Def. The two opening rounds were on TNT high Def and then watched Saturday on CBS. It was absolutely amazing; the only way to see the great colors better was to be there & that is where we watched Sunday's round.

Keep bugging your local cable provider! I sent death threats in order to get them to activate CBS-HD before the start of this NFL season. And, like clockwork, 2 weeks before the season...BAM, CBS-HD!

I am not sure what the specific abbreviation is but I do know that all cable television programming will be required by 2007 or 2008 to broadcast in HD. So it will no longer be an option for viewers but a requiremnt for broadcasting. I am sketchy on the date when this will happen, so I will email my friend and ask him about this and post back later. I know there is a deadline when this will all happen, just not exactly sure when.

FCC has put into place that as of Feb. 2009, all broadcasting stations will be only Digital (HD).

So if you still have an analog TV, you will have to buy a digital to analog convertor for your set. Not on market at this time.

Here is what my friend who works for a video production team said:


Originally the FCC was going to mandate that all stations stop "broadcasting" in standard def. at the end of 2006 IF 85% of all homes had HD receivers. That meant that all "stations"( Channel 3, 8,19 etc) (not cable networks) had to broadcast in HD at the beginning of 07. As of April 05 only 12% of households had an HDTV. That meant that it was very unlikely that the FCC would push the 06 deadline much. I believe a new more attainable deadline was just set months ago for sometime in early 09. That would seem much more realistic. I would say that there has been a huge swing in the purchase of HD sets in just the last 6 months, meaning that everyone will definitely be broadcasting in HD by 09 if not 08.
This does not mean however that everyone's current standard set will be rendered useless in 09. There will be set-top boxes available that will "Down Convert" all the signals from HD to standard. I believe the government is working on a fund whereas low income and even middle income families have access to the conversion boxes so that they are not to go without broadcast television when the changeover happens. The downside to all of that is that anyone in television will tell you that HD signals that are "down converted" look like ****....much like the standard signal "Up Converted" to HD on your TV look bad.

When you say "Up Converted" to HD, do you mean that if you have normal signals coming through and these are displayed on a HDTV, that they look bad?
In Ireland hdtv is being launched in February on a few channels. There have been hd ready tv's for some time.
Just wondering, if I got a hdtv, would normal signals look any worse than they do on my analog tv.
By the way, all my channels are digital at the moment, just not hdtv.