High Definition Hockey
Posted by Mother Pucker on February 17th, 2009Why does watching standard definition hockey make me feel like one of those polar bears in this picture? Maybe because its 2009, HD TVs are being pumped everywhere you go, and all sports should be broadcast in HD by now?
Not so if you are an Edmonton Oilers fan. I don’t know what the heck is going on, but for five straight games on SportsNet, the Oilers have been in shitty SD while every other team and market in the league is enjoying glorious HD. I emailed sportsnet to ask them WTF and they replied,
“Thanks for your recent email. Due to a lack of available HD trucks, we are currently in the midst of a streak of five straight Oilers games in SD. Our apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause. Keep in mind that of the 47 Oiler games we are broadcasting this season, 33 of them will be in HD. More than any other network in Canada.”
Well isn’t that just great that they throw in that there are more than any other network in Canada at the end of the email. I’m still confused if they mean that they broadcast more Oiler games than any other network in Canada or what, but still this whole thing is inexcusable.
Now my question is what goes on in other markets? With the way SportsNet is set up here, I get an equal amount of Oilers and Flames games, and EVERY SINGLE ONE of the Flames games are in HD, while the oilers aren’t. Maybe the exec’s think that the rich people in Calgary can afford those fancy HDTV’s, while us hicks up in Edmonton are still using rabbit ears and it doesn’t matter what they broadcast to us? Effff, grow up!
Anyway, whats up in your area? Your team get a lot of HD love, or is this S(t)D thing plaguing more areas than just Edmonton? Let’s hear it in the comments!
They must mean more Oilers games because TSN would have the most HD games of any network in Canada.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=246312
And if that is what they mean, that is a weak, weak claim.
Every time the Avs play the Oilers or Flames I’m saddened because I’ll have to watch not only in crappy SD, but crappy, low-quality cameras in SD.
I’ve seen better SD feeds done by other networks. Sportsnet has a brutal feed and they should be pissed at how terrible it is.
Here on Long Island (NY), the Islanders (home team!) get bumped to SD when the Devils or Rangers are playing. I feel your pain.
yeah its horse shit. TSN broadcast is stellar compared to Sportsnet.. asides from stupid face btwn the benches.. The PPV broadcasts managed to be in HD this season which is awesome! Charging 3 bucks extra for that NOT SO AWESOME. WTF how does it cost 3 dollars more? charge 15 bucks for everyone.. dont single out the HD viewers over the SD ones.. retarded. Its no wonder why the streaming feeds are more popular then ever even if there legality is questionable. The quality of the streaming feeds is far superior to the SD broadcasts.
my thoughts seem scattered.
I will have to admit that I haven’t kept up with much of the Sportsnet feeds for the Oilers, but I know tonight’s Flames vs. Canucks game was the first game in a while I’ve had the chance to watch in HD. We had a string of about 3 or 4 games there plus a few others that had been broadcast in SD. It blows, but maybe if we’re lucky SD will be outlawed for the NHL next season. The last few flames games in that stretch that were in HD were the PPV and TSN games.
More HD games than any other network in Canada? Or don’t they realize that RDS broadcasts ALL Canadiens games in HD?
Fox Sports in The States is bad, too. They only have something like 8 trucks for the entire network. Problem is, hockey’s also one of the lowest priorities when it comes to HD. So if FS-Ohio wants a truck for a Blue Jackets game, and FS-Chicago wants it for a Bulls game, the truck’s heading to Chitown. Sorry C-Bus.
I get the Center Ice package on Dish Network since I live out of market for Wings’ games, and not only do I usually get the Detroit feed but I’d say 6-7 out of every 10 games are in HD.
Hey Oilers fans, check out Glenn Anderson’s new blog :
http://www.hockeybarn.com/columns/view.htm?article=25
He’s writing it exclusively for http://www.Hockeybarn.com make sure you keep up on his weekly installments
Don’t worry. Overtime, everything will be HD. The thing is though, will it take a hundred thousand years to switch “everything” over from SD to HD