Game Shows in HD: First opinions

[Joe Mello]

Probably one of the few positives from today's television schedule was the premiere of J! and Wheel in HD.  I might as well interject my thoughts on how they actually adapted and looked after watching an episode.

I'm not liking those contestant podiums on Jeopardy.  They look nice, but there's next to zero way to tell who buzzed in.  The neon lights are so small, they get swallowed up by the rest of the setpiece.  I'd love for some sort of change, but I doubt that'll happen.  Another thing I noticed was that the board values seemed scrunched vertically.  To me, that doesn't make sense, since HD would more than likely increase the width of the image, not the height.

As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing.  The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined. One of the best additions was flashing a graphic with the banked totals during round 3, which does have its advantages for the viewer following the game at home.  In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture.  Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting.  That pink $900 space does look out of place, though.

Overall, I'd say J!'s changes were questionable whereas Wheel's were fine and dandy.

[remlap]

Ive read some really un flattering reviews of Jeopardy from 720p stations, I personally think it might look better on a 1080i station since its been mentioned both are beeing feed from Sony at 1080i.

Now id wish SKY would repick up these shows for SKY One and get two HD shows for hardly anything I bet to fill thier morning schedule.

Though then that might give them ideas to get The View in HD *Shudders*

Id buy SKY HD then, although its lack luster to other HD services here in Europe.

Ah well just BBC HD from the UK for me.

[narzo]

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131130\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 07:17 PM\']
Probably one of the few positives from today's television schedule was the premiere of J! and Wheel in HD.  I might as well interject my thoughts on how they actually adapted and looked after watching an episode.

I'm not liking those contestant podiums on Jeopardy.  They look nice, but there's next to zero way to tell who buzzed in.  The neon lights are so small, they get swallowed up by the rest of the setpiece.  I'd love for some sort of change, but I doubt that'll happen.  Another thing I noticed was that the board values seemed scrunched vertically.  To me, that doesn't make sense, since HD would more than likely increase the width of the image, not the height.

As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing.  The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined. One of the best additions was flashing a graphic with the banked totals during round 3, which does have its advantages for the viewer following the game at home.  In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture.  Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting.  That pink $900 space does look out of place, though.

Overall, I'd say J!'s changes were questionable whereas Wheel's were fine and dandy.
[/quote]

Here's what I posted elsewhere re: WOF.

If you saw the show in HD it was interesting to note the "side action".  During the toss-ups you could see Pat on the left most part of the screen.  Plus during many shots of the current player, his/her opponent(s) could be visible on the side of the screen.  When the yellow player is up there are shots where all 3 players are visible because of the widescreen format.

The most annoying part of the HD broadcast is now the WOF “bug” is not in the left corner but floating midway into the screen.  A small thing I know compared to how nice the show looks in all its 1080 lines of glory.

As for Jeopardy, I knew that podium was going to be the first thing we brought up here.  I also think it's just too imposing.  Also notice no more shots of the clue captured by the camera, and if you're watching in HD that makes for a heck of a lot of blue on your set at once.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'remlap\' post=\'131135\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 05:24 PM\']
Ive read some really un flattering reviews of Jeopardy from 720p stations, I personally think it might look better on a 1080i station since its been mentioned both are beeing feed from Sony at 1080i.
[/quote]
Are they? My local affiliate said they would not be airing them in hidef because of an incompatibility in the formats, but at the same time it comes up as 1080i when I tune it in. Maybe that's the cable box talking, tho.

[chad1m]

I pretty much agree with everything you say, Joe. I much prefer the rocketship podiums over the new "bar" one. You can't even use plural forms because they all seem to be hooked together. Wheel's were definitely much better. I also like the new outlining of the dollar amounts on the wheel towhere it gives it more of a 3D look. All in all, Wheel's HD changes > Jeopardy's HD changes

[johnnya2k3]

[quote name=\'remlap\' post=\'131135\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 04:24 PM\']
Though then that might give them ideas to get The View in HD *Shudders*
[/quote]
Or Oprah in HD (which could happen next season). But we would REALLY shudder if TPIR ever goes hi-def anytime soon!

Jonathan Allen

[Robert Hutchinson]

Most of my thoughts have already been posted--Wheel's graphics department has it together, and I can't tell who's ringing in on Jeopardy! Just to copy two minor gripes I just shared elsewhere about J!:

1) What's with the eensy-weensy returning champion's total at the start of the show? Good thing Johnny speaks so clearly.

2) The "shadows" on the board "monitors" look ultra-cheesy up close. I couldn't help but notice it during Final Jeopardy!, with the full-"monitor" graphics right next to the "blank" screens with the shadows.

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131130\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 07:17 PM\']

As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing.  The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined...In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture.  Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting.  [/quote]

But the big question remains...How many more of those 73,234,661,998,440 colors of light do you see in HD versus a non-HD? :-P

[Joe Mello]

Yeah, someone needs to tell the J! staff that not everyone's HDTV's are the size of Long Island.

Just to make this perfectly clear (because it's referenced in the thread's subtitle), my opinions are formed from watching an RCA 20" flat-screen TV getting a regular signal.

I also couldn't tell who made the better make-up joke, or if they were even funny enough to tell.

[JasonA1]

As I said in another thread, the new set easily lends itself to reviving the old Trebek standard of having a white rectangle light up around the player's name. Big horkin' way to tell who rang in.

-Jason

[mystery7]

They definitely need bigger ring-in indicators. The red neon was even tough to notice on my 38" HD set.

The board graphics really disappointed me. They had an opportunity for a huge makeover of the board but they're sticking with the same fonts and cheezy backgrounds they've always had. Only now they look really cheezy.

And on a local level, no points to WABC for their sloppy master control. They had about 20 seconds of black out of the first segment with a quick fast-forward on air, and they started rewinding the tape right as the Sony logo came up at the end.

[aaron sica]

I don't know if it was something with the HD signal coming over the satellite or not, but watching it over WPVI was a problem. The picture kept momentarily going out amidst some pops and cracks, and there was lots of pixelation and blue screens during WoF.

[dzinkin]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'131161\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 09:19 PM\']
I don't know if it was something with the HD signal coming over the satellite or not, but watching it over WPVI was a problem. The picture kept momentarily going out amidst some pops and cracks, and there was lots of pixelation and blue screens during WoF.
[/quote]
DirecTV takes the native over-the-air signal in MPEG-2 format and then recompresses it to MPEG-4 before uplinking it to the satellite. It wouldn't surprise me if the extra compression and decompression steps between WPVI's transmitter and your receiver introduced some glitches.

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131130\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 07:17 PM\']
As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing.  The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined. One of the best additions was flashing a graphic with the banked totals during round 3, which does have its advantages for the viewer following the game at home.  In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture.  Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting.  That pink $900 space does look out of place, though.

Overall, I'd say J!'s changes were questionable whereas Wheel's were fine and dandy.
[/quote]
Wheel is definitely cleaning up it's act.  It looks so much sharper now.  Is it me, or does that $3,500 space look hella weird?

[Gus]

I just have a standard-def TV, but being there at the Wheel premiere, it looked hella tight on the studio monitors, even though a lot of the graphics were added in post and I only saw it at home.

I like the J! podium is good in design, but it'd be admittedly hard to block it to look good in both 16:9 and 4:3. On the SD set, the sides get clipped off. It also looks taller and makes the contestants look short. I think J! would be better off being reduced to 14:9 for SD, rather than full clip to 4:3.