Game Shows in HD: First opinions

[DrBear]

It seems we're in a mixed era reminiscent of the early 1960s - some of us have HD, most of us don't - rather like the days of early color. And the sets have to reflect that - watchable for the majority while providing something for the early adopters. Sounds like J tried harder than WOF, at least on my one viewing so far, to go more toward HD; I wouldn't have known about Wheel had I not read it (or heard Sajak's jokes). Not that having either show is going to sell another HD set, even in our group. But as shows change over and HD prices come down, it'll be the norm.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' post=\'131458\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 11:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'CJBojangles\' post=\'131453\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 09:47 PM\']
Have any pics or videos surfaced on the net of the new sets (other than the ones at Sony's home pages) for those of us who are... temporarily without cable? :-/
[/quote]
Well, I didn't know you needed cable to watch syndicated shows.
[/quote]

Perhaps he lives in an area where it's virtually impossible to get ANYTHING without cable, even with rabbit ears. I once lived in an area where this was the case (Narrowsburg, NY...population 400).

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'131480\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 06:45 AM\']
It seems we're in a mixed era reminiscent of the early 1960s - some of us have HD, most of us don't - rather like the days of early color. And the sets have to reflect that - watchable for the majority while providing something for the early adopters. Sounds like J tried harder than WOF, at least on my one viewing so far, to go more toward HD; I wouldn't have known about Wheel had I not read it (or heard Sajak's jokes). Not that having either show is going to sell another HD set, even in our group. But as shows change over and HD prices come down, it'll be the norm.
[/quote]

Watching the two shows in HD the past few days, that's actually how I felt - I got an idea of how it felt to be in the '60s as the world (as far as TV goes) was changing to color. That's the main reason to me that as far as TV goes, the '60s were so fascinating. At the beginning of the decade, you had a small amount of shows in color, but by the end of the decade, EVERYTHING was in color.

I can't help wondering, had the digest-sized, local editions of TV Guide continued, in addition to the (BW) for Black-and-white shows, (CZ) for colorized, would we have had a little (HD) bullet too?

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'131481\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 05:48 AM\']
[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' post=\'131458\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 11:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'CJBojangles\' post=\'131453\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 09:47 PM\']
Have any pics or videos surfaced on the net of the new sets (other than the ones at Sony's home pages) for those of us who are... temporarily without cable? :-/
[/quote]
Well, I didn't know you needed cable to watch syndicated shows.
[/quote]

Perhaps he lives in an area where it's virtually impossible to get ANYTHING without cable, even with rabbit ears. I once lived in an area where this was the case (Narrowsburg, NY...population 400).
[/quote]

Absolutely!  Out here in the Mountain time zone, there are stations that have not only their main transmitter tower, but literaly dozens of signal repeaters that try to boost the signal over mountains & canyons to get to those who live in the boonies.

CJB must be living in Southeast Ohio, as that's the only area with enough topography barriers that would create such a situation -- not to mention a sparser area when it comes to TV station coverage.

[DrBear]

I agree - when I lived in Wabash, Ind. in 1981-82, the local 12-channel cable system had no CNN, no ESPN - just over the air channels and Chicago channels because you couldn't get anything without a three-story antenna rig. (Not to be confused with a Diana Rigg.)

As I remember, we had four Fort Wayne stations, four Indy stations (including WTTV which officially is Bloomington), one South Bend station (WNDU for the Notre Dame games), Chicago's WGN, WFLD and WTTW. You could get HBO (which ran from 4 p.m.-3 a.m.) with a converter box; when HBO wasn't on, they had C-SPAN.)

The good thing - I could see MASH reruns five times a day (six on the days when it was still on the network). And for those of you counting, that meant we had two CBS, two ABC and three NBC channels.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'131496\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 10:39 AM\']
I agree - when I lived in Wabash, Ind. in 1981-82, the local 12-channel cable system had no CNN, no ESPN - just over the air channels and Chicago channels because you couldn't get anything without a three-story antenna rig. (Not to be confused with a Diana Rigg.)
[/quote]

I'd love to know how many network channels are left now.

Harrisburg was the same way - in 1980, when we got cable, the only "cable" channel on there was HBO. We had the six Harrisburg stations from around the area, the Philly channels, and the Baltimore channels, plus 9 and 11 from NYC. Eventually cable channels replaced them (CNN and ESPN were the first to wipe some out), and now the only ones left besides Harrisburg's channels are WPHL-17 and WPIX-11.

ObGameShows: I enjoyed watching reruns of "Card Sharks" when KYW aired them at 12:30pm, until a channel called MTV took its space.

[Ian Wallis]

I can't help wondering, had the digest-sized, local editions of TV Guide continued, in addition to the (BW) for Black-and-white shows, (CZ) for colorized, would we have had a little (HD) bullet too?

Probably.  Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me?  (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'131505\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 11:11 AM\']
Probably.  Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me?  (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)
[/quote]
<Raises hand.>

I would make it a point whenever I went out of town to pick up one of those (still have a good number of them boxed up--although nowhere near the collections Ian, Aaron and Jimmy have).  

Strange how the temptation didn't hit me when I was in L.A. and NY within five weeks of one another this summer.  

Doug

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'131505\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 12:11 PM\']
Probably.  Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me?  (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)
[/quote]

Oh, you *know* I do.

It's weird to go away somewhere and not think about picking up a TV Guide...Instead, I'll buy a local paper to see how they do their listings.

[Jay Temple]

The only time I don't actively wish it were still around is the interval between the last Rams game and the first Cardinals telecast of spring training.

[bellbm]

Question folks: is it just me, or does the screen go blurry after a graphic flashes, such is the toss ups?  I know it isn't my TV cause it's relatively new... or is it?
[/quote]

I"ve noticed this too, I'm in Chicago as well, perhaps a problem over at WLS.

[trainman]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'131505\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 09:11 AM\']Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me?  (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)
[/quote]

Ahem.

(In 1998, I stayed at a motel in Wabash, Indiana, that had the local cable system -- and if I recall correctly, they still carried both Indianapolis and Fort Wayne stations.)

(I just checked, and I guess I did recall correctly -- plus WNDU from South Bend is still there as well.  However, they don't carry all the Indy stations; their only Fox affiliate is WFFT from Fort Wayne.)

(They also had Game Show Network on the basic lineup -- it was Marcus Cable, which was the first MSO to sign a carriage deal, if I recall that correctly, too.)

(I'm trying to promote parentheses instead of slashes.  How am I doing?)

[CJBojangles]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'131494\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 09:56 AM\']
CJB must be living in Southeast Ohio, as that's the only area with enough topography barriers that would create such a situation -- not to mention a sparser area when it comes to TV station coverage.
[/quote]

Southwest Ohio, actually.

Now that we've cleared up where I live and why I can't get the shows, back to my question. Anyone know of any visual aid?

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'trainman\' post=\'131585\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 11:34 PM\'](I'm trying to promote parentheses instead of slashes.  How am I doing?)[/quote]
Parentheses (as you may know) need no promotion. They breed like crazy. (If we didn't keep putting words between them, they'd have us overrun in days.)

[dzinkin]

A quick HD update: at the time of publication of this article from TV Technology, "more than 50 of the 207 client stations" were looking at carrying Wheel and J! in syndication.