HD or Not: Fox’s broadcast of NLCS baseball games not up to snuff?

There have been many grumblings and complaints about Fox’s MLB NLCS coverage, including the distracting little “pitch location” graphic on the side of every pitch, but nothing beats the complaint leveled against the broadcasts; they’re not “real” HD at all, but enhanced SD, even on HD feeds.

This would be quite shameful given the resources of a company like Fox, to cheap out on baseball’s biggest stage with substandard HD feeds.

The Fox picture has been a mess, lacking detail and clarity typical of an HD program. The centerfield camera is really bad, displaying a picture that appears as if filtered with a Brillo pad. That’s really bad for a billion dollar corporation and a program that will grab millions of viewers.

HD won’t catch on for real as a mainstream format if companies don’t really show what it can do. Here’s to hoping there’s enough people complaining that Fox reconsiders their feeds next year and that it improves during the World Series, which Fox will be carrying.

HDTV schedule for August 30th, 2009

AMC (720p) has Mad Men at 10 p.m.
NBC (1080i) airs Bears/Broncos Sunday Night Football at 8 p.m.
Syfy (1080i) presents High Plains Invaders at 9 p.m.
MTV (1080i) has America’s Best Dance Crew at 9 p.m.
History (720p) has Pawn Star$ at 10 p.m.
HBO (1080i) lines up True Blood at 9 p.m., Hung at 10 p.m. and Entourage at 10:30 p.m.
ESPN (720p) has Braves/Phillies baseball at 8 p.m.

A nice selection of TV tonight, including some NFL football and MLB baseball to tickle your sports bone, and a new True Blood, Hung and Entourage for those lucky enough to get HBO in their homes.

The excellent Mad Men comes on AMC as well, a new episode for your enjoyment.

There’s really something for everyone tonight, pretty much, as the HDTV world continues to expand its lineup of quality programming available every night of the week.

Impact: Baseball umps credit HDTV for changing the way games are called

HDTV has no doubt changed the way many sports do their business on TV, but even baseball is admitting that the way games are called has changed because of the high resolution of HDTV.

Now that viewers at home (not to mention in the stands) have high res screens to study calls over and over again, not to mention DVRs to shuttle back and forth at their leisure, and near constant replays on ESPN SportsCenter it’s changed the way they call close plays on the base paths.

Of course, making sure the calls are right and the game is being called the way it should be isn’t a bad thing, but we can imagine some long-time umps getting their feathers ruffled by all the technology showing up in America’s favorite pastime. We see it as nothing but good for the sport. No more missed calls, no more umpires with God complexes that have caused so many debates over the years.