There have been posts about this for past years, but any news about this coming season?

I just emailed TSN about this. Hopefully they will respond with some good news but I doubt it.

Hi,
I did a quick search and could not find an answer to what I was looking for.
Hope you don't mind me asking here, don't want to take your post to far off topic.

I was just wondering if the Formula 1 has ever been in HD before.
If it was what was the quality like ? With all those fast action shots and bright colored cars I would think it would be very pixilated... I hope I am wrong.

Thanks
Cam

would be definitely be nice, i believe it was nascar i saw in hd a little while ago and it looked good, here's hoping the same for f1 (if we get it)

Don't forget that most F1 comes from Europe and Canada looks like an extremely early adopter of HD compared to Europe. I would bet that the Japanese F1 race has been in HD for many years in Japan, however I don't believe we have ever seen an F1 race in HD in Canada.

Europe has very little in the way of HD production facilities so I wouldn't hold your breath. Particularly for races in June/July that conflict with the World Cup.

In Canada the Television rights for F1 is owned by RDS, a French cable network in Montreal and they are the producer of the telecast for TSN and for Radio-Canada.

RDS is a sister company of TSN but, as is the case with Hockey and CFL, they operate separately because RDS does not have an HD broadcast facility at this time.

French people in Quebec with HDTVs will select CBCHD, TSNHD for Hockey and CFL when the Canadiens or Alouettes are playing in HD and will select a US network for NFL or Golf in HD rather than RDS.

It is surprising that Bell GlobeMedia can see advantages to have CTV and TSN broadcast in HD and leave RDS in left field with SD only. Go figure!

I am a huge F1 fan but believe it will be a few years before we see F1 in HD. You can see by the quality of the video in each race that there is still quite a variance in the present video quality (Brazilian vs. Japanese Grands Prix). There was a "pay per view" system a few years ago in the UK using Bernie's digital system, it wasn't HD/16:9 but allowed unique looks into telemetry and pit stops (when they were more interesting :-) ) I think the cost in setting up a dozen or so cameras in HD for each race is too high right now. Also, I believe the cameras/production and crew are still the responsibility of each race local and not a travelling group. Much easier in NASCAR to follow cars in an oval than equipping a "proper track" :-) with HD cameras.

That said, I would pay per race or $500 for access to a season of F1 in HD.

D

A dozen HD cameras for the Montreal race would do the job. A few more portable ones would help. A single HD mobile control trailer would also be sufficient.

Today in Detroit, there will be 36 cameras and 3 HD mobile trailers, but that is a much bigger event.

If the Montreal race would be the responsibility of TSNHD or CBCHD, the next race, this coming June, could have been planned in HD without any difficulties. The international feed would remain in SD. The problem is the Quebec French networks all think that HD is not required yet and can stall on the required investment. The SRC (the French arm of the CBC) has one studio equipped for HD, produces one daily program in HD and another weekly but makes sure not to advise the viewers that they could view HD if they had the proper components. I guess they want to expand their HD equipment at their leisure and not get pressured in doing so. The other French networks have their faces in the sand like good old ostriches and are not aware they are losing viewers every day to the US channels.

The other French networks have their faces in the sand like good old ostriches and are not aware they are losing viewers every day to the US channels.But don't forget that the private English networks are the same, except for the sports networks. CTV, Global, CITY, etc. have done very little original programming in HD. It may look like they are showing lots of HD but it is easy to just rebroadcast American shows. French broadcasters don't have the same option.

HDNET broadcast a handful of CART races a few years back and they were fantastic. When the main telecast would cut to commercial, HDNET would go to incar cameras. I would love to see F1 in HD, maybe Bernie can hook up with Mark Cuban and put something together :)

I would love to see F1 in HD, maybe Bernie can hook up with Mark Cuban and put something together :)But this still doesn't change the fact that there is very little in the way of HD production facilities outside of North America and Japan. Are they going to pay to fly an HD truck and cameras to Malaysia, Brazil, Europe, etc. for every race? Once we get more adoption of HD in other countries then we will see F1 in HD, but still maybe not all races given the scope of F1 - South America, South Africa, etc., but I can't see it happening for a couple of more years.

I doubt he (Cuban) would go those lengths. It was bit of a pipe dream, but you never know. Cuban has been leading the cheers for HD for some time, and imho has done tons in regards to hd adoption. Bernie has enough money that he could succesfully collaborate with someone like HDNET, get the production facilities to travel with the roadshow, and charge 19.95 a race (or something like it). I know I'd pony up 20.00 to see F1 in HD. Adding the hd equipment to the amount of equipment already shipped to every race would be nothing.

That much effort wouldn't even necessarily be necessary. You could use some good widescreen cameras, with the additional resolution of PAL/SECAM, the picture would look pretty good IF they had good transmission of the signal.

Japan, Australia, US and Canada have HD (UK getting it), so it could certainly be done... so far no "will" for it to be done I guess.

Evu carried one of the HDNet Cart races and the PQ was fabulous. You could see the texture of the track at verious places and be able to see for your self how the grip would change based on how worn or dirty the track was at that point. God bless Mark Cuban.

My guess is at the absolute worst we are 3 years away from an F1 race in HD. Personally I think it will be next year. Here is my thinking. F1 races are some of the biggest events on the planet. Most North Americans don't get just how big F1 is outside of North America.

F1 is about technology and being on the edge. The HDTV owners are just the people the manufacturers want to appeal to. What drives F1 isn't the add revenue during the commerials like other shows. It is being able to put your company in the best light possible. If showing say Monaco in HD can help to improve that then the cost of producing it is nearly unimportant. Even big HDTV production costs pale in comparison to the circus that is F1.

BskyB has been doing true HD for atleast 6 months in Europe. HD is available in most western European countries now. Europe has been pumping up the number of HD trucks they have for some of the large sporting events they will be carrying soon. Think Olypics and World Cup. Those trucks can't sit idle so they will have to start looking at what they can do with them.

I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the Japaneese Electronics giants subsidise producing HD at say Suzuka just to help kick start sales.

Back home. Don't forget that TSN/RDS only does the first and last few minutes of the race. The rest is just a rebroadcast of some thing produced in Britain. TSN has the ability to rebroadcast HD.

I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the Japaneese Electronics giants subsidise producing HD at say Suzuka just to help kick start sales. I would bet that the Japanese Grand Prix has been broadcast in HD in Japan for years, maybe even a decade, but we get the British feed which is SD.

The Canadian Grand Prix have ALWAYS been produce by Radio-Canada for Radio-Canada or RDS.

...
Back home. Don't forget that TSN/RDS only does the first and last few minutes of the race. The rest is just a rebroadcast of some thing produced in Britain. TSN has the ability to rebroadcast HD.

Can you tell us where you get your info?

The Canadian Grand Prix television Video images are captured and controlled by Montreal's RDS cable network. These images become the video feed for other networks worldwide under license with Bernie. The audio portion is another story.

Each race uses a local network for Video and Video control. And commentators often talk about the bias that comes with this local Video production. For instance in Malaysia, cameras will follow the Petronas cars even though their coverage may not be relevant to the current competition.

But this still doesn't change the fact that there is very little in the way of HD production facilities outside of North America and Japan. Are they going to pay to fly an HD truck and cameras to Malaysia, Brazil, Europe, etc. for every race? Once we get more adoption of HD in other countries then we will see F1 in HD, but still maybe not all races given the scope of F1 - South America, South Africa, etc., but I can't see it happening for a couple of more years.

If they want people to start watching F1 again they better start sending those trucks to wherever there is a race.

If they want people to start watching F1 again they better start sending those trucks to wherever there is a race.They've got bigger problems in F1 than not broadcasting in HD - remember the Indianapolis debacle of last year?

They've got bigger problems in F1 than not broadcasting in HD - remember the Indianapolis debacle of last year?

...and?

The race will take place at Indy this year, so what is the big problem?