CBC-HD Official Thread (No Hockey)

[Marc]

I'm not sure what you saw, but if you were watching CBUT-DT there is no local insertion.

There's a mix of formats on that schedule. The majority of programming is now HD or at least WS. More is on the way.

[VBC1]

It was just a promo clip (in 16:9) for CBC Vancouver Radio within a commercial brake during a local Vancouver news at 18.00 h

[Marc]

I found the promo. It airs once, early in the show, as 4:3. That is the "regular" version. Towards the end it appears again but it has been stretched to fill the screen. The second airing came from the news production studio, not the normal commercial servers.

[VBC1]

Sorry Marc,
I did not know you would analyze the tape, it was just an observation comment, otherwise I would have tried to provide some more info. I remember it was 'attached' to the news portion coming right after commercials.

Think about that, I remember there was somebody pages ago in this thread once complaining about transitions on CBC, which I also had noticed but never confirmed here. It is transitions/switching between SD (commercials) and HD feed (movie or series) that seem more rough on CBC, while on CTV it looks more smooth (we only get those two HD channels here, so I can't compare to others). I think they have gotten little better now although I have not analyzed them lately, except for the obvious part that sometimes a last second of commercials gets chopped off on account of switching into HD feed.
I remember before that it was very rough, I even once got software freeze on my PC at the point of this transition, trying to record a movie (I think it was during "Minority Report" in WS).

[wprager]

Not sure it belongs here, but I've been quite excited about the number of movies recently shown in high-def by the likes of CBC, Global and so on. That is, until I sat down to watch them. Last week I recorded Santa Clause 2, but when I sat down to watch it, it was presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, with the bars on the sides. It was "advertized" in the EPG as being in high-definition, by the way. Today I sat down to watch PotC (Black Pearl), reocrded yesterday -- also supposedly HD. Once again, it was presented in 4:3, so I seriously doubt that it was anything approaching high-definition.

I realize that not all programming is available in HD, and that much of what is shown can be upconverted SD. But in this case the previews for the movie (Pirates) were actually high-definition, wide-screen, and looked much better than the movie itself (to say nothing of the "(HD)" added to the program title in the EPG). Was someone asleep at the switch in the control room and forgot to switch to the HD source? Twice in a row (for me)?

[VBC1]

I was also surprised the other day, that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" was not in HD, considering that last time on CBC it was (although even then it had been a surprise, unannounced). My only guess is that they had purchased a HD version with single showing license, so they could only show us the SD version second time.
CBC web site this time did not indicate it would be in HD, but then, it rarely does.
I'm glad to notice that the cbc.ca schedule seems to be back to normal for about a week now, hope it stays that way. I went to check schedule and did not find any HD shows coming up. Also, the new premiering series advertised (Jpod, Border, MPV,...) are neither indicated as HD on the web site.
What I still fail to understand is why, whoever is in charge for making those on-air promo clips and 'coming up next/tonight' on CBC never wants to put 'HD' on them for HD shows and movies (it's just two more letters to type).

[Marc]

Someone has been assigned to fix the rough switches on CBUT-DT Vancouver.

The program guides are pulled together by outside agencies that resell the info to broadcasters, distributors, etc. Long term plans will see the over air guide driven by the automation system live, so the data will be up to date and hopefully more accurate.

I don't know why Pirates was SD. I'll ask.

[wprager]

Marc, while you're asking about PotC, you can mention that Santa Clause 2 (a few days earlier) had the same problem.

[Marc]

Which same problem, the guide matching the show? CBC does not produce the EPG.

Pirates raises questions because CBC aired it previously in HD. I don't recall Santa Clause airing in HD, of course I could be wrong.

[VBC1]

Thanks Marc

Tonight during the local Vancouver news at 18.00 h, I noticed there were very rough switches - some of the worst I've ever seen (in case someone assigned to it wants to review the tape for problem analysis).

[Marc]

Thanks for the input. The person working on it has seen the problem and has a good idea of what needs to be done. It is a fairly slow process because it requires several adjustments while working around equipment availability.

[VBC1]

The CBC schedule indicates upcoming movie in HD:
A Bug's Life
Sunday, 06-01-2008 at 17.00 h

(last time this movie was shown on CBC in SD 4:3, so they must have repurchased the HD version as well this time, if this is correct)

[Marc]

Pirates - Should have been HD but there were problems. If it airs again, it will be HD.
Santa Clause - It aired SD as planned. We don't have an HD version.
Bug's Life - Will be HD.

[roger1818]

Marc, I know this is looking quite a bit in the future, but after the analog shutdown in 2011, will you still provide separate SD and HD streams for each station to the BDUs so that the programming can be either letterboxed or centre cut as appropriate, or will there only be one stream for each station leaving it up to the BDUs to downconvert the programs for their SD channels?

[Marc]

I don't see us producing a special BDU feed. If an SD signal is distributed for our own transmitters, it would be made available to the carriers.