Top Gear NOT in High Def

I don't think cost should be an excuse. The BBC are covering the Six Nations Rugby tournament in February. All matches will be shown in HD. This means that on one weekend there will be literally dozens of BBC HD cameras in London, Paris & Rome.

I repeat, Top Gear is not just another programme, it's a flagship show.

It may be a flagship BBC2 program but I wouldn't call it a flagship BBC program. The cost of going HD is too prohibitive at the moment. If you did say 25% more programmes in HD that would roughly be a 10% increase in the license fee. Theres already a lot of trouble over 3.5%. Britain is not ready for it yet. I know of one person who has a HD TV and they do not receive any HD channels. With Sky, Telewest and NTL charging around ?10 a month for very little HD content it's just not worth it.
 
Plus, as mentioned before by the BBC, they are using Digital Betacam (720x576) to film the episodes(which is NOT HD).

Older (pre-HDTV) recordings on video tape such as Betacam are often either in the form 480i60 or 576i50. These may be upconverted to a higher resolution format (720i), but removing the interlace to match the common 720p format may distort the picture or require filtering which actually reduces the resolution of the final output.
 
Top Gear still looks pretty decent on my 55" 1080p set.

I'm guessing you mean the downloaded episodes of TG on your HD set? I burn the eps onto a cd then watch on my 30" 1080i set and while it does look good, you can tell it was downloaded and not an actual program coming through.
 
I'm guessing you mean the downloaded episodes of TG on your HD set? I burn the eps onto a cd then watch on my 30" 1080i set and while it does look good, you can tell it was downloaded and not an actual program coming through.

The Winter Olympics DVD that I purchased, the 700MB downloaded episodes and the 350MB ones all look OK, but you can tell the difference between them.
I watch all of them over a DVI to HDMI cable on my HD set (using an 1080p signal).
I use Media Player Classic to upscale the video to 1920x1080 first.
 
Really? How does one go about upscaling the video to 1920x1080?
I currently have the "Change Fullscreen Resolution" option in Media Player Classic set to use 1920x1080, however I don't know what resize algorithm it uses.
(I did have to mod the mplayerc.ini to be able to select the 1920x1080 resolution though.)
I did try to use ffdshow to accomplish the same, but I haven't had any luck with it automatically retaining the correct aspect ratio.
 
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HD is an optional extra. I'd rather have a Ferrari with no extra's than a Porshe with it all.
 
I've been hearing "HDTV will be the big thing this year" for several years now but it never happens. Instead it is doing exactly what every new technology has done on the past; gradual integration. Most media companies and several governments have allready spent sizeable amounts of money on the technology, so it will eventually come around. We'll just have to be patient I guess...
 
Top Gear would be great in HD, but HD would really be limited to the studio and some track stuff, the in-car cameras would have to stay SD because the cost would be way too high.

Not really. You can get HDV cameras that will nearly fit in a pocket, and you get your full 1920x1080i out of them. The picture quality is kind of cheap and nasty, but no cheaper and nastier than you get with standard definition small cameras.

In fact, in more than a few segments in series 8 you see Hamster wielding a Sony HDV-Z1U while in a car, which can shoot an image at HD resolution.

But its fine that it isn't in HD. It looks better in SD than most shows do in HD.
 
*runs off to check the TV*

I see the problem. Most programs are recorded in SD, but broadcast in HD. Therefore there is no discernible difference between equivalent SD and HD channels (Say 9-Nine Digital and 90-Nine HD).

Hmmm. I've noticed differences when watching the news. That must be recorded in HD. All the studio based shows are! During the day, on the 7HD and 9HD channels, they have a HD broadcast. Damn it's such a great picture. Love my 50" LG Plasma! :p

I've watched a 700MB TG episode on my TV using my laptop in the VGA (1024x768 max) and it looks decent, but looking at the SBS versions shows how different it looks in it's original form.

@Hidden_Hunter :p
 
I usually watch...well everything...with at least two beers in me leaning back in my lazyboy. Hence I can't tell the difference between any of them. Alcohol fixes all problems in the HD/SD debate.
 
I just upgraded to a low end HDTV, with about 10 channels running HD throughout the day. I find myself drawn to those channels, even if the programming isn't what I got used to during my SD days.

In the end, I think Top Gear is what the BBC would consider a flagship program, and it should get every toy available. If that means a bigger and better studio, so be it. If it means a dozen HD cameras, they should fork that over as well.

If it were filmed in HD, I think we fans here in the states could make a good case to our networks like HDNet and INHD to run the program in its full, unedited, anti-American entirety. I saw a golf tournament in PDTV last year here, and well, it's not going to cut the mustard in the long run.
 
As mentioned above, the cost of making Top Gear in HD right now is simply too prohibitive. Since the show no doubt cost an astronomical amount to bring to air each episode, the 20% increase (according to JC) is an unacceptable increase in cost. In the words of JC again, "we'd have to eat James May just to stay alive" if they broadcast in HD.
 
I just upgraded to a low end HDTV, with about 10 channels running HD throughout the day. I find myself drawn to those channels, even if the programming isn't what I got used to during my SD days.

In the end, I think Top Gear is what the BBC would consider a flagship program, and it should get every toy available. If that means a bigger and better studio, so be it. If it means a dozen HD cameras, they should fork that over as well.

If it were filmed in HD, I think we fans here in the states could make a good case to our networks like HDNet and INHD to run the program in its full, unedited, anti-American entirety. I saw a golf tournament in PDTV last year here, and well, it's not going to cut the mustard in the long run.

well its alright saying they should pay for this and pay for that, but likely this will be more reason for the beeb to bump the license fee up. now i dont mind paying more for the fee if im gonna end up with TG in HD, but there are 60million others in this country who maybe would be pretty pissed at the rise.
 
Hmmm. I've noticed differences when watching the news. That must be recorded in HD. All the studio based shows are! During the day, on the 7HD and 9HD channels, they have a HD broadcast. Damn it's such a great picture. Love my 50" LG Plasma! :p

I've watched a 700MB TG episode on my TV using my laptop in the VGA (1024x768 max) and it looks decent, but looking at the SBS versions shows how different it looks in it's original form.

@Hidden_Hunter :p


I am fairly sure and will look it up if needed, but anyway im pretty sure that HD broadcast isn't actually "technically HD" it is SD that has been upscalled and broadcast in HD. So yes it looks like HD but its not really HD its running at like 540 or whatever and yeah just upscale it.

I think they do that with most of the tv shows, they are filmed in SD but are upscaled. So basically, they are not showing you proper HD it can be better

if you want facts and stuff, ill have a look (I am 90% sure thats the case) I am just lazy :p
 
Hmmm. I've noticed differences when watching the news. That must be recorded in HD. All the studio based shows are! During the day, on the 7HD and 9HD channels, they have a HD broadcast.

Note that Channel 7's HD isn't HD - it's 576p. Basically they lie and call it HD when it's not. Also, a lot of TVs, Plasmas & LCDs are marketed as HD when they're not - to be HD they must have a resolution to match 1080i / 1080p - i.e. 1920 x 1080. Anything below that isn't HD, no matter what the salesman says.
 
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^^^ if i could talk, thats basically what i was trying to say one of my numbers was off tho
 
The problem with HD is that not only do the cameras have to be upgraded to HD, but so does the editing suite, which costs a hell of a lot! Isn't Top Gear edited on site?

Not to mention the extra rendering time of applying all that post-production onto HD material. You're talking a lot of cash, and since they've recently upgraded the studio, they probably don't have the cash to shell out for such a high expense.

As has been said though, Top Gear looks a hell of a lot better in SD than a lot of HD programmes do in HD. However imagine the quality of Top Gear post-production in HD, it would be spectacular! Definitely a benchmark and selling point for HD.

The only possible issue would be the in-car cameras. But then as has been said, you can get reasonably small cameras like the Canon XH-A1 which will churn out a fantastic 1080i picture.

The issue of it being on BBC2 though isn't an issue, as BBC3 three shows like Torchwood have been shot in HD, and look outstanding on BBCHD.
 
The small camera issue is even less of an issue to be honest. The BBC uses small HD cameras across it's regional news services. They use the Sony Z1 although none of them actually broadcast in HD (just film in it).

The BBC is awash with these cameras, literally hundres ordered for multimedia and video journalists throughout the organisation.

However I'm not sure HD is right for Top Gear just yet - maybe the plan is to up the budget and install HD capabilities when/if they have to move to a new studio.
 
However I'm not sure HD is right for Top Gear just yet - maybe the plan is to up the budget and install HD capabilities when/if they have to move to a new studio.

top gear at best has about 3 years left in this current format I think

anyways, the HD money goes to projects with the widest popularity (public service remit and all that jazz) so stuff like david attenborough and the world cup get them.
 
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