DIY, Six seconds of Good Morning America in HD
By Kevin C. Tofel 
posted Nov 7th 2005 1:21PM
posted Nov 7th 2005 1:21PM
If you don't have HDTV, or simply don't watch Good Morning America,
this one's for you. HD Beat reader Eddie G. recorded a clip from the
newest show to go high-def: ABC's Good Morning America. We showed a few screen captures
last week, but here's a 1280 x 720 full motion clip. The file is 11.4
MB and is only six seconds long, but it provides an idea as to the
clarity and wide field of vision that HDTV provides. It also illustrates how much storage a compressed HD video can require!While you can't quite read the logos on the coffee mugs or view the time on the host's watches, you see a definite clarity that SDTV is incapable of displaying. One thing you can read are the single words from the display in the building outside. Oh, and Mr. Planter looks pretty crisp too! Additionally, the widescreen format easily fits the four hosts all in one shot; no need to have different camera shots depending on who's speaking.
If you've never seen the show in high-def or you only own analog or SDTVs, how does this look to you?
[Thanks for the clip Eddie! If you're ever in our 'hood, drop over from HDTV viewing or gaming!]
I'd like to say one more thing. This was brought to my attention last Friday and I took a look. Evidently ABC feels the need (I think it's in the contracts) to filter the faces of Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts. You can see this because Tony Perkins face is MUCH sharper outside than when the others are inside or outside the studio.
I really hope that when NBC's Today Show and CBS's Early Show go HD they don't do the same thing but I fear they will :(
It looks to me not so much like a filter, but a bizarre yellow/pink bright light shining right on their faces. It's truly odd, though, and I've never seen lighting like it before on television. They don't seem to be making any attempt to hide it, either, since the shadow frequently falls across Diane's chest -- seriously, a dark shadow that clearly shows the yelllow/pink light ending. It's up lighting, too -- when they put their hands or their pen or whatever in front of their faces, they get a dark shadow that shows the light is right in front of them and pointing upwards. I now watch the show just to see the weird lighting!!