CBS indeed has the best broadcast. Fewest artifacts, cleanest picture (likely a result of 1080i), and best audio.
ESPN/ABC are second, with good PQ overall, decent audio, but a few motion artifacts.
NBC is third primarily due to still more motion artifacts, but really almost as good as ESPN.
FOX is an absolute last place. In wide-angle pans, there are so many motion artifacts it appears as if I'm watching the old OTA UHF broadcasts. Either that, or it snows at every NFL game. But only for 3-5 seconds at a time, and only when the camera is moving. Even close-ups show artifacts. It's as if Fox is compressing their own feed before letting the providers do it (again).
"It's as if Fox is compressing their own feed "before letting the providers do it (again)."
They ARE compressing it. That's how they're able to show every game in HD. They made a big deal, when they started showing all the games in HD, about how they were going to be able to fit 3 or 4 games in the same bandwidth as it normally take s for one. Unfortunately, the picture quality suffers (Wide shots look *horrible*).
CBS doesn't do this, so that's part of the reason why they have a better picture quality, and why they don't broadcast every game in HD (not enough bandwidth yet).
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For my money:
CBS indeed has the best broadcast. Fewest artifacts, cleanest picture (likely a result of 1080i), and best audio.
ESPN/ABC are second, with good PQ overall, decent audio, but a few motion artifacts.
NBC is third primarily due to still more motion artifacts, but really almost as good as ESPN.
FOX is an absolute last place. In wide-angle pans, there are so many motion artifacts it appears as if I'm watching the old OTA UHF broadcasts. Either that, or it snows at every NFL game. But only for 3-5 seconds at a time, and only when the camera is moving. Even close-ups show artifacts. It's as if Fox is compressing their own feed before letting the providers do it (again).
/my $0.02
"It's as if Fox is compressing their own feed "before letting the providers do it (again)."
They ARE compressing it. That's how they're able to show every game in HD. They made a big deal, when they started showing all the games in HD, about how they were going to be able to fit 3 or 4 games in the same bandwidth as it normally take s for one. Unfortunately, the picture quality suffers (Wide shots look *horrible*).
CBS doesn't do this, so that's part of the reason why they have a better picture quality, and why they don't broadcast every game in HD (not enough bandwidth yet).