Cuban on programming: what content is only suited for HD?
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 8th 2007 10:32PM
posted Jul 8th 2007 10:32PM
Sure, this question has been around the block a time or two before, and while the emergence of channels such as Discovery HD Theater, Mojo, and MHD certainly give us clues as to what works best in HD, Cuban has taken the inquiry a bit further. It's fairly obvious that live concerts, sporting events, and travel content are far superior when viewed in high-definition, but does content exist (or should it?) that plays well on an HDTV, but not at all on a vanilla SDTV? Cuban actually suggests that concerts fit the bill in his mind, and while we can't imagine the wide array of televised music awards suddenly vowing to become HD only, we will agree that it's (marginally) above a snorefest when heard in 5.1. Truth be told, it's hard to imagine any content only suitable for HD, unless glorified infomercials about luxury items (you know, to somewhat fit with the HD demographic) are considered valuable programming. Nevertheless, feel free to read Cuban's take on the whole ordeal, and don't be shy, sound off below with your best rebuttal.
I'd like some things that a reasonable amount of people would want to watch to be HD-only... force people to migrate, if you will.
I mean, there are only 20 HD channels on cable right now, and some aren't even the normal channel.
I like Discovery, but I'd rather have normal Discovery in HD than "Discovery Theater."
I agree. Make it all HD, and let people with SDTV's watch it down converted with the black bars they dread so much. Cable and satellite companies shouldn't even waste bandwidth on the SD version of things like HBO.
I have only seen cooking in HD once or twice with the Bar-B-Q university guy, but any kind of cooking looks really good in HD. I wish I had Food network in HD so that I could see all the presentation that the Chef's on Food network like to stress.
Golf and Hockey.
Fox had the little blue and red blur that followed the puck, but they canned that. It was the only thing that made hockey watchable. Otherwise, you can ever find the puck. It's just too small in reference to the ice and size of the field of view.
Let's face it, we all watch golf for the scenery. Also, in HD, you can actually read the greens and see the ball. That's pretty nice.
If you ask me the current Network series, (CSI's,
Law and Order's, etc) aren't suitable to HD due to the miserable audio (constant need to adjust volumn between speech and music and effects). Even varying levels of dialog are a pain.
Guess it's me but after 6 years of owning DH tvs, I don't think ANY content is worth watching in SD.
This is a retarded discussion: If I have HD, of course I want everything to be in HD. Why on earth would I conceed that some things don't _need_ to look good? Dumb.
ALL sports programming should be in HD, no doubt.