BBC won't air Formula 1 in HD this season
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 15th 2009 8:03PM
posted Jan 15th 2009 8:03PM
[Image courtesy of TheSun, via Digital Spy]
posted Jan 15th 2009 8:03PM
The percentage of sales people that recommend Samsung HDTVs.
Salespeople are also becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
With new car regulations for this year, watching it in standard definition won't be as bad.
Why!?! Is there seriously not enough money in F1 racing to justify an HD feed? I'm sure the bandwidth is there, so what other reason could there be for this? I would really like to try out my ln40a650's 120hz filter on F1 racing.
what about SPEED?!
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bernie Ecclestone is a greedy piece of crap.
I didn't think the FIA does any HD feed of F1 - Just a crappy analog feed (which speed channel pays for) and a widescreen digital feed (but not hd - which the few races that they stick on fox are shown in)
I only see them on SPEED here... and don't get SPEED HD anyway.
Some day...
Speed HD carries F1 but not in HD but rather in ED which is 16:9 aspect ratio and pleasing to watch over SD.
I suspect Bernie is the one who will control if F1 is released on TV in HD. Someone has to pay him off in money and perhaps other types of favors too. :)
As there will be likely less cars on the grid in 2009 the cameras will be able to show less track and more of the cars so the detail on the screen will appear HD like....
Unless something has changed in the last couple of months, no one in the world broadcasts F1 in HD. Sure, there is the occasional Japan race broadcast locally in HD, but no consistent HD.
Come on guys, this is Ecclestone's F1 we're talking about.
There will be an occasional teaser during the Beeb's current contract but right now there simply isn't enough demand to exploit.
You can be sure that maybe next year we'll be thrown an occasional bone - and probably more and more before the Beeb's current contract expires, especially towards the end of the contract period (2013).
'Demand' & expectations will be 'managed'.
By the time the next contract is negotiated there will be many more HD TVs around.
Bernie and his merry men will then come riding to the rescue and ensure we all have a nice premium channel or 3 we can subscribe to - and he and his partners can make a killing off of.
Anyone know if Fox will broadcast races again in the US this year?
Even though they've left North America, it's still fun to tune in and watch the first few laps, with the usual crashes, and then turn it off shortly afterwards. This, of course, because there's rarely a lead change after the first few laps for the eventual top 3 finishers.
Watched a couple of rain races this year though in entirety, very entertaining watching them drive worse than Indianapolis drivers on the first snow of the season.
One major problem with F1 being broadcast in HD is that F1 requires a lot of cameras, in the various fixed positions, and the mobile ones. At the moment, all of these Cameras are SD, moving them all over to HD would be a big, costly, complicated technical step that they don't want to do unless they get paid a lot more for it.
ATTENTTION JAYBLANC
ALL F1 RACES ARE IN HD ALL THE CAMERAS ARE HD THE MIX IS IN HD THEN THEY FEED IT IN TO A SD SATELITE TRUCK TO SEND IT BACK TO THE TV COMPANIES I AM FEED UP WITH PEOPLE SAYING IT CAN'T BE DONE THEY ARE DOING IT AND HAVE BEEN DOING IT FOR A FEW YEARS NEXT TIME YOU GO TO A RACE LOOK AT A CAMERA IT SAYS HD ON THE SIDE SO ALL THEY NEED TO DO IS SEND THE FEED IN HD THATS ALL IT TAKES NOTHING MORE
PHILL H
BRIDLINGTON
EAST YORKSHIRE
This is my favorite sport in the world and it pains me every year to hear the same BS... HD is coming, HD is coming. Now they can blame not having it on the current financials.
If companies like Pioneer and Sony and Panasonic REALLY want to get HD sets into european homes, Formula 1 is THE SPORT to broadcast in HD.
This is a good point. Ask Speed Channel why they don't cover US events in HD, it's extremely expensive. However, seeing as F1 in hands down the richest sport in the world, HD should have been adopted by now.
I cant believe this...I was really looking foreward to F1 being HD this season. I know a couple of people who have worked in the pits and part of a exhibition crew and Im sure they said there are HD feeds available...GET WITH THE TIMES BBC...WE WANT HD !!!
A friend I have works for the RAI in Italy he says that HD is already being filmed in HD. Its just a matter of getting the rights to show it.