This is a friend of a friend type rumor so take it with a bag of salt! But, allegedly, the new and improved CBS Early Show which on Monday January 7th will be in HD. And also allegedly CBS4 News will use the moment to go HD as well.
The Early Show’s Wikipedia page notes that it isn’t known if high definition is in the cards.
There is (or was, I haven’t checked lately) promo that was rather cryptic if I remember correctly, insinuating that there is a new way to watch your morning news or something along those lines. Unfortunately my important my hard drive crashed so I can’t go back and replay video.
Either way the time for Miami to have HD news has long passed. We need to see those gashing wounds zoom-ins in HD! Talk about engagement and emotional connection with viewers!
Someone left a tip about this several times – I wasn’t ignoring you, just been busy – so thank you for the persistent effort 🙂
Update: just saw the promo on 4 and it said at the start of it “Begining Monday there is a smart new way to start your day in South Florida” … I doubt it’s anything to do with HD 🙂
Well, I actually went to the NBC 6 studio on Friday. I actually got to meet with Bob Mayer, he’s my new mentor. He told me what was going on there. He said in about 30-45 days, they’re doing a complete HD overhaul. I saw their control room, they have their old room in the back, and in the front, they have the new equipment. The way they now monitor everything is through 7 HD Plasma TV’s about 40″ something inches. All with little monitors split up in the TV’s. He also told me that a lot of people were going to be getting laid off because everything is going to be put in the script (i.e., where the cameras are going, what mics are going to be used, etc.) So, the computer is going to immediately know where the camera needs to go, and it’s going to move on itself. There are only going to be about 2 people in the control room now. After South Florida Today, they didn’t have NewsNet so they can rehearse a show with the new system. So, in a detailed nutshell, that’s what’s going on at the NBC 6 station. =)
Meanwhile, WPEC is totally redoing their set, touted their “HD Set” when they first moved to their temporary studio, so HD newscasts may be nigh for West Palm’s CBS affiliate. This would be the second in the market, and if WFOR goes HD on Monday, probably the third in South Florida.
I hope the local HD does finally happen in S. Fl. (Miami market). But as a thought, it would seem rather odd for a station just to suddenly start it. With all the stations that went local HD in Central Fl, beginning back over a year and a half, there was much fan-fare and many “get your new TV’s ready” type promos a couple of weeks before it happened. This was true for the Orlando, and Tampa markets. When it does happen, you will really appreciate how good it looks, and will not ever want to watch standard def. again!
WFOR is in the conversion process, but a technical contact there says the Monday rumor is just that. There are no HD surprises Monday. This is a terribly expensive process for TV stations and akin to rebuilding the Palmetto while people are driving on it. Look for most of the Miami stations to move to High-Def local news about the time analog TV goes away, about a year from now.
Does anyone know when they’re doing the complete Digital/Analog overhaul? I heard it’s sometime this year.
WFOR won’t be switching in the immediate future…. photogs only have a limited supply of XD-HD camera’s.. and the studio cameras, switchers and master control aren’t going to be updated soon.
wsvn too is in the midst of an multi-million-dollar overhaul that will eventually bring full-hd news to south florida. for the past few months, they have been installing new wiring, switchers, and equipment. recently, a large shimpent of hd studio cameras was delivered. from what i hear, next year (’09) all the photogs’ field cameras will be upgraded as well…
If we can count on anything in this market, it’s that nobody will be broadcasting local hi-def for quite a while.
This is a pretty face TV market if there ever was one. HD news won’t make anyone happy–viewers or stations–people like it when people look great. The reality is without a lot of prep work, few people look good in HD!