Comments on: Live from Iraq…It’s the elections in High Definition on HDNet

By: Will B

Will B — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

Excellent Mark, keep up the good work. The decision to climate the talking heads, while I’m sure was partly financial and security, is a great idea. I hope it leads to HD feeds in other places around the world and the US.

Will.

By: Shoe

Shoe — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

I find this incredibly funny, but incredibly fascinating. I think it is exremely important for the people of this country and the world to keep up on what is going on in Iraq, especially over the next few months. The funny part comes from seeing it in high def. the fascinating part is seeing it in high def. High def seems like a little overkill, but this is a very historical event and people are going to check it out, so why not?

I am not one of those fortunate to have high def, but I will check this out. Thanks for the info.

Shoe

By: Ethan S.

Ethan S. — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

Mark,

Great work. As one of the few unedited and unfiltered sources for information, your coverage will be interesting and fascinating to watch. I hope other networks see your broadcast as an example of the value of High Def news coverage.

Keep it up!

Ethan

By: Chad

Chad — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

Mark… what was your criteria for selecting a location? Also, since Iraq has proven to be an extremely unstable place at the moment, what will your network do if something terrible should take place in the camera’s field of vision? I imagine there are parts of Baghdad that are semi-stable, but even you stated that your location had to be kept secret. I hope you’re looking forward to 16 hours of boring democracy versus even one second of terror.

By: Shannon Clark

Shannon Clark — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

Mark,

A suggestion – given that you own the network, and in this case the entire feed is owned by HDNet (it’s news, you recorded it, no other copyright issues) can you look into making the feed available online as well as broadcast?

And if possible, online with an explicit license to be edited.

Then, my suggestion would be to let it loose and ask for the community’s help is repackaging your feed and other footage into spots that might both compress and illustrate what happens in Iraq this weekend.

This could then be a fantastic set of experiments.

1. In showing a value to HD – showing off the clarity, the fidelity, the sounds, etc

2. In experimenting with community edited news – you provide the raw footage, we (the community), help digest it and we, not someone catering to advertiser’s interests and the FCC etc, help set the focus.

3. I think that many people’s takes on the footage would each be unique and different – so many focus on how the light and sounds change over time, others on “hard news”, others on some reoccurring image or images captured throughout the footage.

I don’t know all the technical details and restrictions from making the footage available on the web – and certainly it is unlikely to be at the same level of quality (except perhaps for people with really high bandwith connections) as your HDNet feed – but perhaps it can be “good enough” to get community input and alternatives to editing.

Other options would be to provide the feed in HD DVD formats to people who request it – perhaps for free, or perhaps for a very low cost. If you just made it available to journalism schools as an experiment, I’m sure the results could be very intriguing – though I’d personally like to see filmmakers, artists, and “common” people’s take on it as well.

If you must recoup some of the costs – get Sony, Apple, and/or other vendors who sell pro-consumer editing software and hardware to underwrite it – I’m sure they’d support anything which helps highlight the power available to an owner of a high end Vaio or an Apple G5 desktop (or powerbook).

Shannon

By: Dwight Knoll

Dwight Knoll — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

how are you going to keep the bad guys from watching your channel and figuring out which roof the crew is on?

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

This is ground breaking TV. With all the coverage avaiable to see, this is the only in HiDef. The window into another world is unthinkable.

-Brian

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

Unfiltered coverage in HD. Great work.

By: Arash

Arash — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

“If you don’t have HDNet, get up in the morning and get to a Home Theater Store, or consumer electroncs store and check it out”

… Dont rub it in. We are still waiting for the CRTC’s approval to get you here in Canada. Regardless, well done to both yourself and Jeff. Its great to see footage that is crisp yet unrefined, facinating and yet so simple. Looking forward to having you in Canada!

By: KirkHouse

KirkHouse — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:01:54 +0000

I like the idea. Sunrise Earth on Discovery HD has a similar concept:
“SUNRISE EARTH features no music or narration, just the all-natural. 5.1 surround sound of the pounding surf, noisy ravens, grunting elephant seals, or an overhead blast of a hot air balloonists’ propane burner. ”

Sadly, I don’t think TimeWarner will let me swap NBATV HD for your channel.