TSN, Sportsnet begin foray into 4K TV
The sports media battle between TSN and Sportsnet moved onto the 4K TV front this week, as both produced their first broadcasts in what they hope is the next standard in television screens.
A standard that may convince sports fans to cough up and upgrade their television sets.
TSN produced North America’s first 4K broadcast with Wednesday night’s Toronto Raptors-Boston Celtics tilt. And Sportsnet produced the first NHL broadcast with Saturday night’s Maple Leafs-Canadiens Hockey Night in Canada showdown.
In a bit of gamesmanship, Rogers also picked up the U.K.’s BT Sports broadcast of the Raptors-Orlando Magic from England last week, basically for bragging rights.
“Well, we wanted to be first,” said Rick Brace, president of Rogers Media, when asked about the unexpected move to air that game in the new standard.
Currently, there are only a few hundred viewers who have the new cable boxes necessary to watch the 4K broadcasts.
If you believe the dueling sports networks, the era of 4K TV is upon us. Live 4K events basically didn’t exist last year, so it is impressive TSN has 20 more Raptors and NHL games in the next four months with more to come; Sportsnet plans to do 20 NHL games and all 81 Blue Jay home games this coming season. The truth is, both media companies are very early to the technology, following only the U.K.’s BT in jumping fully on the 4K bandwagon. (No American network is doing anything close yet.)
4K has four times the resolution of a standard HD set. The sets have been around for years, but they have been expensive and there has been very little content. But the thing to remember is that despite the impressive sounding numbers, the jump in picture quality from HD to 4K is nowhere near the same as the eye-popping leap from SD to HD. There’s also still much to be worked out and, even with these announcements, there really isn’t much content.
For example, Roger’s 4K channel doesn’t even have enough programming to fill the day. Other than the live sporting events, the rest of the time it is a promotional loop, most showing clips of nature shows. I know this to be true, because earlier this week I borrowed a 65-inch Samsung 4K UHD TV and got Rogers to send over its new 4K set top box to watch the games.
TSN’s Raptors game had the announcers positively giddy about entering the 4K era. If I was playing a drinking game and took a shot every time they mentioned 4K, I would have passed out by the end of the first quarter.
“Toronto, you look good in 4K,” purred Rod Black off the top. What followed was an explosion of bad 4K jokes from the broadcast team of Black, Leo Rautins, Matt Devlin and Jack Armstrong.
“This broadcast is dedicated to all the 4K television salesmen out there,” Black said later.
Hockey Night in Canada fared a little better by going more low-key, focusing on the Original Six matchup. George Stroumboulopoulos and Scott Oake joked they were too ugly for the next level HD, and the former did a quick run through the history of HNIC’s broadcast innovations.
As for the actual viewing experience, it is a sharper image, perhaps about 25 per cent sharper than HD. It is more noticeable on larger TVs, but for the longer tracking shots that show most of the game action, it really doesn’t add very much. It is much better with tight, close-up spots, like those that focus on faces.
Speaking honestly, the most impressive thing I’ve seen on this flashy 4K TV have been super-closeup shots of animals and fish from the nature shows. Those have been the ‘wow’ moments, far more than anything in the sports broadcasts thus far.
Another thing to keep in mind is how much of these game broadcasts are actually shot in 4K. While the main game action is, at this point the pre-game show, replays, highlights and many of the studio elements are all going to be shot in HD and up-converted. So even if you have a 4K TV, the majority of the content you’re going to watch for the foreseeable future will be shot in HD, even making up a lot of 4K broadcasts.
The other issue is that with TVs and technology, it really is a case of constantly moving the goal posts. While 4K sets are becoming cheaper and Ultra HD (UHD) seems to be standardized, the hot new thing is High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging, which basically makes better, brighter colours. This is the new thing companies are wrestling over to come up with a standard. It’s probably coming next year, but there will be some existing 4K TV buyers who will get left out in the cold because they bought too early.
Sportsnet and TSN will be constantly hyping their 4K broadcasts, as it is a big investment and likely the next thing.
It’s likely inevitable your next TV will be a 4K one, but you don’t need to run out and buy one just yet.
4K has four times the resolution of a standard HD set. The sets have been around for years, but they have been expensive