F1 set for HD TV coverage

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Formula One television could be about to catch up with the high definition broadcasting revolution.

SISLink, a global satellite broadcasting company, has won a contract to supply ITV Sport with HD-ready satellite facilities for F1 coverage, starting with next week’s Australian Grand Prix.

The company is building two HD-ready trucks and upgrading its facilities in Milton Keynes. SISLink will provide the satellite broadcast for 16 of the 17 races (it is not clear which race they will not work on).

SISLink will have a dedicated HD truck ready to broadcast from the eight European rounds beginning with the Spanish Grand Prix on May 13th. Managing Director David Meynell said: ?â?ó?óÔÇÜ?¼?àÔÇ£We will be supplying ITV Sport with the most advanced satellite uplink truck we have ever produced, using new technologies allowing us to offer an unrivalled level of service.?â?ó?óÔÇÜ?¼?é?Ø

High definition broadcasts offer vastly greater image quality over standard television images.

Major sporting events like last year’s football World Cup have already been broadcast in HD and it’s only right that a cutting-edge sport like F1 should exploit this technology sooner rather than later.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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12 comments on “F1 set for HD TV coverage”

  1. Until they sort out a decent tv director for the races, HDTV is a waste of money. Who wants to watch the indivdual atoms of rubber falling off race leader Alonso’s front tyre for lap after lap when several drivers are swapping 6th position at each corner, unseen by all the cameras? Too many times last season Brundle & Allen have had to resort to radio commentary to tell us what’s happening in the race.
    .
    Obviously this development will benefit those HDTV owners who have signed up for “My Earth Dream” and will be able to pick out their names on the Hondas as they pass by at 170mph.

  2. This does actually benefit standard definition viewers – the vast majority still of course, as the HD pictures can be scaled down and hence for the first time, we’ll get 16:9 widescreen F1 coverage.

    As for the race the equipment will not be used for, this could be the British GP as ITV will be able to bring in their own local resources for that event.

  3. Does this mean anything for actual race coverage though? We all know that ITV have no control over the actual race feed — we hear James Allen and Martin Brundle complain about the local directors enough. So the fact that ITV’s equipment is now ‘HD-ready’ means that we’ll be able to see the dandruff in Steve Rider’s hair.

    Then again, I don’t suppose there would be much point in ITV getting HD equipment for F1 if the actual races aren’t HD. So fingers crossed!

  4. I have no direct evidence, but to say it’s unclear which race they won’t handle seems a bit blind.

    Virtually all sporting events in the United States are already broadcast in HD and have been for several years now. CBS usually handles the US GP broadcast, and they have their own capability already.

  5. We grumble about local TV directors, but what about ITV’s management of the time slots? Why did ITV (“The Formula One Channel”) relegate the Australian qualifying to a dead time in the late afternoon? Likewise the race itself. Presumably a repeat of Ice Dancing comes higher in their list of priorities.

  6. Not much point in using HD if they’re not going to bother transmitting it in HD – ITV = waste of space! Sack James allen and bring in ben edwards!!!

  7. Is anyone getting HD for the races on ITV? I’ve only just stumbled across this thread, and have not seen anything all year about ITV showing F1 in HD. In fact, I didn’t know ITV broadcast anything in HD?

  8. It’s not being broadcast in HD yet – you can only see it in HD at the cinema:

    https://www.racefans.net/2007/07/14/watching-f1-in-the-cinema/

  9. Only certain things are broadcast in HD such as the world cup football was on ITV, and you only received it if you had a FreeSat receiver. What is the case for the F1

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  12. Hello, I read that 2007 season 14 grand prixs were broadcasted with 16:9 aspect ratio but three grand prixs were broadcasted with 4:3 aspect ratio. Which are those three grand prixs?

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