Venue for Super Bowl in High Definition?

[Rorschach]

Does anyone know anywhere that will show the Super Bowl in bona fide High Definition? Lots of places have the nice wide screens installed, but I have not seen a single one anywhere that actually has them wired up for high definition. Everyone has them set up to show standard definition stretched out or zoomed in to fill the wide screen. The pictures are good, but I've not seen the real deal anywhere. The HD logo bug on the screen is very distinctive for TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, CBC, Global, CTV, CityTV CBS, Fox, and NBC -- it's unmistakable.

Sopranos does not have it and neither does Shark Club. I'm sure it has to do with the difficulty of wiring and high cost. You can't have long wire runs of component video or HDMI. It's quite easy to string regular coax for standard definition TV and a "good enough" picture is what most places settle for.

But I'm thinking someone must have done it right somewhere in town. Anyone certain of a place that has the real deal set up correctly that is going to show the Super Bowl?

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Rorschach

Does anyone know anywhere that will show the Super Bowl in bona fide High Definition? Lots of places have the nice wide screens installed, but I have not seen a single one anywhere that actually has them wired up for high definition. Everyone has them set up to show standard definition stretched out or zoomed in to fill the wide screen. The pictures are good, but I've not seen the real deal anywhere. The HD logo bug on the screen is very distinctive for TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, CBC, Global, CTV, CityTV CBS, Fox, and NBC -- it's unmistakable.

Sopranos does not have it and neither does Shark Club. I'm sure it has to do with the difficulty of wiring and high cost. You can't have long wire runs of component video or HDMI. It's quite easy to string regular coax for standard definition TV and a "good enough" picture is what most places settle for.

But I'm thinking someone must have done it right somewhere in town. Anyone certain of a place that has the real deal set up correctly that is going to show the Super Bowl?

Good question. How about Cactus Club? EDIT: I called there, no HD.

[Icebergalley]

How Early does one have to go to any sportsbar to get a good seat fro this year's super bowl?

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Icebergalley

How Early does one have to go to any sportsbar to get a good seat fro this year's super bowl?

Between one and two.

[DelsterX]

My house.

[Rorschach]

Originally Posted by DelsterX

My house.

What are you charging for a pint of beer?

[Holden West]

Beer's free but Del insists on a post-game rub-down which sounds dicey but is actually quite invigorating.

[Dylan Leblanc]

mods, help!

[Willa]

As I read the first few posts, I also was going to say "my house." Now, I'm not so sure... :-)

[DelsterX]

I should have known... :?

[Rorschach]

This is just a sad state of affairs. All these great bars spending all that cash on the nice flat-screen tvs and plastering them everywhere, but not a one is willing to spend just a little more cash to wire it up for real HDTV.

Several places have Bell ExpressVu running so the HDTV add on costs $10 more a month? To be fair, there are probably a lot or restrictions for commercial use, but it seems to me someone somewhere in town would go to the effort. It might even attract customers who would not ordinarily go. Sad.

[Holden West]

(courtesy William Houston, Globe & Mail)

Global Television plans to pick up a clean, untouched feed of CBS's Super Bowl telecast on Sunday in the hope that the picture and sound quality improve.

High-definition viewers complained about distortions and audio problems on Global's National Football League conference championship telecasts on Jan. 21.

As a rule, Canadian viewers see an NFL telecast that has been altered twice before it reaches the screen at home. The feed from the site of the game goes to New York, where the U.S. network inserts its commercials. And then it's sent to Global's facility in Calgary, where it's altered again and given Canadian commercials. For the Super Bowl, the feed from Miami will go directly to Calgary.

Canadian viewers have no choice but to watch Global's NFL coverage. In addition to simulcasting the U.S. feed, Global is allowed to replace the American channel with its own on the cable and satellite systems.

However, the distributors have the right to discontinue the Global feed if it's not up to quality and use the U.S. network feed — although that upsets Canadian advertisers who have bought time on Global with the understanding their commercials will be seen.

Still with commercials, the U.S. Super Bowl ads are out of bounds for Canadian viewers because of the substitution rule. However, during the game on Sunday, AOL Canada will stream the U.S. commercials on aol.ca/superbowl.

[Rorschach]

The Super Bowl, like the World Series has an "Internatonal Feed" for use outside the United States, so maybe they will use that one. The CBS announcers are pretty bland, but I don't know if different announcers are heard on the international feed. I recall that the World Cup coverage in Canada had the feed from the UK rather than a sim-sub of the US broadcast.

If it's all digital as they claim, the picture quality should not degrade with each generation.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Rorschach

This is just a sad state of affairs. All these great bars spending all that cash on the nice flat-screen tvs and plastering them everywhere, but not a one is willing to spend just a little more cash to wire it up for real HDTV.

Several places have Bell ExpressVu running so the HDTV add on costs $10 more a month? To be fair, there are probably a lot or restrictions for commercial use, but it seems to me someone somewhere in town would go to the effort. It might even attract customers who would not ordinarily go. Sad.

A sports package for Bell ExpressVu for a bar costs about $600/mo. A Canucks pay-per-view game costs $130 for a bar. A Salmon Kings away game costs $400US per game for a poor-quality web stream.

[Rorschach]

I knew it was something like that. But is the commercial fee more if they hook up the tvs correctly? Several bars must be paying the fee because I see them changing channels and it's ExpressVu. I'm just asking that one of those big nice tv sets be wired up for HDTV.

What does Shaw charge?

[VicHockeyFan]

Shaw will wire up 4 HDTVs for $16,500, and I forget what the monthly charge is for Shaw - somewhere in the range of $500/month for regular cable.

[Rorschach]

Yow! I guess we'll have to settle for less. Very few businesses can justify that expense. That's an insane fee. I'm thinking an antenna might get the signal from Seattle or Vancouver if it was high enough.

If it were me, I'd sneak in my home decoder box and hook it up for the Super Bowl, and remove it afterwards.

[Amanday]

When it comes to men in spandex, anything less than HD just won't do.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Rorschach

Yow! I guess we'll have to settle for less. Very few businesses can justify that expense. That's an insane fee. I'm thinking an antenna might get the signal from Seattle or Vancouver if it was high enough.

If it were me, I'd sneak in my home decoder box and hook it up for the Super Bowl, and remove it afterwards.

Feb 22nd, 2007 : The city allows itself to be bullied into shelving a height standard that has served us well for years

Feb 26th, 2007 : Local sports-bar bullied into spending $4000 by VV forumers.

Good news. Soprano's has gone and done it. One big-screen 75"h x 130"w full HDTV starting March 15th or so.

[G-Man]

Nice!

[m0nkyman]

Note to self. Next time I'm in Victoria, stop by Sopranos....

[Dylan Leblanc]

Awesome, just in time for Super Bowl!!

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Dylan Leblanc

Awesome, just in time for Super Bowl!!

In good time for UFC 69 - the return of our Canadian - Mr. St. Pierre, and in good time for the Canucks playoff action.

[Mike K.]

Hmmm...

Does anyone know of a local bar that gives away $1000 cash to a random customer every Saturday night? :smt002

[Rorschach]

I'll check it out for sure. I think the investment will pay off for the owner. It's definetely a bragging point.