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TV coverage for 2020-2021?

cantunamunch

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^yeh, I looked at all the information they wanted for sign up, figured there was no point other than ads and said 'forget it'.

(and they don't carry speed skating, which totally killed it for me)
 

dbostedo

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^^^^
I think (hope?) that the other game in town will be the Olympic Channel as it's been the last couple of seasons... since I already have it.
 

dbostedo

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Yep, I'm well aware. But they've still shown most of the races on the Olympic Channel even when they had Gold Pass. Now that they're shifting to Peacock, I'm hoping the Olympic channel still gets races.

From earlier in the thread, skiracing.com was reporting that they will have Levi, which makes me think they may have more too:

 

Noodler

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Yep, I'm well aware. But they've still shown most of the races on the Olympic Channel even when they had Gold Pass. Now that they're shifting to Peacock, I'm hoping the Olympic channel still gets races.

From earlier in the thread, skiracing.com was reporting that they will have Levi, which makes me think they may have more too:


I think you're probably right that the Olympic channel will still show the races. If they purposely push everyone over to Peacock that would be a fairly d!ckish move.
 

Rudi Riet

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For those who haven't used Peacock yet, its a very antiquated platform, its not in 4K HDR and has a LOT of commercials. I would gladly pay for a clean, HDR feed and no commercials.

Actually, on the Xfinity Flex it's full HD, if not 4K HDR. It's enough. Yes, the ads suck (and they're there even on the "Premium" product, though not in quite the quantity) but it works perfectly well.

I do hope they still sell the passes for cycling, because the world feed of events like the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España is so much better than the ad-laden, dumbed-down NBCSN "product."
 

Ron

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I have Peacock premium now, its not HDR. big difference between a HDR feed and 1080P but if the feed is strong, that's not bad.
 

dbostedo

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I have Peacock premium now, its not HDR. big difference between a HDR feed and 1080P but if the feed is strong, that's not bad.
HDR and 1080p aren't an either or. Did you mean 4K?

1080 is a resolution, and 4K is a resolution. HDR is High Dynamic Range, and refers to the signal telling the TV where to apply extra brightness or (in most devices) get blacker by turning things off. You could have 1080 HDR, or 4K HDR, or either 1080 or 4K without HDR.
 

Ron

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4k is just a pipeline, HDR is what matters as does Dolby vision and HDR10 (although that will be extinct soon in favor of DV). true, if you dont have a 4K feed, you cannot have HDR or DV but in terms of picture quality, the better way to measure it is by HDR or DV since the 4K itself doesnt really define the image quality. HDR10, 10-Bit, vs DV's 12 bit represents the colors presented on your tv screen. DV is 68 billion vs HDR10 of 1 billion and the bandwidth required is much greater. (HDMI 2.0, 18gbps vs HDMI 2.1 or 2.2, 48gbps) Also Peak radiance or NITs goes up to an incredible 10K with DV which of course is currently maxed at 4K which DV is mastered at.( No tv can produce a NIT beyond 4000), Without delving too deep, OLEDS are still the best possible picture available but accomplish this with lower NIT level. (~1000) but HDR content can be reached at as little as 500 NITs . overall brightness is a bit of a farce. if you ever looked at light reflecting off water, its often too bright to look at which is why you wear polarized sunglasses! Imagine having a tv image that was so bright you had to wear sunglasses to watch tv! :). thats what an image with too high of a NIT rating would result in.

decent article on HDR10 vs Dolby Vision and what it all means.

Why does the Bit rate matter? if you are a geek like me, its matters a lot! going from a 4k feed that carries HDR at 18gbps (actually lower) to Dolby Vision which requires a 48gbps bandwidth results is a greatly improved image.

Since I'm already geeking out, read this article on your HDMI cables and where you should be.

 
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dbostedo

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4k is just a pipeline, HDR is what matters as does Dolby vision and HDR10 (although that will be extinct soon in favor of DV). true, if you dont have a 4K feed, you cannot have HDR or DV but in terms of picture quality, the better way to measure it is by HDR or DV since the 4K itself doesnt really define the image quality. HDR10, 10-Bit, vs DV's 12 bit represents the colors presented on your tv screen. DV is 68 billion vs HDR10 of 1 billion and the bandwidth required is much greater. (HDMI 2.0, 18gbps vs HDMI 2.1 or 2.2, 48gbps) Also Peak radiance or NITs goes up to an incredible 10K with DV which of course is currently maxed at 4K which DV is mastered at.( No tv can produce a NIT beyond 4000), Without delving too deep, OLEDS are still the best possible picture available but accomplish this with lower NIT level. (~1000) but HDR content can be reached at as little as 500 NITs . overall brightness is a bit of a farce. if you ever looked at light reflecting off water, its often too bright to look at which is why you wear polarized sunglasses! Imagine having a tv image that was so bright you had to wear sunglasses to watch tv! :). thats what an image with too high of a NIT rating would result in.

decent article on HDR10 vs Dolby Vision and what it all means.

Why does the Bit rate matter? if you are a geek like me, its matters a lot! going from a 4k feed that carries HDR at 18gbps (actually lower) to Dolby Vision which requires a 48gbps bandwidth results is a greatly improved image.

Since I'm already geeking out, read this article on your HDMI cables and where you should be.

Fair enough... you're talking about practicalities and actual usage, and I get that. I was just pointing out that HDR could exist in various guises at any resolution, and saying "HDR vs. 1080" doesn't really make sense in terms of base definitions. I have not looked into getting 4K HDR feeds too much myself (though I have a large 4K HDR TV myself - though it's not an OLED. Those were stupid expensive when I bought it, so the HDR is kind of crappy anyway). Mainly I've only gotten a few movies from Amazon or a couple of streaming feeds that are actually in 4K natively.
 

Rudi Riet

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One other thing: HDR only looks good on TVs that can process HDR. With a low-contrast surface like snow, viewing a HDR feed on a non-HDR screen will look really washed out - not great if you're dealing with minute differences in shades of white and blue.

So until HDR is the default broadcast standard, it's probably best to limit to non-HDR high-definition broadcast. And if you're looking at the best way to use the digital pipeline, stick with 1080. It's good enough for most, and especially considering that high-bandwidth internet service isn't as common in EU countries as it is in the U.S., it's very likely that what's being provided on the global feed is 1080 (this is the case with pro bike racing, FWIW).
 

Ron

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theres a HUGE difference in picture quality between a HD (1080) vs HDR (3840x2160) picture. If you are watching Netflix at HDR levels on an OLED (for example) its significant. I have a LG B6 (2018) OLED. It doesnt support DV but the image is superb. We are getting a new set for the main media room since we need a new set for the living room and im psyched to stream DV. We actually access Netflix, Amazon and others via Xfinity and so far its been excellent. You need their 4K box to pass the signal and at least a 18K bandwidth (actually amazon is not streaming at those rates) and a HDMI 2.1 cable but its really good. Netflix is steaming DV but I haven't viewed it on an OLED just a Sony 900-F.
 

Ron

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it's very likely that what's being provided on the global feed is 1080 (this is the case with pro bike racing, FWIW).

this is true and why the HDR snow res is not always optimal (you can upscale the pic but not the native res). However, you can lower the gamma and and tweak the brightness and contrast resulting a really good image.
 

Rudi Riet

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I'm sure the HDR stuff is awesome, @Ron! But it's the exception right now. Most people don't have the bandwidth to handle it at the present time. Sure, services here in the U.S. like Xfinity, Cox, Google Fiber, FiOS, et al provide the bandwidth for those who can afford it.

But such infrastructure isn't the global norm just yet. Also, the bandwidth saturation of sending a 4K HDR signal is, as has been mentioned, huge. And if providers need to provide two discrete broadcasts - 1080 and 4K HDR - that's asking even more of a system that still has significant bottlenecks. We will get there soon, but right now? 1080 covers 90+ percent of the global viewing audience.
 

Rudi Riet

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no doubt. but 4K content is widely available on Apple TV, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc.

Yes, but it's all dependent on the ISP, which is dependent on local infrastructure and the affordability of higher bandwidth packages. We have a fairly competitive market here in the U.S. (tho not as competitive as it should be in many areas). In other parts of the world that's not always the case, and high-bandwidth plans are often exceedingly pricey.
 
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Ron

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I,m sure thats true, but im just talking about the tech. We are only talking about a 20gb internet connection.
 

Rudi Riet

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Yup - and while 20gb doesn't seem like much to us here in the U.S. these days, there are significant parts of the world (and all over the EU) where DSL is still the de facto high-speed internet service. And 20gb on DSL is exceedingly rare and requires the commitment to maintain POTS lines in a age where cellular service is becoming the norm. 5G cellular is running circles around most folks' ISPs in the EU right now, and while fiber is making huge inroads it's still playing catch-up.

Again, we have it fairly good here in the U.S. (and in Canada) in terms of high-bandwidth ISPs - though again, it's all about what you can afford. Where there's a high level of competition between providers things are fairly affordable. Where there are monopolies or duopolies (as is the case in quite a few areas, including my city of Washington, DC) the price scale is prohibitive unless you are in a fiscally comfortable position in life.
 
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