Comments on: TV Upgrade for Your Washington Capitals

By: Gustafsson

Gustafsson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:13:25 +0000

Sombrero Guy,
You can thank Versus and their “exclusive nights” for those two Tuesday “blackouts”.

By: Sombrero Guy

Sombrero Guy — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:28:11 +0000

Glad to see extra HD offerings beyond the home games, but why leave 2 games off completely? What could they have better to broadcast on a Tuesday night?

By: JR

JR — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:13:11 +0000

pepper, most, if not all the comcast HD games are on CI, as long as you have a newer receiver (mpeg-4 capable).

By: pgreene

pgreene — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:27:44 +0000

not that it matters to me b/c i’m watching on center ice, but you’d think the most successful and exciting team in years wouldn’t warrant fewer televised games. and it’s the height of assininity (yes it’s a word) that we have two games not on at all. let’s take the most dynamic player in the league and sit him entirely for any kind of audience twice. good idea. how hard would it be to not schedule other games on versus exclusive nights, honestly?

By: pepper

pepper — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:24:44 +0000

Now, when does all this bounty translate for us out of towners watching on CI?
I noticed that baseball this year finally included an HD channel on the extra innings package, but not having CI games in HD, where they are broadcast that way locally, is, to echo JR’s comments, inexcusable. Especially since the customer had express quite a willingness to pay extra for an HD-CI.

By: OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:48:41 +0000

Good question Dave. Per the Caps’ press release and Comcast’s site, the games will be broadcast in HD, not just 4:3 on their HD channel. I can’t speak to the post-game shows and other Caps-related broadcasts, but it seems the 50 games listed will indeed be true HD.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:40:14 +0000

Is that 50 games IN HD, or 50 games on the Concast HD channel? There is a HUGH difference. Most of the games on Concast HD are not broadcast in HD. They are in 4:3 format not WS. Anyone know which it is?

By: JR

JR — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:22:39 +0000

Appreciate the historical context but one must consider the reason not just the result. Yes, it’s a bonanza, but every game broadcast and every game in HD is a reasonable expectation in aught-9.

By: OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:18:24 +0000

Ha! Excellent suggestion JR — no need to inflict the Panthers on loyal Caps’ viewers.
Pucks is right, though: the coverage is getting better all the time. While the 2 untelevised games is a slight step back from the impressive achievement of getting all 82 on TV for the first time (another Leonsis success), the increase in HD broadcasts is a huge leap forward.

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:59:29 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me what occasions ire and outrage when perfection is made enemy of the amazing. I write as one who spent a full decade following the Caps with no broadcast media help here but that of WTOP and Ron Weber. The arrival of Home Team Sports was a transcendant moment.
Merely 73 games (locally) on the tube; how will we ever follow the team indeed.