Formula One in High Definition

[AlexJ]

Formula One coverage is now in being made available in HD. Sadly ITV haven't got a HD channel at the moment, so we won't get it over here but on the plus side, we will be getting a widescreen picture as opposed to the 4:3 last season.

I've always said that F1 in HD would be the 'killer app' that would convince me to get HD. Now they've made it available and Australia, Germany etc. have got it, HD-day is one step closer...

[Harrison]

Great news. This would be the one broadcast I would want to upgrade to HD for. Currently I am still holding off until more HD channels are available on the UK on Sky HD.

That is very annoying that ITV currently will not be broadcasting it in HD due to their lack of support for the format. It does seem mad that ITV still have not rolled out at least one HD channel yet. Maybe the problem is due to Freeview not supporting HD and so any such channel would be limited to broadcasting on Sky and Cable and therefore would limit their audience for the HD broadcast.

Personally I wish Sky could somehow take over the F1 broadcasting rights so they could then broadcast F1 in HD. But also I would love for it to again be broadcast without adverts as they have always annoyed me since ITV took over the broadcasting from the BBC.

[v85rawdeal]

Essentially, I think the ideal solution (and therefore the one LEAST likely to happen) is that BBC get the rights back, and show it on their HD channel.

Mind you, even then, that is still restricted to those who have subscribed to HD services and is not yet availabl, AFAIK, on any freeview service... yet...

Would love to watch it. MInd you, this does bring about the idea of what else would look great in HD.

My top suggestions are:

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here (Imagine watching all the bug-related challenges on a 42" HD TV... ewww)

Top Gear in HD (especially the last episode of the latest series... those stretch limos were a scream... although I would have fitted a Wii in the back of the Hampster's...)

Doctor Who and Torchwood would both look great in HD, as would shows like Babylon 5 and Lexx.

What do other people think?

[Harrison]

Films, Sci-Fi and Sport are the three areas I would personally love to see the most in HD. I have been so tempted by HD recently due to Sky broadcasting most of their prime time Sci-Fi shows in HD as well as normal definition. I imagine Stargate would look great in HD, and Battlestar Galactica even more so. But I cannot justify the expense yet just for a couple of programs. I am still going to wait a bit longer until more channels and programs start to actually use HD, and when I am ready to make the move to an HD disc format and am about to own an HD capable console (PS3).

[AlexJ]

Torchwood was broadcast in HD I think. There were plans for the next series of DW to be in HD as well, not sure if these materialised. Top Gear isn't in HD although with it being sold all over the world it should be, even if, as Clarkson claimed in a column, it doubles production costs. TG is one of the few shows where the BBC get more money from selling it on to other broadcasters than it costs them to make.

I know the BBC and ITV are planning on launching a version of Freeview on Satellite (as it happens their channels are already FreeToAir on Satellite, and I can recieve them with my non-sky box and dish) and I wonder if part of the reason is because there isn't enough space for HD on Freeview. Maybe when Freesat's up-and-running we might see the big-five launching HD channels.

On the news of channel launches, FX have got a HD licence so should be launching soon and Eurosport have released plans for a HD channel. That might mean we get to see GP2 (the F1 feeder series) in HD before F1 itself!

[J T]

There was an ITV HD channel but it closed down. There was never really much on it anway, apart from some (admittedly rather nice) aerial shots of London.

I have the Virgin Media (formerly telewest) HD box, and the only HD channel is BBC HD. Torchwood and Robin Hood were both shown on the HD channel.

There is some on demand HD content but really not a lot at the moment. But to be fair we got this box as it was the only one at the time to offer HDD recording, the HD output was just a very nice bonus.