In Depth: HD but not always HD...

Having just gotten to see MSNBC in HD after nearly a year of waiting, I’ve noticed something. Occasionally they will broadcast interviews taped off air earlier in the day from the NYC set but the interviews are broadcast in SD and not HD. The question arises as to why the SD broadcast since the network and studio are supposed to be HD now?

The answer may be complicated. As most of these interviews are taped during either Morning Joe or The Daily Rundown (which comes from Washington D.C) it suggests one of two things…

1) MSNBC does not have enough HD redundancy in its control rooms. I find this explanation a bit flimsy because one of the reasons MSNBC’s HD rollout was delayed was because of not enough HD ready control rooms. It has at least two HD control rooms I believe so not enough control rooms shouldn’t be the issue.

2) There is some sort of internal HD pipeline issue that prevents concurrent/simultaneous HD filming from taking place. What exactly that internal HD pipeline issue constitutes…I have no idea.

Whatever the reason, this should be fixed. I see no reason, other than cost, for why MSNBC shouldn’t be able to show all its interviews from its HD capable sets in HD.

But, to be fair, MSNBC is not alone in this regard. FNC from time to time has also shown a similar HD problem, though it doesn’t happen nearly as often. I’ve only seen it manifest itself on Sundays when America’s News HQ will sometimes broadcast Housecalls with Dr. Isadore Roesenfeld in SD. In those instances it’s obvious the segments have been taped in advance, probably during Fox and Friends Weekend. Similarly I’ve seen Weekend Live go remotely to the NYC newsroom nook for a segment but the picture is SD or upconverted SD but not HD even though DC is broadcasting in HD and the newsroom is HD capable.

I haven’t seen similar issues on CNN yet.

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