Head on, today ESPN did a great job with the Chealse game. The Arsenal and Manchester city on FSCHD & FSPHD was ok, but the video quality and production from ESPN was better. My opinion.
Of course it was. ESPN's Premier League coverage is produced by ESPN UK. The only better coverage of the EPL is that of Sky Sports. ESPN beats FSC when it comes to the Premier League in every way.
Another observation: GoltvHD is broacasting in 1080i, ESPN2HD, FSCHD & FSPHD are broacasting in 720p. However, when it comes to color and picture quality, La Liga ranks in my opinion first follow by the Champions second, Bundesliga Third, EPL on ESPNHD UK production third, Bundesliga fourth, Calcio fith, EPL on FSC & Plus. The Europa, Brazilian and French league are decent quality, but in my opinion the HD quality is not that great. I am not an expert on broacasting ingenirien, but my eyeballs are really do enjoy the HD Quality of La Liga and the Champions. Once again, this is just my opinio.
I agree that Champions League has great PQ. I have never watched Bundesliga, La Liga or Ligue 1 in HD (none are available in HD in Canada), so I can't really comment on those. ESPN uses the same video feed as FSC does for Premier League coverage though. So if the PQ for EPL on ESPN2 is better than the PQ for EPL on FSC, its simply because ESPN2 has better PQ than FSC.
Actually, the Saturday EPL matches that air on ESPN2 US (and ESPN Caribbean), as well as those 23 EPL matches that air on ESPN UK, are produced by BSkyB. The studio shows that come with the EPL match telecasts on ESPN UK (as well as one EPL match telecast on ESPN2 US that used the studio) are produced by IMG Sports Media. ESPN, Inc. does NOT employ its own remote TV production personnel in the U.K. and does NOT own its own TV studio in the U.K.
Not true. Last year Sky produced Premier League coverage for ESPN. I've read that IMG does starting this season. Unfortunately the only article I could find was subscriber only. Do we really need to be this technical though? The Premier League coverage on ESPN2 is the same as that on ESPN UK including an ESPN UK presenter (on some weeks), ESPN UK graphics and the same production values as an ESPN broadcast of the EPL in the UK. That was the point I was making.
so Jon Champion doesn't work for ESPN UK anymore? Is it strictly Ian Darke, Robson(??) and Macca now?
No Champion and Chris Waddle are still the ESPN UK EPL commentators. Darke, Robson and Macca only work on games that air on ESPN2 in the US; howver, these are ESPN UK productions for the US (and Canada) only.
I also noticed that Darke didn't do any of ESPN's MLS playoff games. I thought he was supposed to be the new voice of soccer on the network.
well i may be in the minority.. but im not too happy with the ESPN America premier league coverage... while i like Ian Darke.. he is catering to much to the us audience..(yes i hear the groans.. its for the usa..blah blah..).. he doesnt have to mention every usa player in action.. and the big one.. the real big one.. SHUT UP with the scoreflash updates.. i look away at the ticker.. thats bad enough..but do you have to announce it also... he is breaking the cardinal rule of football broadcasting. The IMG announcers know not give away scores.. you would thin we would get the same courtesy.. aside from that Macca and Ian have been great.. Cantona---
The Europa League video quality is poor. I wonder if this what some refer to 520p. In some way it looks like some of the EPL images broadcast by Sky.
As I watch today's Bolton-Spurs telecast I have to say I agree w/ you on Darke - he seems to be chattering way more than the typical UK announcer. I don't need to hear about Stewart Holden's mum in Houston, or anything about Edson Buddle during a Premier League broadcast!
I think it's called upconverted standard definition. IIRC, only like two Europa League games or so are actually produced in HD (at least in the group stage). The rest are upconverted SD.
That explaint it. Now, I woke up too late to see the Bolton-Spurs game today (I am in Los Angeles) but I did get a chance to see the Clossing remarks and the interview with Dempsey, I have to say that this may be appealing to Americans, since we all want to know how our players are doing in Europe. I like it.
I think that the Stewart Holden's mum part was kind off dumm but the rest of it i likd i did love the peace with Dempsey. espn has to do it so that new fan that mite be tarning on for the first time will no that ther are players from the usa that play in the epl.
I just notice that Ekoku, I am not sure if I spell it correctly, is a commentaror for both ESPN & FSC. By the way watching the EPL in try HD(720P, 1080I or 1080P) is aweson.
Efan Ekoku does not work for FSC, he works (I think as an independent contractor) for the company that produces the Premier League games for international distribution, which FSC picks up. I think Ian Darke did a game that aired on FSC last week (or maybe two weeks ago).
I see. Kind of confussing, because I thought that Ian Darke was exclisively working for ESPN, and on Yesterday's game both Efan Ekoku and Ian Darke where doing the post game report for Espn.
Ian Darke works for ESPN and Premier League Productions, who produces international feeds of Premier League games. This company employs other commentators from major networks like Jon Champion (ESPN), Peter Drury (ITV) and Martin Tyler (Sky). When ESPN say that Darke is exclusively working for them, they mean that he isn't working for Sky anymore.
It's not, but it should be IMO if they want to cater to the soccer culture in America. But you're right - they don't care.
It's for the viewers/broadcasters in other countries where TV coverage is different (including the dedicated long-form SDD broadcasts on Sky's "Football First" where viewers are specifically watching one game of either Sky's choice or their own). It happens that U.S., Canadian, and Australian viewers can see TV or legitimate streams of nearly every game live. Should the broadcasters so desire, they are definitely permitted to show highlights of the other games at half/post-game. Of course, if they use their own announcers, then all bets are off.
That's what I do. It also means that some times/often I don't get around to watching the match on ESPN.
I hope I am not braking any rules on this forum with live links, but I thought this was a good article on EPL Talk http://www.epltalk.com/espn-continues-to-improve-its-premier-league-production-for-us-viewers-26377 And yesterday, they came up with another good article. http://www.epltalk.com/espn-continues-to-improve-its-premier-league-production-for-us-viewers-26377 This has been a great year for all soccer fans in The United States. In about an hour we are going to see in HD MU vs. MC. Every weekend we get to see a least 10 live games in HE {"Directv and TWC customers] And next year Fox Deportes and ESPN Deportes will broadcast in HD. Not bad for a country that really is not a big fan of the beutifull game.