Is ESPN HD "True HD" ala HDnet, or "upconverted" similar to many primetime programs that are now in HD? I saw something on their website that said it was upconverted for now, but they said they were building a seperate building that would have the technology to show stuff in HD to everyone, and "downconvert" to non-hd ESPN. So what's the deal?
Everything is pretty much upconverted (and stretched) programs that are simulcast on ESPN EXCEPT a few live games a week that they'll show in HD. When they're plugging those games beforehand, they'll usually go out of their way to tell you that those game are in HD on ESPN HD. Playmakers was also shown in HD. ESPN's got a schedule of their HD broadcasts at http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlistings/espnhd/index? But everything other than those events you might as well watch on regular ESPN, since they're all just upconverted from 480i. They're actually getting better with this. Back during football season, their only HD events each week were the Sunday night NFL game, the Saturday night college football game, and that week's episode of Playmakers.
And I'm not one to tell ESPN what they should and shouldn't be showing on ESPN HD, but basketball isn't exactly the sport that really demands HD and really shows off HD's clarity and resolution. When you're watching a hoops game in HD, it's nice, but you don't really have the "HOLY FREAKING CRAP, THAT LOOKS AMAZING" moment that you get when you see hockey in HD.