[ellipr97]

Just a heads up for all the F1 fans in the UK, you can watch British GP at Vue cinemas on one of there big screens in HD and 5.1 Surround!

Apprently F1 is going to make its HD debut in britian!!!!!

Formula 1 will be screened in high definition in the UK for the first time on the weekend of the British Grand Prix.
But the high definition coverage will not be offered on public television - it will only be screened at 30 of the Vue cinemas around the country.
Vue are charging a very steep £15 per seat - but they throw in a copy of the official programme plus popcorn and a drink. There are 7,000 places available at their multiplexes nationwide.
The live race broadcast will be free of the advertisements which interrupt ITV’s coverage.
It’s great to see HD F1 finally becoming available in the UK - and it’s another measure of how the sport is gaining popularity with the amazing progress of Lewis Hamilton.
But many fans will be impatiently awaiting F1’s HD debut on British television. ITV boss Michael Grade is demanding that HD broadcasts be made available via the Freeview digital service. Let’s hope he gets his way and F1 on HD TV becomes a reality in the UK very soon.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/06/26/f1-to-make-hd-debut-in-britain/

Just been to get my ticket!

[bowenjones]

I may be wrong as I haven't really kept up with HD technology but wouldn't a 1080p feed look rather poor on a 50ft screen or is there something i'm missing?

[Pezerinno]

Will it actually be 1080p as well?

[zAndy1]

Sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me, somethings bound to go wrong and then you'll end up missing it! Would be fantastic if it worked and Hamilton won though, should be a great atmosphere

[nwgarratt]

Should be good. I have seen clips of F1 in 1080 and it just showed how bad ITV is.

[ellipr97]

Originally Posted by zAndy1

Sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me, somethings bound to go wrong and then you'll end up missing it! Would be fantastic if it worked and Hamilton won though, should be a great atmosphere

Ive been to see the england matches they show and the genisis concert at the VUE cinemas in HD, all so far have been flawless

[Matt]

James Allen in 5.1 !!!!! God help us.

Originally Posted by bowenjones

I may be wrong as I haven't really kept up with HD technology but wouldn't a 1080p feed look rather poor on a 50ft screen or is there something i'm missing?

that's my understanding too

[Razor]

Originally Posted by bowenjones

I may be wrong as I haven't really kept up with HD technology but wouldn't a 1080p feed look rather poor on a 50ft screen or is there something i'm missing?

LMAO.... How very true.

OP - All cinemas resolutions are higher than standard 1080p HD. 1920x1080 would look terrible on a large cinema screen.

[doylie1984]

i like my f1 and its b'day soon so i'm gonna ask my g/f nice to pay. looking forward to it!

Just ordered my tickets!

[doylie1984]

well those of you intrested i cant give a full opinon as i only got to watch the last 16 laps but the sound was impressive especially when they played sections of the team radio, picture wasnt HD in my opinon never got my programme as they had'nt be delivered and the free drink was a bottle of diet coke and the popcorn was a piddly little bag and it was quite busy more people than i'd expected so expect to hear more about this kind of thing.

Anybody else see the F1 i'd like to hear your views.

[Tejstar]

So the picture didn't look HD? So it just looked like a normal ITV broadcast on the TV?

[IndianaBlues]

Originally Posted by Tejstar

So the picture didn't look HD? So it just looked like a normal ITV broadcast on the TV?

Yes it looked like a normal TV broadcast, but as discussed earlier in the thread, this was due to it being upscaled way beyond the size of screen that kind of resolution was designed for...however, it was touted as HD and if they'd used the SD signal I can imagine it would have been orders of magnitudes worse.

Good Points:
No James Allen. They used the raw BernieVision feed and dubbed over their own commentators (see Bad Points below). The actual sound from the cars was amazing, but seemed slightly detrimental at the beginning of coverage when all we could hear were cars during televised interviews. Programmes were available at our cinema and very nice they were too, official Silverstone jobs. Oh, and final good point my wife actually enjoyed it, and wants to go to the real thing next year

Bad Points:
In place of James Allen/Martin Brundle, we had some guy with a very piercing voice and the wonderfully monotonous Jonathon Palmer (remember the guy who used to commentate in the nineties with Murray over at the Beeb). There were times when they showed their lack of knowledge of the rules and also missed key activity that was happening on the screen (this was usually quickly masked by a reference to cinemas having "glorious surround sound".
Followed 5 minutes later by a reference to "glorious surround sound"...The popcorn was a small bag, which was ok, but they only had full-fat coke available to drink, which may or may not be ok depending on your preference.

Overall I enjoyed it as a one off, but won't be going back to their coverage of the Nurburgring in a fortnight (perhaps Spa though...). For all my criticisms in the past of ITV, their coverage and commentary certainly seemed slick by comparison.