I watched a few races last season in HD (720p) on Speed. I also have Directv. The night race looked awesome.

 

What you saw was upcasted PAL, not HD. Via DirectTV and on my Sony XBR2 40", the races looked fuzzy and the colors were inconsistent. One race it was pushing red the next, washed out. It did get better towards the end of season.

But again, Bernie is not broadcasting his circus in HD, just PAL 16:9.

 

I knew this thread would eventually bring out the techies, thanks

 

The dead giveaway is in slow mo and you see the interlace overlap.
That's when you get those jittery transitions that get really blurred.

 

Bernie had offered HD F1 back in around 2002. It was a premium service on SkyHD that didn't get a lot of takers. Bernie then packed up all of his HD gear after the year and only offered PAL.

The HD equipment is still there but not being used until Bernie feels there's demand (at a premium again) for it.

Oh BTW, I get Speed HD on Optimum Online in South Jersey.

 

I swear, I could make a fortune if I sold these bumper stickers...

Bernie Must Die!

 

Cool info to know...I thought it was HD, but clearly not. Thinking back, it looked decent, but not as good as hockey games I get in HD, or Blu-Ray movies. Still better than nothing I guess...

 

At least the 16:9 vs. 4:3 will be an improvement. I won't have those stupid black lines on the side of the tv screen.

 

I get Speed HD on Comcast here in San Francisco. I just found it during the off-season. I can't wait to see how F1 is going to look this year!

 

I had Speed HD last year (Comcast). The HD feed looked marginally better, but the advantage was widescreen.