Champ Car races back on HDTV?

UPDATE #2 The IRL production trucks are provided by IMS Productions. Their trucks are standard definition and not HD. So unless Tony George springs for a 6+ million dollar HD truck their broadcasts will not be in HD. What amazes us is they built a new truck last year but did not go HD.

11/27/06 NASCAR has been in HDTV for the past two seasons. Even their F/X races were in HD on their Canadian broadcasts. So although Champ Car was the first when they were on HDNet, NASCAR won that contest two years ago by broadcasting all their races in HD.

11/26/06 Many fans have written to ask us whether Champ Car races will ever be back on high-definition TV again, especially since the Christmas craze this year is HDTVs. From all indications, yes…. if Champ Car picks the right production company who have the equipment to do HD. ABC has a sister broadcast station in HD and ESPN HD is a 24-hour-a-day live simulcast of ESPN, bringing fans ESPN's biggest games from the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, plus the Women's NCAA Tournament Final Four and championship, all in widescreen, crystal-clear 720 progressive (720p) scan format (DirecTV claims 1080i, most cable companies 720p).

Television stations do broadcast in 1080i also, but no one in the US broadcasts in 1080p. FOX, ABC and ESPN all use 720p, while CBS, NBC and The CW use 1080i. We believe that Mark Cuban’s networks (HDNet and HDNet Movies) also use 1080i. They are limited to 19.4MBs in bandwidth, but you can fit a 1080i signal inside of that with no problems. If you buy a Blu-Ray DVD player there are some movies you can buy or rent that are at true 1080p, and the difference is startling. True 1080p is so real it's scary (Don't be fooled between 1080i and 1080p – 1080p is better, but more expensive (i = interlaced, p = progressive scan). With that said, race broadcasts at 720p or 1080i will look wonderful compared to your old TVs. And for fast motion like race cars, Plasma is definitely better than LCD. LCD is, however, better in bright rooms. This PC Magazine video will explain some things to look for when buying an HDTV set, but it does not discuss 720p vs. 1080i vs. 1080p.

Of course IRL and NASCAR races can also be shown in HD by ESPN. Last year, even though the IRL was broadcast on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 (all of which have HD channels), none of the races were in HD format. Again, probably because of the production company. Maybe it's time for Santa to deliver that HDTV you have been procrastinating over as eventually all programming will be in HD.

So of IRL and Champ Car, which one will step forward and broadcast their races in HD first now that many people are buying HDTV sets?