Monday, September 28, 2009

LOCAL 12 In High-Definition - The Review

We said we would review Local 12 WKRC-TV/Cincinnati's HD launch - and so we are now with this post.

First off, it wasn't without its technical glitches - which we think will be fixed for tonight's 5 PM newscast in 35 minutes. Sometimes the picture broke up - but that's to be expected for the first broadcast. There weren't audio troubles which is good.

As for the look of the graphics... we like them - no wait, we LOVE them. They're sharper, clearer, and easier to see even on a Standard Definition television. Again - highly impressive.

The weather graphics they are now using (and we don't know the source, whether those are done in-house or are a package sent from somewhere else) are extremely well done as well. For a weather geek like yours truly, we imagine those are fun for the PD12 Weather team to play with.

Finally, we didn't get to see a newscast open last night - they went straight to a breaking news alert. We still wonder if they changed that at all. I guess we will see during the 5:00 news tonight...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

For future reference, if you see a "Local Breaking News Alert" off the top of the show instead of the open, look for it, instead, at the end of the first segment. So, right before the first commercial break of the newscast you will see the new open for each newscast (9 times out of 10, anyhow).

Hope that helps.

J. Moses said...

Thanks anon 2:14. We didn't happen to catch it Sunday night - but when we saw it (the new open) Monday, well, color us impressed. Very well done. The graphics are very sharp as I pointed out.

Now... as the media watcher that I am, I have to wonder when WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati will launch anything in HD. Being the most powerful, won't help you gain viewers if your newscast is in standard definition in an otherwise HD market.