Our friends at
TV Squad are asking the same question we've had many times, what's up with MTV's treatment of HD? Specifically, why doesn't the
MTV or VH1 HD simulcast channel air music videos in high definition? While it was news to us that MTV even aired music videos anymore, it's sad to see how poorly its handling the simulcast channel, though we don't have reception at this branch of the EHD HQ yet, word is they couldn't even keep simple things like the
Real World HD broadcast straight last season. That's no surprise for a network that treats its simulcast like a redheaded stepchild (try finding a mention of it on MTV.com or Viacom's website) and staunchly refuses to loose any details of precisely which shows will be broadcast in high definition no matter how many times we ask, and we'll not even get into the endless loop of repeated programming that has become
Palladia. Considering one can view any music video on YouTube in "HD" with little trouble, it's even more disturbing that MTV is so far behind the times.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kcmurphy88 @ Jun 28th 2009 8:49PM
I guess they figure their audience is stoned out of heir minds and won't notice anything they do.
zargon @ Jun 28th 2009 9:07PM
I am not sure their audience needs to be stoned to not notice.
Joe @ Jun 28th 2009 9:10PM
The youtube videos that are "HD" are virtually never actual HD. 99.9% of music videos are not shot in HD and the highest quality available is via promo dvd.
EGOvoruhk @ Jun 29th 2009 12:34AM
Did you work on 99.9% of music video shoots, or are you just pulling stats out of your ass?
Joe @ Jun 29th 2009 2:25AM
Well, I'm something of a music video buff and I archive music videos. The .vobs straight off the DVD are the highest quality available for the overwhelming majority of stuff whether you choose to believe it or not.
xemumanic @ Jun 29th 2009 2:30AM
Joe is right, I do the same. VERY rarely do you see a truly HD music video put out.
EGOvoruhk @ Jun 29th 2009 2:37AM
Just because it's not available to you, doesn't mean it doesn't exist
Vidikron @ Jun 30th 2009 3:11PM
Doesn't mean it does either.
AmplifiedVideo @ Jul 9th 2009 8:45AM
Check out the videos at youtube.com/amplifiedvideo and let me know what you think about those.
Brent @ Jun 28th 2009 9:55PM
I think that like most MTV related questions, this can be answered by "because MTV sucks"
steedums @ Jun 28th 2009 9:58PM
People still watch mtv? Last time I checked, they didn't have music videos either.
asiandeity @ Jun 28th 2009 10:42PM
Yeah, they still play music videos early in the morning when no one's watching.
Garst @ Jun 28th 2009 10:47PM
Because the studio heads KNOW everyone just gets all the content from P2P networks anyways, so they figure they'll save money but not doing HD.
Brian @ Jun 29th 2009 6:41AM
Garst has hit the nail on the head: Where's the money to be made in making HD music videos? The marketplace has made it clear, by their actions, that anytime the industry goes the extra mile to produce something with higher quality, that that will just prompt their intended customers to steal more. In a marketplace essentially dominated by institutionalized theft, there is not much incentive to go the extra mile. Instead, prompted by consumer behaviors, the best MTV can hope for is to better foster their lifestyle brand, which perhaps can be capitalized on though merchandising.
If consumers respected IP rights more, then perhaps IP would be worth more, and perhaps the industry would invest more in developing IP.
Vidikron @ Jun 30th 2009 3:19PM
@Brian
Oh please, you have it exactly backwards. Sure, there are some people that are going to pirate no matter what, but many people pirate things because they get some extra benefit beyond simply being "free". Whether it be convenience or whatever else. And your entire statement falls flat on its face when talking about MTV. MTV started fucking up many years ago... long before mass P2P. I haven't watched them in years because they couldn't be bothered to show music videos and even then they did they cut them short. For example, I hated how when they were doing some sort of countdown they would only show 30-60 seconds of videos that had been on the countdown for a couple of weeks. That fucking sucked. They're still on the countdown because they're still popular, why are you cutting them short??? So, no, there's no rational way you can pin this purely on consumers.
TRU3L3GEND @ Jun 28th 2009 11:15PM
I remember they said their target "audience" doesn't watch HD nor own a HDTV and they wouldn't notice anything better... Only thing I would have liked to watch on MTV was Rob and Big
Brent @ Jun 29th 2009 1:55AM
That's probably true. Most of the people that watch MTV probably don't have jobs and therefore can't afford an HDTV.
m3nphls @ Jun 28th 2009 11:48PM
Does MTV still plays music videos? lol because I stopped watching ever since all they were airing was reality shows
Justin @ Jun 29th 2009 12:38AM
I actually read the article. The author of the article, Michael, actually advocates "stretch-o-vision" like TBS, TNT and The Cartoon Network do with 4:3 programming. Michael actually mentions the stretching of "Family Guy" as a good thing. Michael isn't complaining about the lack of HD. He's complaining about black bars. It was complaints from people like this that drove A&E and its sister networks (Biography, History, Crime and Punishment) to go to stretch-o-vision.
Michael should check out Palladia. Palladia shows HD videos from MTV, VH1 and CMT at the same wee hours of the morning that VH1, MTV and CMT show their SD videos.
dpacino @ Jun 29th 2009 12:46AM
why isnt B.E.T in hd on timewarner cable in ny
BeDammit @ Jun 29th 2009 1:02AM
Youtubes videos in HD are not even close to HD.
Too many ppl sling the term HD around.
A majority of music videos werent stored in HD until recently.
Even when they were shot on HD they were still on DVD quality when given to the stations or distributed on promo discs.
Amplified Videology @ Jul 9th 2009 8:46AM
I agree. Anything in 1280x720 is considered HD on youtube. If it fits, it gets a HD rating regardless of actual quality.
xemumanic @ Jun 29th 2009 2:27AM
If you'd ever gotten your hands on any promo material for music videos, you'd know they are pretty much all SD, and not HD. Its pretty safe to say that 99% of music videos ARE SD. It's that simple. Many music videos are widescreen tho. MTV has been doing 'HD' for a while, and most of it was upscaled, I have .ts files to prove it.
The article is written by someone who obviously doesn't know wtf he's talking about, and he's already negated himself by asking for stretch-o-vision. Still, for what little HD content MTV has, they need to air it in HD whenever possible. It's kind hard when HD music videos are peppered in every now and then, but if shows like the Real World are being filmed in HD, then they need to do so every time. They also need to start advocating for HD, and start marketing what little HD content they have by making specific time slots for that stuff.
Sam @ Jun 29th 2009 4:32AM
Might seem like a dumb question but I googled it to no avail and I'm almost POSITIVE that someone here will know the answer but why exactly are the MTV and VH1 HD channels called "simulcast?"
I get that it means simultaneous broadcasting, but on what? Does it mean both on an HD and SD channel, or simulcast on separate networks in different countries. Or that the songs playing are simulcast both in the video they're playing in and on some music only MTV channel or radio station?
I don't watch MTV at all anymore but just call it being curious. I'd just like to know what this means precisely.
UnnDunn @ Jun 29th 2009 7:15AM
It means simulcast in HD and SD, ie. the HD and SD channels show the same thing at the same time.
VinylVision @ Jun 29th 2009 8:30AM
LOGO Television Network, an MTV/Viacom property, programming is not being telecast in HD on Dish Network. On Dish the LOGO channel is advertised as "HD", but the programming including click music videos, full length movies, etc is all being broadcast in SD. Either MTV or Dish is misrepresenting its content resolution quality.
AtomB @ Jun 29th 2009 10:16AM
wait, MTV has music videos? when did they start offering that again?
cypherx @ Jul 1st 2009 8:48PM
Oh, when Michael Jackson died.
Yeah it's sad it takes someone's death to start playing music videos again.
Alex @ Jul 1st 2009 9:38AM
Easy... they fired just about the entire staff in the last 2 years. Leaving many people high and dry.
rendezvous65 @ Jul 9th 2009 1:12AM
Zooland Records in Germany is now uploading videos in HD on youtube. So I believe they are doing them in HD. Also the Lonely Island has shown their newer videos in HD via SNL and Youtube HD.
rendezvous65 @ Jul 16th 2009 4:01AM
Found a German Website mentioning DHX Studios Cologne. They're shooting their music videos with the Sony XDCAM HD and RED cameras. Its listed as 35mm on HD but I think it's shot on a high end XDcam. DHX is a small German studio doing music videos for Zooland and AATW. Zooland however, has only uploaded a few music videos to Youtube HD even though they're filmed in HD.
rendezvous65 @ Jul 16th 2009 1:20PM
I forgot to mention that some DHX studios vids were shot on Sony HDCAM. Some of the newer videos were shot on a Canon EOS 5D MK II.