no flickering here...working at TSN in Canada...also watching CBC and NBC no flickering either

I think some of the stuff you are seeing maybe is compression from directv or cable. Neither are known for giving a lot of bandwith for 'local channels' compared to maybe espn. Football has always been a little over compressed on local networks on directv (this is in regards to past viewing in SD). In HD I have not seen any issues at all, either at work (where I see the fiber lines from China in HD or at home via directv in HD). I think looking at it in SD and having issues involves way too many variables, affiliates and your service provider showing those affiliates. On Directv check out ch 750 and up. Bunch of HD channels including the basketball and soccer channels. Universal HD is mainly carrying MSNBC's feed but in HD (originating in HD, downconverted for MSNBC air). I was switching around the other day and in HD they all look pretty damn good. Directv has a cool interactive setup if you have one of their newer boxes hit the red button once you are in the 750's.

I've watched several of the beach volleyball games and have not noticed any issues other than the "standard" 1080i blocking on quick tight shots. Same as CBS NFL football blocking. I know you guys were talking SD, but the HD looks pretty darn good. My signal is via cable. If you sit back...it's still amazing to me that all this programming is coming from far far away and looks as good as it does. Scott S.

Yeah, I remember we only had a few venues in Athens in HD and that was a pain. It should be easier now, but there are still too many trucks/venues and combining all those feeds is a nightmare. I did hear some very crappy, stuttery audio that I attribute to the local affiliate, not sure.

The venues I saw flicker on were at the Beach Vollyball, Opening Cer., and Gymnastics. I saw this on my home set (Direct TV) & from the truck dmod (Direct TV) I was watching I mean errr working mlb on. The flicker was with fast panning motions and lots o' chroma. A friend of mine who was heavily involved in the IBC set up told me today (from China) that it is most likely the 50hz-60hz that is causing this. Also possibly the type of cam. cable used? Some are fiber & some triax. He also told me the cross converts there are a nightmare due to all the different trucks and formats. The main standard they are using is 1080i/50 if you didn't know, but I think you did...

So many variables can be causing a flickering. Personally I'm more sick of seeing the same camera sequence of shots from the director at the swimming venue.

No flickering on my trusy i'm-in-a-minority-not-a-flatscreen Sony in SD via Dish in Oakland. I know NBC's doing all the coverage in HD for the first time, but as I mentioned, I haven't seen a down-convert problem. Maybe the DC affiliate? Is it the same on all of the channels carrying coverage (USA, CNBC, MSNBC, etc.)?

I've watched mostly at work (I'm at an NBC station) where I have a monitor for SD and a monitor for HD right next to each other ... haven't noticed any flickering on either feed here.

Zipp, China is a 50hz country, so they are doing some cross converting to get us a 60hz feed. I haven't noticed any issues, I also have an SD set.