Interesting television stories!
I am watching HOCKEY in HDTV!!
Thanks for the TAR info, DR MATTH. Will it look BETTER on the HD channel or just the same? So material must have been created in some HD format in order to be broadcast in HD? Kind of like why would something made in b/w be in color on a color television? Right?
I think all sports look superb in high def. I've watched things like baseball and boxing and hockey that wouldn't normally draw my attention, but in high def, it's like another dimension has been added. Really kind of hypnotic.
Now, to answer your question, no, programs shot in standard definition can be upconverted to high def. You'll see a lot of old LAW & ORDER episodes on TNT-HD that weren't originally shot lin HD ook almost as good as the more recent ones shot in HD.
Of course, since film has a higher resolution than high definition video, any film can be transferred into a high definition version in the transfer process. In fact, when you buy certain DVDs, you'll see the transfer referred to in the liner notes as a high definition transfer. This transfer is then down converted to standard definition DVDs so they can be read by all players, but it means there is a high definition master ready to be used to press high def DVDs when the demand arises.