Don’t feel bad, I’ve got standard def too. Sometimes, bills are just more important than kick-ass TV.

Posted by Mike Chen on 05/05/08 at 03:11 PM ET

I haven’t seen a game in HD either, and I thought I was the only one!

Maybe we’re missing out, but I dunno.  I have yet to really say, “damn, what’s going on out there?”

Posted by Earl Sleek from Los Angeles, CA on 05/05/08 at 03:28 PM ET

I too haven’t seen a game in HD.

And I have no trouble seeing the puck on my little non-wall-sized television, either.

Sometimes, bills are just more important than kick-ass TV.

How true. 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 05/05/08 at 04:29 PM ET

I’m not alone!  Good to know. 

But I’m getting very tempted to join the trend… I just need to find some spare time to knock over a bank so I can afford to buy that kick-ass TV, plus pay for whatever madness it would add to my cable bill. 

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 05/05/08 at 04:30 PM ET

you don’t know what you’re missing. I can’t watch hockey on standard def anymore. once you’ve seen the glories of dvd, its like going back to vhs.

or like going black and then going back.

Posted by grey wall on 05/05/08 at 04:49 PM ET

Hockey in HD is incredible.  During the season, even if my favorite team is on Center Ice, it’s hard to watch that if I also have a Versus game on in HD.  The difference is painful.  (DirecTV subscribers Center Ice get most of those games in HD as well, where as people like me stuck on Comcast pay the same price for CI and get screwed...)

Posted by NHLJeff from Boston, MA on 05/05/08 at 05:12 PM ET

Funny, I’ve gone the opposite direction, canceling my cable last year and watching pretty much all my hockey coverage online, either live on HNIC or highlights the next day. Bad low-fi resolution...but I don’t mind.

Posted by Jeremy from Summerland, BC on 05/05/08 at 06:16 PM ET

If you watch a game in HD on a big screen, you won’t be able to go back. I still watch some games on my 13” tv just fine but if I watch on the 50” downstairs, SD just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Thankfully CBC HD comes with my regular cable packagage but I do have to add TSN and Sportsnet HD for an extra $4/month.  And yes, McGuire in hi-def is even more painful than standard def for some reason.

Posted by Shane from Saskatoon on 05/05/08 at 07:06 PM ET

Good point, Shane.
I can watch SD on a regular television, but on my 42” LCD it looks horrible compared to the HD games.

Posted by NHLJeff from Boston, MA on 05/05/08 at 07:36 PM ET

bills are just more important than kick-ass TV.

never mind the cable bill the cost of those TVs alone are still ridiculous.  I could drop 3 g’s on a nice tv that one of my kids would eventually ram their heads through or I could add at least one other motorcycle to my garage, or a few dozen of those composite hockey sticks which make me such an amazing player*

I suggest just watching games in Season Ticket Definition (STD).  It comes in chairs, is uncomfortably close to a fat guy eating nachos, and suggests 8.50 a beer is a competitive price.  But overall would cost you about the same.

*slightly exaggerated truth.

Posted by LOUiE from Cowtown on 05/06/08 at 10:01 AM ET

I guess it might be nice, but I used to watch my Red Wings on my black and white TV as a kid in the late 60’s.  I have 8 children and having “Center Ice” is about all I could afford for my hockey fix during the season.  For some strange reason though, all my children have become Red Wing fans even though we have been in Colorado 11 years. Something must be influencing them.

Posted by Jeff from Loveland, CO on 05/06/08 at 01:33 PM ET