[SBE] HD Pool Feeds

[Gibson Prichard]

In markets where some or all of the local TV stations have moved to HD 
newscasts, what are broadcasters doing about their pool feed equipment? 
In my market (Nashville), two of the stations are HD and the other two 
probably will be joining us soon, however, the lowest common denominator 
for pool feeds (courtrooms, funerals, etc) is still analog NTSC. We all 
have audio & video mult boxes that handle analog signals to give feeds 
to the other stations. As we all move toward HD, I can imagine wanting 
to migrate these pools to HD, but I haven't seen any ruggedized portable 
HD-SDI distribution amplifiers for pool situations. What are the other 
cities doing? How do you handle the 720p versus 1080i question - do you 
just DA it in whatever resolution the pool camera is and let the other 
stations deal with cross-converting it? Do you have embedded audio or do 
you leave audio separate, like we did with NTSC? Surely we can begin to 
abandon NTSC when all the parties deal with HD footage, can't we?

Thanks,
Gibson Prichard