More than 200 hours of televised Olympics coverage daily, live video streaming and results on the Internet, and even a live block party in Chinatown for the opening ceremony will give Hawai'i fans unprecedented opportunities to view the 2008 Games in Beijing.

NBC Universal, which paid a record $894 million for the U.S. broadcast rights to the Olympics, plans 17 days of coverage with more than 3,600 eye-reddening hours of events, ranging from tape-delayed prime-time programming on NBC affiliate KHNL to eight cable channels and live streaming and results at NBCOlympics.com.

"I know some people love the Internet, but nothing beats seeing the event unfold in front of you," said John Fink, KHNL general manager. "This is the real reality TV, not something contrived. You've got athletes who've worked their whole lives for a shot at a gold medal, then they pull up with a leg cramp or pull off an upset. That's what the prime-time coverage offers. You've got so many great story lines with local athletes, swimmer Michael Phelps, gymnastics ... it's just great stuff. It's 17 days of No. 1 programming."

Oceanic Time Warner Cable has even set up a block of special high-definition channels to make it easier to find all that coverage, including a six-in-one viewing channel called Olympic Mosaic.

More coverage was added yesterday, when Oceanic unveiled plans to provide NBC Universal's coverage at no extra cost to Oceanic Interactive digital cable subscribers.

Olympics coverage runs through Aug. 30.

Interest in the Olympics is so high that organizers of a Chinatown block party to mark the auspicious date Aug. 8, 2008 (eighth month, eighth day in the eighth year of the millennium), decided to add a 16- by 20-foot television screen at the corner of Smith and Hotel streets to broadcast the opening ceremony.

Block party organizer Marsha Joyner said she started to worry that people wouldn't show up in Chinatown for the 8-08-08 celebration because they would be watching the Olympics at home.

"We decided then that we were going to showcase the Olympics and make the opening ceremonies a big part of the celebration," Joyner said.

The block party will close Hotel Street from Smith to Bethel streets from 6 to 10 p.m., with festivities starting throughout Chinatown in the morning.

"There is no bigger day in Chinese lore than 8-08-08," said Phoung Tran, owner of The Art Treasures in Chinatown. "Our Chinese calendar and culture is based on eights. It is very important. On this day, you write down a wish and then burn it. The smoke will take it to the heavens and it will be granted. Many, many people get married on this day. When they gave the 2008 Olympics to China, they knew. To have the opening ceremonies at 8:08 on 8-08-08, that is very good."

Tran will be among the hundreds expected at the block party, but he won't stay long. Lion dances will be performed for shop owners and he said he won't miss the chance for the blessing.

The opening ceremony is sure to provide colorful images but some fans who have recently bought high-end televisions might be disappointed.

A recent Oceanic study found that more than 50,000 cable subscribers with high-definition television sets in Hawai'i don't have the additional high-definition service, which requires paying an extra fee.

Without the service, those viewers will not get the HD channels, said Oceanic's vice president of marketing, Alan Pollock.

"We're running into a problem now that a lot of people have HD televisions, but not HD service," Pollock said. "They don't understand you need both or you're not going to notice the real difference or get all the channels. With a high-def package you can see the hair on people in the crowds."

Oceanic has 412,000 cable subscribers. Of those, 57,000 have HD-DVR boxes, 35,000 have HD boxes and an additional 50,000 have HD televisions, but no HD box.

"Digital boxes aren't the same as high-def boxes," he said. "It still looks better than analog, but it's not nearly as sharp."

Upgrading to HD service is an additional $6.95 a month. HD boxes can be found at Oceanic service outlets.

Pollock believes the Olympics, like the Super Bowl, is a big enough event to bring people in to make the high-definition upgrade.

"It always happens with a big sports event," Pollock said. "Once the event is over, people don't want to go back."

The Olympics are big enough to change a lot of things.

For those who haven't upgraded their TVs or taken to the online world, take heart: Analog viewers will still see the biggest happenings, though they will be tape-delayed on KHNL because of the time difference between here and China.