Broadcasting & Cable reports that CBS will flip the switch of the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” in HD July 28.

The broadcast’s set was HD ready and the show’s graphics package will be presented in HD as well.

It’s also interesting to note that the lease for the studio space used by “The Early Show” is apparently up for renewal sometime next year — keep in mind that CBS just installed a new set in the General Motors building windowed studio.

MSNBC was using a different location for Weather Plus updates at 30 Rock this afternoon. The network had moved away from using the Manhattan studios for weather updates on MSNBC, opting to use WeatherPlus headquarters at CNBC in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. instead.

When weather does originate from New York City, it is typically done from the balcony area, but today Jeff Raineri was reporting from the newsroom floor, with a handheld camera used. Raineri used the desktop computers to control his on-screen graphics as well.

By the way, the cable on the right side of the screen is a nice touch.

UPDATE: About thirty minutes later Raineri was back up on the balcony:

TVNewser posted an interesting screen shot from Bob Woodruff’s new show on Discovery Communication’s Planet Green network.

The show, “Focus Earth” uses what appears to be a virtual set with a free-floating wireframe globe and some more traditional scenic elements such as plasma screens.

NewscastStudio has posted some additional photos from WBNS-TV’s HD set in Columbus, Ohio.

Click here to see the photos.

Last night’s edition of “NBC Nightly News” saw a new use for the studio’s giant rear projection screen.

Anchor Brian Williams and correspondent Richard Engel were standing in front of the screen with a map of the Middle East on it. During the report, Engel and Williams pointed to various locations, with Engel holding a red-tipped pointer to reinforce his points (images after the jump).

Overall, it was an effective use of the screen, though the projected image did seem a bit washed out and Williams and Engel casted some distracting shadows on the screen — both common issues with using rear projection screens in this way.

One does wonder, however, why the virtual studio used for election coverage wasn’t used to create a 3D map for Williams and Engel to walk around.

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