BBC HD

There's also a fair amount of stuff from BBC Three and Four shown on the BBC HD Channel which wouldn't necessarily get an HD airing if BBC HD was replaced with HD simulcasts of BBC One and Two.

Incidentally, there seems to have been little mention on here of the controversial change of encoders and drop in bitrate of the BBC HD channel which happened a few months ago and generated hundreds of rabid posts on the BBC HD blog and Digital Spy. I'd be interested to know the thoughts of some of the members here whose opinion I respect rather more.

Personally, if I'm honest, I've not noticed a difference. I'm not sure though if that's because my TV is only a 37 inch. Perhaps on a larger screen, any flaws would be more evident. However, comparing closely the recent Winter Olympics coverage with Eurosport HD, I'd have said BBC HD actually looked marginally better if anything.

http://www.metropol247.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5881



I like the way you think

But yes, there's a thread over the road about it.

IMHO native interlaced 50i stuff (like Strictly) now looks a lot better with the new encoder, even with the lower bitrate. There might be a slight "softness" to some 25p content - but it's minor IMO.

I was amazed at the rabid posts from people saying BBC HD is now no better than an SD DVD etc. I kept thinking we can't be watching the same broadcasts...

I just hope that viewers of Freeview HD aren't being offered a superior product that the platform can't sustain. Currently only two services are being transmitted dynamically in a space that will by this time next year have four channels occupying it. As I stated on one of the infamous blogs, perhaps, loading services should be offered until the third CH4/S4C service and fourth Channel Five one starts.

I haven't been able to look at the bitrates of the contents of the DVB-T2 mux, but I wouldn't be surprised if they currently statmuxed BBC HD and ITV1 HD within just 1/2 or 2/3 the mux bandwith with the rest of the space packed with null packets to avoid just that issue. That way the picture quality doesn't change when C4 HD and possible Five HD launches.

Hope that's happening, can anyone confirm or contradict Noggin's view?

Could it be that other channels are artificially 'sharpening' their HD broadcasts, making BBC HD look softer in comparison? When I compared the BBC HD and Eurosport HD coverage of the Australian Open, the graphics (provided by the host broadcaster and shown on both) on Eurosport had a slight 'halo' effect around them - rather like the effect you get when you turn the sharpness setting right up on your TV.

It was also interesting to note that the Which? magazine asked a panel of viewers to compare BBC HD recorded from before and after the bitrate/encoder change, and no-one could identify any difference.

I stopped reading the complaints when it became clear they all believed there picture quality on cable had decreased at the same time, despite the BBC's statements that Virgin are responsible for encoding on their service, and they hadn't changed their encoders.

There were some picture quality issues (such as the encoders not being able to cope with dissolves and fades), but the main reaction just seems to be based on the bit rate is lower than they think is acceptable regardless of the picture quality. The Internet Blog even showed them evidence that the new encoders were capable of transmitting more detail than the old encoders, but the mob just decreed this as being noise introduced by the encoders which should be filtered out.



But that was obviously a paid for advert by the BBC with the aim of hiding the truth. They know they're transmitting an HD service at a lower bitrate than the EBU recommended as a minimum in 2004, so anyone who says they look the same must be being paid off.

Freeview HD has basically put a stop to that. If they'd taken the sensible option and made Freesat the HD option for free to air TV I'm sure BBC HD2 would be on the cards sooner rather than later.

In other unrelated HD news, E4 HD and Film4 HD are to launch with Virgin Media. Not sure if Film4 HD is set to join Sky too - no mention of it but I'm sure it will sooner or later. Is C4 HD available on Freesat?

Beijing 2008 Eurosport looked noticably better than BBC HD (when BBC HD was using older encoders), but for Vancouver I don't think there was much in it - even though Eurosport has a higher bitrate and is 1920x1080 vs BBC HD's 1440x1080.

What was noticable was how awful Eurosport's commentary audio quality was - sounded like a low-bandwith circuit...

There is some over-sharpening going on on some HD broadcasts. Some of the crowd shots at some of the Vancouver venues were noticably over-detail enhanced. Lambing Live on BBC HD last night had appalling levels of detail wound in (it looked horrible...) on the live OB pictures - probably the worst quality pictures I've ever seen on BBC HD.

However most BBC HD productions have a very neutral and clean look without heaps of detail wound in. As someone with experience evaluating broadcast pictures I can spot detail enhancement vs real detail - and filtering both ways.

I don't really get that though. It's like saying digital television is the way to go if you want colour - analogue will just provide black and white. In a few years, that would seem ridiculous, just as in a few years, your proposition for Freeview being SD-only will seem strange when HD becomes the norm (I imagine).