UKTV Goes Widescreen

Finally UKTV embraces the technology of widescreen ......some 11 years later!

They've fixed the filmising on 'Mock the Week' which is good. But is it me or is the quality of Gold and G2 really weak in general. Very soft.

I'm not sure about Dave (if that's what you mean by G2), but Gold does look soft, and always has done as it uses a the lowest resolution on Sky. Strangely, Gold +1 uses a slightly higher resolution, and therefore doesn't look as soft.

I have no problem with the picture quality of Dave on Freeview, it seems to be strong, but the MUX it's on is a strong one, so Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Three and E4 +1 are all the same quality.

Although on Virgin Media the quality of UKTV Gold leaves alot to be desired.

Sorry keep forgetting it's called Dave

Just to get technical regarding the picture quality, on Freeview, Dave uses the resolution 720x576, in other words the full TV resolution. Therefore, there is no softness to the picture. Last I checked, on Sky, both UKTV Gold and Dave were using a lower resoltuion, which when streched by the box to 720x576, results in a softer picture.

what do they use on virgin?

Yep - on Freeview I think the following is the case :

BBC Mux 1, NGW Mux C and NGW Mux D are all full 720x576 (or 704x576 which is the same spatial resolution but 16 samples narrower)

ITV/C4 Mux 2, SDN Mux A and BBC Mux B have a mix of 720/704x576 and 544x576 services.

(All "analogue terrestrial" services simulcast on Freeview have to be 720/704x576 under current Ofcom rules)

This means that you end up in the bizarre situation where the non-+1 channels of some services on Mux 2 or Mux A are 544x576, but the +1 variants carred on Mux C or Mux D are 720/704x576 - and thus the picture quality of the +1 version can be better than the original!

The BBC was entirely 720x576 on all outlets (apart from the 1/4 screen stuff) until they launched BBC Parliament full-screen in 544x576, and reduced the resolution of 301/302 BBCi video streams to 544x576 to help compensate.

Is there any reason why this isn't the case on DSat? The picture quality of ITV1 in particular is dreadful.

I know historically ITV wasn't on DSat at all at first (so arguably any picture's better than none), but with DSO looming and Freesat soon to be touted as an alternative to Freeview, shouldn't the same rules now apply to both platforms?

It's simply because D-Sat is not seen as a 'Public Service' broadcasting platform, so ITV (and 4/5) can do as they please on there.

DSat is not regulated in the same way as DTT in the UK. DTT is much more tightly regulated as the frequencies used are effectively provided by Ofcom, whereas ITV lease their satellite space directly from SES Astra (I believe)

DTT is effectively deemed a public resource, whilst DSat is a commercial deal between ITV and the satellite owners, and the ITC licence satellite broadcasts purely for content not for technical quality.

Also, as is the case for both BBC One and ITV1, DSat has to carry all the regions and sub-regions on about 5 transponders, compared to the one region on the one multiplex on DTT.