HD Freeview trial "results"

[credding]

Interesting... But very little new information...!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6169632.stm

A trial of high-definition television (HDTV) on Freeview boxes was "a success", four major broadcasters say.

Participants were overwhelmingly positive about the trial, a report by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five added.

There is not usually enough bandwidth to watch HDTV via Freeview so 450 customised boxes had to be made.

HDTV broadcasts are already available to Sky and Telewest subscribers - via a set-top box - as space on the frequency spectrum is less of an issue.

The trial featured programmes from all four broadcasters, including the football World Cup, nature series Planet Earth and crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

When the participants were questioned about their experiences, all but 5% reported that the enhanced pictures were "as good as or better" than they hoped, the BBC spokeswoman said.

"As far as the process of getting a high-quality signal out to television sets, it's really gone remarkably well," she added.

[SamRadford]

So, what happens next? Well, possibly nothing unless you ask for it!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6169632.stm

[ucjtckc]

The trial results document is very interesting - see it at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/pdf/dtt_hdtrial.pdf

[ianh64]

Just read the document. Noticed a error in it that should have been picked up so may be draft.

Just to put this one to bed about HD coming soon:

This means that current capacity constraints
would not allow a substantial HD service to be
broadcast on the DTT platform unless a large
number of existing channels were removed from
it. While improvements in compression technology
and forthcoming mode changes may allow one, or
possibly two, HD channels to be squeezed onto
the platform at some point in the future, an
HD service of five channels, equivalent to that
available on analogue terrestrial – the kind of
minimum service expected by our trialists –
would not be possible.

As a trailist, I thought a number of comments were interesting on how difficult it was to judge quality in a real world environment. We all missed some of the changes made even though in the lab they were visible. I noticed a difference in 720p output at 1080i and native 1080i but when the box was reset to output at 720p, short os a blind A/B test I could not tell the diffence.

Good to see though that I was not alone in being unwilling to pay extra for a HD service. Even though I was in the trial at no cost, I choose my SD PVR over HD non recordable box 99% of the time - its just more conventient.

So, is the trial now officially over and am I now free to do what I wish with my HD box? www.smashmyFreeviewHDbox.com - just kidding.

[andykn]

Originally Posted by ianh64

Just read the document. Noticed a error in it that should have been picked up so may be draft.

Just to put this one to bed about HD coming soon:



As a trailist, I thought a number of comments were interesting on how difficult it was to judge quality in a real world environment. We all missed some of the changes made even though in the lab they were visible. I noticed a difference in 720p output at 1080i and native 1080i but when the box was reset to output at 720p, short os a blind A/B test I could not tell the diffence.

Good to see though that I was not alone in being unwilling to pay extra for a HD service. Even though I was in the trial at no cost, I choose my SD PVR over HD non recordable box 99% of the time - its just more conventient.

So, is the trial now officially over and am I now free to do what I wish with my HD box? www.smashmyFreeviewHDbox.com - just kidding.

I think I noticed they dropped the bitrate on one of the 720p tests, otherwise I didn't notice any difference between 720p and 1080i.

I think we've got one more month to go til end Dec.