Digital (Freeview) vs Analogue quality

[Roger]

Hi everyone.

I’m new to DTT and have just bought a Daewoo DS608P box. It was either this or the Labgear as I wanted a box which used Setpal after reading generally good reviews/experiences.

So far very pleased with the easy set up and quality of this box.

Talking generally about analogue verses digital.
Does everyone find that digital is always better than analogue?

When comparing the main analogue channels to their digital output, although the digital picture is better overall some analogue pictures appear to show more detail (e.g faces and skin tones) but usually along with unwanted ‘extras’ such as ghosting and fuzzy text.

Text on digital is much better than analogue so picture-wise digital wins.

Turning to sound.
Although digital is fine for most of the time to my ears it is not as good as Nicam Stereo.
For example Nicam sounds more open and general background sounds (drama, films etc) can be clearly heard and provide extra atmosphere (near CD quality?) whereas Digital sounds rather flat and one-dimensional (MP3 quality ?).

Also from what I have heard so far the frequency range with Digital is not as wide as Nicam.

So sound-wise Nicam Stereo wins.

I have tried viewing Digital and listening to Nicam (best of both worlds) but Digital has around a two second delay so is out of sync with analogue.

I should mention that I use a Yamaha DSP-A5 AV Amp with Yamaha NS-1000M stereo speakers and Yamaha NS-C150 centre speaker. On the rear channels I use medium sized Acoustic Research speakers.

Does anyone agree with my initial impressions?

If you are technical, I would be very interested to hear your comments

Roger

[Kevo]

This is an old chestnut

Although digital picture quality CAN be better than anlogue, on the whole it isn't.

Given a good signal, analogue will always be better. (pic and sound)

But the annoying thing is we all know digital can be better as DVD has proven.

Personally I am NOT looking forward to the so called 'analogue switch off'....it will be missed

[lynx]

I have literally 'line of site' of the transmitter ( it's around 4 miles as the crow flies ) therefore my analogue presentation is superb.Freeview on the otherhand is not so good, with washed out skin tones, iffy sound etc.Staying with the digital medium $ly via an rgb signal is on a par with my analogue reception.

The digital audio sound has a hateful tizzyness in the top end although the lows are incredibly lush and defined. I think the midrange has lost most of its focus but with oxygen-free wire to the mids there was an absence of a sweet midrange colouration and the transients increased at the expense of midrange texture and air.

With RGB selected I detected a smoother more natural sound with more realistic harmonics. The bass is slightly loose and emphasised with a bright and pure treble imparting a nice plumminess to the sound. Of course I've only had the system a year and the ears need time to adjust to any system or setup but I thought I detected a whiteness during intertransient silences with lots of air around instruments.

On MTV I found lovely, spacious, coherent music. The deep fundamentals leave you gasping for breath but a little less musical down low and up high and an occasional honk on a horn during guitar solos. Of course most of the music is RAP with a capital "C".

On the other hand, the pictures are rubbish.

[MartinImber]

I find with widescreen analogue is unwatchable, anamorphic DTTV is much better especially with Sony tuner

Well you learn every day!

RGB gives a smoother more natural sound...

I'll watch out too for the whiteness of the intertransient silences.

Is it April 1st yet?

Originally posted by jim.rae
Well you learn every day!

RGB gives a smoother more natural sound...
I'll watch out too for the whiteness of the intertransient silences.

I thought you'd pick up on that much sooner!
I got that gem from the SatCure "Audiophile" pages.
http://www.satcure-focus.com

Is it April 1st yet?

Nope but I hope you've bought those flowers for Valentine's day!

Valentines Day was fine..

I just asked my partner if she would take part in the deep fundamentals, which left her gasping for breath.

Mind you, they usually do...