Freesat vs Freeview

[Max_Headroom]

Don't know what you're all moaning about. I receive freesat in Germany with a Humax Foxsat HD PVR being fed off an 85cm dish and I am very satisfied with my picture. It's a lot better than my mother's freeview reception in the south of England. I think that the foxsat does a good job of upscaling the sd broadcasts to my LCD TV. BBC HD and ITV HD, though rare, really give a good picture.

I read a Freesat vs Freeview thread earlier where people were saying that many of the channels on freeview are better quality than the same on freesat, the above post disagrees with them and mentions upscaling something i assume freeview boxes are incapable of, is the post correct in saying freesat picture quality is better than freevew ?

 

[Rodders_27]

I was under the impression that freesat SD was the same as freeview SD, if both had a good signal. Only the Freesat HD was better, obviously)

 

[Geofbob]

I bought a Bush Freesat box the other day, & have it connected to the same 32" Hitachi LCD TV as a Digihome Freeview PVR. After reading your post, I flicked back & forth between the two services on several channels - and frankly though there are some differences in colour intensity (which could be adjusted via the TV menu), I couldn't honestly say that one was better than the other.

 

[deathtrap3000]

Some channels are broadcast in better quality on sat then freeview and vice versa, mainly due to available bandwidth. Im waiting for a dual tuner system with both freeview and freesat tuners.

 

[Jefft]

The SD picture from my Bush HD Freesat box is noticeably better than the built in Freeview of my TV.

 

[Starburst]

Resolution and bitrates are variable across the board, STB and Tuner performance is variable, TV type and setup plus any additional scaling are all variables.

It's so difficult to say with any conviction one is always better than the other but from my experience DTT has had an edge when it comes to the output of the BBC, ITV and CH4 with only Five superior on Dsat.

 

[mbell]

Don't forget BBC HD on Freesat which is, of course, vastly superior to anything (currently) of Freeview.

 

[RobM]

Don't forget BBC HD on Freesat which is, of course, vastly superior to anything (currently) of Freeview.

You're not comparing like-for-like there though. When Freeview HD arrives you can then compared BBC HD on Freesat to BBC HD on Freeview, which is closer to the OP.

 

[mbell]

You're not comparing like-for-like there though. When Freeview HD arrives you can then compared BBC HD on Freesat to BBC HD on Freeview, which is closer to the OP.

Well, when that day comes you can make the comparison. The question was asked in the present tense.

 

[davemurgatroyd2]

Resolution and bitrates are variable across the board, STB and Tuner performance is variable, TV type and setup plus any additional scaling are all variables.

It's so difficult to say with any conviction one is always better than the other but from my experience DTT has had an edge when it comes to the output of the BBC, ITV and CH4 with only Five superior on Dsat.

It is also dependant on the region chosen for BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. There is a very wide variation between various regions on DSAT.

 

[Max_Headroom]

Thanks to all that have answered, the main point of the OP was to see if up-scaling meant the picture quality of freesat on the SD channels was better than that of freeview, one post here said he can flick between the two and the freesat is better so I guess that answers my question.

 

[Starburst]

Thanks to all that have answered, the main point of the OP was to see if up-scaling meant the picture quality of freesat on the SD channels was better than that of freeview, one post here said he can flick between the two and the freesat is better so I guess that answers my question.

Not really.

It would totally depend upon the quality of his chosen channels which as has been pointed out is variable especially on satellite and then the quality of the scaling either in the set top box or the HD telly itself.

There is no way to be sure without seeing them both in action in your own home tuned to the channels you want with the settings you prefer.

 

[Max_Headroom]

In that case as I already have a humax freeview PVR adding a freesat PVR will give me the best of both worlds.

 

[Starburst]

In that case as I already have a humax freeview PVR adding a freesat PVR will give me the best of both worlds.

Indeed, the HD will certainly make anything currently on Freeview look poor at least until your area gets the DTT HD broadcasts.