Freeview picture resolution

[tonyselon]

Does anyone know if the resolution on Freeview channels has been lowered to make way for the plethora of new channels we are now getting? I understood that due to the limited bandwidth there was a limit on how many TV channels Freeview could support which is why the big analogue switch off is starting later this year. I say this because after the latest addition, Channel 4 +1 some of the existing channels are now displaying pixellation or artefacts . I haven't changed my gear, still same CRT TV and excellent Sony freeview box , so I suspect something underhand is going on. Anyone with LCD or Plasma screens wont notice this drop in picture quality if they're watching standard definition sources because those sets display inferior picture to standard CRT anyway.
Is there a standard for " standard definition pictures" broadcast via Freeview???

TonyP

 

[Chris Muriel]

I suspect you are referring to the amount of compression rather than resolution.
This varies both channel to channel and instantaneously depending on what the statistical multiplexing algorithm decides to allocate on a per channel basis within a mux.
A Freeview/DVB tuner card or supported USB tuner used with TSReader can look at all the bitrates and analyse things.
www.coolstf.com/tsreader

Chris Muriel, Manchester

 

[jason1wood]

Anyone with LCD or Plasma screens wont notice this drop in picture quality if they're watching standard definition sources because those sets display inferior picture to standard CRT anyway.

TonyP

some may do but now the technology is advancing so quick, you'll find some plasma TVs have a better picture than CRT.

 

[Gazkicka54]

Just gone back to Freeview, and I feel the picture is not what it used to be.

C4 and C5 aren't the benchmarks they were, C4+1 is broadcast at a lower resolution of 528x576 as opposed to 702x576 for C4.

There's simply too many channels jostling for bandwidth - think we're going backwards with quality now!

 

[Geofbob]

Hasn't Channel 4 + 1 simply taken the place of Film 4 + 1? (If not, I should be grateful if someone would say which Freeview channel Film 4 + 1 is now on.)

 

[SeanT]

Anyone with LCD or Plasma screens wont notice this drop in picture quality if they're watching standard definition sources because those sets display inferior picture to standard CRT anyway.

Any other unqualified mudslinging in the direction of 21st century television hardware? You'll be advocating RPTVs next!

 

[LV426]

Mod Comment Not yet another panel vs. CRT (or anything else similar) argument, please. This is about Freeview compression & resolution. Thanks.

 

[Hal_loe]

Just gone back to Freeview, and I feel the picture is not what it used to be.

C4 and C5 aren't the benchmarks they were, C4+1 is broadcast at a lower resolution of 528x576 as opposed to 702x576 for C4.

I think that should be 544x576 rather than 528x576.

Resolutions used are 544x576, 702x576 and 720x576.

I don't think C5 was ever that good personally, but better than analogue mind you.

There's simply too many channels jostling for bandwidth - think we're going backwards with quality now!

I agree it wasn't good bitrate on some channels when it started as OnDigital, it is even worse now it is all about quantity of channels rather than quality.

That said, some of the channels are better on DTT than on DSAT (not including the HD channels)...

 

[noisecrime]

I noticed something similar with C4 yesterday, not sure whats going on as I had to 'repair' my downlead cable (long story posted elsewhere). Although its hard to remember what the quailty of C4 was before and its only due to having an amplifier in my new Toshiba LCD that i can actually recieve ITV, C4 and C5 (and there offshoots) now.

But after fixing the cable, I started flipping through channels, BBC1 BBC2 and C5 all looked pretty good, ITV not great, but C4 is absolutely awful. Even on almost static screens it has serve compression artifacts, looking very blocky. There is no breakup though, the signal strength appears ok, so i'm at a lost to explain why. It looks as though the bandwidth was halved or something, its that extreme, Film4 doesn't appear to be as good as it was either.

Guess it could just be coincidence so i'll keep monitoring it when I can. I was wondering whether going for a whole new wideband aerial install would improve matters, but being a digital signal i'm doubtful.