Freeview, poor quality on ITV1...

N

neily

Guest
... I have noticed that the quality of picture on some ITV1 programs is poor. For example "Popstars", but on say their News program it is much better. Is everyone having this problem. Who can we complain to?
 
I'm afraid this is normal with ITV across all the digital platforms and is down to a lower bit-rate that they use,compared to some of the others.

Generally with programmes like Pop Stars on ITV or even Top Of The Pops on the BBC,the current bit-rates that they both use are not high enough to hide the blocking you get with the studio lighting used in these shows.

You could try either using an RGB output to your TV,or turning down the sharpness on your TV,as this helps hide the blocking/pixelation.
 
I noticed this over the weekend, both on freeview and via sky (via rgb).

It is totally unacceptable that pictures of this quality are broadcast, and I wonder if there is anyway the TV companies can be challenged on their picture quality, under something like, in Skys case, "not of merchantable quality"?

Keep meaning to email ITV and the other companies about their low bitrates.

Shall we start an action group to protest to the TV companies?

Matthew
 
And just what are ITV supposed to do about it? there isn't room for a higher bitrate, the only way they could do it is if they dropped a channel. Also, the ITC might mandate the use of 16QAM in January to make the signal more robust, in which case they would even have less room for data, possibly forcing them to rent space of another mux.
 
Well this might sound stupid but since there is talk of 30 DTT channels + 11 radiio stations surely there must be bandwidth available for ITV to transmit the best quality images. What is the betting that of the 30 channels 20 will be *rap? So why not ensure that the 10 good ones have the best available picture?

Since ITV originally set-up the whole digital thing via an ariel why didn't they ensure they always had the best quality?
 
Having just bought a Sony 100Hz TV I would also like comment on the poor quality of digital signals, lots of artifacts on moving objects on some channels on both Sky and Telewest. Have posted on several other threads regarding this! I was thinking about going down the terestrial digital route, now I'm totally confused!
 
Originally posted by petefletch
Having just bought a Sony 100Hz TV I would also like comment on the poor quality of digital signals, lots of artifacts on moving objects on some channels on both Sky and Telewest. Have posted on several other threads regarding this! I was thinking about going down the terestrial digital route, now I'm totally confused!


There is an inbuilt weakness with the mpegII compression used on ALL digtial TV in the UK. The settings/values used to compress a picture are variable and a broadcaster/channel can SAVE MONEY by selecting a high compression rate which means they use less bandwidth.
On DTT that means more channels/more income.
On Sat that means cheaper transponder rental.

I think the government and regulator missed an ideal oppertunity to set the standards for digital TV in the UK which could have forced the traditional terrestrial channels to broadcast simply the best picture/sound quality DTT channels in the world.
This at the very least would have pressured Cable and Satellite channels to follow suit.

Modern 100Hz TV's with oddles of digital picture enhancments can magnify/highlight any digital artifacts which you wouldn't see on a basic 50hz TV set.
Until we get the regulator enforcing some sort or picture quality control similar to what the analogue signals have to comply with on on terrestrial broadcasts nothing is going to change on the digital front.
With SKY it's slightly different, every channel can buy/rent it's own capacity from the satellite owners (SES, Eutelsat) and this means that you can have channels that look poor and others very good.
SHREK on Premier w/s with DD5.1 sound last Saturday was stunning on my TV.
 
Have just taken delivery of an Sony NX200. DVB's are slightly sharper than Sky but that could be due to having an average quality scart from the Sky box. Digital artefacts are about the same unfortunately. More annoying is the out of focus teletext on the left hand side of the screen. JL getting a call on Friday!
 
My parents have an original ON Digital box and a W/S TV when I go round and they have a program that I know to be in W/S I ask they why not watch it through the box in W/S but every time ITV is on it breaks up. I also went to a mates house this morning and he has a freeview box that is on a different transmitter and his picture was breaking up on ITV.
So if the government switch the analogue signal off, there will be a lot of people with an ITV station they cannot watch without faults (is this progress?).
 
Originally posted by Garrett

So if the government switch the analogue signal off, there will be a lot of people with an ITV station they cannot watch without faults (is this progress?).


When the terrestrial analogue is turned off it will free up HUGE amounts of capacity. This would allow more transmitters to be used to rely the signals to the the whole population (well as much as analogue ever did) and without the need to protect analogue the DTT signal strength can be increased to vastly improve recepetion and coverage.

The whole problem with DTT is that it was launched and relaunched without any concrete timetable or procedure to replace analogue terrestrial.
The phrase "Couldn't organise a p***up in a brewery" springs to mind.
:(


Now the Germans are launching a DTT platform in Berlin only with the analogue shut down in the city within 6 months. Hardware is on sale now and can also be rented with deals for low income households.
Prove it works then expand it nationally with the intent of covering the whole of the nation by 2010. A logical, methodical and efficent process:)
 
Originally posted by Garrett
My parents have an original ON Digital box and a W/S TV when I go round and they have a program that I know to be in W/S I ask they why not watch it through the box in W/S but every time ITV is on it breaks up. I also went to a mates house this morning and he has a freeview box that is on a different transmitter and his picture was breaking up on ITV.
So if the government switch the analogue signal off, there will be a lot of people with an ITV station they cannot watch without faults (is this progress?).

Do you live near the transmitter?

It really could be well worth it to get a new digital aerial put up.
 
Originally posted by Wayne Moule
Do you live near the transmitter?

It really could be well worth it to get a new digital aerial put up.
My parents live quite near the transmitter and it can bee seen from there house(clear line of site as well), also they have a new digital aerial.
 
Agree with Squirrel God - what are you watching on ITV? It's about 2 years since I saw anything listed that looked like it'd be worth watching. Gets about as much viewing in our house as Hallmark.:clown:
 
Originally posted by Squirrel God
Yes ITV is often worse. But wait til those adverts come on - then it's superb quality.

Never watch ITV much anyway, so not bothered :)

BBC1 showed Out of Sight the other night and it was near DVD quality. More of that please Auntie Beeb!!
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59396

A cracking original source will result in a more often than not a cracking end pic.

Could this be why the adverts are so excellent?
 
Originally posted by Wayne Moule
A cracking original source will result in a more often than not a cracking end pic.

Could this be why the adverts are so excellent?
I suspect it's primarily because the advertisers pay.
 

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