why is the picture blotchy?

riccojames

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The BBC news channnel for example does seem blotchy to me.

Does anyone else get this or should I be calling out the engineers to check this?

:thumbsdow
 
Since moving to VM last week I've noticed that with an LCD TV in particular, the picture is far worse and far more pixelated than what I was getting with SKY. Some scenes such as a camera tracking quickly along a road look absolutely terrible. As you say BBC is rather bad. Setanta Sports is pretty bad too. Picture quality during the Man Utd game last weekend was nothing short of dreadful tbh.

In the other rooms where we still have CRT TVs I can't really complain about the picture quality to be honest with you, its worse than sky, but its still a good picture. It seems that VM picture quality enhances how badly a typical LCD screen outputs standard def broadcasts. With Sky, SD stuff looked great even on my LCD TV...VM doesn't. I'm not an expert but I'd say they need to boost the picture bit-rate. However the BBC HD preview channel looks stunning on a HDTV, I must admit.
 
There are two problems causing the picture quality issues.

First, channels like BBC News 24 are compressed too much, and look crap. Posher channels like BBC1 and C4 don't compress so much, and the picture quality is better. Incidentally, the same compressed picture is used on all digital platforms: Freeview, cable and Sky, so no platform is better than any other in that respect.

The other issue is the STB. Most Virgin ones, especially the old Pace ones, are crap with very poor picture quality. If you have a Pace box, complain and ask for a newer Samsung one.
 
There are two problems causing the picture quality issues.

First, channels like BBC News 24 are compressed too much, and look crap. Posher channels like BBC1 and C4 don't compress so much, and the picture quality is better. Incidentally, the same compressed picture is used on all digital platforms: Freeview, cable and Sky, so no platform is better than any other in that respect.

The other issue is the STB. Most Virgin ones, especially the old Pace ones, are crap with very poor picture quality. If you have a Pace box, complain and ask for a newer Samsung one.

Some channels do broadcast at different resolutions / bit-rates on dvb-t vs dvb-s (usually better for dvb-s). Not sure how dvb-c rates.
Is there a comparison chart somewhere?
 
I have to agree, had installation a few days ago after reading V + is far far better than Sky at sd, I have changed from just a standard Sky box and it is very poor pq blocky on a lot of channels.
 
Blotchy and full of snow all over the screen. Colours look as though they are limited as there are clear gradients all over the screen.

Its awful and I wish I had kept my old telly and old Virgin box.
 
Blotchy and full of snow all over the screen. Colours look as though they are limited as there are clear gradients all over the screen.

Its awful and I wish I had kept my old telly and old Virgin box.

Could you remind me how big your tele is and how close you're sitting to the screen?
 
I have v+ box and SD PQ on my lcd tv is superb. Sometimes I have to remind myself I'm not watching an HD picture. Too many times the poor old tv is blamed for poor pq when often, as mentioned by other posters, the problem lies with the programme source.
 
I have v+ box and SD PQ on my lcd tv is superb. Sometimes I have to remind myself I'm not watching an HD picture. Too many times the poor old tv is blamed for poor pq when often, as mentioned by other posters, the problem lies with the programme source.

SD looks superb on my plasma also. The people who are not getting a good picture should ring VM and complain if they were getting a better sd picture quality on SKY.
 
I've got three V+ boxes and the picture quality on them all is excellent, maybe some ppl are just unlucky....:cool:
 
Only just had my V+ box installed but the picture quality is absolutely atrocious! Hopefully it is something I can sort out by fiddling with the picture settings on my TV (40" LCD). My previous crappy old Pace cable box gave very acceptable quality through SCART so why on earth should HDMI be so utterly appalling? It's got me stumped, that's for sure.
 
Went home last night and, in true techie style, turned off the V+ box then back on again. That seemed to solve the problem as picture quality on the premium channels, at least, is now very good - much improved from my previous cable box.

Phew, what a relief. :clap:
 
I Have a V+ box connected to a 37" LCD via HDMI, sd picture quality is pretty damn good, hd pic quality is superb, but on occasion I do get what looks like 'snow' on my hd pic, anyone know what this could be? I did invest in a good HDMI cable but I've been told that shouldnt matter as its a digital signal and not an analogue one :)
 
I Have a V+ box connected to a 37" LCD via HDMI, sd picture quality is pretty damn good, hd pic quality is superb, but on occasion I do get what looks like 'snow' on my hd pic, anyone know what this could be? I did invest in a good HDMI cable but I've been told that shouldnt matter as its a digital signal and not an analogue one :)

The quality of the cable can make a difference. Even though it's a digital signal if the cable is not shielded it could be susceptible to interference from other cables, other appliances or the mains and affect the picture.

When buying my Home Cinema system 18 months ago I was advised to spend a 10th of the total cost of it all on the cables and wiring so I did that and spent about £200 on decent cables and power supply filters to make sure nothing interferes with my picture quality.

And nothing does.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Picture quality is utterly cr@p to date. I am not paying for this anymore.

What can I do about paying for a service I think is less a quality than I had previously on the standard VM box? I think its absurd that I should pay for a poorer quality picture!!!

:lesson::thumbsdow
 
whats the bestsetting got a 1080p lcd got it set to 1080p sure high def looks good but like say i watch shameless on demand any thing moving fast just goes pixelcrapstic
 
First time poster but long time lurker. :hiya:

I was so excited to get my new Samsung LE40M86 today - when I connected it to my Virgin Media Pace STB I was utterly disappointed by the quality of the picture. :(

I used the settings posted here to get the best quality picture but the shadows, colour and motion blur is atrocious. I want to plug in our old Sony CRT as it was much better.

Does it make a difference to have the power cables in a cable tidy with the signal cables or could it be related to cable impedance in the coaxial?

Thanks in advance.
 
I had V+ installed on Saturday - HD pic is great :smashin: SD pic is poor :thumbsdow

I don't think it has anything to do with cables - the HD picture is equally stunning and the SD picture is equally dreadfull whether using virgins' freebie hdmi cable or a quality hdmi cable.

The SD picture from my SKY digi box connected via scart displays a wider color gamut and altogether better (though not brilliant) picture than V+ over hdmi which is probably on par with my freeview picture via a set-top aerial :mad:

If anyone knows how to improve V+ SD quality - spill the beans :lease:
 

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