BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Nov 5, 12:34*am, "j r powell" wrote:
The above post contains no mention of lossy compression and low bitrates,

Why should it? The OP was reporting that the quality was about twice
as good. That's what one would expect if degradation from the lossy
compression on HD was no greater (relatively speaking) than that on
SD, and therefore not an issue. If the OP had said the quality was
significantly *worse* than twice as good as SD then maybe those
factors would have been relevant, but he didn't.

Richard is behaving like a typical BBC employee here

I'm not a BBC employee.

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:46:52 -0000, Roderick Stewart
wrote:


Since HD only has about twice the resolution of SD, what would you
expect? The cameras in most mobile phones these days can manage more.

I'd expect it to be as good as the BBC HD channel on new content which
it clearly isn't.

BBC news in the studio, which I would expect to be good is fuzzy
compared with studio stuff on the HD channel.

I can only conclude that they have degraded the HD stuff so that the
transition between HD and upscaled SD is not so jarring
--
Geoff Berrow (Put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs www.4theweb.co.uk/rfdmaker

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:26:25 +0000, Geoff Berrow
wrote:

I can only conclude that they have degraded the HD stuff so that the
transition between HD and upscaled SD is not so jarring

As I keep posting, since August 2009 when the HD bit rate was reduced.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

"Geoff Berrow" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:46:52 -0000, Roderick Stewart
wrote:


Since HD only has about twice the resolution of SD, what would you
expect? The cameras in most mobile phones these days can manage more.

I'd expect it to be as good as the BBC HD channel on new content which
it clearly isn't.

BBC news in the studio, which I would expect to be good is fuzzy
compared with studio stuff on the HD channel.

I can only conclude that they have degraded the HD stuff so that the
transition between HD and upscaled SD is not so jarring

Reminded my wife to select 108 and not 101 for BBC1 and watch with better
pictures, "but why they are no better"
So BBC there is one ordinary viewer you have lost for HD bet there are many,
many more.
Regards
David

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Nov 5, 9:26*am, Geoff Berrow wrote:
I can only conclude that they have degraded the HD stuff so that the
transition between HD and upscaled SD is not so jarring

Are you saying that HD material (as opposed to upscaled SD) on BBC1 HD
is of a significantly lower quality than the same material on the BBC
HD channel? If so, I agree that is surprising and I wouldn't have
expected it to be intentional.

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

Alan Whit wrote:


As I keep posting, since August 2009 when the HD bit rate was reduced.

But the Beeb say they improved the quality of the codec at the same
time, which meant the perceived quality was the same.

I didn't have HD back then, so I can't judge.

SteveT

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Fri, 5 Nov 2010 03:14:43 -0700 (PDT), Richard Russell
wrote:

On Nov 5, 9:26*am, Geoff Berrow wrote:
I can only conclude that they have degraded the HD stuff so that the
transition between HD and upscaled SD is not so jarring

Are you saying that HD material (as opposed to upscaled SD) on BBC1 HD
is of a significantly lower quality than the same material on the BBC
HD channel? If so, I agree that is surprising and I wouldn't have
expected it to be intentional.

I've not had chance to make a direct comparison.

I'm saying that Autumnwatch Unsprung, which is shot with a few of
redheads in a makeshift studio and hand held cameras is significantly
better than the studio shots on the flagship BBC News programme which
one might reasonably expect to be shot in HD.

The difference between SD and HD is marked for most programmes.
(Antiques roadshow in particular). Not so SD BBC1 and BBC1 HD.
--
Geoff Berrow (Put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs www.4theweb.co.uk/rfdmaker

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:32:48 +0000, Alan
wrote:

On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:26:25 +0000, Geoff Berrow
wrote:

I can only conclude that they have degraded the HD stuff so that the
transition between HD and upscaled SD is not so jarring

As I keep posting, since August 2009 when the HD bit rate was reduced.

Yes. I never expected it to be worse still for BBC1 HD. As someone
else said the improvement is very slight and probably not even
noticeable on lower end equipment.


--
Geoff Berrow (Put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs www.4theweb.co.uk/rfdmaker

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:35:16 GMT, Steve Thackery
wrote:

But the Beeb say they improved the quality of the codec at the same
time, which meant the perceived quality was the same.

The new codec made little difference. They also introduced variable bit
rate, as a great innovation, but set the average bit rate at the
post-August 2009 level so that didn't do much either.

The 1440/1920 pixel setting also fails the EBU standard test for HD.

I didn't have HD back then, so I can't judge.

Pre August 2009 the quality was absolutely stunning. Post August 2009
it's just a bit better than SD.

The sad thing is that BBC HD is available in Sweden(?) in full bit rate
1920 x 1080 so they are better off in terms of picture quality than we
are.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather

BBC 1 HD Picture Quality - Any views?
 

On Nov 5, 10:40*am, Geoff Berrow wrote:
I'm saying that Autumnwatch Unsprung, which is shot with a few of
redheads in a makeshift studio and hand held cameras is significantly
better than the studio shots on the flagship BBC News programme which
one might reasonably expect to be shot in HD.

Reasonably expect? I would have expected news to be one of the last
programmes to go HD, because although the studio shots could be HD,
almost none of the actual 'news' material will be. If you're
concerned about an offputting contrast when switching between HD and
SD sources, then news should remain SD! After all, news has a special
dispensation to use video sources of a far lower quality than would
normally be acceptable (e.g. video over IP).

The difference between SD and HD is marked for most programmes.
(Antiques roadshow in particular). Not so SD BBC1 and BBC1 HD.

I strongly suspect you're comparing SD with upconverted SD. Check
again when BBC1 HD is really in HD!

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/