ITV4 Tour de France

Perhaps the best way to complain aboutbthe quality of the picture is to complainto the advertisers who run their campaigns during the show, in this case the main sponsor/advertiser... Halfords.

Martin wrote:
: I've never watched ITV4 so I don't know about its quality. You could
: sample it when Le Tour is not on to check if it's always bad.

: One thing that is clear is that the problem is created by ITV4. Dutch
: and Belgian TV broadcast high quality images of the TdF.

As do EurosportHD on Sky (and Virgin) - totally stunning HD images!

Must try ITV4HD (only on Sky). Not watched TdF on that yet but it was VERY
good for Roland Garros tennis last month.

Peter Duncanson wrote:
On Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:23:33 +0100, bugbear
wrote:

Rob Gibson wrote:
ITV4 7pm Freeview:

How can they broadcast such an appalling picture? It's truly
dreadful. I've complained, but I know it won't make any
difference.

It is indeed the WORST quality image I have ever had the
misfortune
to sit through.

Is ITV4 always this bad, or is Le Tour especially degraded?

BugBear (not a regular ITV4 watcher)

I'm only an occasional ITV4 watcher. My guess has always been
that
ITV4 on Freeview uses a relatively low bit rate. It therefore
gives
adequate results on slowly-changing video and near-chaos on
rapidly-changing stuff like sports, particularly if the
background is
changing rapidly as well as competitors moving around.

That's my perception as well. What's gauling is that ITV seem to
be trying to position ITV4 as a sports station. Sigh...

--
Mark

MarkU wrote:
: That's my perception as well. What's gauling is that ITV seem to
: be trying to position ITV4 as a sports station. Sigh...

ITV4HD is generally excellent quality so it seems just to be SD which is the
problem!

Brian Mc wrote:
MarkU wrote:
: That's my perception as well. What's gauling is that ITV seem to
: be trying to position ITV4 as a sports station. Sigh...

ITV4HD is generally excellent quality so it seems just to be SD which is the
problem!

It's ITV 4 on Freeview that has been really awful. However, it didn't
seem so bad last night so perhaps they've been listening to complaints.

On 05/07/2012 13:31, John Legon wrote:
Brian Mc wrote:
MarkU wrote:
: That's my perception as well. What's gauling is that ITV seem to
: be trying to position ITV4 as a sports station. Sigh...

ITV4HD is generally excellent quality so it seems just to be SD which
is the
problem!

It's ITV 4 on Freeview that has been really awful. However, it didn't
seem so bad last night so perhaps they've been listening to complaints.

The SD is better on Freesat if you have that option. Currently

Freeview 1.5-1.7Mb 544x576
Freesat 3.7-4.2Mb 704x576

Seems to be about 1.5 - 2 x the bit rate most of the time

Chris K

Chris K wrote:
On 05/07/2012 13:31, John Legon wrote:
Brian Mc wrote:
MarkU wrote:
: That's my perception as well. What's gauling is that ITV seem to
: be trying to position ITV4 as a sports station. Sigh...

ITV4HD is generally excellent quality so it seems just to be SD which
is the
problem!

It's ITV 4 on Freeview that has been really awful. However, it didn't
seem so bad last night so perhaps they've been listening to complaints.

The SD is better on Freesat if you have that option. Currently

Freeview 1.5-1.7Mb 544x576
Freesat 3.7-4.2Mb 704x576

Seems to be about 1.5 - 2 x the bit rate most of the time

Agreed. A couple of days ago I gave a figure of around 2.5 Mb/s for
ITV4 on Freeview during the afternoon, but this evening it was down to
1.7 Mb/s on average.

My figure for Freesat the other day was around 4.3 Mb/s, but this
evening for a one-minute section the average was 6 Mb/s, which compares
well with TDF on France 2 at 5.0 W and also on Eurosport at 19.2 E.

bugbear wrote:


BugBear (not a regular ITV4 watcher)

Me neither, but this caught my eye for being truly awful ...

--
Graham J
(ex Hyphen)

wrote:
Perhaps the best way to complain aboutbthe quality of the picture is to complainto the advertisers who run their campaigns during the show, in this case the main sponsor/advertiser... Halfords.

Interesting idea. Thank you.

BugBear

Originally Posted by bugbear

wrote:
Perhaps the best way to complain aboutbthe quality of the picture is to complainto the advertisers who run their campaigns during the show, in this case the main sponsor/advertiser... Halfords.

Interesting idea. Thank you.

BugBear

I would like to pass on some vital information on this subject of terrible Tour picture quality. Most of the readers here seem to logically think that it is the UK channels (ITV3/4 etc.) that is the problem. It definitely is NOT! I'm in the US and have a 10' HD projection set up. Watching the Tour is one of the highlights of my year. In previous years, the picture (Versus or NBC in the US) has been spectacular - friends come to watch and marvel at the clarity and detail. What we are getting this year is literally unwatchable - a blurry fuzzy mess that looks like a third generation VHS copy. A few minutes of the motorcycle shots will give you motion sickness. I believe they have changed the original provider from the road (French TV?) and the provider is supplying massively compressed garbage. The studio shots, logos and HD commercials are up to the normal standard but the race pictures are all awful which proves that it is the original source at fault. American iPad and iPhone app watchers are screaming about the same lousy pictures and are (also logically) blaming it on the app. I wish there were something to be done about this but certainly not this year and possibly not in the future as most people don't see, don't care or can't tell the difference. And "most people" is what TV is all about.