BBC HD Picture Quality: yay or nay?

[Pete]

So as anyone who follows the BBC Internet Blog will know there is a body of opinion that feels that BBC HD has gone vastly downhill in terms of picture quality since they replaced the old codecs with new ones and reduced the bitrate.

Now I've only ever seen BBC HD on Virgin Media and on the setups in Tesco before they went over to the sky propaganda loop so I'm not overly familiar with the ins and outs but whenever I watch it the picture quality appears stunning.

I was wondering whether the people are either
1 - right
2 - perfectionists
3 - have decided there is a problem and see one due to this.

because frankly I'm rather clueless on the thing.

So what do those of us at Metro think? Obviously there is a thread over at Digital Spew but that not worth reading as it will likely be full of anti-licence fee garbage and other such bottom feeder comments that said site is famous for, so I thought I'd ask a slightly more articulate crowd for their views.

[DVB Cornwall]

I'm waiting for Freeview HD, in September in SW Cornwall, and will then be able to judge,

The arguments have been rehearsed widely, the recent Which report seems to support the BBC's opinion that the complaints following the 'new' encoders are generally groundless, This has deflated some of the opponents of these encoders.

I can however see that the apparant reduced bit rate does fit very nicely with the set configuration of the BBC DVB-T2 Multiplex and the aim of putting five HD streams on it by 2013. The use of variable content relevant rates for each of these content streams does negate this argument though, a fact that is being ignored by the complainers.

Time will tell, if the traction the complaints were gaining in early December, will resume in 2010.

[dosxuk]

There have been several posters on the BBC's blog "confirming" the decrease in picture quality on Virgin after the switch to the new encoders. I've not seen any of them retract their comment after it was announced that Virgin are responsible for the encoding on the channel, and their encoders have not been changed.

Many of the complaints seem to be based around old (~2 years) publications which state that the minimum bandwidth is "x" Mbps, while the BBC are using "x-4" Mbps. But the complainers are not taking into account the fact that more modern encoding is capable of allowing smaller bandwidths with the same picture quality. In fact many of the complaints seem to be based around noise being visible, which is filtered out by the lower quality encoders, but has now become visible as the encoders get more efficient.

[Alexia]

On Virgin and Freesat I have no complaints. Will wait for Freeview HD to make formal judgement

[all new Phil]

Not really knowing any of the technical side of things, I've always thought that BBC HD lacked the wow factor of some of the other channels, most notably Nat Geo and Discovery HD. It's always seemed a little dull.

[marksi]

I have not noticed any difference at all.

Luxe TV HD runs with a different set of encoders and runs at almost half the bitrate of BBC HD... and still looks great.

There are a set of people who you will never please, and to be honest, it's a waste of effort trying. They're probably watching Sky HD with it's inherent lip sync issues and not seeing them.

About 18 months ago I was watching BBC HD and noticed the sound and vision were not in sync. Pointed this out in an online forum and was told in no uncertain terms that I was wrong, that there was nothing wrong with it and it was definitely a problem with my set up. This person had a recording of it and no matter how many times he looked, it was perfect.

So I phoned a mate at TV Centre and asked him to check what was leaving the Broadcast Centre. It was out of sync at source.

Often these people are not as technically proficient as they are noisy.

[Pete]

Out of interest, what are the views of the forum now since the tweaks have been made and BBC One HD launched?

Again I'm at a disadvantage seeing as I have Virgin and they do their own encoding from a pure feed but I'm rather interested given the latest bit of petition spamming over the road.

[DVB Cornwall]

As with everything Pete, everyone wants better. Freeview HD arrived here in late September, with which I've been happy, would have liked things to have been a bit sharper but hey ho.

Now with the introduction on the new BBC ONE HD I can confidently say that the three other channels have NOT suffered at all. As for the overall quality, I'm using a Sony Bravia KDL32EX403U which is at the top of the basic range of Freeview HD sets. I've not seen any artifacts that have caused me upset. I'm happy with what the set is producing, even if it did throw a wobbly needing a down power for the HD to work last night and this morning.

Maybe some tighter production controls could result in better source material though.

EDIT
Watching MOTD now .... and if this is upscaled SD then it's brilliant.

[Pete]

Just realised a minor flaw in my original post there, I *have* seen Freeview HD as I was installing my aunt's new TV for her the other week in Newcastle. BBC HD knocked the socks off the other two channels (in particular the guff that ITV were broadcasting) and appeared to have absolutely no visable artifacts whatsoever.

I do rather get the feeling that the constant complainers on the BBC blogs do more so because instead of watching the show they sit and try to spot every single minor flaw and then claim its proof that the BBC are trying to emulate the old realplayer effect on TV.

[Bail]