Am I being overcritical ...

J

jack616

Member
Am I being overcritical ... or does anyone else think the picture quality on some of the SD
channels is totally unacceptable?

I just watched channel 5 with big brother on and the picture as they were zooming in to the presenter looked
like it was recorded on a very old webcam. I'm not exagerating - it was appaling. This isnt the only channel/program
I'm seeing this on lately either.

Image quality is way below anything anyone would have accepted on analogue TV 10 or 20 years ago.
 
I have noticed colour quantisation in various places, usually where the footage was created on a low-quality source - maybe they're economising on cameras or using cheapie production companies who think consumer kit is good enough (actually, some consumer kit is!).
 
I wouldnt be suprised by any of that BH but I suspect that blocks of channels frequently broadcast low quality
due to far too much compression of the images. It seems to be some channels more than others. C4 seems pretty
good but ITV2 and a few others (probably the same mux ?) routinely look really bad.
I just think the quality falls below standards I would accept given the choice.
Nobody else seems bothered so maybe its just me.
 
I feel you need to throw the v-format & tv scaler into the mix here too.
The picture on SD channels is far far better on my Samsung plasma than my Philips LCD for example.
Both screens are 42", both 1080i max. I output from the box at 1080p, so the tv's scale it down.

Its always better to scale down rather than up. As you're removing data rather than adding what the tv thinks should be there.
As always though, it's personal preference with these things, but definatley worth experimenting with.

Ps. Yes I know I can set the output to 1080i, but this is just a personal preference.
 
I must be honest - when they first said they were serious about going digital I did think interlacing would have been
the very first thing they kicked into touch.
But then I never expected them to be routinely broadcasting at lower than analogue resolutions while claiming they were higher either.
At my age I should have known better I suppose.
 
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