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moroboshi · 02-11-2008, 10:46

'HD' broadcasting tops out at 1080i, but any decent TV should be able to stick that together into something stable. You should only notice that it's interlaced when you pause what you are watching, at which point the interlace will stop and the picture will be half it's perceived resolution.

Some people keep harping on about the V+'s scaler but in my experience it's mediocre and does nothing to help the massively over compressed and low resolution SD channels which make up 99.99999999999% of Virgin's service. The scaler in my TV (Pioneer plasma) is absolutely leagues ahead, but I have to have the V+ set to 1080i so I can receive BBC HD in all it's middle of the road, over compressed glory.

The only way to really see what HD can do at the moment is to watch a good blu-ray disc. As a comparison, BBC HD will be running at around 15mbits at most, and in the ancient MPEG 2 codec (which needs very, very high bitrates to achieve good results). Plus it only comes with compressed 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. A good BD will be 45 mbits MPEG 4/H.264/AVC video, with lossless DTS Master or lossless Dolby True HD audio.

Depends how bothered about quality you are I guess. Personally I want to feed my TV the best, so I buy blu-rays and just use the V+ box for BBC HD. Other people seem happy with the super compressed 1mbit MPEG 2 standard def channels with stereo sound.

02-11-2008, 10:46	#11
moroboshi Inactive Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 352	Re: Is the V+ box true HD 'HD' broadcasting tops out at 1080i, but any decent TV should be able to stick that together into something stable. You should only notice that it's interlaced when you pause what you are watching, at which point the interlace will stop and the picture will be half it's perceived resolution. Some people keep harping on about the V+'s scaler but in my experience it's mediocre and does nothing to help the massively over compressed and low resolution SD channels which make up 99.99999999999% of Virgin's service. The scaler in my TV (Pioneer plasma) is absolutely leagues ahead, but I have to have the V+ set to 1080i so I can receive BBC HD in all it's middle of the road, over compressed glory. The only way to really see what HD can do at the moment is to watch a good blu-ray disc. As a comparison, BBC HD will be running at around 15mbits at most, and in the ancient MPEG 2 codec (which needs very, very high bitrates to achieve good results). Plus it only comes with compressed 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. A good BD will be 45 mbits MPEG 4/H.264/AVC video, with lossless DTS Master or lossless Dolby True HD audio. Depends how bothered about quality you are I guess. Personally I want to feed my TV the best, so I buy blu-rays and just use the V+ box for BBC HD. Other people seem happy with the super compressed 1mbit MPEG 2 standard def channels with stereo sound.