Cable Forum - View Single Post - NTL should switch to a digital only service!

Pob! · 05-12-2004, 23:12

I do not agree that analogue should be switched off, as digital is inferior in many ways compared with good analogue reception. The main problem is the compression used - all the channels on digital are heavily compressed, much like jpeg photo's, DivX or Xvid video, and quality is lost. Many users report NTL digital is much worse than freeview. The BBC reception pages, and a recent Which? report, both come to the conclusion that a digital TV picture is no better than analogue in most cases, and worse in some.
I guess this could be seen as a good reason to turn off analogue, but the bandwidth freed-up would be used for more channels, not better quality.
Sky are addressing the problem of low quality by starting trials of high-def sattelite broadcasts in 2005 - but guess what? The bandwidth used is much higher than the existing broadcasts.
I think at present people are being suckered into the digital TV realm - the Government does not want to turn off analogue to increase the quality for viewers, they are doing it so they can sell the freed-up bandwidth to mobile phone companies, to get another windfall like the G3 licences.
Pob!

05-12-2004, 23:12	#6
Pob! Inactive Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 7	Re: NTL should switch to a digital only service! I do not agree that analogue should be switched off, as digital is inferior in many ways compared with good analogue reception. The main problem is the compression used - all the channels on digital are heavily compressed, much like jpeg photo's, DivX or Xvid video, and quality is lost. Many users report NTL digital is much worse than freeview. The BBC reception pages, and a recent Which? report, both come to the conclusion that a digital TV picture is no better than analogue in most cases, and worse in some. I guess this could be seen as a good reason to turn off analogue, but the bandwidth freed-up would be used for more channels, not better quality. Sky are addressing the problem of low quality by starting trials of high-def sattelite broadcasts in 2005 - but guess what? The bandwidth used is much higher than the existing broadcasts. I think at present people are being suckered into the digital TV realm - the Government does not want to turn off analogue to increase the quality for viewers, they are doing it so they can sell the freed-up bandwidth to mobile phone companies, to get another windfall like the G3 licences. Pob!