How bad is bad enough ???

[dtdt]

Hi all,

I've browsed through the notes and I see that there are a few postings about dodgy pictures during sporting events (artficacts, not the Spurs defense).

I'm in Herts (Hertford specifically) with the digital service and a 4001 box. Just upgraded the telly from a previously v. small 15 year old one with no scart to a 28inch one with lovely scarts and RGB.

However it is depressing to see that when watching pretty much any sporting event (especially Eurosport, though the Bayern /RM game last night was pretty bad too) there are terrible artifact problems. Pitches are blocky green as soon as the camera pans, there is often pixelation around the ball and players. On other dodgy sources (eg foreign news pics) there are similar artifact probs.

Now I'm pretty sure that the Telly is OK (dvd is fine) and the leads are all good quality scarts. Is what I describe 'normal' for an NTL digital service or is it worth NTL either swapping the box or checking the signal ? It's kind of depressing.....

Any advice greatfully received - it's always nice to be armed with ideas before the dreaded call to customer services.

cheers.

dt.

[Neil]

Hi Dtdt, & Welcome to nthw.

The symptoms you describe above sounds like a normal ntl DTV picture to me, but it's always worth a call to CS to arrange an engineer just in case there is a fault.

Enjoy the site.

[dukeofearl]

Did you see this thread http://forum.nthellworld.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7720 I started??

There was a real difference in a couple of the six nations rugby games. Consensus was that the BBC/NTL encoding and feeds are OK, but the limitation is in the digital feed that the Beeb get for encoding from the location. Higher speed costs more and may not be available....

[dtdt]

Thanks for the note.

I missed the thread - I was obviously searching badly (though I did find a few old notes on this).

I would say that all of the sport I have seen over the weekend and last night has been a little compromised (even the BBC) but some has been worse than others. The ITV2 Bayern game last night was particularly rubbish.

Do some tellies handle this sort of thing better than others ? Mine is a bog-standard 50hz pana 28inch. When it's getting the RGB feed there don't appear to be any adjustments for AI or sharpness or any of that sort of nonsense. Also, do either the length/quality of cable from the box on the wall to the telly, or the model of STB itself have any obvious impact on this sort of thing ?

Thanks for the feedback and the welcome. (albeit not too encouraging)

dt

[SMHarman]

Different channels on the NTL line up have different bandwidth allocations. I don't know where you get the information on this from, but it may well also be that ITV2 does not use as much bandwidth as ITV1 or BBC1 so some of the degredation comes on it being broadcast on that channel.

A good example of this is E4. This uses 2/3 of usual bandwidth and you can see noticable stepping in diagonal lines on the screen.

Check that your TV does not have any image enhancement on it. If it does turn it off. The new pannys have some of the best pictures on the market. Can you get an analogue signal? I know Hertford is pretty pants in the most for them. On the BBC / ITV1 broadcasts can you see a difference between the analogue pass through picure broadcast to C1-4 and the digital image on AV?

[paulyoung666]

i have noticed on sky digi as well , normal tv is fine but sometimes foreign feeds are rubbish

[asdf]

Football is a notorious bad programme on digital TV, on every platform. Shame really.

[dukeofearl]

Needs to be slower - Try cricket on Channel 4 on a 50" plasma - you can see every blade of grass - apart from where there isn't any, like in that silly bare bit in the middle where they actually play - daft or what !!

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by dukeofearl

Needs to be slower - Try cricket on Channel 4 on a 50" plasma - you can see every blade of grass - apart from where there isn't any, like in that silly bare bit in the middle where they actually play - daft or what !!

Really every blade through the noise created on a 50in Plasma. Perhaps all the ones Ive been demo'd or seen at work etc are poorly set up, but you can barely see a line between light and dark without noise, shadows dissaperar, film noir is unwatchable. Take a look at the latest Panasonic CRT Tau screens. Thats what you call a picture. Admitedly you can't hang it above the fireplace etc, but for picture quality they can't be beat.

[themelon]

Originally Posted by Neil

Hi Dtdt, & Welcome to nthw.

The symptoms you describe above sounds like a normal ntl DTV picture to me,

Its also a normal Sky DTV Picture! If its not snowing!

All Digital TV looks crap on a big TV, DTT, Sky and Cable due to the compression.

Technology aye?

[wheeliebin]

Originally Posted by asdf

Football is a notorious bad programme on digital TV, on every platform. Shame really.

That is the important thing to note.

It is the same on any platform.

If the quality of the broadcast feed isnt great then its hardly going to improve at the reciever end.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by themelon

Its also a normal Sky DTV Picture! If its not snowing!

All Digital TV looks crap on a big TV, DTT, Sky and Cable due to the compression.

Technology aye?

i must take issue there , the majority of sky digi is fine for me , even on a cheap ( £200 ) 28" ws tv , the only thing i have a problem with is what has said on here

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

i must take issue there , the majority of sky digi is fine for me , even on a cheap ( £200 ) 28" ws tv , the only thing i have a problem with is what has said on here

I'll agree with you BBC1 Digital looks as good as BBC1 Analogue. Its the cheaper channels that won't spend on bandwidth.

Long live the licence fee.

[themelon]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

i must take issue there , the majority of sky digi is fine for me , even on a cheap ( £200 ) 28" ws tv , the only thing i have a problem with is what has said on here

The majority of ntl digi is fine for me on a 32 inch w/s tv?!? So i was merely pointing out its the Same on Sky, DTT or ntl! Football is a problem on all platforms.

[SMHarman]

Are BBC Broadcast and Outside Broadcast supplied events subject to this problem?

If not it truly is bandwidth.