unbiased answer needed NTL vs SKY PQ

[setch]

who has the better Picture Quality Sky or NTL. I believe NTL, but many people say that it is SKY.

I believe NTL do not compress the signal as much as Sky, but I could be wrong.

Setch

[Tristan]

On the majority of channels, the bitrate (in fact, the entire MPEG stream) is identical on cable and satellite. This is because the majority of channels on NTL are taken from satellite.

There are a few exceptions though. The BBC channels (except Parliament and the regional BBC1s) are taken from your local digital terrestrial aerial, as are the ITV channels, C4 adn C5. I beleive that the bitrate is higher on these than satellite, but you'd have to check.

Finally, there are a few channels which are received uncompressed by NTL, who do all the necessary work themselves. Examples of these are most of the Sky branded channels (Sky One, Sky Sports and Sky Movies). These are done this way (in most cases) to give a higher bitrate than satellite.

Of course, picture quality is subjective, and also depends on the quality of the MPEG decoder, the TV, and connecting leads...

[Janusian]

Having had both, on the same TV, I would have to say that Sky has a better picture quality, without a doubt.

The quality of the Interactive, TV guide etc is also better on Sky.

As for Sky+, I run out of superlatives.

I still have ntl cable and phone though.

[paulyoung666]

sky hands down , the mother in law has just had ntl digi put in and the picture is poor to say the least , and that is on a £1000 widescreen tv compared to my £200 ws tv and sky

[setch]

tks for the response everybody.

Setch

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

sky hands down , the mother in law has just had ntl digi put in and the picture is poor to say the least , and that is on a £1000 widescreen tv compared to my £200 ws tv and sky

Is your mother in law's tv very large? as this will make a substancial difference to the picture quality. Same as zooming into an image makes it appear more pixelated.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

Is your mother in law's tv very large? as this will make a substancial difference to the picture quality. Same as zooming into an image makes it appear more pixelated.

32" , not so big that i would have it would make a massive difference , it is hard to describe , but the picture is blurry when anything moves quickly

[jtwn]

With our current standards, IMO, anything looks bad (or, could look better) on a screen > 28" regardless of tv or broadcast method.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by jtwn

With our current standards, IMO, anything looks bad (or, could look better) on a screen > 28" regardless of tv or broadcast method.

sorry dont agree , i have seen sky on 32" and above tv's and it looks fine

[ian@huth]

I would definately say Sky was far better but that view is largely because Sky has always had a stable picture for us here whilst the NTL picture was always pixellating, dithering and freezing. Hence the NTL DTV box was dropped and replaced by a Sky+ box. Now Sky+ is in another league and Sky+ recordings are as good as the original stream.

[purenuman]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

sorry dont agree , i have seen sky on 32" and above tv's and it looks fine

Same here!

[handyman]

Well according to the DTV courses I went on the DTV standards for data compression are identical for Cable DTV, SAT DTV and Terrestrial DTV. Under normal conditions the picture quality should be identical between the 3 sources as they all have to adhere to the standards set down when the DTv licences where set-up.

And regardless of what anyone says everytime I see ITV1 on My folks 32" widescreen (SKY) on a saturday night It looks horrid. Its all pixallated.

As For variable compression rates this is true but sky should have the same issues Ie. 8mbit multiplex with four channles in and one suddenly shows a live action crowd shot then its bandwidth requirements will rocket. However low bandwidth channels such as QVC should alwyas balance this out.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by handyman

Well according to the DTV courses I went on the DTV standards for data compression are identical for Cable DTV, SAT DTV and Terrestrial DTV. Under normal conditions the picture quality should be identical between the 3 sources as they all have to adhere to the standards set down when the DTv licences where set-up.

And regardless of what anyone says everytime I see ITV1 on My folks 32" widescreen (SKY) on a saturday night It looks horrid. Its all pixallated.

As For variable compression rates this is true but sky should have the same issues Ie. 8mbit multiplex with four channles in and one suddenly shows a live action crowd shot then its bandwidth requirements will rocket. However low bandwidth channels such as QVC should alwyas balance this out.

QVC was one of the first channels to start dithering and freezing when we had NTL DTV.

[Richardr]

Given a reasonable connexion, there shouldn't really be much difference between Sky and ntl on a 32" TV on the main channels.

If anyone has consistent trouble with either, then there is probably a problem with the signal.

Well according to the DTV courses I went on the DTV standards for data compression are identical for Cable DTV, SAT DTV and Terrestrial DTV. Under normal conditions the picture quality should be identical between the 3 sources as they all have to adhere to the standards set down when the DTv licences where set-up.

Having said that, the level of compression isn't set by the licences. There are enough channels who broadcast with a high level of compression, and who look bad.

[Womble]

I beg to differ,
I have ntl, on a sony 32" widescreen, my father has sky on a panasonic 32" widescreen
Day to day its hard to tell the differance, BUT, When it comes to football and other fast paced sport, sky's picture is so much better! No blockyness around the players faces, no wishy washy greenish grass when the cameras are following fast action(please dont say its a Network/HFC/House fault!!! cos it aint!)
Thus leading me to believe they have a better bitrate or compression method