BBC HD

C4 have had problems with their S2 broadcasts, some Freesat receivers have been/are still unable to work properly at S2, so I think the Beeb will be very cautious about switching to it for the time being.

its amazing how only bbc have such issues, rather then missing about switching 1080i and 1080p that they actually concentrate on sorting their HD out so it broadcasts at 1920x1080i and making their productions look sharp, Sky do it, pictures from the EBU are correct as well, so why are the BBC behind.

How wrong I was !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/

Link to the specific blog post for future reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/06/changes_to_bbc_hd_channels_on.html

I suspect the view is that boxes which comply to the Freesat (HD) spec support S2 - so it ought to be a safe change to make.

On a not-entirely-unrelated note, anyone want some redundant coding & mux kit?

Probably because almost all BBC production is still shot on DVC Pro HD or HD Cam camcorders, which run at 1440x1080 on-tape (or P2 if shooting DVC Pro on P2) so there is zero benefit to broadcasting in 1920x1080 for this content. Similarly many BBC productions post-produced in the BBC Production village will transcode to DVC Pro HD for post production. Programmes using EVS servers for " VT" replay are also quite likely to be using DVC Pro HD as their codec - again 1440x1080.

More recent stuff is being shot on XD Cam HD 422 or AVC Intra 100 - which is 1920x1080 (though may well be edited DVC Pro HD) - and some high-end drama is 1920x1080 acquired. However the bulk of non-live output is still 1440x1080.

Many countries are using 1440x1080 - Japan does, France does, and quite a few countries in Europe are 720p which is only 1280 horizontally (NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, ARD, ZDF and Arte in Germany) All the Freeview HD stuff is 1440x1080, as are the Freesat versions of ITV1 HD ISTR.

It's a balancing act of bitrate vs resolution. Personally I'd rather have slightly reduced horizontal resolution - which is irrelevant for the bulk of BBC HD output currently - rather than more visible compression artefacts.

One reason people "think" Sky looks better for their live content is that they wind a LOT more artificial detail into their pictures (particularly on sport) than the BBC or ITV. Personally I hate it - but then people run with their sharpness settings at the default setting on their TV (masking loads of high frequency detail)...

I get the idea that once you've convinced yourself there is an issue you'll pick up on the things you'd not notice otherwise.

Someone on that blog post has posted a comment where his wife says some other HD channel looks stunning "but isn't BBC1 meant to be HD now? Why doesn't that look as good?"

I can hazard a guess...

Wouldn't the chroma sampling be better? (eg. DVC Pro HD stores it as 1440x1080 4:2:2?, BBC HD on Freeview HD is 1440x1080, 4:2:0?) With more pixels on BBC HD (1920x1080) wouldn't you be able to better represent the increased chroma samples in the DVC PRO HD footage (since the source has twice? the colour resolution than is currently being broadcast)?

Unless you're talking about oversampling don't see what you mean.

4:2:0 is the same chroma resolution horizontally as 4:2:2 - it's the vertical chroma resolution where they differ.

DVC Pro HD 4:2:2 is 1440x1080 Y and 720x1080 Cr & Cb
BBC HD 4:2:0 is 1440x1080 Y and 720x540 Cr & Cb
Sky HD 4:2:0 is 1920x1080 Y and 960x540 Cr & Cb

So DVC Pro HD content via a Sky HD channel is unlikely to look better than via a BBC HD channel, because the extra chroma resolution on Sky HD channels is in the horizontal dimension, whereas the extra resolution present in a DVC Pro HD source is in the vertical dimension - and the BBC and Sky have the same luma and chroma resolution vertically.

Seem to be some sound problems (crackling) on BBC HD just now - it wasn't evident during HIGMNFY, but that was in stereo unlike A Little Later which is in 5.1 - could the lack of 5.1 on BBC One HD's Doctor Who tonight be related?

David

so its happening tomorrow that BBC HD and One HD move to DVB-S2 well hopefully they will increase the res to 1920x1080 as well in line with their commercial BBC hd channels overseas somehow I doubt this.