Digital television transmission quality
 

Just installed a new telly - generally very pleased. But, is it my imagination, or are moving images less sharp than on older generation sets? I'm convinced my old Sony had a better picture than the new one (also a Sony), and on digital transmissions, high-moving programmes, such as sport, are almost unwatchable, which is a bit of a surprise/disappointment.

My brother-in-law also had this problem (also with a Sony). So, is it a Sony issue, a 36" screen issue, a digital technology issue or something else? Cheers.

Dunno m8 but I do love the way that LIVE TV is delayed by 1/2 second due to digital transmission! Hardly "live" any more... :rolleyes:

I have a Thomson 100 Hz and Digital NTL, Sky and Freeview all seem fine on that. You do need a good signal for any digital TV, there is no real general degredation like analogue where the picture just gets worse and worse, with digital it is fine then its gone / goes blocky and breaks up. Make sure your ariel is up to the job as you may need to upgrade.

Yeah, i was wondering about the aerial. Generally i'm in a very good reception area, but i guess a more powerful aerial wouldn't go amiss, as they aren't expensive. The one i have now is in the loft, not on the roof, so maybe that would help...

Yup that'll make a difference!! I have a massive great thing on the outside of the house!! Still get break up in rain etc, but then the reception is cr@p where I am.

This is a common problem with the 100 Hz TV's, especially with fast moving sports like football where a kind of ghosting can be seen. The 100 Hz widescreen Toshiba I bought has an active mode which is meant to alleviate this and can also be switched to 50/60 Hz mode to get rid of it as well. Havent noticed it myself tbo.

Overcompression is the biggest problem as the broadcasters try to pack in more interactive ****e and more channels. It's like watching JPEG images at 20% compression sometimes :(

Aerials indoors went out with Churchill :D

It's time to catch up.

Ive noticed this loads since getting a plasma screen.

I've heard its down to Sky scrimping on the bandwidth, so it looks like a naff quality captured video Image.

Its a FEATURE!
 

Try and notice what happens during a fade to black. If the picture goes all crinkly, blocky and pixellated, then Welcome to Digital TV...

Where there is a lot of rapidly changing data like during a fade to black or a cross fade, or during say a pan on a football scene it all falls over due to the compression they use.

Also do you note the steppy lines during the intended smooth graduated backgrounds and well lit panel shots on the Nissan 350Z commercial? That's called 'contouring' and it is cos the system cant reproduce smooth light differences due to too low a bit rate being used.

If only they cared as much as we did when we paid for these top tellys :(

IIRC, they can class it as 'live' withy up to a 15 min gap, so you can watch something that happened at say 19:45 at 20:00 and it's still 'live'

LOL

Since upgrading to a fancy TV a few years back (32" Philips with active picture control and all sorts of features), the quality on cable was very bad, since swapped to Sky...but they have gone the same way over the past year - which is rather irritating, well at least the box has an instant response to my multiple channel surfing :D

I have read some where that some TV's have digital source compensation (mine does) Thing is, on some TV's it's said that it can make things WORSE! :eek:

I've played round with the umpteen picture modes (auto sharpening, auto contrast auto color, room light level adaption, motion compensation..blah blah etc) And managed to get it as good as it will ever get.

So try having a play with your settings, it may help.

I note that my DNR (Digital noise reduction) button on my TV just reduces resolution (makes the picture soft). This can help noisy edges that 'buzz' but its a bit mad to chuck away resolution in achieving that!!!

play with your settings, any digital scan or processing technology can play havoc. 100hz turn it off for all except your dvd player input, can make fast moving sequences soft and fuzzy on sky vcr ect.

the 36" sony and the similiar model 32" are reknowned for being a bit pants and it can differ from set to set. A friend went for 3 different ones till he got one he was happy with. I \personally would of gone for the toshy or spent a bit more and got a plasma which can be had for about 2k now.

also make sure your sky box is set to rgb output and you are using a quality scart lead.

sony tv's can run all scart inputs as rgb as long as you have a rgb device in scart 1 which is listed as the only rgb input in the manual. but the pthers can run rgb as well.

I am still on Black & White.....picture quality is superb ;)