Freeview in HD

Originally Posted by sinbad

Anyone else think HD is a bit over-rated? A good quality (it varies a LOT) transmission on a decent TV in standard definition looks perfectly acceptable imo. And unless it's Blu-ray and in 1080p on a top-notch TV, "HD" doesn't look a whole lot better.

I dunno, I've compared HD stuff on my (only 720p) TV with the same programme being broadcast in 'standard' def and the HD channel was vastly better in some cases - especally when it comes to sport. The pixellation on standard-def football/rugby matches is really noticeable because the players are pretty small on screen, but in HD it's much sharper. I'd love to see it in 1080p!

[Dave20046]

Read on here the other day someone said the reason sky channels are a placebo affect is because like 20% of the actual filming is done in hd, apparently bbc hd is the nuts.

Bloody hope we won't need to buy anything else, I've just finally splashed out on a hd setup because I thought they'd settled on it; blueray and 1080p. Could have saved myself over £100 and just got 720p.

[Dave20046]

Oh and on a sidenote I'm still ****ed off we still can't get freeview in our area, I have to stream it all off the net. Think a carrier pigeon to my local mp is in order...

http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Services/Freeview-HD

"HD is coming to Freeview. No subscription, no contract, all Freeview HD channels will be free. Experience a range of entertainment in HD with five times more detail than standard definition giving you clearer and more lifelike pictures and super sharp sound.
BBC, ITV and Channel 4 HD channels will be available along with S4C HD in Wales bringing your favourite soaps and dramas, documentaries and even the 2010 World Cup in full HD glory. Five HD aims to launch on Freeview HD in late 2010.
For the latest on Freeview HD, sign up to the Freeview newsletter on the right hand side of the homepage.
When is Freeview HD available?

By the 2010 World Cup almost 50% of the UK will be able to get Freeview HD and 98.5% by the end of digital switchover in 2012.
London, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Bradford and Birmingham will receive Freeview HD by the end of March 2010.
Manchester, Cardiff and Swansea will receive Freeview HD by March 2010 as they go through digital switchover.
If you have already been through switchover, you’ll be able to get Freeview HD before the end of November 2010."

Originally Posted by Foey

Will still need to be a new digital aerial though, the old style aerials will be no good at all.

Could this be the time for the BBC to introduce the new charging scheme as i have heard they have been told next year is the last year they can use the current charging system (TV licence).

An aerial is an aerial - nothing about it makes it HD. It might be in your area that they are planning to transmit the HD freeview signal at a frequency that is out of the band of your aerial (called the group - A, B or C/D, there is also K and E but these are rarely used) and it might be necessary to either supplement your existing aerial with one of a different group or replace the whole thing with a wideband aerial. Wideband aerials don't work so well in a low signal strength area, however.

For more information on TV aerials, visit http://www.aerialsandtv.com/aerials.html. While somewhat technical, it will help you chose the right aerial for your area.

MT
RF Abuser

[Stu]

Originally Posted by El Saxo

I seem to remember reading that the analog switch-off will free up space in the available frequencies and this is what will allow the HD channels to be broadcasted over freeview to 'normal' aerials? Hopefully someone can confirm/deny my ramblings...

This thread could have been locked after Mike posted his link as it answers every question if you can be bothered to read it

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Yes http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pre...freeview.shtml

Originally Posted by empty

MT
RF Abuser

Oh that did make me laugh.

On picture quality however it comes down to bandwidth. HD pictures requires quite a fair amount more of bandwidth than it is currently allocated for SD channels on freeview. The big difference between broadcast & blu-ray is the bandwidth available. Go watch the BBC's life on earth on BBC HD then watch the same program from blu-ray, you will be astounded by the difference.

Originally Posted by Raf

On picture quality however it comes down to bandwidth. HD pictures requires quite a fair amount more of bandwidth than it is currently allocated for SD channels on freeview. The big difference between broadcast & blu-ray is the bandwidth available. Go watch the BBC's life on earth on BBC HD then watch the same program from blu-ray, you will be astounded by the difference.

The HD freeview channels are likely to get 8-16Mbps (bits not bytes) or so data rate (depending on how many they try and wedge into a multiplex, don't forget that this also includes error correction etc, the BBC HD trial is currently at 10Mbps I think), bluray is allowed up to 40Mbps so should be quite a bit better. For reference, at work when we were going live to cinemas using commercially available HD Freesat receivers we were transmitting at 20Mbps (16Mbps payload - video, audio and subtitles) 1080i50, the original signal is 1.485Gbps, and 1080p is 3Gbps data rate. SD freeview for BBC1 is 4.5Mbps with the original (uncompressed) 270Mbps. The rest of the SD channels share a total of around 13Mbps for the multiplex, so the more channels you squeeze in, the worse the picture quality gets.

Freeview HD uses a different codec to normal freeview - MPEG4 vs MPEG2 - and MPEG4 is quite a bit more efficient. This does, however, mean that you won't be able to use your current freeview box for the HD transmissions. There will only be 1080i or 720p transmissions, 1080p is not supported by the codec in use. For those of us in London and Manchester, we might be able to receive the HD signal soon, although currently there are very few, if any, freeview HD set-top boxes available.

MT
Video Geek