TV Sound HD v SD

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linw

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Topic # 107496 13-Aug-2012 11:18
Got into a discussion about sound being better on HD broadcasts than SD ones. Is there any difference in quality?

trig42

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Reply # 671734 13-Aug-2012 11:27
Usually, yes. HD channels play 5.1 audio tracks (assuming programming is broadcast in 5.1), so on those programs, the sound will be a lot better.

Jaxson

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Reply # 671738 13-Aug-2012 11:30
Yeah, what format are you referring to? Sky HD vs SD or freeview satellite vs HD or freeview HD real HD channels vs non HD channels etc? Where a program has a dolby soundtrack, this will typically (but not always) sound better then a non dolby soundtrack. If it's a true 5.1 surround sound soundtrack then it will sound better than a programme presented in stereo only etc.

richms

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Reply # 671785 13-Aug-2012 12:58
I'd actually rate the old analog's nicam digital ahead of the freeview HD for sound quality a little. Less artifactey treble on it. But AC3 on the channels that do it is better than both. Richard rich.ms

linw

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Reply # 672062 14-Aug-2012 08:16
Thanks, guys. I can take from those answers that, yes, sound is/can be typically better on HD than SD but there are a few variables involved. So that settles the argument. Sorry, I should have been more specific about the comparison sources. The discussion was about SKY HDi broadcasts in HD v the older non HD SKY decoder with SD only.

ilovemusic

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Reply # 672932 15-Aug-2012 16:50
richms: I'd actually rate the old analog's nicam digital ahead of the freeview HD for sound quality a little. Less artifactey treble on it. But AC3 on the channels that do it is better than both. Agreed. Dolby Digital has the technical chops but Nicam sounds more natural.

hdinsider

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Reply # 673016 15-Aug-2012 20:10
A bit weird that Nicam would sound better than pcm on satellite as the transmitter sites that transmit Nicam are fed from an mpeg 2 stream pcm. But I agree, Nicam sounds great. don't mess with me.... i'm the hd insider....

hdinsider

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Reply # 673017 15-Aug-2012 20:12
Both sound better than aac on dtt. don't mess with me.... i'm the hd insider....

Niel

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Reply # 673099 16-Aug-2012 06:06
In general analogue sounds better unless you have a well designed digital audio receiver. All others either are too cheap to do proper post processing, or are top quality that does no processing because it expects a good quality source and not intended to make it sound better. To explain the last statement, if you buy top quality headphones or reference speakers it will sound bad for general listening because it is designed to produce a flat frequency response while music and movies are processed to sound good on consumer equipment. Hope the point comes across, it was a rough week. You can never have enough Volvos!

openmedia

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Reply # 673114 16-Aug-2012 08:02
ACC on DTT still needs fixing. The bitrate etc means the sound is too hollow. AC3 generally sounds the best, but is annoying when they transmit a stereo source without setting the correct flags so Amps can process it correctly. Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat New Zealand as a Solution Architect for all things Linux, Virtual and of course Cloud. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

ilovemusic

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Reply # 675102 21-Aug-2012 13:57
To explain the last statement, if you buy top quality headphones or reference speakers it will sound bad for general listening because it is designed to produce a flat frequency response while music and movies are processed to sound good on consumer equipment. Hope the point comes across, it was a rough week. Disagree ! Really good reference speaker systems will show you the flaws in the source but won't make everything unlistenable. It's the difference between Wilson Audio and Avalon Acoustics.