Freeview HD - what PQ should I expect?

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65notout

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#29960 24-Jan-2009 14:30

I have a problem with Freeview picture quality.

Last week I bought a new Panasonic 65" to replace my Panasonic 50",and upgraded to MySky HDi. The HD quality on Sports and Movies is stunning. TV3 is not far behind in HD picture quality too.

I wanted to get the highest quality I could on other non-HD channels, so I had a UHF aerial for Freeview HD professionally installed and hooked up to a new Teac Freeview HD box.

The results are a shocker for the Freeview channels - even worse than the American SD channels like Fox and CNN. There are pronounced jaggies and image edge ghosting, and the contrast is high with dynamic colours. It's like an analog picture on a CRT.

I've done all the steps I could think of... obviously made sure all the inputs and outputs were correct, checked reception is good at 80+, replaced the 1m HDMI cable with a high-end shielded Pudney & Lee (no difference whatsoever, in line with my thoughts that all HDMI cables under 6m are the same), made sure I was looking at HD sources as far as I can tell, turned the MySky HDi box off at the wall in case there was RF issues, tested at different times of day and night. No changes.

So this morning I popped along to Harvey Norman where they have some TV's set up with comparative Sky and Freeview inputs. I was surprised to see the HD picture from Freeview was the same as the Sky SD channels.

My question is this: am I expecting too much from Freeview?

Should I be getting HD quality like last night's cricket game on Sky Sport 1? I don't like cricket usually, but watched enthralled for several hours at the best video picture I've ever seen in my life - and as an ex-professional photographer I have very high standards.

Will I ever be able to get to this level with Freeview?

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416 posts

Ultimate Geek

#191824 24-Jan-2009 15:31

I'd be looking at the STB if it were me. Jaggies sound like a deinterlacing problem but with freeview's 720p there shouldn't be any deinterlacing to do.

Brunzy

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#191826 24-Jan-2009 15:45

Ditto,

Try and borrow a different brand box for comparison

65notout

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#191834 24-Jan-2009 17:07

OK, thanks. My installer suggested that too, and is getting another STB next week from somewhere up north as a test. Don't know what brand. But it does seem unusual that my $440 Teac box would have issues.

And I'm also disappointed that what I've seen so far of Freeview HD is the same as Sky's standard picture. Is this right? Has anyone seen a top quality picture from Freeview that equals Sky's wonderful HD channels?

Brunzy

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#191835 24-Jan-2009 17:26

Definitely not right!

I've installed a lot of Freeview HD in various makes etc,and the few people I know with Sky hd and FV HD
all say FV is superior.
I think FV hd channels run about 12mbs ,not sure about Sky,would imagine less though

65notout

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#191847 24-Jan-2009 19:14

Thanks Brunzy. I know that picture quality is largely subjective, but it's good to hear that.

Anyone recommend a top-notch AV guy in Wellington? Someone out there who can cut through the problems and give me a solution with a home call?

tkr001

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Ultimate Geek

#191856 24-Jan-2009 19:49

Brunzy and Cyril7 are both in the Wellington area I think.

cyril7

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#191922 25-Jan-2009 09:36

Hi, I agree with the others sounds like a box issue, I have not seen any Teac boxs, not a brand that comes to mind when looking for quality. As with Brunzy, in the quite large number of DTT installs I have done where the client also has HDi the FV performance is always a notch better, jaggies, never seen them outside of quite plain and obvious coding errors, which all boxs will show, including the HDi.

For all the bagging that the Zinwell/DSE boxs have recieved, they still represent good value for money and seem to work well, my only concern with them would be heat and the long term reliablity that posses, that said I am not aware of massive numbers of heat damaged units turning up at service centres. My personal preference, and the box that I nomally supply and carry in the van, is the Satmax SM801, this seems to have done well in respect to few initial bugs, all which were sorted in short order. It has two HDMI outputs and supports HD via analog Component, but this box comes at a price premium to the DSE which is by far the best value box on the market (if you ignore the low end chinese clone boxs).

Brunzy works more in town than I do, however this week I will be in town quite a bit on a SMATV job, PM me if you want to catchup for a visit, otherwise give Brunzy a call.

Cyril

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sbiddle

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#191940 25-Jan-2009 11:17

One thing to factor in is that with a TV of that size and particularly a full HD panel that SD content will never look that great. HD content will look absolutely stunning.

Deev8

481 posts

Ultimate Geek

#191959 25-Jan-2009 13:32

cyril7: Satmax SM801 ... It has two HDMI outputs and supports HD via analog Component

The Satmax website says that the box is Freeview Approved. I didn't think that any box offering HD over component output would get approval - that might be a misunderstanding on my part though.

cyril7

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#191966 25-Jan-2009 14:30

Hi, you could well be right on that, the first couple of units I sold definitely had that enabled, however that was before FreeView certification, have not tested it since (with latter firmware) as all I have installed have used HDMI. Personally the whole HD analog component thing was a big diversion, its been 4yrs since any NZ TV importer sold HD capable sets that did not have HDMI or DVI (with HDCP) inputs.

Cyril

old3eyes

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#191991 25-Jan-2009 17:28

cyril7: Hi, you could well be right on that, the first couple of units I sold definitely had that enabled, however that was before FreeView certification, have not tested it since (with latter firmware) as all I have installed have used HDMI. Personally the whole HD analog component thing was a big diversion, its been 4yrs since any NZ TV importer sold HD capable sets that did not have HDMI or DVI (with HDCP) inputs.

Cyril

Not really. EG. I use a Harmony remote for my Sony TV. For some reason only know to Sony they screwed the HDMI switching sofware up on the last V and W series TVs so that I can't use my Harmony to go to the HDMI ports directly but have to use a convoluted macro system that to my family is not exceptable so I use the componet inputs from my HD STB. In the X series Sony fixed this problem but as usual no retrofit software is avaialble.. If I had a certified box it would never get used unless I drove the TV input swtching..

Regards,

Old3eyes

65notout

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#192016 25-Jan-2009 20:28

Thanks cyril7 for the offer of assistance. I'll see how the alternate STB works first, as I'm committed to my current installer for this.

Interesting comments on different FV boxes and quality. I always thought a box was a box as far as signal output goes. I'm power-learning here!

65notout

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#192019 25-Jan-2009 20:48

sbiddle: One thing to factor in is that with a TV of that size and particularly a full HD panel that SD content will never look that great. HD content will look absolutely stunning.

Yup, it does indeed. I'm watching rubbish just to see it in HD.

In a fit of HD enthusiasm a couple of days later I bought a Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector for my bedroom (with a second SkyHDi upgrade) to replace a 3yr-old Infocus, and the picture quality seems to be even better than the plasma if that's possible. Not only is it larger - I'm getting an 80" 16:9 picture - but it treats the aspect ratio of non 16:9 channels far kinder than the plasma. For example, the Living Channel on 8 seems to be permanently on some kind of wide screen distortion on the plasma, but this fisheye effect is considerably lessened on the AE3000. I've gone through all the inhouse settings for both plasma and Sky, but can only reduce the problem by changing to 14:9 or Zoom 1.

Now I'm trying to find ways to get Freeview into the bedroom, but that's a lot harder to do with its location and the need to keep cabling to a minimum.

sbiddle

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#192020 25-Jan-2009 20:57

All Sky channels are broadcast in fulltime 16:9 regardless of whether the channels are 16:9 or 4:3 - living is only a 4:3 channel and I haven't noticed any issues with it. I'm not quite sure why you would bother with 14:9 zoom, all you end up doing is losing the top and bottom of the image.

What is your TV doing that you believe isn't working properly?

lchiu7

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#192035 25-Jan-2009 23:11

65notout:
sbiddle: One thing to factor in is that with a TV of that size and particularly a full HD panel that SD content will never look that great. HD content will look absolutely stunning.

Yup, it does indeed. I'm watching rubbish just to see it in HD.

In a fit of HD enthusiasm a couple of days later I bought a Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector for my bedroom (with a second SkyHDi upgrade) to replace a 3yr-old Infocus,..

A 65" plasma and a 1080p projector in a few days? Whatever job you have, I want to be doing that also :-)

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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