'Lines' on some broadcast material

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SamF

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#132333 17-Oct-2013 23:50

I am having some issues with image quality on my HTPC Freeview Tuner (Hauppauge & MediaPortal). I have only noticed this on 3News and occasionally Campbell Live (although these programs are by far what I watch the most of on live TV), but strangely, it is only certain footage that has issues.

What I see looks like vertical 'lines' in the picture (see the following examples - partial frames). It can vary between 2 different types of footage, changing from one moment to the next from terrible to perfect. This almost looks like pixelation, or Low-Def video, but I would have thought that 3News should have Hi-Def video for everything!?

This image is one of the worst I've seen. Look at the dirt piles for the best example.

This Image is from Campbell Live. Note the lines on the guy's left cheek and on his hair, eyes, nose, teeth & lips & to a lesser extent on his sweater.

Just in case you're wondering, I get perfect clarity on pretty much everything else:

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

PS. Why can't I get the full width of my images showing?

ZollyMonsta

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#916817 18-Oct-2013 07:05

I can't see them on my iPad screen for some reason, but sounds like its interlacing issues.

I see it all the time on some TVNZ content too.

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bazzer

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#916823 18-Oct-2013 07:43

ZollyMonsta: I can't see them on my iPad screen for some reason, but sounds like its interlacing issues.

I see it all the time on some TVNZ content too.

Interlacing wouldn't be vertical lines would it? It looks like it's just the content to me. TV3 is HD, but all the news footage can't be HD.

andrewNZ

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#916830 18-Oct-2013 08:08

No, it's not deinterlacing, it would have horizontal lines as you say. I couldn't see it on my phone either, but on the PC, it's pretty clear. It's probably a codec issue.

What version of MediaPortal?
What codec do you have selected for HDTV?
What codec is it actually using to decode it? (Shift + 1 while playing)
Have you tried playing the content in VLC? (If VLC plays it without producing the lines, it's a MP specific problem)

SamF

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#919355 21-Oct-2013 19:44

Mediaportal v1.1.3
As far as I am aware HD broadcast streams are simply 'saved' to HDD as is rather than 'encoded' per-say.
Decode codec is Power DVD 10
I have tried viewing the recordings on a different PC with a different player, but with identical results.

Also, why can't all content on the news be HD? This is recent, sometimes live footage on an HD channel, surely they're using HD cameras!?

richms

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#919366 21-Oct-2013 20:00

You expect HD news from a channel that often is delivering footage over a crappy composite video link, and insist on applying so much edge enhancement to their in studio cameras that the presenters look like cardboard cutouts with a halo of ringing around them?

No way. Guy in his garage can produce HD content and stream it to ustream for not much outlay, but forget an in recievership broadcaster being able to.

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#919379 21-Oct-2013 20:12

Also, why can't all content on the news be HD? This is recent, sometimes live footage on an HD channel, surely they're using HD cameras!?

No aspect of 3 News is HD and never has been. Why would you even think this??? given it doesn't look like and has never looked to be HD. TV3 don't even play out any live sport out in HD to my knowledge. No aspect of TVNZ news is HD either. TVNZ even stated they have no intention of playing out any live news program in HD. They have started playing out sport in HD though, this only started this year.

Nothing has changed about these poor quality video links over the years. Best time to observe them is election night, you'll see good and very poor on both networks, and remember that the technology being used was maybe first used in 1973 and is entirely analog.

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hdinsider

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#919411 21-Oct-2013 21:14

3rd Degree is in HD and a part of 3 news. HD is a fairly expensive proposition for local news production. It's not just cameras...

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hdinsider

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#919417 21-Oct-2013 21:21

SamF, the vertical lines are due to video material being sent FTP to the studio. Sometimes there isn't time to feed material at full resolution and edit it ready for the news bulletin. Sometimes in news, quality takes second place to speed.

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Apsattv

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#919478 22-Oct-2013 00:13

I've been watching live satellite feeds of the Aussie bush fires for the Aussie networks, guess what? the feeds are all in SD.

hdinsider

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#919479 22-Oct-2013 00:52

Spyware:
Also, why can't all content on the news be HD? This is recent, sometimes live footage on an HD channel, surely they're using HD cameras!?

No aspect of 3 News is HD and never has been. Why would you even think this??? given it doesn't look like and has never looked to be HD. TV3 don't even play out any live sport out in HD to my knowledge. No aspect of TVNZ news is HD either. TVNZ even stated they have no intention of playing out any live news program in HD. They have started playing out sport in HD though, this only started this year.

TVNZ carried the 2008 Olympics live in HD. TVNZ and TV3 carried the 2011 RWC games live in HD. TV3 carried the 2012 Bathurst1000 live in HD. I'm sure there are more examples of live sport in HD too.

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#919501 22-Oct-2013 07:49

I'm aware of that HD sport content but neither of it was actually produced in any manner by TV 3 or TVNZ. 2008 Olympics actually completely bypassed the TVNZ studio infrastructure and fed the DVB-T encoders directly. I mean ingest, edit, playout as a product specific to them.