Pixilisation of FreeView Satellite Picture

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83 posts

Master Geek

#222872 8-Jun-2009 23:43

openmedia:
Biggles69: Any one else notice "Freeview, Crystal Clear Digital Quality Television" is now missing from the official Freeview website, its now "NZ's Favourite TV Programmes in Digital Quality" I guess "Digital" doesn't necessarily mean good, just digital.

Also the DVD quality is now "Near DVD Quality" although 'near VCD quality' might have been more fitting ;-)

Still no mention (or apology) for the TVNZ picture quality on the website (its been over 2 months!!!) maybe if they can update the other info (cover their a$$) they can update their FAQ.

Have you complained to

1. Freeview

2. TVNZ

3. Broadcasting complaints commission

4. Advertising standard authority?

Please feel free to go for it..

I've complained to:

Freeview - Yes (multiple times)

TVNZ - Yes (multiple times)

Broadcasting complaints commission - No (can't find that one , do you mean - Broadcasting Standards Authority)

Minister of Broadcasting - Yes

Advertising standard authority? - No (Freeview no longer claim "Freeview, Crystal Clear Digital Quality Television" or "DVD Quality" on their website but they may still in print media & TV advertsing but i think they will change those soon if they haven't already)

I've even emailed the Manufacturer of the hardware encoders they are using to suggest they contactTVNZ & help them get the VBR Settings right (because TVNZ/freeview obviously don't seem to know how to set them correctly)

I just think its rank they don't even acknowledge the problem on their official website – the last news posted on the site is that TVNZ is bringing the regional TV One Feeds online (not that they are causing picture quality problems) & there is nothing in the FAQ

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richms

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#222885 9-Jun-2009 02:56

Here, I fixed the ad for them...

Richard rich.ms

Wills1

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Ultimate Geek

#224474 12-Jun-2009 19:40

Any updates on this issue?

Jaxson

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#225132 15-Jun-2009 08:58

richms:

Here, I fixed the ad for them...

Couldn't help but laugh at this! Thanks!

Sad but flippen true unfortunately. If you have a strong good singal on analogue then the above is actually true, just in 4:3 ratio is all.

Biggles69

83 posts

Master Geek

#225945 17-Jun-2009 19:57

I sent this email to freeview last week - surprise, surprise I got no response.

'Why are Freeview being so secretive about the picture quality issues on the satellite service caused by TVNZ reducing their bitrate to squeeze in 4 regional versions of TV One?
There is no info on your official website not in the news or the FAQ? What are you trying to hide?
I?ve heard reports of people returning their decoders because they thought they were faulty only to find out it?s the satellite feed that is to fault.
Be honest let your viewers know what is happening!!!!'

Either they don't think there is a problem or they are keeping it quiet.

grolschie

911 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226667 19-Jun-2009 13:01

openmedia:
toki91: They should of when dvbs2 from the start, its not to late to change

Other than the fact that it will make the 100,000 + existing freeview STBs break?

Apparently, there is a backwards compatiblity mode feature in DVB-S2?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-S2

grolschie

911 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226669 19-Jun-2009 13:03

openmedia:
Sky are expected to cease the FTA TVNZ transmissions early June.

Still going strong. :)

WaffleMakerMan

138 posts

Master Geek

#226671 19-Jun-2009 13:08

They are? Sweet i did a scan the other day and couldn't find em, ill have another look :)

Jaxson

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#228185 25-Jun-2009 09:48

Just recently I've moved my DVB-T receiver (freeview uhf HD) into another room and I've hooked up a satellite receiver for freeview DVB-S in my lounge. I have a 32" LCD TV in the lounge hooked up to component video out and didn't really expect to notice much picture difference at the viewing distance we have. (We're not right up close to the TV).

Anyway I just wanted to comment that the Satellite service is honestly a fair way behind the land based offering. I know the uhf hd service uses some pretty expensive upscallers for TV1 / TV2 etc to boost these up to 720p but what I'm noticing more is the low bit rate effects where big chunks of the screen are updated in blocks at a time. This results in something much like a youtube video where there really has been a lot of compression done to stream it. I think this is more bitrate than resolution based as this would be the result even at a higher resolution if lots of pixels were updated as one large block.

I don't remember the freeview service being like this initially and it's a bit of a surprise. Apart from the correct 16x9 aspect ration, I think you could get a comparible/better picture off the old analogue service if you had a good quality signal with low interferance. I've used a spare 80cm dish so I have a very good quality signal coming in reliably and still observe this issue. Just feel a bit sorry for anyone in a non uhf based area who relies on freeview sat for their digital connection.

garvani

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#228194 25-Jun-2009 10:16

Jaxson: Just feel a bit sorry for anyone in a non uhf based area who relies on freeview sat for their digital connection.

Yep that pretty much sums it up.. your screwed if you dont live in one of the 5 main centers.. thanks freeveiw! or tvnz more to the point. it should never have been approved, freeveiw really dropped the ball on this but complaining about it dosnt seem to make a difference. They are effectively pushing any regional viewers with a HDTV to sky (wasnt the purpose of dvb-s the opposite? oops!) as then they can actually watch tv at an acceptable level. And to top it off, regional feeds of TV1 ffs! i cant think of a worse way to waste that bandwidth, yay 3 channels of tv1, good work tvnz..

Jaxson

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#228208 25-Jun-2009 11:08

garvani: Yep that pretty much sums it up.. your screwed if you dont live in one of the 5 main centers.

Yeah that's essentially what's happening. I actually have family who live outside of UHF DVB-T areas and they have no access to a decent TV signal.

Look a lot of the time it's ok, it's just that at times it's downright ugly and that's on a par with the original analogue service where if you had a good signal, the picture was pretty good, but you'd suffer occasionally from local interference or ghosting etc. The digital service has it's own equivalent to these analogue issues, only now it's the blockyness of low bandwidth allowance.

I don't think the sat service being SD only is the major issue, I think we'd still have these issues, probably even worse if the Sat carried HD programs. The problem is that whole sections of the screen get updated together as one block, at times it's like the screen is made up of 1cm square pixels, equivalent to a less than SD resolution.

Yes you can now get a signal anywhere in the country and this is great, you don't have to be near a retransmission tower. However the quality you are getting is not that much improved over the older analogue signal and this is unfortunate.

garvani

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#228214 25-Jun-2009 11:33

If the quality of the service had of been this way from the start, there would be the odd moan from people but it would have generally been accepted as norm for the service.

But thats not the case, and not how it panned out at all, the service before tvnz borked it was phenomenal (imo, have never seen a terrestrial signal) Now its well below par, and they deny anything is wrong.

I dont expect HD out of the satellite, lets face it, its not going to happen. It would be nice to have what we originally started with. It wont happen though, so best get used to the macroblocking until D3 is launched (or whatever satellite it is that freeview will use)

Nety

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#228217 25-Jun-2009 11:34

And of course those that would normally jump all over a news story like this are well... the ones with the problem so chance of this making the news is well zero.

I am sure that if it did break the news then a lot of none tech people that have been thinking to themselfs this new Freeview is crap would come out of the woodwork and make some real noise. Noise that TV 1, 2 and to a lesser extent 3 could not ignore.

I am just glad I had the opertunity to switch to DVB-T before this all blew up.

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#228225 25-Jun-2009 12:07

I am on Freeview Sat and have a CRT TV. I have also complained to TVNZ and have not heard anything back. It really is disappointing and it sounds like it is worse on LCD's. I get blocks of pixilation and have noticed the picture is generally not as sharp as when it was first introduced. It is not consistent as some days it is not noticeable and others it is very annoying.

I do hope Freeview come up with a solution but I will not hold my breath

grolschie

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Ultimate Geek

#228330 25-Jun-2009 17:38

Analogue actually TV looks quite good presently on my TV. We have good reception. Now if only it was in widescreen. :-)

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