Freeview review. Well...Not really.

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old3eyes

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#284136 20-Dec-2009 09:05

I watch some TVNZ 6 & & but not 3 +1

One of the problems in the US which thankfully doesn't happen here on OTA is that they simulcast SD and HD channels over the same band.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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grolschie

911 posts

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#284151 20-Dec-2009 10:37

Regarding TV6, 7 and 3+1, we occasionally watch 3+1 if we have forgotten that a program was on and miss it by an hour or so. We don't really watch anything on 6, 7, Maori, Teo Reo, Cue, Stratos or CTV8. Maybe a bored flick through the channels sometimes.

The original poster made a few different comments, but I think one of the issues that the poster was concerned about was the picture quality on the FV DVB-S service. I don't think that the quality of DVB-T was in question. For those outside the DVB-T areas, I think the PQ on some of the main channels is a problem. I certainly remember when the PQ on 1, 2 & 3 on FV DVB-S was excellent. Just my $0.02, YMMV, etc. :-)

lchiu7

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#284161 20-Dec-2009 11:35

As usual these posts go OT after a while. From memory when I had DVB-S (until the crappy DVB-S tuner I got from TM died on me), the PQ was fairly decent and in fact, better than TCL cable. Now that I have DVB-T the difference between that and TCL cable is even more marked.

In fact with DVB-S I always watched that stream of OTA TV versus TCL cable.

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Deev8

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#284166 20-Dec-2009 12:06

sbiddle: I disagre.

Fair enough, but you don't actually seem to disagree on many points. If you re-read what I said you will see that it's very similar to your post in a number of respects.

sbiddle: Receiving crystal clear analogue TV with no signs of ghosting is really only possible if you're in direct line of site to a transmitter.

So you certainly agree on that point -as I said:

Deev8: With a perfect signal analogue picture could beat digital, but very few people could actually benefit from a perfect analogue signal.

sbiddle: There are plenty of people getting crystal clear Freeview|HD pictures who have never been able to get clear analogue TV in their life.

Again, although you say that you are disagreeing, it doesn't seem like it becasue I said:

Deev8: As the signal deteriorates, digital wins out because of it's error correction capabilities, and most people fall into that zone.

sbiddle: The problem with quoting the cliff effect for digital TV overlooks the fact that at the same signal level where digital will drop off analogue is typically so poor there is no way it's watchable.

That's what I meant about a "fuzzy snowy picture" - the fact that you can get a picture rather than none at all isn't really an advantage.

Jaxson

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#284210 20-Dec-2009 16:40

Coming back to original poster....

What set top boxes are you using?
What cable did you buy?
How are you connecting to your TV?
What TV do you have, and what aspect ratio are you using to connect it.

We may be able to assist in improving your picture quality/viewing experience.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

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#284236 20-Dec-2009 20:01

Well I have a Superview 380 DVB Satellite Receiver

I am using RG6 cable I purchased of a friend. He cut and terminated it for me. It seems to work fine everywhere else, including my WinTV HVR-3000. I connect all STBs to the TVs with RCA cables (Red, white and yellow cables)

I have a SAMSUNG 42 inch Plasma display (PS-42C91H)

I'm using a standard LNB and 75cm satellite dish which I aligned myself. (Signal average between both STB's is roughly 60% and 70% for both signal strength and quality.)

Every now and again we would be watching the news and the TV would go black and the signal would come back at the same strength. However all colours but blue and white have disappeared. After a few seconds it comes back to normal, only to happen again a few seconds later. This happens until I can't stand watching it any longer.

Parliament TV does it on specific TV scaling settings (16:9, Letterbox 16:9, 4:3 and Letterbox 4.3)
The signal is perfect on Letterbox 16:9. Yet on 16.9 it turns all blue. It does this for all other settings. If you zoom in on any setting it all turns back to normal. Zoom out again however and all is back to blue and white.

I get a perfect picture on all other TVs. I have tried defaulting the box and rescanning, but that has failed.

At times, you cannot tell if you are watching the Freeview TVNZ One or the analogue version. I live in Wellsford with no transmitter in sight surrounded by trees and hills an hour away from Auckland. There is some shadowing on channel two occasionally, however it is hardly noticeable.

I have purchased a new STB with a PVR function as a christmas present for my parents. I'm not sure if the same thing will happen, but we will see! :)

Spyware

3723 posts

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#284244 20-Dec-2009 20:37

Composite connections are really lowest common denominator. Maybe try component on the plasma, 3 leads for video YUV + 2 for audio L/R. Next choice is getting a reasonably priced DVB-S/S2 decoder with HDMI out. Anything will beat composite.

As for all the aspect ratios you like, the correct setting for parliament tv is 16:9 on both decoder and TV as it is a 16:9 channel.

Analog is 4:3 so you can always tell the difference.

As for the Superview, the actual resolution of the image coming out may be 352x288 for all we know, why buy chinese junk like this and expect decent images.

EDIT: The blue and white issue is between the chinese junk and your TV and has nothing do with Freeview DVB-S service. At that point you are dealing with the decoded analog composite output.

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DravidDavid

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#284247 20-Dec-2009 20:49

Thanks for the reply. I will see what other connections are on the back that might provide a better picture on the current STB.

Spyware: Composite connections are really lowest common denominator. Maybe try component on the
As for the Superview, the actual resolution of the image coming out may be 352x288 for all we know, why buy chinese junk like this and expect decent images.

EDIT: The blue and white issue is between the chinese junk and your TV and has nothing do with Freeview DVB-S service. At that point you are dealing with the decoded analog composite output.

As for the chinese junk. Well, you can blame my father for that. He impulse buys crap on TradeMe without doing any indepth research. it works for now. Maybe when they get their new STB from me for christmas it will have more functions and less chinese in it.

Haha! :)

Jaxson

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#284307 21-Dec-2009 10:06

60 to 70% is not good enough, you should be able to do better for the main freeview channels off Optus D1. Did you get the SBS channels on the Vertical polarity? If you did, then use these to perfect your skew of the lnb. These channels are weaker so are great for tweaking to get the optimum aignment/skew.

You are using some unknown brand satellite box and moaning about the freeview service. You're also using multiple devices which may be reducing the signal strength more.

I'd look to see if you could use better connections to the tv, and experiment witht he aspect ratios on both tv and device. I have found some budget satellite boxes don't have the right english name against the aspect ratio they output, so try 16x9 on the tv and pan scan alternative or similiar on the box.

I am aware of the blockyness you are refering to, but it comes down to the set top box more often than anything else. Freeview has a pretty good service on both sat and terrestrial, even after they reduced the bit rates earlier. So keep at it and you should be able to get a better picture for you and your family.

cyril7

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#284313 21-Dec-2009 10:23

The issues you describe regarding the picture blanking out sounds like a DC decoupling issue in the STB video output driver. The reason it probably does not have issues when you put it on 4:3LB is that the 50odd lines of black in the leadin are stabilising the DC clamping circuit in the TV. Let me guess when in 16:9 the picture normally goes bad when the top left corner of the image is high white? I suggest you purchase a STB that has been designed rather than cloned, warts and all.

cheers
Cyril

parsley

59 posts

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#284330 21-Dec-2009 11:12

sbiddle: TV networks are now largely storing content in digital formats. That content is also being recorded from cameras that are now largely using digital recording formats (remembering DV Cam has been around since the mid 90's). International satellite feeds are digital. The days of networks having analogue content are disappearing very quickly.

Right now lots of the content you see on TV is from a digital source that is required to be converted to analogue before it's broadcast on analogue TV. Any visual disturbances from the codec or compression used will be present in an analogue broadcast as well if the disturbance is from the original recording.

Softness in MPEG2 really only occurs if the compression ratio is set far too high, with H.264 this is nowhere near the same issue and our H.264 broadcasts are at a high enough bitrate to ensure this shouldn't happen within the end to end broadcast from the broadcaster to the STB/TV.

True, but remember that TV networks often store digital data in a much higher bitrate (e.g. 50 MB is not uncommon) than it's broadcast at (Sky can broadcast as low as 4 MB).

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