Re[2]: Sky, Sky+, Freeview

[Bill Taylor <bill-taylor@xxxxxxxx>]

hyn> Is the freeview digital picture better than an analogue
transmission?

As a general rule of thumb, yes. If the broadcasters have used too low
a bit rate for the material you can see artifacts on the digital
channels, but the main channels are pretty good most of the time.
Analogue transmissions have artifacts all the time.

hyn> I remember testing a projector and I thought the digital
transmission was
hyn> awful in comparison.

hyn> I was watching football at the time and when the camera zoomed out
you could
hyn> hardly read the numbers on the back of the shirts as it was so
pixelated.
hyn> However when tested with an analogue transmission the quality was
much much
hyn> better and the numbers could be read.

Some digital displays and TVs with digital processing seem to
exaggerate digital problems.

hyn> Has things improved since then?

Probably not; a lot of the (expensive) Sky sports channels seem to use
low bit rates and show a lot of this type of problem.

FWIW most of my viewing is of programmes recorded on a PC with a
Nebula DigiTV card and shown on a 8 foot wide projector screen and I
don't find the artifacts a problem despite being a very critical
viewer. (But then I don't watch sport!)

Bill