GET OFF YOUR SOAP BOX!

The BBC News Technology page is running a story titled “Most of the UK missing out on HD”. Well, based on the picture quality of the BBC’s HD channel since August this year the title couldn’t be more apt.

Blogs and forums are rife with thousands of people up in arms about the degradation of the transmissions. And what makes it worse is that the Head of BBC HD, Danielle Nagler, has been defending her departments position that the picture quality has not changed for the worse since August 2009. Have a little root around the internet and you will see that basically, there is ‘hell up’. And her latest cleverly crafted blog post, titled, BBC HD Picture Quality: Some myths laid to rest, in which she has ‘drawn a line’ on the subject, is being seen by many as an attempt to filibuster the subject.

BBC HD used to stunning but in August the BBC reduced the bitrate at which programmes are transmitted by 40%! To compensate they introduced new encoders to compress the same detail/information into this lower bitrate. OK, I don’t blame them in principle but it has not worked.

I bought a Freesat HD box last year for one reason only..to enjoy HD programmes on my HD Ready TV. And joy of joys BBC HD picture quality was superb. Then during the summer, having just turned 40, I thought my eyes were starting to pack up. I swear, I honestly thought I needed glasses. The HD picture was not a sharp or detailed. There was motion blur on some programmes. So, onto the internet and I soon came across the hot topic of the BBC HD bitrate. I even added my voice to a couple of the forums.

But it seems that the BBC deny what thousands of people are seeing daily. Andy Quested, BBC’s Principal Technologist for HD has done some great blogs on the subject and Danielle Nagler has continued to defend what they both see has no change to picture quality. The problem is that it is starting to look like BBC propaganda, Emperors new clothes and all that.

HD Ready TV’s upscale normal standard definition signals to basically ‘fill the screen’. Upscaling is a visual bridge and most do quite a good job but in reality falls way short of HD at 720 or 1080 resolution. Problem is that BBC HD picture quality has gone down hill so much, that on a few occasions I had to check what channel I was on, BBC One/Two or BBC HD as I couldn’t see much of a difference.

I’m pleased that thousands see what I am seeing. I didn’t fancy splashing out, or indeed, wanted to be wearing glasses just yet. But there is a more serious point here. Those in charge of BBC HD have to face up to their responsibilities and be accountable. The BBC has already let us down with just one HD channel. We will soon be in 2010 and the amount of HD material from our broadcasters/OFCOM has been appalling. ITV HD (via the Freesat Red Button) has been very hit and miss to say the least! Our BBC should be delivering at least BBC1 and BBC2 in HD already. Secondly, those in charge can no longer ignore the fact that the bitrate reduction has affected the picture quality. Technical excuses are not working. This issue is not going to go away. When the pack smells blood….

Should of gone to Specsavers Danielle!

Do you think the BBC HD picture quality is worse? Let us know.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 6:42 pm and is filed under BBC HD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.