BBC HD: Campaign for better picture quality
Since August and the reduced BBC HD bitrate and subsequent reduction in picture quality, thousands of people have complained or vented their anger on various blogs and forums – me included!
But Paul Eaton seems to of taken the bull by the horns and gone straight to the door of the BBC for answers.
As you can see from his website BBC FOI HD, other broadcasters are transmitting High Definition at much higher bitrates and with better picture quality. We are being short changed here in the UK when it comes to Free To Air HD channels. Not just in terms of the number of channels currently available on Freesat – two (ish) channels, but even in respect to the four that will soon be on Freeview. HD can and should be of the highest standards and much more widely available. It should be as a matter of principle and the British viewer should insist on this. So in additional to the lack of channels/content the BBC’s decision to reduce the bitrate and the use of new HD encoders quite simply falls way short. The picture quality in my opinion is at best good, when once it was stunning. But too many programmes are soft with blurry motion.
Proof of the Pudding: The following is totally genuine: last evening Life was on BBC1 and BBC HD. My partner was watching it on BBC1. I asked her to goto Freesat channel 108 as the remote was next to her. She is not as keen eyed as me but did guess what her words were. Without prompting and without knowing of the ongoing debate about this subject, her words were (and I swear) “I cant’ see any difference”. It did make me smile, yet sad at the same time!
If you are passionate about HD and the current issues regarding BBC HD, please support Paul Eaton’s campaign. He is probably investing quite a lot of time and energy on this.
Keep up the good work Paul!
