GET OFF YOUR SOAP BOX!

Viewer’s miss goal – ITV HD’s pathetic incompetence rears it’s ugly head again!

All the hype, all the anticipation and we are let down again. No, not the England football teams performance in the first World Cup game…ITV HD of course.

There is plenty of outcry this morning about ITV HD’s cock up/gaffe last night meaning we all missed Gerrard’s goal against the United States. But, for Freesat users who have had to endure ITV’s attempt at providing a ’so called’ HD service, it will come as no surprise.

Ever since ITV launched it’s HD red button service, Freesat viewers have been left frustrated by mediocre picture quality, a litany of cock ups, a lack of information and HD transmissions either not occurring or being shown in standard definition.

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April will see the launch of ITV1 in High Definition via it’s own dedicated channel. This will be available on Freesat, Virgin and Sky and it won’t be too long before Freeview HD arrives.

ITV1’s Standard Definition picture quality on satellite has, up until recently, be appalling so even if programmes are upscaled this will be great news.

I just hope they transmit at a decent bit rate. If not we will have another online mutiny that has belied BBC HD since August last year.

C4 HD is still only available via SKY due to some 3000 year contract that seems to have no end date. Considering C4 is paid for by you and me I think it is a disgrace.

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Welcome to the future of U.K. Television – available on a screen near you…soon?

I do like to have a moan on this blog, but am more than happy to ’sing the praises’ when it is due. And I think this should be greeted with a whole heap of positivity.

Project Canvas isn’t some dodgy dossier being scripted by Whitehall Mandarins in readiness for a bit more regime change. It is a proposed partnership between broadcasters and internet service providers with a view to establishing an internet-connected platform. Those signed up to the project are the BBC, ITV, C4, FIVE, BT and Talk Talk.

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Stop! Stop everything! Everything is OK. Nothing to worry about regarding BBC HD picture quality. All sorted, Which? Labs have decreed that BBC HD is ‘in the clear’!

Phew!

Even though it is Christmas Day those backing the Campaign for BBC HD picture quality never rest. In between Christmas Dinner courses Paul Eaton sniffed out a little interesting piece of opinion from Which? Labs. After ‘expert’ viewing panels compared BBC HD material from before and after the August bitrate and encoder changes, Michael Briggs, Which? TV expert said:

‘Even with the change in picture quality between programmes we assert that all BBC HD broadcasts are all of an HD quality. If there is any difference between the new HD broadcasts and the old HD broadcasts, then it is tiny, and smaller than the existing differences between any two HD programmes filmed in a studio or on location.’

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As 2009 draws to an end and with the growing momentum behind the BBC HD Picture Quality Campaign I thought I would sit down, put my feet up and watch a bit of TV. Bridget Jones on ITV and on pressing the red button, she appeared in glorious High Definition. Well, that’s maybe a slight exaggeration. Whilst all the attention amongst viewers has been directed at BBC HD and it’s picture issues and bitrate, I, for one, had forgotten about the mediocre HD service from ITV.

So why is it easy to forget ITV HD?

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