HDTV quality getting worse?

[mmntech]

I have satellite, Bell ExpressVu. Quality still looks pretty good to me without any noticeable compression artefacts.

One thing that baffles me about cable is why they still carry SD stations. Especially when most of them have an HD counterpart. Most cable boxes can down convert to 480i. Seems like a big waste of bandwidth.

 

[tential]

Man watching football on Fox right now and what appears to be compression artifacts is really bad on every shot that isn't close to the players. Has it really always been like this? Sitting closer than I usually do, picture looks like shit

You'll get a mixed bag of reports on this op because
A) most people aren't pq enthusiasts
B) most people watch on very tiny tvs very far away from their TV set (yes people with 50 inch tvs you're included)

I notice the differences in crispness of pq now but I'm also sitting less than 8 feet away from an 80 inch display.

 

[postmortemIA]

I notice the differences in crispness of pq now but I'm also sitting less than 8 feet away from an 80 inch display.

you're too close to the TV
http://www.rtings.com/info/television-size-to-distance-relationship

 

[Childs]

I think FOX's OTA had been bad this weekend. I normally don't have a problem watching their games, but both games were crappy reception wise, and NBC and CBS were fine. And where I'm located, all the stations are basically in the same place. Its like their tower was outputting less or something.

 

[MarkXIX]

Pfft...yesterday the issue I had was that apparently the local Fox affiliate wanted more money out of Cox cable, so Cox had an "infomercial" playing during the entire game explaining how they were the good guys and Fox were the bad guys and how we should tell Fox they're bad.

 

[MustISO]

The game on CBS looks a lot better

It was pretty good but for me not nearly as good as fox. I noticed a lot of what look like compression under certain circumstances.

 

[Sonikku]

All sports broadcasts must be broadcast in 4000p immediately.

 

[zerocool84]

Pfft...yesterday the issue I had was that apparently the local Fox affiliate wanted more money out of Cox cable, so Cox had an "infomercial" playing during the entire game explaining how they were the good guys and Fox were the bad guys and how we should tell Fox they're bad.

That happens a lot. Dish Network has been going through that right now with Fox. The broadcast companies want more and more money of course.

 

[tential]

you're too close to the TV
http://www.rtings.com/info/television-size-to-distance-relationship

"How do you calculate the best seat-to-screen distance for a TV or projection screen? Divide the size of your screen by .84 (screen size is measured diagonally). For example, a 65-inch TV divided by .84 equals a 77-inch viewing distance (6.5 feet)."
http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/home-theater/hdtv-set-up/

80/.84 = ~95 inches

Comes out to be a little less than 8 feet after the math is done. (Slightly over 7 feet 11 inches).

So using 1 calculator isn't ideal. And a calculator that doesn't even go above 75 inches? Come on...

I didn't pick this viewing distance by THX by the way, I picked it by what felt most "natural" to me for full image viewing. It CERTAINLY won't work for most people's rooms. I use it in my bedroom. Lay down, watch a movie. Or post online like I'm doing now.

 

[Ken g6]

Does your FOX station have one or more digital subchannels besides the main one? x.2, x.3, etc? They have a total bandwidth available for all channels together, so if there's more than one subchannel all the channels suffer in quality.

 

[smitbret]

I think FOX's OTA had been bad this weekend. I normally don't have a problem watching their games, but both games were crappy reception wise, and NBC and CBS were fine. And where I'm located, all the stations are basically in the same place. Its like their tower was outputting less or something.

It's digital. PQ is not affected by the strength of the signal.

 

[destrekor]

It's digital. PQ is not affected by the strength of the signal.

? It doesn't get fuzzier or softer, no. But you can get far more artifacts. I'd say that is PQ suffering.

 

[MrRamon]

I have rabbit ears and the picture was perfect.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Depends on a lot of things, the actual broadcast, the provider, and the actual content.

What really pisses me off is wide screen content in which they added bars to make it 4:3, then it ends up being completely letterboxed. NEVER ADD BARS! Let the TV handle it.

When I was still with the cable company most of their HD channels would have blocks and crap all the time. One time I had to laugh, because there was a commercial for that company saying how if you switch to them you get better HD, and it actually froze up right on the commercial. :awe:

Since I've been on FTTH service it's been flawless though.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I prefer 720p/60 fps over 1080p/30 fps.

My tv is 60 inches though. If you have a larger display or a projector, 1080p is definitely preferable.

I'm pretty sure for OTA the max is 1080i not 1080p.

 

[Childs]

It's digital. PQ is not affected by the strength of the signal.

The signal was intermittent. Sometimes the picture would drop out completely, sometimes just artifact, and others just audio only. Other times when I have randomly checked the FOX channel it seemed fine, but during games its been bad this year. Now, NFL games are the only time I watch the channel for 3 hours straight, so it may just be coincidence, but this doesn't happen on CBS, NBC, and ABC (college).

 

[NoTine42]

I'm pretty sure for OTA the max is 1080i not 1080p.

Most OTA is 1080/60i or 720/60p
But the ATSC spec does allow 1080/30p. I think some providers have some movie PPV channels that are 1080/30p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Television_Systems_Committee_standards

 

[sdifox]

The signal was intermittent. Sometimes the picture would drop out completely, sometimes just artifact, and others just audio only. Other times when I have randomly checked the FOX channel it seemed fine, but during games its been bad this year. Now, NFL games are the only time I watch the channel for 3 hours straight, so it may just be coincidence, but this doesn't happen on CBS, NBC, and ABC (college).

That is just poor reception. time to tinker with orientation.