Bell HD PQ - Has it improved?

  • Thread starter Thread starter swansongtoo
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Any specific Channels you are noticing the improvement on? For me I find FOX HD East too look really good compared to before...
 
I believe the low volume on SD channels is something that has been an issue for a very long time and not just with BTV but with just about every company as a whole and it has something to do with the feed itself which has not been able to be resolved. I believe that there is actually a TV (can't recall the make) that actually has a builtin feature which increases the volume when it senses the low volume issue.

I'm not sure how they've fixed it with the HD channels but it is odd that i have the volume set at 6 on my TV for HD channels but about 24 for SD channels. Theres likely a thread all about this problem so if this gets moved than thats fine!
 
I agree that volume difference has always been there but to my ear it seems to be much worse lately.

If HD quality is up, logically in mind, something would have to give if there is only so much bandwidth (if I can use that term with satellite) to go around. Too bad though, there are still so SD channels that I like to watch.
 
Yes spoonky, that is what BEV should be receiving and sending out to its customers (1080i).... but as we all now know, BEV changes all 1080i signals to 720p for space saving purposes on their 3ch /transponder transmissions.
I've been calling BEV as often as I can to get this changed, but talking to BEV is like talking to a brick wall. I diots that they are...... QUALITY OF HD PICTURE OVER QUANTITY OF HD CHANNELS!! ARE YOU LISTENING BELL!!
What good is it to call yourself the nations leading provider of the most HD channels .... when those channels still look like crap half of the time. Ho, and I am stating this after the perceived improved PQ!!


Paul
 
Hey Mike, your logic seems to be correct and if we follow it through to the end than why the heck are channels looking worst these last couple of days when certain channels have been deleted from the EPG !?

Believe me on a 60" (calibrated) Kuro panel I could certainly make out most flaws in the signal!!

Paul
 
I agree with the above poster about the image quality being worse. I watched a few NHL games on TSN HD before Christmas and the picture quality was really good with no macroblocking on movement. Then I tried to watch the gold medal game of the juniors and there was lots of macroblocking on any movement of the main camera visible on the ice surface. I too have the 60" Pioneer Kuro.
 
How is the Hd quality now compared to a year and a half ago? I gave it up a year ago mainly because of the 6100 receiver which used to freeze a lot. Is the quality any better now, are the receivers any better now? Thinking of signing up again to see if its improved.
 
Paulo, so which HD channels would you drop? Before you answer be prepared for an argument from the people in this forum. No matter what channels you pick there are others who would be on the phone to Bell in a minute if they thought the channel(s) might be cut. They all have their adherents.

Also look at it from Bell's standpoint. If they cut channels, how would they position the change? Trying to explain that they have dropped channels to obtain better PQ would go over J6P's head. It's much easier to show that they have more HD than anyone else because they can put a quantity on it. That is something that everyone can understand and they can market. Bell's problem is the technology. There is a limitation on their satellites that can't be gotten around either quickly or cheaply. If it's not acceptable then look for another provider. If you are in a situation where there isn't one, well that's tough.
 
Hey reidw, I fully understand the "quantity" issue with the # of Ch for BEV, my statement was somewhat rhetorical, but anyway.....
I for one should not have to go and look for another provider when BEV was very capable in the past of providing some great PQ.
Just as an example, I watched "Brotherhood" on TMN last night and the PQ was the best I've seen in a long time, in fact , I'll go so far as to say it was one of the best PQ episodes I have ever seen.
Now, having said that, I flipped the channel to watch "house" and it was no where near the PQ of " Brotherhood". CONSISTENCY MY FRIEND, CONSISTENCY!

Paul
 
TMN is a premium channel. I suspect Bell tweaks their system to give it extra bits at the expense of House. The problem is Bell can't tweak all their channels that way. At the moment something's got to give. They just don't have the capacity to be top notch and consistent at the same time.
 
wasn't it a few years ago that bell used to give the abc's nbc' and cbs's version of hd on regeral recievers and they called it superdefinition.than all the duplicate hd channell ans regular channels can be merged into one.people without hd reciever recieve hd version and people with regular reciever recieve suprdef version.that way they would have enough remove to put up about 7 more hd channels just a thought.
 
The picture look crisper lately.
Can anybody check and confirm that they are still at 720?
 
I have the 50" Kuro Elite and haven't noticed any difference in picture quality on the programming I watch.

-Mike
 
I mainly noticed the networks look much better than they have in a long while. PQ on HD Hockey is nice to watch again. I've had HD since 2002 and the PQ has really gone down hill in the last few years. I've got a 6000 hooked up to a Hitachi CRT RPTV and a 6141 hooked up to a Sharp LCD. Don't notice much difference on the Sharp since LCD insn't that clear to begin with but the PQ on the Hitachi is way up. It's nice to see the fine detail in the picture again. CSI and its variants is actually back to being gross at times.
 
Well, to be clear, Bell's HD PQ is still very poor IMHO. It has noticeably improved in certain programs in the last few months, but it's still not near the original quality a few years ago. Some programs seem relatively compression artifact free, but are still much softer than they were before. Others are a bit of a mess (sports, mostly) with artifacts and such. Even a couple of years ago the 1080i programming would have lots of macro-blocking on fast changing scenes, but at least most of the time it was fairly pristine.

On my 53" 1080i rear projection TV, the most noticeable difference is the lack of "pop" and depth in the picture. Looking at a typical prime-time program is usually not objectionable (like it was late 2007, early 2008), but lacks the "wow" factor that used to be present. And no, this is not just my perception changing over time, the WOW is plenty present when I view BluRay content on the same setup. I'm not sure if it's over-compression or the down-rez to 720p vs 1080i at this point, but it still doesn't resemble what it could / should / was intended to be when the broadcast HDTV specifications were created (1 1080i MPEG2 channel per transponder).

Someday we'll be able to download real HD quality programming over fibre, until then, we're stuck with the lowest-common denominator (more channels, less PQ). A lot of people can't really tell the difference between mediocre PQ and good PQ, but they value more channels, even if they'll never watch them.

Unless a premium HD service were to emerge, but be ready to pay for it.

Regards,
Ken
 
Mike, what programming are you mostly watching on HD. I for one find that Ch #840 TMN is very consistant in terms of PQ, it is actually very good for the most part... take a channel like ABC and it is hit and miss.

Paul
 
I've noticed NFL broadcasts look alot better also, I happened to catch The Polar Express in HD on channel 804 and it looked pristined with no artifacts at all.
 
Does Bell have any plans to start transmitting in 1080i instead of 720p? I thought the bandwith requirements were pretty close to each other. I know the networks are divided on which ones broadcast in which format, but you'd think with almost all new HDTVs being 1080p native, it would make sense to do the least converting possible. As it now stands if I watch a CBS HD broadcast, it starts in 1080i, Bell converts it to 720p, then my TV has to convert it back to 1080p. That's gotta be responsible for some loss in PQ.

Having said all that, when CBC had Monsters Inc. on a few weeks ago, the picture was absolutely stunning. I wish I'd thought to record it.
 
I think it depends on some of the shows too.

My girlfriend was watching Regis and Kelly and it looked like crap. Dr Phil looked awesome though. I SWEAR IT WAS HER... LOL

Both were CTV HD. So I dunno.


I have a 67" Samsung LED DLP, so it's noticeable if the quality is worse.

The Habs game last night looked great on both RDS and RSN2. Even better was the 6-2 final score LOL

Gotta love being a Habs fan in T.O! :P
 
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