Bell TV HD Needs Improvement Fast

Gosh, I almost hate to come out in favour of Bell, but I've had Bell-TV in Oakville for a month now -- previously with Rogers in Mississauga -- and I can't say enough about the quality of both HD and SD.

HD is probably about the same as Rogers (excellent), but SD quality in particular is much better. I can actually read the fine print disclaimers at the bottom of advertisements.

And the PVR 9242 is so far superior feature-wise to the SA8300HD!

I'm very happy!

Sorry!

Regards, Rich
 
Because there isn't unlimited Bandwidth, and Bell would have to remove existing HD channels to accomplish that, which would cause the other half to bitch and complain. It's a no win situation.

-Mike
 
FWIW, It appears to me that that the HD quality varies quite a bit from channel to channel. Stations like HDnet, Equator and Oasis always look great. On the other hand, network programming from stations like ABC, CTV etc. can be good at times and then no better than SD at other times.

I'm thinking along the same lines as Hugh. The problem could lie with the source.
 
I also am very happy with Bell TV, SD could use some improvement quality wise but HD is right up there with the rest of them (with the exception of some US networks) people don't realize alot of times that it's there TV's that are not tuned up properly or that its a source problem or stuff like that.

Some people I guess notice a real difference, but honestly its nothing to go cry wolf about.
 
BTV did this on multiple occasions: last winter Olympics opening/closing ceremony (CBC), Oscars the same year (CBC), HDNET testing phase, MC-HD for a short time (even tried 1280x1080/60i). Except for the MC-HD, every single time there was hardly anything else on the transponder and the 9200 would start acting up ~1 hour into the show (overheating).

Also, today's BTV encoder quadrupled the GOP size (from 15 to 60 frames). That means if one frame gets screwed up, the next 59 could be mangled.
 
well the good news today is bell came out with a press release about the new nimiq 4 sat and said they will use it to enhance there HDTV channels

Originally posted by Hugh in another thread
 
Heroes looked good as usual in high def on my setup last night, no complaints here.
 
HDNet always looks good? That's even questionable. I remember when HDNet first launched how much better it looks. Just look at all the jagged edges on the HDNet station ID in the corner. This used to look a lot sharper with no jagged edges at all. (especially noticeable on the H)
 
I don't watch a lot of sitcoms in HD for these reasons. I find i save myself the frustration of dealing with audio drop outs or pixilation or various other things that seem to be poping up with the HD feeds and just go and watch it on my 27" TV and be happy about it. I did watch Californication lastnight on the movie network HD and it did look pretty good. Although most of the time those channels seem to look fine compaired to the major networks. Last week it was a bit grainy this week it looked perfect so some of it could just be random.

And if the feed is only being delivered at 720 than of course most ppl are going to notice a difference compaired to upconverted DVD's or blu ray. Same complaints seem to be comming from every provider tho. They just can't get it right.
 
Generally speaking I've found the HD quality from Bell to be pretty decent. However, Heroes this season simsubbed with the Global feed has been terrible! Full of glitches and tears and looking very soft.
 
If you think there is only marginal difference between SD and HD on Bell, you really need either a new television or new eyes. That said, Global HD has had some serious issues this past few weeks, resulting in frequent, annoying video glitches.

-Mike
 
Is it just me or did the American Networks (NBC,CBS,ABC,FOX) improve in quality just a bit???

Talking HD here.
 
Don't think I need a new tv. Just got one at the end of May (Pioneer 6010FD 1080p plasma), but maybe it is just the feeds. Like another poster said, I find the qulity seems to be different day by day. One day looks good then the next day like last night looks awful. By the way, I did notice the awful video glitches on Global HD last night and the thing I wonder is why can't Bell drop the simsub on NBC when there is obviously a problem with Global's feed.
 
"looking very soft."

That's because Global receives a 720p signal from Bell, transcodes it to 1080i to add their "On Global logo" sends it back to Bell that transcodes it again in 720p for their customers.
 
Well, I just purchaced a 9242 (an upgrade from a 6100) on a retention deal and there is a definate HD picture quality improvement with the 9242. I have a feeling there is someting wrong with the 6100 or maybe it is built with lesser quality components.

My only comlaint now is with NHL Center Ice. Compared to hockey on CBC HD, Sports Net HD, TSN HD and the Canucks Pay per View package (which are all crystal clear) the picture quality of NHL Center Ice is horrific.
 
"Not sure I got the point. Will try again: it depends."

Have you ever done image processing ?
I do for a living and all I can say is that scaling picture from one format to another require way more complicated algorithms and CPU power than deinterlacing that requires almost none. Those algorithms also introduces tons of artefacts (plus bluriness when a picture is blown up) to the original picture.

When you think that most 720p TVs on the market actually use 768 lines matrices (resulting in a blow up of the 720p signal), guess what happened to the original 1080i picture ? It's completely gone.

I will therefore stick to my point: deinterlacing has almost no influence on TV sets, unlike video scaling. But it allows TV manufacturer to charge more for those TVs (than old CRT TVs) since they require more hardware to get a proper picture. And they can charge even more for TVs that are natively displaying the original signal (1080p) since they provide a better picture, even though they could be cheaper to manufacture than 720p TVs.

But I think we're all getting used to the fact that cheaper to manufacture technology will be sold at a higher price than older technologies (CD vs LP, DVD vs VHS, ....)
 
Ok guys, there are a few things here that all add up to the poor PQ on BEV. As mentioned before:

1)The fact that all 1080i broadcast are being changed to 720P by BEV. I think this is the biggest factor PERIOD!

2)The fact that I do believe that some of the problems do begin at the source (global, NBC, etc) so it may not always be BEV fault, but couple the bad source with #1 above and the PQ gets worst.

3) Yes, sometimes certain channels are better than others, HD Net and Oasis, even TMN are sharper (most of the time, NOT ALWAYS) than say ABC, CBS, NBC.

4) The fact that the Nimiq 4 is being moved into position may cause some PQ problems. (Not sure on this one just speculating)

5) I know for certain of how good the PQ USED TO BE two or so years ago, so BEV has been capable of delivering.... I just don't know why they are not doing so!!!

Another thing that BEV should be aware of, and I'll speak for myself here, is that I much prefer quality of HD picture over quantity of HD channels. Don't get me wrong, it is not like I want to do away with The Aboriginal channel or Oasis, Treasure, Rush...... but really, besides the first time they aired..... when we were all in AAHHHH with having these channels, who has watched these programs for 2-3hrs in any given day?

Enough said, BEV really has to do something about this and quick. OH, and to the person asking if complaining to BEV will help, I really don't think it will do much to call a CSR and complain to them. You have to contact a higher "power" in order to be remotely heard.

Thanks for listening


Paul
 
I think that's the fault of the source... I here alot of complaints from people in the states with the Fox Sport Network (FSN) channels being low quality, they are probally grabbing the signal from one of the providors in the states.
 
I think there needs to be an industry standard, with minimum, measurable audio/video rates, to be called HD, so there won't be variables like brand of tv, wiring, etc, that can be blamed for the poor picture/audio quality.
My 2 cents
 
I just got bell a few days ok and so far I think the HD is just ok. I still had my comcast cable for a few days after I got bell and comcast HD did look much better.

What I really want to know is what they are planning on doing when it comes to HD theme packs. It is fine now that they only have 4 or 5 theme packs, but if they add more HD channels and continue to place them in HD theme packs consisting of 2 or 3 channels, suddenly it is going to be $20-30 dollars to get the same channels that you already have in SD. With comcast I got any channel in HD if it was available as long as I already had the channel in SD. That seems like a fair way to do it, hopefully bell will go that route.
 
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