Any reference quality HD channels about?

[intracube]

So I've just started picking up HD for the first time in a few years and am a bit surprised (OK, not that surprised) that the picture quality has got even worse.

Images are sharp, but there's strong noise reduction going on with all the Freesat channels I've watched. Sensor noise/film grain is all but non-existant and faces look plastic - all low contrast, fine detail has been scrubbed.

Are there any unencrypted channels that match good blu-ray discs?

EDIT: can include channels not on 28.2E. I've got an old dish pointed at 19.2E but I managed to drill through the cable a few years back... Any decent HD on there to make a repair worthwhile?

 

[sonnetpete]

I find that some of the German channels on 19.2E are pretty good quality. Out of all of them Servus TV is worth a look. A couple of Turkish ones on 42E are excellent quality. You won't find any of them up to BluRay standards though (mainly because no mainstream channels broadcast at 1080p yet)

 

[dxhound2003]

I am no expert, but before UHD/4K I think there was no broadcasting in "ordinary" HD which matched blu-ray. If it is a few years since you had HD I'm a bit surprised that you can recall the quality from back then. My eyesight and yours would not be the same, and it's unlikely that we have the same TV sets. These are factors which would affect any comparison I could offer. To me all the HD channels on 28 East look the same as they always have. You would probably have to tune in all of them to find the one which gives you the perceived best quality.

A quick google search shows that people were complaining about a deterioration in BBC HD quality back in 2009 and in the years since.

 

[intracube]

I find that some of the German channels on 19.2E are pretty good quality. Out of all of them Servus TV is worth a look. A couple of Turkish ones on 42E are excellent quality.

Yep, there used to be some high-bitrate SD channels on 19.2E. I'll have to get the dish plumbed in again. I've got a 1m dish, but I doubt I can point it to 42E. It's probably a bit small anyway.

If it is a few years since you had HD I'm a bit surprised that you can recall the quality from back then.

I recorded some bits and pieces straight to disk
(original streams, no re-encoding)

A quick google search shows that people were complaining about a deterioration in BBC HD quality back in 2009 and in the years since.

Yep, it wasn't brilliant then, but still OK for casual viewing.

 

[Terryl]

I don't think you will find many satellite signal providers broadcasting in 1080i as it takes up a ton of transponder bandwidth, the transponders only have room for about 32 SD channels, and that goes down when they use 720P HD, they have to use some form of compression to get HD channels on the transponders in use today, over here in the US one large satellite provider has changed almost all it's transponders and channels to 8psk modulation and MPEG 4 compression, this may be to get more channels onto a very busy transponder, or in some cases switch to 1080i programming on some.

There are a few birds I can pick up that directly broadcast in 1080i and they are the PBS feeds on 125W, but they only have 3 channels on the one transponder.

It's all in the allowable bandwidth of the transponder, unless they go to something like 16 or 32 PSK modulation they would not be able to go to 1080i if the transponder is full of channels right now.

 

[intracube]

I don't think you will find many satellite signal providers broadcasting in 1080i as it takes up a ton of transponder bandwidth

Most of the channels here in the UK are in 1080i but the bitrate is being squeezed. Mediainfo says the average video rate is anywhere from 4.7 to 9Mbps.

15Mbps should probably be the minimum for a lot of content. If there's not much movement or noise/grain, then content will compress a lot more easily. But there needs to be enough headroom on the transponders for more demanding stuff...

I read through the BBC blogs a while back and there were some comments suggesting the BBC is aiming for a level playing field between satellite and terrestrial (OTA in the US). Bandwidth on terrestrial has always been a limitation, so satellite ends up hobbled too.

 

[Captain Jack]

I find Sky Sports channels to be of pretty good quality. BT Sport and Sky movie channels also look respectable.

 

[davemurgtroyd]

The best channel on 28E is almost certainly NHK World HD

 

[sonnetpete]

The best channel on 28E is almost certainly NHK World HD

Yes definitely, I'd forgotten about them..

 

[battenfan]

I agree with NHK and Servus. SuperTennis at 13E can be pretty good sometimes depending on source. I wish all channels looked like the opera feeds.

 

[Channel Hopper]

I find Sky Sports channels to be of pretty good quality. BT Sport and Sky movie channels also look respectable.

 

[Captain Jack]

Ah nostalgia! I remember being able to decrypt this using PC TV card and some software. Was a bit wobbly but it worked. Premiere's Syster/Nagravision (of the analogue variety) was much better.

Or a subscription card...

 

[smoggy07]

Ah nostalgia! I remember being able to decrypt this using PC TV card and some software. Was a bit wobbly but it worked. Premiere's Syster/Nagravision (of the analogue variety) was much better.

Or a subscription card...

Slightly OT
Anyone got any info on decrypting Syster? Apparently the UK police use Syster encryption to secure (hahaha) their helicopter video downlinks on 2.4Ghz to 3Ghz and with a bit of tinkering you can receive the downlinks on a modified videosender/digisender

I've got a few Craplin videosenders here somewhere and living near to the English equivalent of Beirut (trip to Southbank, Middlesbrough anyone?) the copper chopper is always overhead lol

 

[Tururu]

Measuring equipment, VU + DUO2 with Openspa 4.3./Compared with Rover SRM-50.
------------
Equipo de medida, VU+DUO2 con Openspa 4.3./Comparado con Rover SRM-50.

Octubre-2015 +/-19:30 BitRate de algunos canales/BitRate some channels.

28'2ºEste
The Box.- 1656Kb/s 192Kb/s
Blis.- 1225Kb/s 192Kb/s
BBC News HD.- 3670-4856Kb/s 192Kb/s
BBC One Scot HD.- 3670-4856Kb/s 192Kb/s
BBC One Wal HD.- 3216Kb/s 192Kb/s
C4L.- 2800Kb/s 192Kb/s
E4.- 1928-2088Kb/s 192Kb/s
ITV HD 11097V.- 8330-9072Kb/s 384Kb/s
ITV Wales HD 11052H.- 7844-8632Kb/s 192Kb/s
ITV2 HD 11052H.- 8200-9140Kb/s 192Kb/s
ITV4 HD 11052H.- 14700Kb/s 384Kb/s
ITV HD 11052H.- 12080Kb/s 384Kb/s (disculpas/Sorry).
Kerrangl 12480V.- 2600Kb/s 192Kb/s
NHK World HD.- 9744-9766Kb/s 384Kb/s (fijos/fixed).

19'2ºEste
RT HD.- 7296Kb/s 192Kb/s
3 SAT HD.- 11820-12280Kb/s 448Kb/s
KIKA SD.- 4023Kb/s 448Kb/s
KIKA HD.- 11300-13300Kb/s 448Kb/s
ZDF.Info HD.- 9750-12022Kb/s 448Kb/s
ZDF.Kultur HD.- 13540-13640Kb/s 448Kb/s
ZDF HD.- 12592- 12700Kb/s 448Kb/s
Einsfestival HD.- 12402-13000Kb/s 448Kb/s
Einsfestival SD.- 4900-5580Kb/s 448Kb/s
Phoenix.- 4800-5280Kb/s 192Kb/s
Eurosport SD.- 3700-4232Kb/s 192Kb/s
Canal+ HD.- 3800-8800Kb/s 192Kb/s
Estrenos HD.- 5200-5600Kb/s 384Kb/s
Liga HD.- 13500-14500Kb/s 192Kb/s (los demas sin emision), otras veces 9100Kb/s.
TNT HD.- 6668-6800Kb/s 392Kb/s
TCM HD.- 7400-8300Kb/s 392Kb/s
Hollywood HD.- 5700-6892Kb/s 192Kb/s

13ºEste
Supertennis HD.- 4114-4248Kb/s 256Kb/s

El valor del BitRate es variable.
Por eso indico dia y hora +/- indicando el minimo y el maximo, cuando solo es un valor, no se movio durante el tiempo de prueba, en el canal NHK World HD, al dar el tiempo con imagenes fijas es normal que no bailara, pero al dar una noticia solo subio a 9766Kb/s fijos.
Ahora solo señales fuertes, esta lloviendo y estoy "ciego".
----------
The value of the bitrate is variable.
Therefore indicate +/- day and time indicating the minimum and maximum, when only one value, I did not move during the test time, in the NHK World HD channel, to give time with still pictures is normal not dance but to give a news single rose to 9766Kb/s fixed.
Now only strong signals, it is raining and I "blind".

Algunas fotos de las mediciones BitRate, con VU+DUO2 y analizador de Espectro Rover SRM-50 para comparar.
Some photos of measurements BitRate with VU+DUO2 and spectrum analyzer Rover SRM-50 to compare.

PS: Good fishing/Buena pescas.

 

[Pietclock]

Dont forget to substract the NALU filler zeroes ! Most channels use them, so bitrates appear higher than they really are. All the ARD channels are using them, the BBC and ITV. Channel 4 HD only in a very limited way. Channel 4 HD is the reference channel for 1080i HD for me, BBC has gone too low with their netto datarate (sometimes goes down as low as 2Mbit/s). When it comes to 720p "Das Erste" is quote good, very detailed encoding. ZDF has good encoders as well, they dont use NALU fillers at all at the moment, so their datarates are really very high. However the playout system they use has a technical error since May when broadcasting movies and series.... but they are best for sports, esp. football.

 

[Tururu]

Gracias por la informacion/Thanks for the info.