BBC Trust Finally Respond to Appeal regarding HD Picture Quality

The BBC Trust have finally after many months responded to the appeal. (specific link to response to be added once posted on the BBC Trust website).

Well no great surprise that the BBC Trust came down in favour of the BBC!

Roma Solar Garden Lights

I had been looking for some new garden lights for some time as the low-voltage system we had in place for many years was looking a bit tired. I wanted something eco-friendly and cheap to run, but so far any solar-powered lights I had seen were very poor. Typically they just create a point of light in the bulb itself, but little illumination of the surrounding area. So, OK as markets, but of little other use.

Then I saw this comparison of solar lights in the Daily Telegraph. This suggested that recently "both solar panel technology and LED technology have proceeded at great speed", and singled out the Roma as being the best of the bunch and actually capable of replacing conventional powered lights.  So I thought I would give them a try.

UPDATED: See comments at end re problems I have had with these lights.

BBC HD Campaign to Improve PQ - Visit to BBC

As a consequence of the complaints that many viewers made regarding what they saw as a deteriation in the picture quality (PQ) of BBC HD (including my own No 10 petition) , at the end of April I was amongst a group of people led by Paul Geaton who were invited to visit the BBC and discuss this with them.

A lengthy process followed to compile the group's feedback to the BBC, and I am pleased to say that is now finally published.

BBC HD Campaign to Improve PQ - No 10 Petition Comes to Nothing

Our new PM has temporarily let the BBC off the hook with my No. 10 Petition, as existing e-petitions will not be carried forward. Not surprising, but disappointing :(

From http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/

Existing e-petitions submitted to the previous administration, will not be carried forward to the new administration as part of this process. We will welcome resubmission on issues of concern to the improved e-petitions system when it is launched later in 2010.

I would like to think that the petition at least played a part alongside Paul Geaton's appeal to the BBC Trust in encouraging the BBC to improve PQ and introduce the recent changes such as VBR and the introduction of stat mux'ing.

Clearly if these do not have the desired effect, we can start the whole process off again.

Thanks to the 2385 people who signed it.

Comparing BBC HD Picture Quality. Too Many Variables?

The differences in HD PQ pre/post August are mainly subtle. Though there are occasional times when errors are more visible and hence the difference is claimed to be significant, on the whole I, and I think many others, are just reporting a more subtle degredation in quality that is relatively subjective - it's just not as good as it used to be in terms of overal sharpness, noise/artifacts etc.  BBC HD can still be good, but the wow factor has gone.

One challenge for the BBC and for viewers on this issue is that there still a wide number of variables that make it difficult to truely compare like with like.

Samsung SPF-87H Digital Photo Frame Review

Like many people I suspect, I rarely print our digital photographs despite having Hi-Ti 630PS Dye Sub and HP C5180 printers. There seems little point printing them and putting them in an album when it is just as easy for people to look at them on the computer screen. Also we are not into the clutter of adorning our walls and furniture with photo frames nor any other ornements, preferring a more minimal look.

However, I have been thinking about getting a digital photo frame for some time as they seem a good solution - One frame can display almost countless pictures - so I don't have to make decisions about which ones to print and which to display -  and there is none of the time, trouble, and not to mention cost, of printing them.

Even so, I never seemed to get round to it, but then our son and his girlfriend bought us a Samsung SPF-87H for Christmas. So how does it perform?

BBC HD Viewing Equipment

Given the posts regarding BBC HD picture quality that I have made, I though it might be a good idea to identify the kit I am watching it on.

Main TV is a Panasonic TH-50PZ81B. This is a Full HD plasma display with built-in Freesat HD.
Connected to this is a Thomson Sky HD box (upgraded PSU and 1gb HDD)
The Sky HD box is switched through a Denon AVR-1910 receiver, along with a Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player, and other source equipment.

In another room, we also have a Panasonic TH-42PX60. This is a HD-Ready plasma display.
Connected to this is also a Thomson Sky HD box (upgraded PSU)

We subscribe to the full Sky HD package, so have a wide choice of HD channels besides BBC HD, C4 HD and ITV HD. Hence with a Blu-ray player as well, we get to compare BBC HD with a lot of other HD material.

Casio PRW-2000 PAW-2000 watch Review

My wife bought me a Casio PRW-2000-1ER Pro Trek watch (PAW-2000 Pathfinder in some regions) for Christmas. Well I chose it, so it was no surprise, but she wrapped it and put it under the tree...

The PRW-2000 is a so called 'ABC' watch. That is, it has Altimeter, Barometer (and Temperature) and Compass functions. To that, Casio add solar-power plus synchronization with Atomic clocks world-wide via radio signal. Sunrise-sunset times, world-time, stopwatch, timer and alarms, and automatic Electo Luminescent (EL) illumination complete an impressive feature list packed into a tough (but not g-shock standard) 100m water resitant package.

So why did I choose it, and what are my impressions so far?

BBC HD Campaign to Improve PQ - Some Background Information

I thought it would be useful to add some background information - primarily by way of links to further reading - to help explain why I started the campaign

The BBC Internet HDTV Blog is the best place to read the BBC's own position on this issue, and to gauge the response it has bought from viewers.
Specifically, read the blogs by Danielle Nagler, Head of BBC HD

• Picture Quality on BBC HD: A response
• Points of View and HD Picture Quality: A response
• BBC HD Picture Quality: Some myths laid to rest

Also, the Hitchhikers Guide to Encoding, a series of more technical blogs by Andy Quested, Principal HD Technologist at BBC

As you can see, these blogs have drawn a big response from viewers.
You probably haven't got time to read them all, so I would like to single out Paul Geaton's comments as worth reading. Following some Freedom of Information (FOI) requests that Paul made, he has also escalated his own complaints about the BBC HD PQ up to the BBC Trust, and has created his own website to support this

For an interesting perspective from William Cooper, an ex-BBC executive, see BBC HD quality definition draws criticism from viewers

Meanwhile, the independent consumer body Which? claim to that it "proves no loss of quality in BBC HD signal" . Though no real detail in their testing methodology is given.