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.


There are different receivers capable of receiving BBC HD. Even those badged Freesat will have minor differences in component quality that may affect the final PQ, and viewers will use different contrast settings for example.

Then there are the huge variety of different displays used. Not only are there variations in display type (plasma or LCD), but in resolution (1920x1080 down to 1024x768), and size (37" will looker sharper than 50"). Then there is the questions of how well they are calibrated (most likely just out of the box settings being used), and the variety of different  processing applied by the set (such as motion smoothing), and that some sets don't even perform the basics of deinterlacing as well as more expensive sets.

Then mix in the different adjustments to settings that people may have made to contrast, brighness and importantly sharpness, and it isn't difficult to see why one person might report excellent HD quality and the next say it is little better than SD.

However, all that said, the issue here is the apparent sudden and clearly (to many) visible change in HD PQ that occured post the August changes. Even if viewers don't have the best receiver, the best TV, or the ideal settings and calibration, the fact remains that given that they are viewing on the same receiver, the same TV and with the same settings and calibration as before then they still noticed a degredation in the HD PQ compared to pre-August.

That so many (over 1600 on the no 10 petition for example) claim to have noticed this renders many of these variables less significant. Even in these blog comments it is evident that people have a wide variety of equipment and yet all noticed the change.

There is also the fact that many of the viewers will also be watching HD programming on other channels, and are comparing them to BBC HD. Of course it is near impossible to do a like with like comparison between channels (though it will be interesting to compare the Winter Olympics between BBC HD and Eurosport HD), many viewers are noticing that BBC HD doesn't seem to 'measure up' to other HD channels as it once did. Again, because their equipment and settings are the same for all channels, it must be a problem in the BBC HD broadcast that is causing this perception.

A similar issue arises with production styles. Though the BBC might claim that different styles mean that programmes "may not always the bright, crisp look which for some is synonymous with HD", the fact is that the same is equally true of other channels which feature a wide range of programming. Sky Movies being a prime example where movies will vary greatly in style. And yet you rarely see complaints that the HD version of a movie looked no better than the SD version.