Just checking out the general attitude of people who seek the best quality picture from there tv , and with things like project canvas in the pipeline can they bring themselves around to watching thing like BBC iplayer or is the quality just to unbearable?
How many Blu Ray / HD subscribers Use iplayer On There TV ?
- Thread starter landzw
- Start date
Quality of BBC iPlayer on Virgin cable TV is pretty good, and you get HD prograrmmes too. Works well for me.
professorhat
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- Dec 28, 2007
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I hardly ever watch iPlayer through my PS3 as I will have generally recorded programmes I want to watch through my PVR, or I just accept that I missed them as I'm very rarely bothered too much. However, it is useful if you have missed a programme you're really interested in - the quality generally doesn't come into it too much then as the content overrides any concerns of this (similar to another discussion we had recently on BD / DVD!).
I watch iplayer on computer attached to tv with computer monitor cable and its great. yes quality is compromised slightly but i missed a programme and so watch it that way. another method is to record it. But at the end of the day it is just to watch wat i missed. I would love to watch top notch all the time. if it is improved, definitely be great
I just miss out with my internet speeds to watch HD content on freesat after about 5 min it starts to judder which is a shame
John Duncan
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- Jan 8, 2008
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I've got iPlayer on my Sony TV and the quality (on both 'high' and 'low' settings) is perfectly acceptable for what it is. It's only for Mrs JD to catch up on Eastenders really...
Freeview bitrates are typically in the range 3000-8000kbps mpeg2
Iplayer is 800kbs or 1500kbps using h264 codec for higher quality. H264 isabout twice as efficient as mpeg2.
So iplayer higher quality is as good as some of the poorer terrestrial SD channels eg itv3, but not as good as the primary SD channels eg bbc1.
Iplayer is 800kbs or 1500kbps using h264 codec for higher quality. H264 isabout twice as efficient as mpeg2.
So iplayer higher quality is as good as some of the poorer terrestrial SD channels eg itv3, but not as good as the primary SD channels eg bbc1.
scene
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- Sep 25, 2008
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edsib1:
Freeview bitrates are typically in the range 3000-8000kbps mpeg2
Iplayer is 800kbs or 1500kbps using h264 codec for higher quality. H264 isabout twice as efficient as mpeg2.
So iplayer higher quality is as good as some of the poorer terrestrial SD channels eg itv3, but not as good as the primary SD channels eg bbc1.
iPlayer on Virgin Media runs at 3000 Kbps for SD streams, using the H264 codec. As this is twice as efficient as mpeg2, it's equivalent to 6000 Kbps, which is pretty good, only just below BBC1. The HD streams are at an even higher bit rate.
Freeview bitrates are typically in the range 3000-8000kbps mpeg2
Iplayer is 800kbs or 1500kbps using h264 codec for higher quality. H264 isabout twice as efficient as mpeg2.
So iplayer higher quality is as good as some of the poorer terrestrial SD channels eg itv3, but not as good as the primary SD channels eg bbc1.
iPlayer on Virgin Media runs at 3000 Kbps for SD streams, using the H264 codec. As this is twice as efficient as mpeg2, it's equivalent to 6000 Kbps, which is pretty good, only just below BBC1. The HD streams are at an even higher bit rate.
Virgin Media was one of the first to implement BBC iPlayer on a TV platform, so a lot of development work went into it. And Virgin broadband speeds tend to be nearer what they claim than many ISPs (I regularly get 16-18Mbps on my 20Meg service, and that's via wi-fi).
chebby
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- Jun 2, 2008
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iPlayer via my ethernet connected BDP-S370 is very good. (Much better than I expected.)
If I want to keep something in slightly better PQ (and with more permanence than iPlayer) I will fire up my Panasonic DMR-EX78 and record onto it's hard-drive.
As professorhat said, it is about content and convenience rather than outright picture quality. (And freeing up my computer screen.)
iPlayer content on BBC HD is excellent (albeit 'only' 720p)
Please bear in mind all our viewing is on a 32" LCD from around 10ft distance. YMMV if you are watching on a 50" close-up and have BluRay standard expectations.
I expect from your comment in your original post...
landzw:...can they bring themselves around to watching thing like BBC iplayer or is the quality just to unbearable?
...that your PQ expectations of iPlayer are probably higher than mine for this service.
If I want to keep something in slightly better PQ (and with more permanence than iPlayer) I will fire up my Panasonic DMR-EX78 and record onto it's hard-drive.
As professorhat said, it is about content and convenience rather than outright picture quality. (And freeing up my computer screen.)
iPlayer content on BBC HD is excellent (albeit 'only' 720p)
Please bear in mind all our viewing is on a 32" LCD from around 10ft distance. YMMV if you are watching on a 50" close-up and have BluRay standard expectations.
I expect from your comment in your original post...
landzw:...can they bring themselves around to watching thing like BBC iplayer or is the quality just to unbearable?
...that your PQ expectations of iPlayer are probably higher than mine for this service.
No the picture quality is ok , it was listing to people mention about owning blu rays and not being able to watch normal dvd's and i was interested to find out if people are mixing there tech or are just one sighted
Because if blu ray / sky HD did changed people to watching high picture quality only then why would you consider putting BBCi player onto a blu ray play?
Because if blu ray / sky HD did changed people to watching high picture quality only then why would you consider putting BBCi player onto a blu ray play?
I previously used iPlayer over Freesat but found that the interface works better on my Sony S370 Blu Ray Player. Bit rates should be the same, so I suspect that the Sony is perhaps a better upscaler than the Freesat box (Humax HDR).
Best thing I watched recently was the Creation of Coronation Street film in 'HD'. I saw little to no artefacting or smearing and the quality was far better than low bit rate satellite and terrestrial TV channels (with a higher resolution, too). I honestly forgot I was watching TV over broadband on my 37" plasma screen.
A little off-topic but what I really want to see is full 1920 x 1080 resolution on BBC HD rather than 1440 x 1080. (talking about broadcast TV now, rather than iPlayer). Now that more effiicient codecs are being used, there seems to be little reason to stick with the lower res.
Best thing I watched recently was the Creation of Coronation Street film in 'HD'. I saw little to no artefacting or smearing and the quality was far better than low bit rate satellite and terrestrial TV channels (with a higher resolution, too). I honestly forgot I was watching TV over broadband on my 37" plasma screen.
A little off-topic but what I really want to see is full 1920 x 1080 resolution on BBC HD rather than 1440 x 1080. (talking about broadcast TV now, rather than iPlayer). Now that more effiicient codecs are being used, there seems to be little reason to stick with the lower res.
I think the higher bit rates will come when the average broadband speed increases but at the moment a lot of people are still having to put up with sub 1GB broadband speeds
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