This topic

Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

lukef99 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 21:48:19 GMT

New to BT TV, having recently moved out from home that had always had Sky. I am in internet mode, I did intend to use aerial and bought a loft one to install as previous owners removed it however have read that quality is better on IP than aerial, and the few missing channels/2 at a time recording doesn't bother me, so have stuck with IP.

However i have to say even in IP mode, the picture quality of the freeview channels (ie ITV channels, BBC etc) seems sub standard to me? It's not awful however seems a bit blurry and not crisp how it should be, and certainly in comparison to the same channels on Sky, which is IMO far better. I have a top LG OLED that has amazing picture quality with other sources but switching back to the BT box just seems a bit lacklustre.

Has anyone else found this and have any thoughts/knowledge on it?

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

lukef99 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 22:08:04 GMT

To add I am actually pleasantly surprised with the high quality of SD channels (like E4, 4 extra), which as others on the forum have said is far superior than aerial, but the HD channels aren't as good as i feel they should be

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

NigelB72 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 05:25:59 GMT

We've got a 2023 QLED Samsung and the picture quality in IP Mode is great, better than Freeview HD because the HD channels are pushed out at 1080p and much better on the SD channels. The only thing I can suggest is to have a play with the settings on your TV and the Pro Box.

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

lukef99 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 08:12:49 GMT

It's definitely not the tv as I set my TV up when i first got it to get the best picture to my eyes, as I said other sources i.e apps on the TV, my PS5, look incredible. The NOW channels look good too and sports ultimate looks great so i don't think it's a settings thing with the bt box (there isn't really anything to play with in the bt box settings?) it just seems like the IP HD freeview channels that aren't great? To be honest i don't even think they look much different to the SD channels which look great for SD.

I was at my dads house with Sky last night and had ITV1 on and immediately noticed the difference

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

gomezz — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 09:03:07 GMT

Presumably the TV settings are per HDMI input which means that anytime you connect a new device then you need to repeat the set up for use with that device and input.

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

lukef99 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 09:20:47 GMT

Yes I'm aware of that, any time I make changes to TV settings I select apply to all inputs which copies to all HDMI inputs

To be honest I'm testing it some more now and I'm now under the impression that it's not just the freeview channels but them all including TNT and Now channels. For example I've just been flicking between the Ashes on Sky Sports cricket via the BT box and the Now app on my TV and BT version just isn't as crisp or defined as the app?

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

gomezz — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 10:27:26 GMT

"Apply to all inputs" ?

That sounds like a compromise which does not fully match the connected device and the input taking into account slight differences in manufacture interpretation of HDMI specification and manufacturing tolerances.

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

Hunter2660 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 13:56:36 GMT

I see very little difference personally between the tv's aerial input on ITV HD and BT's Multicast stream. But I see a big difference between BT's Multicast stream and the live stream on ITVX.

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

garybs29 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:47:34 GMT

I also have no issues & it's actually better quality than standard freeview so that would point toward sit being an equipment/hardware issue tbh

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

lukef99 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 15:26:55 GMT

Apply to all inputs simply means I don't have to manually set all the brightness, colour, clarity etc settings to my liking on every source, it copies the settings for me rather than starting from scratch each time. I'm 100% it has nothing to do with the TV - it's not about colour or vibrancy, the picture is fundamentally just not clear enough via bt box. I cannot comment on the difference between aerial via BT box and IP via Bt box as i haven't tried it, I have no doubt that it should be better. But in direct comparison with Sky, it is very different to my eyes

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

Hunter2660 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 18:15:29 GMT

I have a Sony 75" TV and I can tell you there is little, if any, difference between the HD channels via aerial (and that includes the Freesat signal), and BT's Multicast stream. But I have adjusted the settings manually for each HDMI source that I use.

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

DaveSwan — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 02:05:37 GMT

I did a scan of BT’s multicast ports recently and whilst it is encrypted, it’s still possible to get some data for comparison.

Using data from Digital Bitrate to compare, all IP channels have more than double the average of the broadcast platform and that’s just SD… HD goes between 8 and 10mbps.

Clearly they’re using a different codecs etc but the resolution is also higher on the IP channels, which should help too.

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

Matomo — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 09:31:12 GMT

Interesting. Nice to hear someone with some data, and that’s what I’d hoped. If they’re running at 8-10Mbit then that’s a bit higher than Freeview.

Any chance you can find out what resolution the SD and HD channels are on BT’s multicast streams?

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

NigelB72 — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 09:43:22 GMT

Not sure about the SD streams but HD are 1080p @Matomo

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

Matomo — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 09:46:48 GMT

To me the SD channels look like they’re in higher definition than Freeview so I’m curious.

Freeview HD channels are 1080i, so a slight improvement on BT.

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

NigelB72 — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 10:56:57 GMT

Freeview SD is 576i and the BT IP Freeview channels are higher so probably closer to 720i.

1080p is a lot better than the 1080i that Freeview use.

I copied this from a website

Further, 1080p is generally more vivid and realistic, which most people prefer. The higher image quality (around 60% better) comes from the fact that in 1080i, the even and odd rows of pixels aren't displayed simultaneously. In other words, 1080i is similar in quality to 720p

@Matomo

Re: Poor picture quality on IP freeview channels?

Matomo — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 11:10:42 GMT

I do think SD BT IP channels are higher, you can see they’re higher than 576i but I’d like to know for sure.