TV Live Forum

Inspector Sands post_id=40935 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:

Blubatt post_id=40924 time= user_id=1559 Wrote:But back on topic, the HD-ification of BBC One and Two is sorely needed.

BBC Two is HD and has been for years.

My mistake

BBC One is HD as well - it is just that the regional news in England isn't at the moment, and that means the HD version isn't 101 on Sky / Virgin / Freesat's EPG or 1 on Freeview. Switching for just the one programme appears to be an issue for at least a large number of viewers - which is why just having it on the iPlayer isn't really the objective of the exercise. It should also be said that the 6pm hour of national and regional news is relatively highly viewed (as it is on ITV).

I tried watching South Today on iPlayer and it's really hard to tell if it's a downscaled version because the PQ is shocking, despite it being 960x540. BBC London, Spotlight, Look East (West) and North West Tonight are clearly downscaled.

RR post_id=41032 time= user_id=827 Wrote:BBC One is HD as well - it is just that the regional news in England isn't at the moment, and that means the HD version isn't 101 on Sky / Virgin / Freesat's EPG or 1 on Freeview. Switching for just the one programme appears to be an issue for at least a large number of viewers - which is why just having it on the iPlayer isn't really the objective of the exercise. It should also be said that the 6pm hour of national and regional news is relatively highly viewed (as it is on ITV).

Didn't the BBC initially announce that the way to get the English Regions available in HD would be via streams?

I've managed to watch South Today on Sky tonight and it does look downscaled from 1080i.

London Lite post_id=41198 time= user_id=953 Wrote:I've managed to watch South Today on Sky tonight and it does look downscaled from 1080i.

Are the on-screen graphics still being generated by an ancient piece of kit, though? That's got to be a limiting factor, if so?

IanJRedman post_id=41250 time= user_id=958 Wrote:

London Lite post_id=41198 time= user_id=953 Wrote:I've managed to watch South Today on Sky tonight and it does look downscaled from 1080i.

Are the on-screen graphics still being generated by an ancient piece of kit, though? That's got to be a limiting factor, if so?

Until the station router and vision mixer are replaced with HD models, the final output on any platform cannot be HD. I suspect a different and/ or better/newer codec is in use at the CCM for the DTT output at present . I keep meaning to compare with D-Sat

The last I had heard (before I left the organisation a few months ago) is that the opt-switching work had been completed in all regions to allow centralised opting, but with soft-opt abilities retained. This is part of the work required for BBC One HD English Regions.

Southampton is the first region to get its gallery/control room upgraded as part of a new roll out across England. It includes new infrastructure, automation and cameras. This is all HD but the installation may not be fully complete yet or they may still be testing. For example the South Today end board had a transition effect but the name captions still appeared to be from an old output. The reason for the new screens in the studio is that the previous back projectors were SD (and very old) and would look terrible on an HD output. Presumably a cost/flexibility decision has been to go for monitors rather than projectors. Or it may be a temporary solution. The plan is to roll out the new gallery infrastructure across all regions part from London, Salford & Plymouth as they already have HD infrastructure.

hermes post_id=41301 time=1632313679 user_id=1971 Wrote:The last I had heard (before I left the organisation a few months ago) is that the opt-switching work had been completed in all regions to allow centralised opting, but with soft-opt abilities retained. This is part of the work required for BBC One HD English Regions.

Southampton is the first region to get its gallery/control room upgraded as part of a new roll out across England. It includes new infrastructure, automation and cameras. This is all HD but the installation may not be fully complete yet or they may still be testing. For example the South Today end board had a transition effect but the name captions still appeared to be from an old output. The reason for the new screens in the studio is that the previous back projectors were SD (and very old) and would look terrible on an HD output. Presumably a cost/flexibility decision has been to go for monitors rather than projectors. Or it may be a temporary solution. The plan is to roll out the new gallery infrastructure across all regions part from London, Salford & Plymouth as they already have HD infrastructure.

Does that mean most of the regions will go live without HD upgrades - so they will be upscaling?

scoobiesnacks post_id=41636 time= user_id=2129 Wrote:Does that mean most of the regions will go live without HD upgrades - so they will be upscaling?

I suppose it depends how many regions they upgrade before they go live. If the HD regions launch at the end of next year as planned then I imagine they'll mostly be done.

My local paper, the Warrington Guardian is now running an article saying BBC One North West HD will launch on 21st October. It’s the first time I’ve seen this reported in the wider press.

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/new...5ZUbNsqm0I

Excuse my pretty poor knowledge on how these things work, but are these HD region listings not more likely to be something to do with the iPlayer live streams? We know that they have a revamp ready to go which is pretty radically different (see the current beta) so it seems plausible that these listings could be linked to the expected launch date of this.

What do we currently see when we watch BBC1 live on iPlayer? Is it a HD feed (including when regional news is on)?

If it is happening it will be online rather than on a TV. As I've said several times, there is no way that it will appear on terrestrial or satellite next month

all new Phil post_id=41663 time= user_id=865 Wrote:What do we currently see when we watch BBC1 live on iPlayer? Is it a HD feed (including when regional news is on)?

You get whatever region you have set in your iPlayer settings

Inspector Sands post_id=41668 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:If it is happening it will be online rather than on a TV. As I've said several times, there is no way that it will appear on terrestrial or satellite next month

all new Phil post_id=41663 time= user_id=865 Wrote:What do we currently see when we watch BBC1 live on iPlayer? Is it a HD feed (including when regional news is on)?

You get whatever region you have set in your iPlayer settings

It’s a shame the HD ready regions aren’t already broadcasting in HD - doesn’t Breakfast (in HD) come from the same gallery as the NW opt outs (in SD)?

agentsquash post_id=41686 time= user_id=1375 Wrote:

Inspector Sands post_id=41668 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:If it is happening it will be online rather than on a TV. As I've said several times, there is no way that it will appear on terrestrial or satellite next month

all new Phil post_id=41663 time= user_id=865 Wrote:What do we currently see when we watch BBC1 live on iPlayer? Is it a HD feed (including when regional news is on)?

You get whatever region you have set in your iPlayer settings

It’s a shame the HD ready regions aren’t already broadcasting in HD - doesn’t Breakfast (in HD) come from the same gallery as the NW opt outs (in SD)?

It's not just the regional studios that need to be upgraded, it's also a large amount of codecs and multiplexers that need to installed to generate the extra HD feeds for the regions, and also extra satellite transponders on Astra need to be procured for Sky/Freesat