All posts by Trevor Harris
Below are all of Trevor Harris's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
I guess dropping quality in BBC transmissions is becoming a habit. I am suprised they have done it on main channels though. HD sound quality it noticably much better on satellite with dolby encoding stereo or surround.
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Actually I believe Freeview HD supports AAC 5.1 surround. Freeview HD could not use Dolby because of of squeezing 5 HD channels in a multiplex.
BBC - BBC Internet Blog: Questions around surround sound on Freeview HD
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Actually the BBC rarely use surround sound. There are some exceptions like the recent Dr Who. Most Sky programs do have surround sound. The surround sound on football matches is fantastic as you feel surrounded by the croud. Surround sound is available fot F1 but the BBC has never transmitted it.
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I think it all goes to show how much better satellite is. No such thing as light freesat.
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The policy of only serving a few areas is very unfair as everyone has to pay the same licence tax. The BBC has plenty of money but prefers to squander it on other things. The latest is that the BBC spent atleast £1.3m flying people to Salford over the past 2.5 years.
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If the BBC is spending more on programming than Sky just goes to show how inefficient the BBC is. The quality of BBC programming has hit an all time low. Just look at today on BBC2 hours and hours of boaring Snooker and Athletics from Serbia!. BBC 1 is not much better with that Strickly rubbish. Well thats what I think. The potters wheel was more interesting if you are an oldie and remember that. The other point is that Sky run so many more channels including 6 sports channels and 11 movie channels all in HD with surround sound.
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In my youth I was a supporter of the BBC and the licence fee as I thought it was good and alternative to commercial television. But those were the days when the BBC went to extreem lengths to produce the highest quality sound and vision.
Then DAB came along and Ofcom alowed a massive drop in bitrate and sound quality. Ofcoms own research showed that sound quality was more important to the public than choice of stations. Dispite this the BBC went on supporting DAB and have spent enormous sums of money on it.
The BBC has spent over £1 billion pounds on the refurbishment of Broadcasting house. The public accounts commitee has been very critical of the way it spends money including payoffs and traveling expenses etc.
Then the BBC lowered bitrates on its HD channel from over 20mb/s to 9.8 mb/s. There were thousands of complaints made to the BBC and eventualy an investigation by the Trust. Basically the Trust decided to ignore public opinion and supported the BBC.
I think most people now accept that the BBC Trust is not working and that it needs to be replaced. In short the BBC is out of control.
The quality of content has also greatly deteriated and even sport is being dumbed down. The public service content is minimal.
The Licence fee is now outdate in this multichannel, multi media world. Infact it is now possible to avoid the licence fee by not watching live programs.
It is true I spend much more time watching sky channels than any of the free channels.
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I must admit I do watch Last tango and Paradise but only because my wife does. I haven't watched anything on bbc three for years. BBC Four does some times have a good program.
I should point out I am not anti free TV. Infact I watch alot of football and drama on ITV. I also do appreciate that some people cannot aford to subscribe to pay tv. Some people don't watch television at all.
I noticed there has been more critisism of the BBC for thier Mandella coverage. Why did they have to cover the rememberance on both BBC2 and BBC News at the same time?
If you want to see the effect of low bit rates just watch Question Time on BBC 1 HD. The plain blue background shows lots of odd artifatcs.
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The BBC HD bitrates was discussed extensivly on the BBC Internet blog and the evidence was formally submited to the trust. Not worth going over this again except to say the low bit rate also makes the picture much softer. The EBU recommends 12mb/s as a minimum for HD.
I did not say BBC3 and BBC 4 should be shut down.
The BBC's own research showed that the DAB bitrate needs to be 225kb/s to get the same quality as FM.
The BBC also waisted £100 million on a computer project due to bad management.
Peter you may be happy with the BBC thats fine, but all licence payers have a right to criticize how thier money is spent.
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Tuesday 26 November 2013 6:30PM
The Licence payers are having to subsidise Local Television company to the tune of £25 million. From what I have read this goes towards the Freeview infrastructure. Why on earth should licence payers be forced to pay money to private company for a service most people will not get. The licence fee becomes more and more like a stealth tax.