ITV1HD not in Dolby Digital!

AnthonyUK

I have a Humax Foxsat HDR Freesat setup connected to a 47in HD 1080p TV via HDMI and it seems that ITV1HD has dropped the Dolby Digital soundtrack and gone PCM Stereo 2-Channel only! BBCHD is still Dolby Digital tho'. Box isn't faulty;tried everything, retuning etc but to no avail, and the instructions say that the box will decode and output Dolby Digital sound when available(and Dolby Digital sound is still available on BBCHD channel but not ITV1HD),any ideas and is anybody else noticing the same trait on their Freesat HD boxes/televisions when viewing ITV1HD? What's the point of high quality pix if it's not complemented equally with high quality sound? Good pix deserve great sound to match!

Freddie_Snowbits

It may be a High Quality picture, but as for quality TV, I am afraid ITV and BBC are not

almillar

And you'll also find that most BBC stuff is DD 2.1, not 5.1 - it's all about bandwidth of course, squeeze more channels in and sell more adverts, even though they'll be watched by fewer people. See also: DAB radio!
ITVHD broadcasts plenty of SD stuff, are you sure that's not the stuff that's not DD? As in when an actual HD programme comes on, like football, it might be in DD.

AnthonyUK

almillar wrote: »

And you'll also find that most BBC stuff is DD 2.1, not 5.1 - it's all about bandwidth of course, squeeze more channels in and sell more adverts, even though they'll be watched by fewer people. See also: DAB radio!
ITVHD broadcasts plenty of SD stuff, are you sure that's not the stuff that's not DD? As in when an actual HD programme comes on, like football, it might be in DD.

I have found though that when watching TRUE HD programmes on ITV1HD via the Humax Foxsat HDR box thru the HD1080p tv on HDMI connection the sound is STILL plain old PCM 2-Channel Stereo! I wonder if they have deliberately dropped it for now(but why would they,unless it's technical reasons or whatever), or there is something genuinely wrong with the sound side or technical side at ITV Network Centre in London where all the studio and broadcast feeds are routed before being passed onto the various satellite/freeview/cable platforms. The BBC transmits Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 on older films that aren't 5.1 dolby digital surround encoded like Dolby Stereo cinema releases and Dolby Surround tv movies and true Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 most of the time on true HD progs on their HD channel, so why would you keep dipping into Dolby Digital sound on HD broadcasts and drop back to PCM Stereo on non-HD broadcasts? It doesn't make sense to me. If you're gonna do Dolby Digital on a HD channel then it should either be on all the time or not at all. Like I said the box isn't at fault and it's set for Dolby Digital sound output so it can't be that.

Richie-from-the-Boro

AnthonyUK wrote: »

I have found though that when watching TRUE HD programmes on ITV1HD via the Humax Foxsat HDR box thru the HD1080p tv on HDMI connection the sound is STILL plain old PCM 2-Channel Stereo! I wonder if they have deliberately dropped it for now(but why would they,unless it's technical reasons or whatever), or there is something genuinely wrong with the sound side or technical side at ITV Network Centre in London where all the studio and broadcast feeds are routed before being passed onto the various satellite/freeview/cable platforms. The BBC transmits Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 on older films that aren't 5.1 dolby digital surround encoded like Dolby Stereo cinema releases and Dolby Surround tv movies and true Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 most of the time on true HD progs on their HD channel, so why would you keep dipping into Dolby Digital sound on HD broadcasts and drop back to PCM Stereo on non-HD broadcasts? It doesn't make sense to me. If you're gonna do Dolby Digital on a HD channel then it should be on all the time or not at all. Like I said the box isn't at fault and it's set for Dolby Digital sound output so it can't be that.

I too share your frustration. You are lucky because you have a box that is flashable via USB / interweb. My guess is that a massive % of the millions of people buying Freeview TV's / PVR's Etc will not have the luxury of true HD sound even after summer of 2011 has gone and gone. The transcoding requirement does not become mandatory for Freeview HD kit till May 2011.

I don't doubt that the manufactures will seize the opportunity to re-invent FreeView II or FreeView 5.1D or some other name to sell more box's, this time with Dolby !

- I assume because you can / do get selective 5.1 dolby that your Humax already has AAC format to Dolby Digital is built into it.

AnthonyUK

Watched a bit of HD output last night on ITV1HD;still the same situation, PCM Stereo on true HD programming and NO Dolby Digital! And no it doesn't go to Dolby Digital from PCM Stereo when switching from upscaled programming to true HD programming on ITV1HD. I think the channel is having a laugh! I have sent a question to Freesat regarding this on their website and am waiting on an answer from them on this to find out why things are the way they are.

AnthonyUK

Watched more HD stuff last night including the football;same result PCM Stereo with 1080i HD pictures and NO DD sound! Freesat say ITV1HD does transmit Dolby Digital and that this is indicated onscreen and in the receiver's onscreen infobar;sorry I beg to differ, my receiver box isn't picking up a DD signal from it and it isn't indicated onscreen no matter what Freesat say(as I have said the box isn't at fault because it's picking up and decoding the DD stream from the BBC HD channel so it can't be at fault), i've contacted the viewer relations email address at itv and am waiting on an answer from them if I get one!

impy78

Have to say that BBC HD seems to beat every other HD channel on pictre/sound quality, including the pay channels, which is a little irritating. (Although why we really need to see Jeff Stelling in HD is beyond me, really).

It would be awesome if there were HD versions of programmes on iplayer too, for us nightowls!

AnthonyUK

Just had an email from itv viewer service;at present we are not transmitting a DD5.1 audiobitstream on our channel,but we look forward to implementing it later this year(and my bet is that it'll be at Christmas when lots of Dolby Digital movies and/or home grown or bought in DD programming is broadcast;if that happens it'll be the best christmas present ever for ITV1HD to truly encompass true DD5.1 sound for all it's viewers).

almillar

Thanks for chasing this and getting the info Anthony. Now I wonder when the ITV player will be launched on Freesat...

Richie-from-the-Boro

AnthonyUK wrote: »

Watched more HD stuff last night including the football;same result PCM Stereo with 1080i HD pictures and NO DD sound! Freesat say ITV1HD does transmit Dolby Digital and that this is indicated onscreen and in the receiver's onscreen infobar;sorry I beg to differ, my receiver box isn't picking up a DD signal from it and it isn't indicated onscreen no matter what Freesat say(as I have said the box isn't at fault because it's picking up and decoding the DD stream from the BBC HD channel so it can't be at fault), i've contacted the viewer relations email address at itv and am waiting on an answer from them if I get one!

Good man for pursuing it !

Its a long while ago I looked at this, with .. .. I think alienRIK at that time, but as stated in #5 :

- the HD box's / TV's that are able to transcode the multichaannel audio from say ITV / BBC High def
- do not use the Dolby Digital signal but have to use the AAC audio codec already coded into Freeview HD box's
- the BBC for example has to use the AAC audio codec when it puts out its audio description service

My understanding is / was that because we are mid standards the main audio is coded as AAC-LC and the audio description as HE-AAC, which means the :

- main audio soundtrack and the audio description must use the same encoding family
- not all current Freeview HD TVs and set-top boxes can transcode from the AAC format to Dolby Digital
- so some AV equipment will be able to understand it / some will not

I know this does not solve your problem, or mine, but I hope it helps your both our understanding of the issue. As i see it until the powers that be resolve the conflict between [ main audio is coded as AAC-LC and the audio description as HE-AAC ] these two issues we will never see a solution. Only when that is a done deal will we even begin to find out which box's are ' on chip ' capable :beer: