TV picture quality

Jeannine

On my lovely new LCD digital television, I can now receive a few digital channels (BBC1, BBC News 24 etc.) in addition to all the sky channels which I had before through the satellite dish. I was wondering if someone could explain why the quality of the picture is different when I compare BBC1 digitally and through satellite. The digital picture seems crisper and not so wide (if that doesn't sound silly). All the picture settings are the same for both...

If this isn't too daft a question, I'd be really interested to know why there is a difference!

Thanks!!

amcluesent

Sky is is digital too, of course

At a guess, Sky apply much greater compression to their transmissions to allow more channels = more profit. However, excess compression compromises picture quality ("blocky" areas in dark scenes, blurred edges in fast moving sports etc.)

gavinp

The Freeview channels are built-in so are not transferred from an external box using a cable.

It is worth checking your Sky digibox is setup to use RGB in the Display settings and you may find that buying a better quality SCART cable to connect your Sky box to your new TV will also improve the picture.

Satellite channels have more bandwidth available to them than Freeview so if anything, the Sky digibox should produce better pictures than the built-in Freeview tuner.

Thanks

Gavin

Jeannine

Thanks very much for your answers. I shall certainly try a better quality scart lead to see whether that makes a difference (although not a problem - the picture's still good - I was curious!!)

Thanks!

moonrakerz

You will find that different broadcasters transmit programmes in different formats; widescreen/normal. If your TV and your Sat receiver aren't set up all to the same format you will get different sized pictures on different channels.