Saorview sound quality

vkid

This is something I've been noticing for a while. I have 2 saorview approved TV's and also a ferguson ariva box on another. The sound quality and volume on any of the Saorview channels is poor in comparison to free to air satellite channels.

If I watch Saorview on any of these TVs (2 Toshibas and 1 Samsung) from an aerial feed and switch to a satellite channel on either the Ferguson Ariva or a Sky box it is a good deal louder than any of the Saorview channels.

Also when watching the rugby yesterday, the picture and volume on RTE2HD seems nowhere near as good as the quality on BBC1HD? I would have thought these were the same or similar feed? Are there different levels of HD,...even on the same box/tv? Are RTE short changing us a bit or what is the reason?

Am I doing something wrong or is this the way it is? TBH so far I am not blown away by the Saorview service sound and picture quality (picture particularly RTE2HD)

the tv's are all HD, not HD ready

watty

I've complained the sound quality is poor for Saorview Radio (To RTE). Content on ALL RTE channels, TV & Radio, Digital or Analogue is "over processed". (Lyric on VHF-FM isn't too bad). Bitrate on Saorview for MP2 audio is too low. AAC is in the spec for Stereo so why don't they use it at current bitrate as that would give much better quality at no extra cost.

And turn down the processing. This is not just an RTE thing. Generally ALL stations should have their optimods etc ripped out and crushed. There should ONLY be a limiter in case someone turns the master volume too high.

Why are we getting so much poorer quality than 1980s FM or CDs?

Tiny tinny little speakers don't help either. Minimum "driver" size is really 6" or 6" x4" at a pinch. I've seen boxes that look like they have 8" speakers that sound just Boomy and on ripping apart have only 4" drivers!
Ultra skinny LED back-lit LCD TV are incapable of good sound. They need external speakers or amp + speakers. Yet how many have ext. Speaker socket.

HD says NOTHING about sound quality nor indeed about picture quality. It only specifies a Video (Picture) resolution. Picture quality is a lot more parameters than Resolution. Sound transmission quality is related to Bitrate, Codec and amount of processing applied. Sound is transmitted completely separately to video.

vkid

so i'm not loosing the plot..

Its pretty poor from RTE tbh but sure...to be expected I suppose.

I couldn't believe the noticeable difference between rugby coverage yesterday,

mcwhirter

vkid wrote: »

This is something I've been noticing for a while. I have 2 saorview approved TV's and also a ferguson ariva box on another. The sound quality and volume on any of the Saorview channels is poor in comparison to free to air satellite channels.

If I watch Saorview on any of these TVs (2 Toshibas and 1 Samsung) from an aerial feed and switch to a satellite channel on either the Ferguson Ariva or a Sky box it is a good deal louder than any of the Saorview channels.

Also when watching the rugby yesterday, the picture and volume on RTE2HD seems nowhere near as good as the quality on BBC1HD? I would have thought these were the same or similar feed? Are there different levels of HD,...even on the same box/tv? Are RTE short changing us a bit or what is the reason?

Am I doing something wrong or is this the way it is? TBH so far I am not blown away by the Saorview service sound and picture quality (picture particularly RTE2HD)

the tv's are all HD, not HD ready

The rugby from rte and bbc1 are coming from 2 different sources and could be mixed differently within the studio. Notice it sometimes when same game is shown on tv3 and ITV. ITV generally better.

Fuzzy Clam

vkid wrote: »

The sound quality and volume on any of the Saorview channels is poor in comparison to free to air satellite channels.

Turn down the volume on the FTA box to match the same level as Saorview.

The Cush

vkid wrote: »

Also when watching the rugby yesterday, the picture and volume on RTE2HD seems nowhere near as good as the quality on BBC1HD? I would have thought these were the same or similar feed? Are there different levels of HD,...even on the same box/tv? Are RTE short changing us a bit or what is the reason?

This from today's Irish Times regarding the commentary for Saturday's match

Sort the line out

IT WAS very much a case of ‘Ryle Butler’ or ‘Eddie Nugent’, at the start of Saturday’s Six Nations game between England and Wales at Twickenham as those listening to the RTÉ feed of the game got two commentaries for the price of one. As RTÉ’s Ryle Nugent called the game, he did so to the backing vocals of the BBC’s Eddie Butler, whose voice could also be heard on the feed. It made for a bemusing soundtrack before the issue was finally resolved.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0227/1224312436370.html

I assume you were watching BBC1 HD via satellite, if so the terrestrial bitrate will be lower than the satellite feed, satellite will have more bandwidth available to transmit at a higher bitrate. For the same source material the higher the bitrate allocated the better the end product.

Saorview RTÉ2 HD has to compete with the other Saorview channels for a share of the 24 Mbps capacity, maybe up to 8Mbps. Not sure what the avg. bitrate BBC employ for events like the Six Nations but could be 10Mbps or higher.

mcwhirter

The Cush wrote: »

This from today's Irish Times regarding the commentary for Saturday's match



I assume you were watching BBC1 HD via satellite, if so the terrestrial bitrate will be lower than the satellite feed, satellite will have more bandwidth available to transmit at a higher bitrate. For the same source material the higher the bitrate allocated the better the end product.

Saorview RTÉ2 HD has to compete with the other Saorview channels for a share of the 24 Mbps capacity, maybe up to 8Mbps. Not sure what the avg. bitrate BBC employ for events like the Six Nations but could be 10Mbps or higher.

I thought this was about sound quality, all that above is for video quality in the main.

The Cush

mcwhirter wrote: »

I thought this was about sound quality, all that above is for video quality in the main.

vkid was also comparing Saorview RTÉ2 HD with BBC HD picture quality in his first post.

vkid wrote: »

Also when watching the rugby yesterday, the picture and volume on RTE2HD seems nowhere near as good as the quality on BBC1HD? I would have thought these were the same or similar feed? Are there different levels of HD,...even on the same box/tv? Are RTE short changing us a bit or what is the reason?

Am I doing something wrong or is this the way it is? TBH so far I am not blown away by the Saorview service sound and picture quality (picture particularly RTE2HD)

the tv's are all HD, not HD ready