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Er, I've missed a few good things because channel nein isn't showing on the epg "N/A channel nine" since I rely on it for seeing what's on now.

Any news on that front ?   

<snip>remarks on channel nein perceived scum-sucking lawyer driven behaviors</snip>

I see from this http://www.sbs.com.au/article/109044/Austr...Digital-Upgrade that SBS are changing on 29 January 2009 - they list channels for SBS HD, and SD SBS channels 1 through 4.

Any news on when the SA EPG feed for WebScheduler will be updated to reflect that content ?  I may have missed it.  Thanks.

Thanks ! and a happy new year to the Ice crew  :D

Will the new freeview channels (eg ONE) be available in ICE ?  Any news on timelines etc ?

Ah, all becomes clear.  Thanks prl.   

I guess the channels would have done tests re "acceptable noise", and settled around 6Mbps for SD by the looks.

Oh well, hopes for "superb" SD sports action experience fade ...

Nice pickup, prl.   

Seems at face value that 9Mbs is allowable in all modulations by the look of the tables (with limited understanding)... as you say "by changing the coding parameters, at the cost of making the transmission more susceptible to noise". 

Given HDTV is broadcast at about 13-15 Mbps all day every day by the looks, one presumes it's achievable one way or another if they wanted to... say, by changing the modulation (if it isn't already the right one... how can we tell ?) to their HDTV equivalent and then broadcasting at the desired lesser bitrate than HDTV requires and/or with "lesser noise suseptibility" code-rate/guard-interval parameters :)  I wonder if they can readily change those things "on the fly" on a per-programme basis.

Just think of the trade-off .. possibly a "superb" sports action viewing experience vs a tad of noise.  Digital telly's have inbuilt noise processing gear in them anyway, don't they... I recall my Sony does in some way ?

I'm sure there's gotchas in that, as I hope someone will point out.  Thanks again.

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My my, Channel 7 have lifted their game SD bitrate-wise... bang up on 6Mbps for each quarter of the Adl vs Melb game.

Well done Channel 7, well done.  Your broadcast has a better chance of being good for your customers.  ;)

Just wondering - if there's some reason for the channels not choosing action broadcast bitrates aligning with the DVD-spec max of ~9Mbps and hence achieving a much smoother action broadcast ?  It's a well-established rule (try it yourself, or google video forums) that that higher bitrate makes it possible to yield a higher quality action footage viewing experience (if you don't f*ck up the encoding and make it blocky regardless of bitrate).   HD is broadcast at a much higher bitrate, so it's not a "technical" limitation in that sense.

Well, channel 10 brought up their bitrate of the Adelaide game this week to an average of 5.7 or more Mbs. 

Nice one Channel 10, well done.  Could be higher, but good one as compared to last week, nevertheless.   :)

Let's hope both channels stay good and don't spiral back down the path of pith-poor broadcasting.

Channel 10, you are PATHETIC.   :'(  :-\  ??? 

Your SD AFL broadcast of the Adelaide game - live sports field action with lots if movement etc - and the ff'ing best you can manage is an average bitrate of 4.7 to 4.8 MBps for SD when you have MUCH more bandwidth available to use if you had the brains to do so. 

Channel 7 manages more than that !!  The HD bitrate apparently averaged 16Mps... so - purposely skewing the HD quality to appear better, for your own purposes, are you ?

Low bandwidth = pith poor blocky picture quality as compared to higher bitrates ESPECIALLY for that type of content.  Fools and charlatans.

Channel 10, your heads should have holes in them to let the shite out and your AFL broadcast rights taken off you.   You don't deserve the rights, dishing up that SD shite to the people who, in the end, pay your bills.

OK, channel 10 for this weeks footy.  Not sure what to make of the SD bitrates, though - above 6Mbps some of the crows game (1st half) and more toward 5Mbps (2nd half).  A tad blocky at times but as good as if not better than 7, visually ?  So a well done channel 10 !

Well done, channel 7 - nicer broadcast !   :D  The SD bitrate was bang up on the 6Mbps mark (didn't see the HD unfortunately).  Kudos go to you for learning !  8)

Well, just peeked at a portion of channel 7 SD footy last night, and the bitrate was up around the 5-6 Mbps mark.    Still blocky in fast action, but better than before !

Cheerio Channel 7, you made an improvement. 

Now, lets see if Channel 10 has any brains to recognize its failings and do better than serve up crap bitrates to its viewers ...

Adding to http://www.icetv.com.au/iceforum/index.php?board=1.0 about channel 7 Adelaide AFL game Adelaide vs Western Bulldogs,

the AFL game on channel 10 SD last night Adelaide vs West Coast was ALSO quite blurry and blocky (no it ISN'T my setup nor reception, I have almost new quality Sony gear and other good gear and shielded cables and high signal strength and quality and line of sight etc). 

The game broadcast bitrate was a lot less than 6Mbps more around 5 mark or less at times - nowhere up near what's good for fast-moving sports footage with lots of combined panning and zooming and action movement, a higher bitrate up around the 8-9Mbps  would yield a much more watchable result for viewers.  DVD's can get up around  9Mbps which is definitely in-spec depending on the audio bitrate.

Does anyone know if it's a deliberate ploy by the channel(s) to make their HD seem better by comparison ?

Welcome to digital.. currently the place for blocky action sports pictures.  Peanuts.

Channel 7 Adelaide broadcast the Adelaide vs Western Bulldogs AFL game in magnificent ... SD.  :o ??? :-* :'(   Not in HD according to my ICE guide.

Buffoons.

And, from time to time it was a bit blurry and blocky (no it ISN'T my setup nor reception, I have almost new quality Sony gear and other good gear and shielded cables and high signal strength and quality and line of sight etc).  The game broadcast bitrate was a bit less than 6Mbps. 

I don't know if it is possible to broadcast higher bitrates than 6Mbps in the SD channel, but it is apparent that for action sports footage with lots of combined panning and zooming and action movement, a higher bitrate up around the 8-9Mbps  would yield a much more watchable result for viewers.  DVD's can get up around  9Mbps which is definitely in-spec depending on the audio bitrate.

Does anyone know the bitrate limitations for an SD broadcast and why such limitations are in place ? 

Welcome to digital.. currently the place for blocky action sports pictures.

Thanks Daniel !

Great service and you're a lifesaver !

Cheerio