Ch 7 Adelaide - AFL footy in magnificent ... SD. Aargh.

[chopper]

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.