Poor Quality Digitized TV Shows

[AlfB]

I have started noticing many TV shows lately that look like they have been poorly digitized. A good example is STNG. I keep seeing artifacts like hesitations in movements and digitized lines on straight edges. Has anyone seen the commercial DVDs for the STNG seasons and is this the way they look? Am I the only one that has noticed this? I hope this is not the trend in TV reruns as it is very annoying to watch.

[andkiich]

I don't notice any of this on my DirecTV service. Your service may vary though.

[vhelp]

hi AlfB,

The problem is a common one in these DVDs. See this link here, which
help to identify what (or some of) you are seeing or experiencing.

* Star Trek Hybrid Challenge

.
.
But, for the most part, your "hisitation" is due to the blue screen issue w/
different fps rates used in them, and maybe some field-swaping (at least
in some tests I ran on my own)

You have to expect those issues w/ these types of DVD's (or shall I say,
TV SERIES that envolve computer animation/generation etc)

But, just to note, that on the following Star Trek type series, there are NO
issues, and only straight/pure encoding/authoring process

* ST-O (original series) I got a DVD of one series, and its flawless quality.

* ST-E (these seem to have IVTC'less issues) though, if they would stop
....jimmy'ing the quality, remastering (via capturing/encoding) would be perfecto,
....and no store purchase would be necessary.
....Although, I stopped watching them since last season (when they became
....aggresive) I got bored w/ the quality be crap (cause they tamper w/ the
....quality) and gave up on them. I just can't get over how they can take
....a perfectly up-to-date tv series and purposely "dirty" it up, so that we
....can't get a good quality capture or something. Sucks, big-time. So, I gave up
....on them.

-vhelp 2099

[AlfB]

I'm using digital cable but I don't think its that because it is only on specific shows and it happens on both TVs that have a cable box and those that do not. It is significant enough that I am sure there is something going on and I have been noticing it for a few months now so it is not new. The show I notice it most on is STNG (maybe because I watch it often). I will sometimes see a heistation in a person moving their head or jagged edges to smooth surfaces that you see when encoding is not done well. It is definitely a digital artifact. I just watched the 2nd part of "Encounter at Farpoint" and it was the worst I've seen yet. It looks just like some of the issues I have had in my early attempts at capturing and encoding TV shows to VCD and SVCD before I learned what works.

[AlfB]

Thanks vhelp. I knew there was something going on and I didn't think I was seeing something that wasn't there. At least you confirm what I am seeing.

[vhelp]

I think that you are finally realizing what I've ben saying all along.. that
they are "jimmy'ing" the source on certain series.

It is my theory that they are not applying this technique to almost everything
that is aired on Satellite or Digital Cable (no sense on giving you DVD quality
if they can sell it to you on DVD anyways)

But, these stations that air such content might be starting to use what I'm
calling "the new standard" in broadcast distribution, and is why you see the
same basica crapy quality of these.

I agree, the quality of STNG is crap, but then, I knew this all along for the
past 2 plus years, but noticed that it has ben getting worse and also applying
to other series and channels too. This so called, "new standard" is well
becoming standard among broadcasters around the globe (usa)

It's easy to tell if this is true. Just look at one channel (satellite for example)
and then another, and/or a commercial.

Question: have you noticed that on some commercials, the quality shows no
sign of jimmy, but on a tv series or tv movie or made-for-tv movie, the
quality looks "chizeled" or blocky or off-color like ??
.
.
I used to think that it was due to the "transponder technique" they use in
the bitrate distribution. And, now, while this may be correct, I don't think its
the main cause of such nonesnse, thanks in part, to the above analigy.
So, there is deffinatly something going on, just as I suspected back
2 plus years ago. A take-over in quality.
.
.
And, you have to see how really BAD this looks on an HDTV set !!

-vhelp 2101