Freeview vs. Freeview HD?

[bitchstewie]

Is HD with Freeview as night and day as HD with Sky (given appropriate HD material)?

My mum's TV has packed up and needs replacing asap - I only use Sky HD as a source and don't have a Freeview HD tuner so can't really compare for myself and most of the store demos seem to use looped material rather than a "live" signal.

[durbster]

Depends on the size of your telly and the quality of your eyesight.

I really can't tell the difference on my cheapo 22" TV so I don't even bother with the HD channels but on the big TV in the living room is significantly better. The F1 looks ace.

[bitchstewie]

durbster said:

Depends on the size of your telly and the quality of your eyesight.

It's a fair point. I'm lucky in that I have good eyes when perhaps something cheap and cheerful is all that's required.

[bristolracer]

Yes its a lot better.
She would get 4 channels currently via Aerial
BBC1 BBC2 ITV and CH4
These like your sky box will appear on a different channel number for freeview HD these are 101 102 103 104

So if Mum is a bit take it or leave it or confused by tech you may find her sat there using 1 2 3 and 4 as per usual and wondering what all the HD fuss is about.
As HD tuners are pretty much the norm on branded tvs I would go for it, but just make sure you read the spec carefully theres a lot of confusion over HD HD ready, freeviewHD etc

[bitchstewie]

bristolracer said:

So if Mum is a bit take it or leave it or confused by tech you may find her sat there using 1 2 3 and 4 as per usual and wondering what all the HD fuss is about.
As HD tuners are pretty much the norm on branded tvs I would go for it, but just make sure you read the spec carefully theres a lot of confusion over HD HD ready, freeviewHD etc

God I'm making her sound like an old biddy She already has an LCD TV with Freeview but the TV is about five years old.

The challenge is that she doesn't want anything larger than 27/28" and there don't seem to be many of those that have Freeview HD.

This isn't Freeview HD but looks alright considering it's got the JL 5 year warranty on it http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue28f4000-led-hd-...

[bristolracer]

Yes you are right hd is missing from the smaller TVs
If you can get her up to 32 inches it would open much greater options

If you look at the 32 inch ones these days they have very much smaller edging around the screen so you may find a new 32 is the same size as a 5 year old 28 inch

it comes down to budget and what she needs/wants.

[FamilyDub]

My techie pal said even 32" is a bit small for fully enjoying 1080p HD.

I had to upgrade to 51"

[FlossyThePig]

We have a 32" as our main TV with built in Freesat HD. It also has Freeview HD and I can't see any difference between the two.

When the second BBC HD channel was a mixture of BBC2, 3 and 4 I would flip between HD and SD, SWMBO remarked how much better the picture was on HD when we caught the tail end of a show, in SD, after changing channel.

[probedb]

It depends on the content as well. Some HD stuff is fantastic but other stuff doesn't look great, plus some stuff is still upscaled.

[telecat]

There is a HD "301" on Channel 303 as well. It usually has HD Moto3 and Moto2 on it as well as F1 extras.

[VEX]

Don't forget that the current range of mid to upper 32's have very thin bezels (outer edges) which means most of them actually only look like like thier smaller siblings.

V.

[NH1]

The only problem with freeview HD is the HD channels are right at the far end of the on screen guide, so you have to flick through a few pages to find them. I know you can set favourites etc but why put them all the way there. I never use them for this reason.

[durbster]

NH1 said:

The only problem with freeview HD is the HD channels are right at the far end of the on screen guide, so you have to flick through a few pages to find them. I know you can set favourites etc but why put them all the way there. I never use them for this reason.

First world problems eh

(you could just type 101 instead)

[henrycrun]

You may have the option to reorder the channels alphabetically (so that all the BBC channels appear together)

[Zad]

I don't see the point in getting a non-HD Freeview set now. I got a Samsung 22in Smart 1080 HD to use in here as a TV / 2nd monitor and it cost £150. Admittedly it was a refurb from Tesco online (but all the protective plastic intact, remote batteries unused) but a current model with WiFi, iPlayer, YouTube etc.

Here are two unremarkable screen grabs I did to show the difference. Possibly not the best choice of show to explain the improvement:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5530/10106386096_5e5...


http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3698/10106385506_66e...


Anyone who thinks you can't see the difference with 1080 on a small monitor should be made to go back to using 1024x768 or 800x600 on their laptop.

[OldSkoolRS]

You should be able to reorder the channels to put the 4 HD ones on 1,2,3 & 4 as I've done on a Sony in the kitchen and a Panasonic in the conservatory.That way you don't end up watching the SD versions. I also put the SD BBC 1 on channel 999 so that when BBC 1 HD goes to a red test card I can just go back one channel to watch the local news (BBC 1 HD can't yet show regional programs).

Also bare in mind that some TVs allow different settings depending on whether you are watching an SD channel or a HD one, so by sure to set them up the same if comparing as there really shouldn't be obvious differences in things like colours/greyscale between the two, merely extra detail from the HD one.

[TheInternet]

bhstewie said:

Is HD with Freeview as night and day as HD with Sky?

Yes.

Note that viewing distance is a key factor in determining whether HD is beneficial, on smaller screens you have to be sitting quite close for it to be worthwhile.

[Ultuous]

As above, I don't normally see the point of HD on smaller TVs, BUT... SD Freeview bitrates are often that poor (i.e. one ends up with a 'grainy' picture due to all the compression artefacts) that I'd recommend a Freeview HD tuner for the better quality broadcast as much as anything!

[OldSkoolRS]

I use my Freeview HD PVR as a source for my projector so I make sure I record in HD wherever possible as the difference is huge on a large screen. In fact some programs aren't much different to BluRay quality along with pretty decent 5.1 Dolby Digital sound on many broadcasts which is better than ProLogic II decoded stereo sound from SD channels.

However on a smaller TV/longer viewing distances maybe not so significant.