Last year we splashed out and bought an HD TV with a Freeview HD tuner built-in.
One of the aims was to get extra BBC channels to watch - BBC1 HD carried the BBC1 England schedule while as we live in Scotland the SD version of BBC1 often carried different programmes, so it gave us a choice of when to watch things - sometimes even giving us access to programmes not seen in Scotland. And BBC HD again carried a different schedule, mimicking BBC2 England or BBC4 or having its own separate programming.
But since then the two BBC HD channels have changed. BBC1 HD now carries BBC 1 Scotland programmes, and BBC HD has become BBC 2 HD - carrying BBC 2 England programmes - so we have seen a significant reduction in programme choice.
There's also a slight difference in programmes on STV, generally during the "regional news", when STV HD carries the programme from Glasgow, but STV SD carries the local programme from Aberdeen. So, like my item on DAB v FM, we find that the programme we want tends to be on STV SD rather than STV HD.
Also, on SD you can instantly flick to "Red Button Text" or the extra Red Button channels (like "Play Along" with "Antiques Roadshow").
We also find that the difference in quality between SD and HD, while it does exist is not significantly noticeable - compared in particular with the vast improvement in picture quality that we see between the SD picture on our new 32" screen and our old 22" TV. Maybe if we had a bigger TV than 32" we would make more of an effort to watch in HD.
There is one new HD channel available this summer: "Red Button 303". It often copies the SD "Red Button 301" channel or the recently restarted "Red Button 302" channel that also looks to be here for the summer, but it sometimes carries different programmes. The BBC have obviously leased this HD channel from the transmitter owners for the busy sporting summer. The transmitter companies are still struggling to find someone to pay longer term leasing costs.
No comments:
Post a Comment