TDF - anybody else finding the TV pictures poor this year?

[benborp]

I think that there is another issue that is contributing to poor quality images. It seems most apparent on the motorcycle shots and absent on the helicopter ones. There seems to be a large amount of chromatic aberration a lot of the time. This is where a lens system fails to deal with the problem that different wavelengths of light refract at different angles. The result is an image in which objects have a slightly fuzzy outline with a fringe of red or blue. This appears to be a characteristic of the lenses now being used on the tour motorbikes. The fact that bright, contrasty subjects (like a tour rider in team kit) are most prone to revealing this defect doesn't help. Compressing images that are already compromised leads to even poorer results.

 

[marinyork]

As soon as we all lose eurosport international on the 25th it might become academic. It may mean substantially less cycling coverage as we just have a simulcast of British eurosport 1 (and Sky will have British eurosport 2HD by september). Or maybe I'm wrong.

Not sure I necessarily see the complaints about picture quality. The vuelta has significantly poorer picture quality than the tour.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Are you watching on EuroSport or ITV4 SD? If so, then yes but this is a trend in recent months to lower the broadcast quality of SD channels to push people towards HD channels. Have to say the quality on ITV4HD is fine and dandy - a bit of breakup from the motorbike cameras but thats to be expected.

I know there is a weight issue, but I would love to see helmet cams used on some of the riders...

Sorry to have to disagree but have been watching mostly on Eurosport HD and the quality is a fecking disgrace.

When it comes to highlights, well that's a different story but when you're on holiday, like I am, and you have all day to lounge in and out to see how the breakaway boys are doing 80km from home, then the picture becomes more of an issue, breaking up, cutting out etc

Very poor.

 

[ColinJ]

So much for technology!
Like watching a 20 year old video tape.

The trouble is that a poor digital picture is worse than a so-so analogue one. I'd much rather watch a picture which is a bit fuzzy than one which becomes a pixellated blocky mess.

 

[david k]

Fuzzy, poor colour and a lack of those superb helicopter shots we seem to have enjoyed for the last few years?

does seem to lack arial shots yeh, and they seem to miss quite alot

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i'm not so sure that the eurosport sd output hasn't degraded since the hd channel went live (that you have to pay extra for)…

 

[Basil.B]

The picture quality was the worse so far tonight.
It's a bloody joke!

 

[Boris Bajic]

I'm old enough to foind it extraordinary that they can get these pictures into my front parlour at all.

I love the quality, even when it is poor.

I love the fact that ITV4 show it live (in part) and then as a 1-hour highlights package... and both on free-to-air.

I sometimes wonder whether one or two armchair sports fans won't be happy with anything less than the moon on a stick.

Be patient, there is a long queue for that - and I gather my wife is at the front of it.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm old enough to foind it extraordinary that they can get these pictures into my front parlour at all.

I love the quality, even when it is poor.

I love the fact that ITV4 show it live (in part) and then as a 1-hour highlights package... and both on free-to-air.

I sometimes wonder whether one or two armchair sports fans won't be happy with anything less than the moon on a stick.

Be patient, there is a long queue for that - and I gather my wife is at the front of it.

The fact is that they could easily give us better quality but instead they choose to squander the bandwidth on broadcasting extra channels with repeated content on, especially those silly '+1' channels.

 

[zimzum42]

The fact is that they could easily give us better quality but instead they choose to squander the bandwidth on broadcasting extra channels with repeated content on, especially those silly '+1' channels.

I like the +1 channels! Wish there were more of them!

 

[ColinJ]

I like the +1 channels! Wish there were more of them!

We could have +2, +3 and +4 too - unfortunately, we'd end up staring at screens full of large square coloured blocks and trying to work out what we were looking at!

 

[Basil.B]

We could have +2, +3 and +4 too - unfortunately, we'd end up staring at screens full of large square coloured blocks and trying to work out what we were looking at!

Thats what it looked like at times tonight!

 

[simon.r]

I was very disappointed with the quality on ITV4 tonight, watching on a 42" TV. I shall go back to watching it on my laptop from now on.

 

[marinyork]

I was very disappointed with the quality on ITV4 tonight, watching on a 42" TV. I shall go back to watching it on my laptop from now on.

Well if you're watching on freeview, that means you're watching at 544x576 unless I'm very much mistaken (don't have freeview but know it was that res a year ago). So as some people joke it's not even SD quality! It would look appalling on that.

Similarly British Eurosport 2 (SD) looks awful for the same reason, because eurosport bumped down the res. So if you're a Sky HD customer and watch a lot of British Eurosport 2 and don't watch much cycling, you'll probably get a nice deal out of the changes that are coming.

 

[AhThisFeckinThing]

Well if you're watching on freeview, that means you're watching at 544x576 unless I'm very much mistaken (don't have freeview but know it was that res a year ago). So as some people joke it's not even SD quality! It would look appalling on that.

Similarly British Eurosport 2 (SD) looks awful for the same reason, because eurosport bumped down the res. So if you're a Sky HD customer and watch a lot of British Eurosport 2 and don't watch much cycling, you'll probably get a nice deal out of the changes that are coming.

#What changes are coming and how do you get Eurosport International