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Lack of Bandwidth Oversight Damages HDTV Quality

mattnyc99 writes "Over at Popular Mechanics, Glenn Derene has a great new column investigating the lawless lands of broadcast television, where the quality of the picture that ends up on your expensive hi-def set is determined by a bunch of fuzzy math. Quoting: 'In fact, there's no real regulation over high-definition picture quality at all — "none whatsoever," one industry consultant told me. And that's part of the reason why different HD stations often have wildly varying levels of picture quality that change from one moment to the next. Behind the scenes, content producers, broadcasters and cable and satellite providers are engaged in a constant tug-of-war over bandwidth and video quality, with no hard metrics to even define what looks acceptable. Even officials at HBO, where Generation Kill looks pretty fantastic on my TV, bemoaned the lack of a silver bullet ... for now.'"

4 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. More Regulation? by RavenSlay3r · · Score: 1, Troll

    Is the author insinuating we need MORE government regulation? Yup, because THAT will solve everything. If only the engineers were as smart as the journalists and legislators, we wouldn't have these "problems".. :-P

    --
    http://www.bobbarr2008.com/
  2. Re:I completely agree by negRo_slim · · Score: -1, Troll

    I am spoiled by BluRay. It's worlds better, and no cable or satellite system which only allocates a few mbits is doing to ever match it. That includes U-Verse.

    Put the A/V kit away and go outside!

    DVD ftw btw

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
  3. Corrupted how? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Oh dear! There is no bureaucratic regulation whatsoever! Whatever are we to do?

    The lazy reporter needs to grow a pair and challenge the implied assertion that this is a bad thing. So Comcast shoots itself in the foot by transmitting crappy HD signals. So what? Over time they'll be ridiculed by the competition and either wise up or lose customers.

  4. Re:Did you read my post? I mentioned HBO. by drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Troll

    HBO isn't ad-supported. Their content IS the product, not me. Try to keep up.

    I guess you haven't heard of product placement, eh?

    Nice try, though.

    P.S. You are too short a shell script.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"