BBC Lowers HDTV Bitrate; Users Notice

aws910 writes "According to an article on the BBC website, BBC HD lowered the bitrate of their broadcasts by almost 50% and are surprised that users noticed. From the article: 'The replacement encoders work at a bitrate of 9.7Mbps (megabits per second), while their predecessors worked at 16Mbps, the standard for other broadcasters.' The BBC claims 'We did extensive testing on the new encoders which showed that they could produce pictures at the same or even better quality than the old encoders ...' I got a good laugh off of this, but is it really possible to get better quality from a lower bitrate?"

Comments

Re:Yes

[MisterSquid]

I absolutely agree. In fact, this new technology I've patented has produced better than HD compression with unparalleled image quality. Contact me if you're interested in licensing.

Re:Yes

[MisterSquid]

Joke is the new troll. Sheesh.

Re:They suck at math too

[dkh2]

This from the clone who splits infinitives and places a comma where there is no need.

The widespread structural misuse of the English language is one of the reasons we don't use it as a programming language.

Re:They suck at math too

[dkh2]

In Star Trek terminology... "to boldly go..."

You've placed the verb modifier before the verb.

A more structurally pure format might have been... "One practice which is accepted generally is to ..."

And, yes, I AM a pretentious wanker.