Hi

Does anybody known where I can find bit rates for each channel being boradcast on both platforms.

I know that ITV1 has a higher bit rate on Freeview than Freesat but what about the other channels?

I recorded something on More 4 the other night on both platforms and I thought the Freesat recording looked better?

Is there a list?

Re Dave

Just look at how long the recordings are, the higher the bitrate the bigger the file. In any case bit rate is not a reliable way to test quality. Programmes with fast action will need a higher bit rate than those where the action is more sedentary and it's very dependent on the quality of the encoders that are used. Much more significant is the amount of picture information transmitted, for SD it's either 720 x 576 pixels or 544 x 576 pixels. The latter has 25% less picture info and no amount of processing can get back the missing info (ITV 1 Freeview 720 x 576, Freesat 544 x 576 pixels).
There is no definitive list as some broadcasters don't always use the same bit rate. ITV for instance shares it out between it's regions but does not always use the same share forv each region

...channels can also be 'stat-muxed' so that the bit rate varies between channels depending on the complexity of the picture (simplified description). That means you need to consider the 'average' of the stat muxed channels but also the other channels in the multiplex.

The current message seems to be "ITV looks worse on Freesat than Freeview at the moment".

This post and the links in it should help a little: http://www.avforums.com/forums/8627362-post2.html

Maybe you can list a comparison summary here, after looking at the tables..?

On the subject of quality, I took a look at Luxe.TV HD channel today (Non freesat mode).

Absolutely sublime.

Matches Blu Ray in many frames. BBC / ITV could learn a lot from them.

And it uses a lower bit rate than ITV HD and much less than BBC HD.

More 4 always seems to have a higher bitrate than most of the other C4 sat channels, presumably because they think the type of person who watches it is the more discerning viewer.... The resolution is also greater, 704 x 576, whereas all the other C4 and ITV channels are 544 x 576. All the BBC and Five channels have full 720 x 576 resolution.


Yes, 7.5 Mbps for Luxe TV HD vs about 10 for ITV HD and 16 for BBC HD. It goes to show what you can do using slower (high quality) encoding- you can see that C4 also uses much better encoding than ITV for its SD channels as C4 channels usually look better even though they often have a lower bitrate.

Are you sure about this as my box always displays 576i which is 720 x 576 isn't it?

Yes sure, the 576 refers to the vertical pixel count which is always 576. The picture detail is reduced horizontally.


576i can be 544 x 576, 704 x 576 and 720 x 576.