satellite vs dvb

[haverer2]

Hi!
Quick one... I have both freesat and freeview coming into my npvr box.... the priority is set to use the satellite by default... just wondering if there's any difference in quality between the channels broadcast on each... i.e is bbc1 HD exactly the same on freesat and freeview or is the quality slightly different?

Thanks,
John

[Zeb]

One difference: DVB-T2 channels have HE-AAC audio, DVB-S2 channels have AC3 audio. Other than that, I would think that terrestrial reception is the only significant issue.

[haverer2]

One difference: DVB-T2 channels have HE-AAC audio, DVB-S2 channels have AC3 audio. Other than that, I would think that terrestrial reception is the only significant issue.

Thanks for taking the time to let me know :-) Brilliant... I'll go read up on the difference :-) Reception is good on both now that I've cut back some branches!!!!:o

[imilne]

I think in general the feed from the satellites is a bit better than terrestrial, but most folk would be hard pressed to tell. There were some channels that ran with a lower resolution, but I believe that may have occurred in both cases, eg channel X was better on dvb-s but then channel Y was better on dvb-t. Six and half a dozen as the saying goes...

(ac3 audio makes life easier though)

Iain

[johnsonx42]

For those in the US wondering a similar thing about QAM from the cable company vs. ATSC from an antenna, ATSC is almost always better. This is because the cable company is always trying to cram more channels into each frequency, so they push the bitrate down. I definitely notice it on fast motion and scene changes, the cable company feed will go a bit mpeg-blurry while the ATSC feed will stay crystal clear (also on crowds at sporting events).

It's actually worse on SD channels oddly enough, because the cable company figures "it's just SD" so they really cram 'em in (10+ SD channels per frequency!)... on ATSC SD channels usually look pretty good even when upscaled to 1080p.