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Problems with ABC HD picture quality on the West Coast?

5K views 57 replies 21 participants last post by  mrvideo 
#1 ·
First noticed soft picture on ABC on the Emmys. Now on Dancing with the Stars (softer than Emmys; appears 480i at best). Videojanitor commented that he agreed the picture was soft on the Emmys and suggested it may be a network problem as AVS forum members in the East and Central made no comments about the poor picture quality. Since both Videojanitor and I are in Northern California, possibly problem isolated to that area? Observations/opinions? Thanks.
 
#2 ·
I have gathered more information since this past Sunday. Seems that there are a lot of people in the Pacific Time Zone who are noticing this severe lack of resolution. I've received reports of this problem from L.A, S.F., Sacramento, Portland and Seattle.


In another thread, I posted a couple of pics to illustrate the problem, but I'll post them here as well. These are screen caps of a commercial that aired Monday on both ABC and FOX. Since both are 720p, you would expect them to be quite similar -- but if you take a look, you will see that the one captured from ABC has a serious problem and is very soft.


The left image is from ABC. The right, from FOX.

 
#3 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by videojanitor /forum/post/14726818


I have gathered more information since this past Sunday. Seems that there are a lot of people in the Pacific Time Zone who are noticing this severe lack of resolution. I've received reports of this problem from L.A, S.F., Sacramento, Portland and Seattle.


In another thread, I posted a couple of pics to illustrate the problem, but I'll post them here as well. These are screen caps of a commercial that aired Monday on both ABC and FOX. Since both are 720p, you would expect them to be quite similar -- but if you take a look, you will see that the one captured from ABC has a serious problem and is very soft.


The left image is from ABC. The right, from FOX.



Wow, can certainly tell the difference. Thanks for the reply. You always have great info. Would be interested in any additonal info you may find while looking into the problem.
 
#5 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by igreg /forum/post/14726956


You always have great info. Would be interested in any additonal info you may find while looking into the problem.

Thanks. I try not to post anything unless I have some idea of what is going on. In this case, the only common thing I've found so far is that it seems to be isolated to the West coast. Not sure what else I will be able to find out, though I have alerted a friend who works at an ABC station, and hopefully if he calls the network BOC and reports the problem, it will be fixed shortly thereafter.
 
#7 ·
And now for a twist, I was watching Nightline and it didn't seem to have the problem. Then a couple of HD commercials came on and it was more tha obvious that this feed was fine. I wonder if there's a different point of origin for the Nightline West feed vs. prime-time?


End graphic of an HD movie spot aired in Nightline:

 
#8 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by videojanitor /forum/post/14727260


And now for a twist, I was watching Nightline and it didn't seem to have the problem. Then a couple of HD commercials came on and it was more tha obvious that this feed was fine. I wonder if there's a different point of origin for the Nightline West feed vs. prime-time?


End graphic of an HD movie spot aired in Nightline:


I didn't even realize Nightline was in HD now. Will have to check it out. It's days could be numbered with Leno possibly moving into that time slot in January 2010.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for your hard work investigation guys. I was flipping through the channels yesterday and stopped on ABC 7 LA HD news for a sec, they showed a upclose pic of one of the newscasters, and thepic was definitely soft. I knew I wasnt going crazy.
I said something to myself like what the hell is wrong the picture. Thanx.
 
#10 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by videojanitor /forum/post/14727260


And now for a twist, I was watching Nightline and it didn't seem to have the problem. Then a couple of HD commercials came on and it was more tha obvious that this feed was fine. I wonder if there's a different point of origin for the Nightline West feed vs. prime-time?


End graphic of an HD movie spot aired in Nightline:


This is in fact true. WC Primetime and Nightline are uplinked in two different places and to two different transponders.

Quote:
Originally Posted by videojanitor /forum/post/14726818



Not quite a fair comparison as FOX feed is passed through untouched to affiliate encoders. But, is striking.
 
#11 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tele-TV /forum/post/14729221


I was flipping through the channels yesterday and stopped on ABC 7 LA HD news for a sec, they showed a upclose pic of one of the newscasters, and thepic was definitely soft. I knew I wasnt going crazy.
I said something to myself like what the hell is wrong the picture. Thanx.

Actually, that's a DIFFERENT problem. The one we're discussing only affects ABC network programs. The problem with soft video on KABC's news has to do (as near as I can tell) with their studio cameras. Whatever those are, they just don't look very sharp. They must have got a package deal on them, because KGO in S.F. (another ABC O&O) has the exact same look.
 
#19 ·
Phoenix does get delayed east feeds. The PQ on KNXV isn't too bad during most shows, though the PQ is noticeably degraded on football compared to ESPN. The 13.3Mbit/s KNXV provides is still quite a bit more than the ~10Mbit/s provided by ABC O&Os thanks to their multicasting of 2 SD subchannels.
 
#20 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by coyoteaz /forum/post/14747184


Phoenix does get delayed east feeds.

Thanks. I guess that explains why Mac The Knife hasn't noticed the problem. FYI, it's Friday night, and the West feed is still bad -- World News is mighty blurry. Now the last segment is in 4x3. Hmmm, it'll be interesting to see what happens at 6pm ...


Edit: 6pm -- The debate is blurry too ...
 
#26 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by hphase /forum/post/14756941


How many subchannels do the stations you are comparing run, and how much data do those subchannels siphon from the main HD feed?

One subchannel here, and it occupies less than 2 Mb/s. Definitely not a bit rate issue, as it just started a few weeks ago and is affecting every ABC affiliate in the PT zone. And feeds (such as NIGHTLINE) from other origination points are fine. Also when the station goes to local HD content, it looks great.
 
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