Sky Max SD picture quality

[ashscrivens1]

The picture quality it’s noticeably worse on the new Sky Max channel than the other channels like Sky Showcase (which I assume was just the same old sky1 feed with sky max being a new feed)

It looks like it’s using a really low bit rate, it’s hideous. Is this a local issue or is anyone else experiencing this?

 

[roy247]

I don't have the SD channel but the HD version looks OK.

[japitts]

It's not a bitrate issue, if anything Sky Max SD has a fractionally higher bitrate than Sky Showcase SD (credit DBR)

It doesn't seem any different to other Sky SD channels IMO - I'm using a V6 though, and have the HD version.

[ashscrivens1]

Sky Max SD is noticeably worse than sky Showcase here. I don’t have access to HD versions so strictly talking about SD here.

Do we have information that it’s a higher bit rate it certainly doesn’t look that way, it’s extremely pixelated.

The way Sky Showcase is designed last night it was showing the same show as Sky Max and you could see a huge difference, I’d go as far as saying there’s a fault.

Maybe a localised issue Virgin need to look into?

[japitts]

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@ashscrivens1 wrote:

Do we have information that it’s a higher bit rate it certainly doesn’t look that way, it’s extremely pixelated.

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Pixellation & picture breakup is a different thing, and is indicative of a signal fault.

ITV2 & ITV4 SD are both on the same broadcast frequency as Sky Arts SD and are in the same package tiers. If you have a signal fault affecting Sky Arts SD, it should affect those 2 equally. There's several more, but those are the obvious ones to check.

[ashscrivens1]

It doesn’t look as bad through a phone camera however you can see some picture breakup and the whole picture is generally more pixelated than anything I’ve seen on Virgin.

you can hardly read any wording on screen

https://youtu.be/qIiVntv0QtM

just to point out the rest of my Virgin is fine, it’s this one channel

[ashscrivens1]

ITV 2 seems fine

Sky arts has a pretty poor quality also compared to sky showcase

 During adverts is the best test I find as it’s usually the same ads and small print on ads becomes unreadable.

[roy247]

Sky Max SD is on the same mux as Sky Documentaries, Comedy Central and horror channel, so if you get problems on those channels it will most likely be a signal fault like japitts has said.

[japitts]

@roy247 

Well spotted that I'd quoted the mux details for Sky Arts, while the thread is about Sky Max. That's what comes of multi-tasking...

@ashscrivens1 

Apologies - Take my theory but roy's observations. Looking at the mux details and having half a mind as to package availability, it's also worth checking Box Hits & The Box (music channels)

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @ashscriven1,

Welcome to our Community Forums and thanks for your post. 

Sorry to hear you're having some issues with picture quality. Can you confirm if you're having problems on any other channels?

Kind Regards,