Video Asylum

Posted by Weewoos on October 26, 2004 at 10:11:36

I live in London and have a few options when it comes to upgrading my analogue TV source. NTL provide a "digital cable" service and I can have a freeview digital box to decode a limited number of over-the-air digital channels, I could even go for Sky Digital satellite.

I assume that in trying to get the best picture and sound, it will be a question of the purest signal with the least compression.
Do any inmates know which of these offers the least compression and the best transfer rates (assuming that these are what determine the picture quality / presence of artifacts etc)?

I have observed that digital pictures seem clearer than analogue ones, but there are visible artifacts sometimes and that this can vary from channel to channel.

I have been told that the MPEG2 encoding of sound and picture on digital TV means that the sound quality is poorer than NICAM and that it does not carry 5.1 surround. I'm an amateur in this, and would appreciate a steer from you wise owls out there.