CNN picture quality in Europe.

I got 3 or 4 days ago a new satellite suscription service in Spain, which included, among others, CNN International and FOX News. I hadn't seen CNN since the late 90's, and I remember then picture was soft, lacking in detail, with motion artifacts and too saturated and unrealistic color. Of course this could be blamed to NTSC-to-Pal conversion, but seeing CNN again after 18 years or so was a shock as picture quality doesn't seem to have improved a bit. Same soft and undetailed picture, same pastel-like colors and same motion artifacts. I assumed in the "digital era" all those artifacts were a thing of the past, NTSC is not used (and therefore, composite video) anymore and I only expected some motion artifacts due to 30 fps/60 Hz to 25 fps/50 Hz convertion. OK, nobody's going to watch CNN for picture quality, but it's a shame how bad it looks in Europe. How you think it's possible and also, I thought CNN was produced in HD for the US and would give better picture quality when converted to 25 fps/50 Hz. Your thoughts?

 

Sure Vidiot knows a thing or two about this...

 

I watched CNN International when I lived and worked in Rome for a few months in 2004, and it looked fine to me in my hotel room. Never saw the American version of CNN. I got the impression they were out of England then, but I could be wrong. It definitely was PAL back then.

CNN U.S. has been 1080 HD 29.97 for a long time, and there are no problems converting this to 25fps PAL (or 1050 HD). There's a lot more issues converting 24fps film to PAL, but not NTSC or HD 29.97.

How are you watching satellite TV from the box? HDMI?

 

Thanks Vidiot

Thanks Vidiot!
I'm watching CNN (and the rest of the channels) with a set top box connected to the TV via HDMI. FOX News has the same picture quality as CNN, fuzzy and undetailed picture, weird and oversaturated color and motion artifacts.
CNN International (for Europe) combines programming broadcasted from the US and London, but no change in video quality. Yes, it's Pal (or I should better say 576 i, 25 fps/50 Hz. but a very bad Pal.

 

Is this on Sky TV or something else? Are you watching in HD or standard-def PAL?

 

CNN Int. is only broadcasted in SD in Europe. The IQ is OK for a SD picture, but nothing special. It all depends on the quality of satellite reception, satellite receiver and TV.

 

I am hoping that someday (or RSN) it will be broadcast in HD. It appears in letterbox in my part of the world so that indicates (to uninformed me) that it has HD equipment in place.

 

The 16:9 format has nothing to do with the resolution. It's just the format.

Just like BBC World News, CNN Int. is viewed on hundreds of thousands of hotel room TV sets, not all of them HD capable. IIRC, that is the reason it is only broadcast in SD. Once even the hotels in remote areas of the world will have HD sets, that might change.

 

IIRC it wasn't always in 16:9 format. But I could very well be wrong.

 

If it's standard def, all bets are off. It'll look like crap no matter what you do. It's amazing how much people will put up with in a standard-def world. I had no problem with CNN in Rome in 2004. But as involved as I've been with HD and 4K in the last ten years, it's very hard to go back to back to standard def.

 

No TV station has always been in 16:9, they all started in 4:3 and changed within he last 10 years.

 

If it wasn't the only real (IMHO, so let us not argue about what real is ) news station, I wouldn't put up with its SD broadcast.

 

I wonder if they have a CNN International up there on the satellite in HD? It would still take more bandwidth from Sky TV to carry it.

 

I've been looking at the different satellite packages from Sky and other European operators and no, there's no CNN International in HD here, only crappy-SD.