Why does Doctor Who stutter on my screen?
June 13, 2010 11:01 AM Subscribe
Does the current season of Doctor Who on BBC America look like crap?
Doctor Who looks like crap on my TV screen, no matter how I try to watch it. Whether I'm watching the actual (standard-definition) telecast on BBC America, the Video On Demand version (also SD) provided through my cable provider, or the for-pay HD version available on the Xbox 360, Doctor Who is difficult for me to watch. Specifically, there is a stuttering, or jerky, effect to the footage that's more pronounced when there's a lot of motion on screen. Does it look this way to everyone else? I Googled "doctor who stuttery" and "doctor who jerky" and got basically no discussion, which makes me curious.
Is this due to PAL-to-NTSC conversion work on the part of BBC America? (Throwing out frames and speeding up audio to get the fps rate to match?) I get better results from a cheap region-free DVD player that converts PAL to NTSC on the fly! I've never watched the new version of Doctor Who before, so I can't compare this to earlier seasons, but I thought HD was supposed to make PAL/NTSC issues a thing of the past. Maybe that's only for transfers from film, which is a solid 24 fps.
Are they really shooting Doctor Who in 25p/50i? And if so, isn't there anything BBC America could do to make it look better for U.S. viewers? My friends claim not to mind, but to my eyes it's this close to unwatchable. Will the eventual DVD release look any better?
Doctor Who looks like crap on my TV screen, no matter how I try to watch it. Whether I'm watching the actual (standard-definition) telecast on BBC America, the Video On Demand version (also SD) provided through my cable provider, or the for-pay HD version available on the Xbox 360, Doctor Who is difficult for me to watch. Specifically, there is a stuttering, or jerky, effect to the footage that's more pronounced when there's a lot of motion on screen. Does it look this way to everyone else? I Googled "doctor who stuttery" and "doctor who jerky" and got basically no discussion, which makes me curious.
Is this due to PAL-to-NTSC conversion work on the part of BBC America? (Throwing out frames and speeding up audio to get the fps rate to match?) I get better results from a cheap region-free DVD player that converts PAL to NTSC on the fly! I've never watched the new version of Doctor Who before, so I can't compare this to earlier seasons, but I thought HD was supposed to make PAL/NTSC issues a thing of the past. Maybe that's only for transfers from film, which is a solid 24 fps.
Are they really shooting Doctor Who in 25p/50i? And if so, isn't there anything BBC America could do to make it look better for U.S. viewers? My friends claim not to mind, but to my eyes it's this close to unwatchable. Will the eventual DVD release look any better?
I set up RSS feeds in my torrent client for Doctor Who and Top Gear to avoid this kind of problem. Plus, I hate waiting for the episodes to air.
posted by InsanePenguin at 11:16 AM on June 13, 2010
posted by InsanePenguin at 11:16 AM on June 13, 2010
That was supposed to be "RSS feeds of the British airings"
posted by InsanePenguin at 11:18 AM on June 13, 2010
posted by InsanePenguin at 11:18 AM on June 13, 2010
I can tell you that the original BBC airings (not BBC America) have looked nice to me.
Are you trying all these options you mentioned on the same TV and maybe it's some strange setting on your set that's causing the problem? You might try finding some service that will stream to your PC, see if it looks better on your monitor.
posted by Menthol at 11:32 AM on June 13, 2010
Are you trying all these options you mentioned on the same TV and maybe it's some strange setting on your set that's causing the problem? You might try finding some service that will stream to your PC, see if it looks better on your monitor.
posted by Menthol at 11:32 AM on June 13, 2010
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) shows Dr. Who in NTSC format. It's perfectly watchable.
posted by randomstriker at 11:55 AM on June 13, 2010
posted by randomstriker at 11:55 AM on June 13, 2010
Response by poster: I'm watching on FiOS in the New York area. I thought for sure the Xbox download would look better -- since it bypasses my cable box -- but it had exactly the same stuttering effect, except in HD.
I watch a lot of content from a lot of different sources, PAL and NTSC, SD and HD, none of it causing me this kind of grief, so I'm reluctant to blame anything on my TV (Sony Bravia XBR4 120Hz) for this. But based on these responses I will go in and fiddle with the video settings and see if anything makes a difference. As far as I know, I've set the TV to show something as close to the raw signal as possible, without applying "motion enhance" or "noise reduction" or anything else that screws with the frame cadence or the fine detail in the picture.
I did look at part of one episode at the BBC America web site and, for what it's worth, I think I saw the same jerkiness. It's just not as noticeable to me since I'm used to seeing the occasional dropped frame on my computer screen, but not on my TV!
posted by Joey Bagels at 12:32 PM on June 13, 2010
I watch a lot of content from a lot of different sources, PAL and NTSC, SD and HD, none of it causing me this kind of grief, so I'm reluctant to blame anything on my TV (Sony Bravia XBR4 120Hz) for this. But based on these responses I will go in and fiddle with the video settings and see if anything makes a difference. As far as I know, I've set the TV to show something as close to the raw signal as possible, without applying "motion enhance" or "noise reduction" or anything else that screws with the frame cadence or the fine detail in the picture.
I did look at part of one episode at the BBC America web site and, for what it's worth, I think I saw the same jerkiness. It's just not as noticeable to me since I'm used to seeing the occasional dropped frame on my computer screen, but not on my TV!
posted by Joey Bagels at 12:32 PM on June 13, 2010
I haven't noticed anything off. Maybe you could download an episode online for comparison. Or if you want to stay legal, they post promotional clips on youtube before each episode.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:45 PM on June 13, 2010
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:45 PM on June 13, 2010
Been watching on iTunes. No problems there at all.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:58 PM on June 13, 2010
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:58 PM on June 13, 2010
I actually watched the entire season so far this weekend -- I tivoed it and just got a chance to catch up. I didn't notice the problems you refer to at all. I'm in Chicagoland and use Comcast, for data completeness.
posted by sugarfish at 2:12 PM on June 13, 2010
posted by sugarfish at 2:12 PM on June 13, 2010
I've been watching via iPlayer and proxy. Dr. Who, Top Gear, F1. On a XBR9 and rarely ever notice anything odd other than the occasional streaming hiccup.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:34 PM on June 13, 2010
posted by zengargoyle at 2:34 PM on June 13, 2010
Just watched the last ep posted to Comcast OnDemand (SD) over the weekend, and no problems.
I wish they would put up the HD versions.
Have you noticed this with any other programs or channels?
posted by PlutoniumX at 8:55 AM on June 14, 2010
I wish they would put up the HD versions.
Have you noticed this with any other programs or channels?
posted by PlutoniumX at 8:55 AM on June 14, 2010
Response by poster: Took me a while to finish out the season. Short answer is, despite having them sitting on my PVR as recorded from BBC America, I ended up acquiring the last three episodes, erm, elsewhere. Lo and behold, these recordings were gorgeous. (There were occasional dropped frames, but I'm pretty certain that was just my Mac Mini struggling to keep up with the occasional high-bandwidth burst in a 1080p file.) I was feeding them into the same 47-inch screen via HDMI.
Anyway, I remain puzzled. Perhaps there really is some setting somewhere in my TV that is causing it to misbehave with Doctor Who, but with nothing else that I watch. Or else FiOS is screwing up its retransmission of BBC America somehow. (This is the only program I've ever watched on BBC America.) I guess I'll mark this "resolved" since I did find an eventual solution -- I really enjoyed this season, which shared some ideas in common with Inception -- but it still rankles that I had to resort to unsanctioned downloads in order to get the show in the quality that its producers intended.
posted by Joey Bagels at 8:25 AM on August 7, 2010
Anyway, I remain puzzled. Perhaps there really is some setting somewhere in my TV that is causing it to misbehave with Doctor Who, but with nothing else that I watch. Or else FiOS is screwing up its retransmission of BBC America somehow. (This is the only program I've ever watched on BBC America.) I guess I'll mark this "resolved" since I did find an eventual solution -- I really enjoyed this season, which shared some ideas in common with Inception -- but it still rankles that I had to resort to unsanctioned downloads in order to get the show in the quality that its producers intended.
posted by Joey Bagels at 8:25 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by cabingirl at 11:11 AM on June 13, 2010