Does your Satellite/Digital Cable display the Interlaced Chroma Problem? (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Patterson]

This is sort of a poll to find out if what Secrets of Home Theater is Link Removed about the Interlaced version of the Chroma bug does in fact affect all MPEG decoders. This will help me decide if it's time to upgrade to a satellite system or hold off because they display the same chroma errors. If you're not familiar with the chroma bug or simply don't see it on infected devices, please disregard this thread.
I first discovered this problem when I got a Shaw Digital Cable Terminal back in June '99, and found that most of the digital channels had the "color banding" effect. What's interesting is I caught this problem on my 27" interlaced TV... hardly a 'low profile' bug. Initially I thought it was a defect of either the cable box, or the stations which broadcasted the MPEG-encoded images through Shaw. However, with the recent revelations from Secrets about the "Interlaced Chroma Problem" (ICP from herein), it seems as if the problem may exist on all MPEG decoders out there. One interesting quote they made was:

The problem definitely predates DVD, and from what we have learned, the satellite system used in Europe suffered from this problem before DVD came to market.

So my question for all of you is do you see this problem with your Digital Cable or Satellite systems? Depending on your sensitivity, you may not catch it on a 27" interlaced TV as I did, but if you have a larger screen that upconverts to 480p, you may be able to catch this.
Thanks a bunch, guys.
Ryan

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Thanks a good question!
I have TCI now AT&T (analog & digital) cable, and now I will try to look for it.

 

[Sundar Prasad]

Heck - I have been seeing the chroma bug on both analog and digital cable for over a year now. It is most evident on saturated red edges, but can be seen quite easily with other saturated colours too. Some channels are worse offenders than others, and some programming shows the bug more than others. I can understand seeing the bug on digital cable which means that my cable box has a problem MPEG decoder. What surprises me is why some analog cable channels also show the problem from time to time (whether tuned through the VCR or cable box). This could only mean that the MPEG decoders in broadcast equipment also feature the bug. It amazes me that the 'engineers' (I am one too) who designed the decoder could not see such a glaring defect in the picture.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I was thinking about this: would it be applicable to analog and digital cable, or just digital?

 

[Ryan Patterson]

I was thinking about this: would it be applicable to analog and digital cable, or just digital?

Personally, I've only seen it on the digtial channels, but as Sundar indicates it's very possible that MPEG errors could be introduced at the broadcast end, especially if they "download" a movie or show off satellite and rebroadcast it locally over an analog channel.