Despite the launch of regional BBC One HD channels in England, not all regional services are actually broadcast in full HD.
With the launch of regionalised BBC One HD now rolling out on Freeview after similar rollouts on other platforms, more viewers are noticing jumps in picture quality.
Just five regions within England can currently output in HD. The remaining regions are upscaled from standard definition. The resulting drop in picture quality is particularly noticeable on large screen TVs.
BBC Regions opt out of the national version of BBC One in two stages. Minutes before a regional segment, regions start a ‘soft-opt’. At this point, the national programme passes through the regional centre. In affected regions, this causes programmes on BBC One to suddenly drop in picture quality.
This is seen during the national weather forecast, which precedes the regional news, but also during the closing moments of Bargain Hunt, Pointless and whatever BBC One is showing in the 9pm slot, ahead of the BBC News. Following the opening titles and the ‘hard opt’ for local headlines, image quality switches back to HD.
English Regions in full HD
- London
- North East & Cumbria*
- North West*
- South
- South West*
*available on Freeview by the end of April, but already on Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media and newer BT TV boxes in Internet mode.
English Regions in SD, upscaled
- East*
- East Midlands
- East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
- South East*
- West*
- West Midlands
- Yorkshire
Channel Islands: although not part of England, or the UK, BBC Channel Islands shares some of its output with BBC South West. Simulcasts of BBC South West are HD while other regional output is upscaled.
Regional programmes in the affected areas are then broadcast entirely in standard definition, upscaled to HD resolution.
Open to misinterpretation?
Various BBC regions posted Tweets, similar to this from the BBC in Hull, when the rollout of regional BBC One HD began last week.
While the text, talking about a “complete version of BBC One HD” allows for ambiguity, the large graphic is open to misinterpretation.
Look North (both Leeds and Hull-based version) is available on BBC One HD. But isn’t available in HD. Rather the image is upscaled from standard definition to fit an HD resolution frame.
The picture quality is noticeably less sharp than a full HD picture.
Only the Newcastle edition of Look North, serving the North East and Cumbria is in native HD. That version will launch on BBC One HD on Freeview by the end of April. It is already available on satellite and cable.
The BBC is currently upgrading its regional centres and does expect to offer all regional services in HD in the future. There are a number of different projects ongoing, including upgrades to regional studio sets and galleries. Only once the full broadcast chain from studio to viewer is HD throughout will viewers be able to watch BBC One fully in HD.
Iain Hatton