BBC HD becomes BBC Two HD

Cosimo · 19 Feb 2013 at 13:43

BBC Two HD Channel to launch 26 March:

The BBC today announces it will launch BBC Two HD at 6am on Tuesday 26 March. BBC Two HD will be available on Sky HD (169), Freeview HD/YouView (102), Virgin Media (187), Freesat HD (109) and BT Vision (852).

The announcement follows the successful launch of BBC One HD on 3 November 2010.

BBC Two HD will replace the existing BBC HD Channel and will be available subscription-free on all digital television platforms offering HD channels.

Janice Hadlow, Controller of BBC Two, says: "BBC One HD has already proved to be highly valued by our audiences and I'm delighted that we're able to follow this with the launch of BBC Two in HD. The launch of BBC Two HD will allow us to showcase more of our programmes at their very best – helping to highlight our commitment to high quality, engaging and ambitious programmes on BBC Two."

The BBC Two HD channel will be a simulcast network version of the BBC Two schedule with a raft of new programmes available in HD for the first time including Paul Hollywood – Bread, The Fall, Science Britannica and Keeping Britain Alive. Old favourites such as Mock The Week, QI and Springwatch will also remain at the heart of the channel's offer.

NotAGolf · 19 Feb 2013 at 14:09

Hmm not sure about this. It's ok if ALL the programs are actually made in HD.

It winds me up when you put on channel4 HD and it's something like Everyone Loves Raymond which is still shown in what looks like 320p :/

If the programs aren't all in HD, I'd rather they kept a dedicated HD channel and just repeated proper HD content.

FrankJH · 19 Feb 2013 at 17:44

Rebranding exercise really which means **** all to most people lol

Most of the programmes on BBC 2 that would have got a decent viewing number were on BBC HD anyway

TheVoice · 19 Feb 2013 at 17:48

I still find it ridiculous that ITV has all its trashy channels in HD, yet BBC only has a few.

bertles86 · 19 Feb 2013 at 20:01

What gets me is few if any HD channels are capable of 1080p transmission. For example sky Sports HD are 1080i.

Destination · 19 Feb 2013 at 20:48

TheVoice said:
I still find it ridiculous that ITV has all its trashy channels in HD, yet BBC only has a few.

Wasn't aware they had, in Norn iron you in theory can't even get ITV HD yet, to the regional variation rules and laws governing display and syndicate areas.

insane200 · 19 Feb 2013 at 21:12

Hikari Kisugi said:
Wasn't aware they had, in Norn iron you in theory can't even get ITV HD yet, to the regional variation rules and laws governing display and syndicate areas.

Only on Sky.

Digital Uk have been saying this will happen for over a year, but it was delayed due to the Olympics.

There is a possibility of upto 8 more BBC HD channels also going buy the Digital UK chap that pops in once in a while

Nymins · 19 Feb 2013 at 21:15

Hikari Kisugi said:
Wasn't aware they had, in Norn iron you in theory can't even get ITV HD yet, to the regional variation rules and laws governing display and syndicate areas.

Virgin Media has UTV HD in Belfast at least. Its coming to Sky sometime this year I believe, but yea you can manually tune ITV HD.

Mel_P · 24 Feb 2013 at 17:41

Re "1080"

What resolution is BBC HD transmitted on Freesat - I thought it was only at 1440 x 1080 lines not 1920 x 1080 ??

Advice anybody please?

joebingo · 28 Feb 2013 at 09:13

mpledge52 said:
Hmm not sure about this. It's ok if ALL the programs are actually made in HD.

It winds me up when you put on channel4 HD and it's something like Everyone Loves Raymond which is still shown in what looks like 320p :/

If the programs aren't all in HD, I'd rather they kept a dedicated HD channel and just repeated proper HD content.

All programs are nowadays, repeats wont be unless they were shot, cut and delivered in HD.

This doesn't affect the quality of HD broadcasting however, which is ropey.

Mel_P said:
Re "1080"

What resolution is BBC HD transmitted on Freesat - I thought it was only at 1440 x 1080 lines not 1920 x 1080 ??

Advice anybody please?

I think some is 1440x1080 which is the resolution of HDV, so they're being cheeky.

CaptainCrash · 28 Feb 2013 at 09:29

Mel_P said:
Re "1080"

What resolution is BBC HD transmitted on Freesat - I thought it was only at 1440 x 1080 lines not 1920 x 1080 ??

Advice anybody please?

IIRC (someone correct me if I'm wrong), they switched from 1440x1080 to 1920x1080 in May 2012, on both Freesat and Freeview. All the free-to-view HD channels are now 1920x1080 as opposed to "HD lite."

That doesn't necessarily mean an increase in picture quality of course, it'll also depend on the bitrate and effectiveness of the compression algorithms they're using at any given time.