Desperate Housewives = Frames are slowed down?

[E-Murder]

I don't follow the show, but I walked into the room while it was airing a couple weeks ago and could not stop trying to figure out why every 15 seconds or so, the video frames seem staggered and/or they slowed them down? It was happening frequently and as I continued to watch, it became very noticeable to me, although it almost appeared that this quick "slow down/lost frames" happened during scenes that would hide it the best (during a dark shot and/or not during a close up dialog scene) . I then watched a part of another episode and saw the same thing going on. It only lasts around a second when it occurs.

Anyone familiar with what I am referring to as I am curious as to why this is happening technically? I am on the East Coast with Comcast if that helps.
Thanks.

[Big Andy]

There's no way a show would shoot a show out at the wrong frame rate.

My guess, is that you were watching on HDTV and for some reason the TV was trying to read the wrong frame rate or it's aspect ratio was off. Or there is always the Cable company running a little glitchy.

So many things this could be other than the show.

[E-Murder]

Yes, it would be a disgrace if a show with this amount of legs has a frame rate issue, which isn't the situation.

You bring up a good point and to confirm, I was not watching on HD.
As for the cable company running glitchy, I have to wonder how this could be on a program only basis on multiple occasions? Maybe I should use my limited TV viewing time to see if this happens on other shows with this particular channel.

Thanks for the post, it helps narrow this down.
Still scratching my head about it.

Originally Posted by Big Andy

There's no way a show would shoot a show out at the wrong frame rate.

My guess, is that you were watching on HDTV and for some reason the TV was trying to read the wrong frame rate or it's aspect ratio was off. Or there is always the Cable company running a little glitchy.

So many things this could be other than the show.

[ButchP]

Originally Posted by E-Murder

..........

As for the cable company running glitchy, I have to wonder how this could be on a program only basis on multiple occasions? Maybe I should use my limited TV viewing time to see if this happens on other shows with this particular channel.

Thanks for the post, it helps narrow this down.
Still scratching my head about it.

Carson (next to Long Beach) Ca on Time Warner cable it happen "way " to much.and its usually certain stations at certain times.When 24 was on it was chronic which was MADDENING! since everything moves so fast ten seconds you could miss a major plot twist!!I'm so tempted to go satellite TV just for my few faves to be UNwackadoo .TW cable is really bad!Luckily theres enough drivel on it doesn't matter much...

BP

[Fajita]

probably the cable head end, or maybe transmission has problems wit their hard drives. Nothing gets broadcast from tape any more.

[Ben B]

I think this must have something to do with the new digital broadcasting stuff. I've been noticing the same thing all over TV lately -- not just Desperate Housewives. No idea what it might be, though.

-Ben B

[Fajita]

could also be your DVR... if you can "pause live tv" then there is probably some sort of buffer that is getting mucked up.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Fajita

could also be your DVR... if you can "pause live tv" then there is probably some sort of buffer that is getting mucked up.

This kind of thing happens frequently with my Dish setup. Sometimes the picture will actually stop dead while the audio keeps going. But when you "rewind" and play the same spot again, it will play flawlessly. Annoying, but beats the crap out of the 2 UHF channels I grew up with.

[imgoinmad]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

This kind of thing happens frequently with my Dish setup. Sometimes the picture will actually stop dead while the audio keeps going. But when you "rewind" and play the same spot again, it will play flawlessly. Annoying, but beats the crap out of the 2 UHF channels I grew up with.

I get the same thing with my Dish DVR but it's a rarety, not a frequent thing

[neilwilkes]

Happens all the time with UK Sky+ HD dish setup.
The quality on offer is frankly piss-poor, and to call it HD is a triumph of marketing over reality - it is little better than SD in an HD wrapper.
The non-"HD" channels vary wildly in quality, mainly (I suspect) caused by the fact that a digital multiplex only has a finite amount of bitrate available - all those +1 channels have to get their bits from somewhere, and it comes from everything else.

The quality of most Digital TV is terrible.

[kdm]

Something similar happens here on PBS all the time. Every 15-20 seconds or so (a guess), video simply freezes then disintegrates or blacks out, then picks back up. The "glitch" usually lasts from 2-5 seconds - looks like buffering just isn't keeping up somewhere down the line. Nearly impossible to watch anything there anymore because of it.

We have other issues with other stations - audio out of sync (way out of sync at times), distortion, and other channels that will freeze/drop frames as well.

I think the digital change-over here in the US was part of the problem. Apparently not everyone was ready to stream the data reliably.

[neilwilkes]

Originally Posted by kdm

Something similar happens here on PBS all the time. Every 15-20 seconds or so (a guess), video simply freezes then disintegrates or blacks out, then picks back up. The "glitch" usually lasts from 2-5 seconds - looks like buffering just isn't keeping up somewhere down the line. Nearly impossible to watch anything there anymore because of it.

We have other issues with other stations - audio out of sync (way out of sync at times), distortion, and other channels that will freeze/drop frames as well.

I think the digital change-over here in the US was part of the problem. Apparently not everyone was ready to stream the data reliably.

Same here with Audio too - sync seems to be a triumph of hope over expectation a lot of the time, with up to 160ms delays needing to be added on some days, yet the next it is down to zero again. Audio dropouts are distressingly common too - one of the times you will really notice dropouts is when recording an "HD" channel to the internal HDD and trying to view a different channel - tips it right over the edge a lot of the time.

OT but relevant.
Recently, our BBC dropped it's HD bitrate from 16Mb/s down to 9Mb/s.
Not surprisingly, people noticed. However the BBC head of HD was on record claiming that there is no evidence that bitrate has any effect on picture quality!
Also, has anyone else noticed that Sky are running a campaign at the moment trying to say that telephone handsets will spoil the picture?
Couldn't possibly be the pitifully low bitrate, could it! Perish the thought.