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I think the picture quality variations here are due to the way the channels manage their bandwidth. Each channels broadcasts both an analog signal (to be switched off in 2010?), a SD digital signal, a HD digital signal (our cheap SD boxes won't down convert a HD signal to SD) and an EPG.
This leads to the channels having to cut down to bandwidth of the SD signal to provide more bandwidth for the HD signal. Some channels (particularly the 7 network) are more aggressive at this than others. The 7 network jumps all over the place sometimes changing the signal between programs and even in ad breaks at times. Every so often the aspect ratio gets broken leaving you with a distorted image regardless of whether you are watching on a 4:3 or 16:9 set. Their EPG looks like a bad youtube video. I have to laugh at them sometimes, but I'll be less amused if they ever get some programs I want to watch. Once they actually did something that switched by box to SECAM mode.
The two government run stations actually have the best SD picture quality. They broadcast 576p as HD, so the SD doesn't get squeezed as much.
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