R.B.4    1 A / V   W O M A N   & A V I E W 2 0 0 7   /   8

1 SERIAL NO. IM  448199

5: SOUND

As outlined in the above table, B1, B2, B3 and B4 have a whopping 256 bit sound quality. As I'm sure you've never noticed.

While I'm at it, it'd be amiss of me to leave out the radio stats:

32kbit/s is said to be MW quality. 96 kbit/s is said to be FM quality. 192 is generally considered good quality, and 256 is boasted "near-transparent". I leave you to your own ears on those claims. NICAM was 704 kbit/s, but that was a different compression system so the numbers don't really tally. 

What does all this teach us? Other than that we should favour ITV2+1 over ITV2 the next time we watch X Factor Exposed? Probably doesn't tell us much. I might as well have expressed the relative analogue signal strengths here at AView HQ: C4 (best), B1, C5, I1, B2 (worst). Except that they are a regional foible whereas everything above (save problems of reception) are relevant across England as a whole (and with a few twiddles of numbers, the rest of the UK). We can at least sleep easy in our beds knowing that, if nothing else, the world is an elaborate pie-chart and several testacards better off. So that's something.

But wait! Just when you thought it was safe to hook up your SCART leads, what's this coming over the hill? Why, it's our dear old friend High Definition come to play.