Let's (not) talk

In the my younger days, the debate about quality in broadcasting was focussed on DAB, and whether it delivered digital sound better than/worse than a CD. The compromise was to declare it "near-CD-quality" (except, of course, when they squeeze the bandwith for 5Live).

Now the debate is about the quality of pictures delivered by the BBC's HD tv channel. 5 times more clarity than standard definition - or "more grain than my breakfast cereal" ?

Or at least there used to be a debate. Head of HDTV Danielle Nagler bravely blogged on the topic, and got her boffins to explain exactly what the BBC was doing to all those pixels. But after more than 1,200 comments, some of them apparently abusive, BBC blog policeman Nick Reynolds has, somewhat wearily (and rather early in the morning) blocked further contributions. Spool through to comment 1209.

"Sadly despite my final final warning people are still posting abusive comments. So I will close this post for new comments today. It will be closed for a week. I will then decide whether to reopen it again or whether there are better ways of continuing the conversation".

Other forums, including DigitalSpy, have taken up the dialogue.