The channel will show exactly the same programmes as BBC One in standard definition, but wherever a programme has been made in HD you will be able to experience it in all its glory.

Danielle Nagler is Controller, BBC HD

Read more and comment at the BBC TV blog

Being a (relatively) new kid on the channel block, we at the HD channel are keen to try things out and I wanted to let you know about one of them. We aim to broadcast the best of the BBC's programmes - and I'm very aware that each and every one of you will have a different view about what "our best" is.

So, over Easter weekend, we're proposing to hand over a number of those choices to you - our viewers.

At the BBC HD's website you will find a selection of 30 programmes we've broadcast over the last year, representing every kind of programme we show, from Life to Shaun The Sheep, from A History Of Christianity, via Psychoville, to Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and of course Doctor Who and Top Gear.

Read the rest of this post and leave a comment on the TV blog.

For the BBC - as for all of us - HD at the start was about technology. For that reason, engaging through the BBC Internet blog made absolute sense.

But in the nearly four years since we began HD broadcasts - this summer will see the second World Cup to be broadcast by the BBC in HD - the technology has matured to an extent, and the challenges for us have also expanded. You remind me frequently of the importance - and quite understandable frustrations - around scheduling, sign-posting HD content, and the choices we continue to make about the programmes that will and will not be in HD. I've continued to try to address these questions alongside those about the ways we use HD broadcast technology within this blog because I know that an interested community has assembled here. But increasingly HD - which in my view at the moment is primarily a television rather than an internet technology - has sat slightly oddly with the other topics covered here.

A BBC Television blog is now up and running and feels like a natural home for my postings. BBC HD is in the process of growing up, and it feels appropriate that its blogosphere life should take place alongside the BBC's other television channels. I hope that as many of you as would like to, will join me there to share in the continuing development of what we are doing in HD. I will of course keep across the discussions here - I will continue to comment where it feels appropriate, and Andy Quested (Head of Technology for BBC HD) will continue to publish here when there are more complex technical issues to deal with.

I believe firmly that HD is the future of television, the next stage on a journey which has progressively seen what television can offer become both more and more lifelike and "real", and also more and more creatively confident and inspiring through the development of television as "art". BBC HD may be the smallest BBC channel right now - but we're only available of course in those homes which currently have HD connections (around 12% on the last count) and we are probably the fastest growing. Thank you for your support here, and please do move with me on to TV cyberspace on the TV blog.

Danielle

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBC HD.

The picture shows the BBC World Cup Commentators, 1966. From left to right: Ken Aston, Kenneth Wolstenholme, Wally Barnes, David Coleman, Frank Bough, Alec Weeks and Arthur Ellis.

And a final few post-scripts to respond to questions:

• No news on F1 is neither good news, nor a reflection of the BBC's desire to have F1 to give you in HD: The events are being filmed in HD (as far as we know) but they are not made available by F1 to broadcasters in HD
• I am very sorry about the frustration caused by the Winter Olympics' impact on our schedule - and in particular on Nurse Jackie and Mad Men. We have no scheduling flexibility around these programmes, and a choice to show the Olympics therefore inevitably meant that some episodes were not shown when expected, or in one case not shown at all in HD. We do work with the other channels - and with those from whom we get our content - to try to minimise the occasions when this happens, but with live sports events around - which are by their nature best seen at the time that they happen - there are limits to how far we can use one channel to showcase everything that you would like to see.
• I do have to warn those eagerly awaiting the World Cup that a focus on football will inevitably mean clashes with other programming in June, and with Wimbledon. Of course we will do our best to make sure that all interests are balanced, and there is no question of us not showing an England team match, but I'm already well aware that there will be a lot of juggling, resulting inevitably in some balls landing in places you would prefer them not to...

• Read Danielle Nagler's previous HD posts on the Internet blog.
• Read Andy Quested's previous HD posts on the Internet blog.

The TV set itself is far from redundant, even though I think most of us appreciate the fact that flat-screen technologies mean that it can take up less of our living space. And HD itself - although of course available on-demand, and packaged cleanly into Blu-Ray - is still mostly it seems bought, and used, to watch programmes live, or to capture them off-air to watch on the big screen with the leisure afforded by a good hard disc storage system.

The availability of HD on Freeview has been one of the most frequent questions to the BBC over the time that I've been in this job. Sky's Supertelly has clearly attracted many, while the majority of those buying into Freesat, and a significant proportion of V+ customers have also chosen HD.

But across the UK more people have chosen to move from the analogue world into digital with Freeview than to any other platform, and that is just for their main TV sets. BBC HD had its technical launch on Freeview in December last year, when HD transmissions began in the Granada and London regions. But technical availability - while interesting and of course testament to all those who have created the DVB-T2 standard - is just the first step.

So it is incredibly exciting to see the first Freeview HD boxes are coming off the production lines, destined for a shop somewhere near you (probably), any day. You can see what is coming first on any number of reviews - you might want to try these for starters: Humax Freeview HD Set Top Box Goes On Sale (From ITProPortal) or Humax HD-FOX T2 review (From TechRadar). And there will be many, many other flavours of Freeview HD (including I'm told TVs with Freeview HD built in, and hard disc recorders) arriving over the coming months.

The ability to receive HD on Freeview is also expanding - over 50% of people in the UK should be in range by the summer, with the rest of the country following at other points to the end of the analogue/digital switchover process in 2012.

A Freeview HD coverage checker is on hand so that every address in the UK can establish when Freeview HD will reach its arial. There's even a handy free Freeview HD TV Guide iPhone app now available to provide you with our full channel listings, as well as those of the other Freeview HD channels.

The BBC chooses to spend a small part of the licence fee income that we have on making programmes in HD, and broadcasting them in HD, because we firmly believe that HD is simply part of the next stage of television's life. Given that we spend your money on it, we want to make sure that you can access HD - if you wish to do so - on whatever platform suits you. It's good to see Freeview there now (or nearly) alongside Sky, Freesat and Virgin, and to know that the choice of how to get BBC HD just got bigger.

Danielle

Danielle Nagler is the Head of BBC HD.

I've been absent for a little while. But I've been thinking about the next stages for the BBC and HD, and particularly about drama - how the way that we are working in that area provides a direction for what we need to do across all the programming that the BBC is making in HD.

Drama has moved faster than any other area of programming in the UK to working in HD. If you leave out the soaps, the BBC probably makes a higher proportion of drama programmes in HD than we do any other type of programming. Over the last couple of months alone, we've shown Silent Witness, Cranford, Larkrise, Wallander, Rock and Chips, and Hustle from BBC One, Churchill: Into the Storm, Heroes and Nurse Jackie from BBC Two, Being Human from BBC Three, and the biopics on Margot Fonteyn, Enid Blyton and Gracie Fields from BBC Four, to name but a few.

The drama production community has taken to HD fast and wholeheartedly for a couple of reasons: HD can offer producers a closer approximation to film than any other format, and therefore help production teams to produce work which looks like cinema on television drama budgets. But HD has also proved popular because those working in drama have recognised that they can use it creatively. Technology is only transformational once we really start to bend it to what we want to achieve regardlesss of it.

Let me take just a couple of examples to illustrate the point. Wallander represents truly masterful HD, this year even more so than last. We could say that was because the visual quality alone is stunning - the framing of shots, the light, the colours, the grading and post-production effort. All true of course. But for me one of the key things that Wallander demonstrates is the way that it has used what HD can add to television drama to change the way it tells the story.

We're used in film to lingering close ups. In SD television we have tended to do that less, because of the loss of detailing. Battered and bruised emotionally by his own investigations, it is Kenneth Branagh's interior monologue which powers the narrative, to a much greater extent than the action itself. It is HD's capacity to bring people as well as objects to full emotional life on the small screen which supports and encourages the approach that has been taken, the camera held repeatedly on Branagh, allowing the story of the crime and our response to it to be encapsulated by him.

Margot takes a very different approach - particularly during the stage performances, the combination of lighting and filters and camera set up manages to create a sense of theatric distance from the ballerina, while the detail which HD can provide is used simultaneously to show (at least to those viewing in HD), the hairs of her arms, and the lines of concentration in her face.

In Hustle, the HD look absolutely reflects the rhythm of the story-telling - it is crisp, and precise, a slighly heightened reality but not lavish and glossy. Whilst in Being Human, I have a sense that there has been a bit of a journey in relation to the use of HD. The pilot made for the series was extremely theatric in style. Last year, when the programme was first broadcast on BBC Three and on BBC HD the supernatural and the ordinary were quite evenly balanced, and HD used to build a more cinematic look in parts. This year, as the balance of emphasis seems to have shifted further on the normalisation of lives that are somewhat less than everyday, I'm seeing that HD is being used more extensively to enhance reality, to show the regular backdrop to a vampire attack, the greyness of real days rather than the glittering darkness of fantasy nights.

Across what we are doing in the BBC, I intend that we shall focus this year on mastering HD. There will be new programmes making the move to HD - even in drama - but I think that we are now at a stage at which across the full range of programmes we make, we can start to do what drama is already doing and develop what we can achieve creatively with the HD tool set. I'm hopeful too that we will find ways to address the barriers to moving to HD for many of those programmes - including the continuing dramas - which have remained outside the HD universe so far. And I can reassure you that there is lots to come.

This trail (see below) - for new drama from the BBC - is currently playing on a number of our channels: I can reassure you that it is all in HD, and will all be appearing on BBC HD in the course of the year.

Danielle

Danielle Nagler is the Head of BBC HD.

Ed's note: Comments about drama on HD and the areas that Danielle writes about should go on this post. Comments about picture quality on HD should be made on this post of Andy Quested's: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Encoding: The Salmon of Style (Or how programmes styles can change your view). (PM)

As I have said previously our BBC HD service is optimised to deliver to typical viewing set ups - it is not designed to be perfect at very close quarters, or on a 90" projection screen for example. No HD channel as a general rule will offer the same quality as bluray, any more than standard definition television offers the same quality as DVDs. The work that of course has taken place behind the scenes to assess whether - aside from our technical view - the majority of viewers watching in normal situations in their living rooms are happy with the picture quality on the channel has shown that as a group, they are.

In broadening the range of programmes we make in HD, and increasing the number of hours of programming made available, it is inevitable that there will be greater variation in styles. Standard definition television - at least from the BBC - does not offer a consistent "look", nor would we want it to. HD from the BBC does deliver in a range of styles - and that is not always the bright, crisp look which for some is synonymous with HD. There are a number of programmes that we make where that kind of appearance would feel very odd indeed. Different types of cameras used in different ways, with different techniques in post production, will deliver different outcomes. That is a key part of the migration of HD from the (albeit beautiful) margins of television to the mainstream. And it is in my view critical that as HD takes hold across television production there is scope for directors and producers to experiment. The challenge for those of us overseeing that progression is to take a view on the outcome of those experiments, to embrace those that deliver advances and to kill off those that don't. It is worth saying that there is a strict process of technical review for every programme delivered to the BBC (in SD or in HD), and that not every HD programme passes those tests, or proceeds to HD broadcast.

There has been a very thorough process of engagement by the BBC with these issues - both via the blog and through other routes. But that engagement in the debates around picture quality cannot automatically deliver agreement. There are programmes which some feel look disappointing, and others which are generally felt to look great. There have been no changes to the bitrate (of 9.7mbps) over this period. As we have indicated, there are some concerns that we have about picture handling in very specific circumstances by the new encoders. These are being addressed and will be fixed through software releases over the coming weeks.

But let me lay some myths to rest:

These are actions that we would have taken in any case because to produce an HD service which looks the same as an SD service would clearly be a waste of time The reduction in bitrate is not specifically related to Freeview HD - and to us it is absolutely critical that HD in general, and the BBC's HD service in particular, is available to everyone in the UK who wishes to watch it, whether that is through a subscription or a non-subscription route, or indeed on demand through BBC iPlayer.

The BBC is not launching BBC One HD early next year on Freeview - as one newspaper report has suggested. We are, of course, offering BBC HD (our existing service) through Freeview HD which will become available to consumers early next year in parts of the UK, and we will of course continue to look at how we can strengthen and expand the range of content which the BBC makes available in HD, recognising that you and others in our audience have indicated to us already that you would like to receive a BBC One HD service from us.

There will be no "closing down" of this debate, any more than there has been to date. At times for administrative purposes it makes sense to concentrate discussion on a particular topic within a single thread. I don't think there is anyone reading this blog who could legitimately claim that they have been unable to find somewhere within the BBC to make their views clear. Although our views may differ at times, I know that we do share a passion for HD as simply a fantastic way of bringing television pictures to life.

I feel that it is now time to draw a line under my further contribution here to the debate here. I'll be focusing on - and blogging about as appropriate - other issues relating to the development of BBC HD. And I will of course be keeping picture quality along every part of the HD production and broadcast chain under surveillance.

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision

Hello,

I wanted to bring you news - hot off the press - of the BBC HD Christmas schedule, and to give you some insight into how it is put together.

The foundations of this year's HD Christmas started going down around a year ago, when we began to take the commissioning decisions which determine whether or not programmes get made in HD. Seasonal programmes (which may well have limited opportunities to be repeated) are in some ways less sound HD investments than programmes which can play all year round.

But while most HD-enabled sets are the main set in the home, and given that the holiday period is a key time when families and friends gather round the set together, we recognise that the HD Christmas schedule is an important part of what we deliver to our audience, and we need to get it right.

I'm really delighted that this year the vast majority of drama and comedy shows made for the holiday period are available in HD on BBC HD.

We'll be showing not just the final (two) appearances of David Tennant's Doctor Who (on Christmas and New Year's Day), but also specially made outings from The Royle Family, Gavin and Stacey, Catherine Tate, Cranford, and Victoria Wood. The week between Christmas and New Year will also see broadcasts of a remake of Day of the Triffids, The Turn of the Screw, and the Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet with David Tennant in the title role.

Christmas Eve will showcase music - we're showing South Pacific (the 1958 film of the musical), The Tsarina's Slippers (ballet from the Royal Opera House), and Carols from Kings. New Year's Eve will see what has become a regular date with Jools Holland's Hootenanny, and we're also using that day to show again the BBC Prom featuring the music of MGM.

We know that many of you value watching films in HD. I can reassure you that a lot of the films that the BBC is showing over Christmas will be on the channel. Please enjoy The Incredibles (on Christmas Day, following on from the Queen's Speech), Herbie: Fully Loaded, Flushed Away, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (on Boxing Day), and 101 Dalmatians, Miss Potter, Chicken Run, Mary Poppins, the Wallace and Gromit films, at various other points.

My own personal treats to look forrward to over the period include the animation of Julia Donaldson's beautiful children's classic The Gruffalo (on Christmas Day afternoon), and Top Gear's trip to Bolivia showing on 27th December.

We are starting broadcasting at around midday throughout the holiday period, and aiming of course to simulcast as much as possible with the other BBC channels showing the programmes we have in HD.

(Almost certainly?) there will be frustrations for you as viewers about what we're not showing, or not simulcasting. Making choices about what we can't do is one of the toughest parts of getting the schedule together - although somewhat inevitable when you are trying to showcase content from across the rest of the BBC channel family.

We had to make a decision on Christmas Eve about whether to offer ballet (Tsarina's Slippers, showing on BBC Two) and the film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which is showing on BBC One. We've chosen the ballet - it is the only offer of its kind over the period, and we did show the film on BBC HD last year. On Boxing Day, because the two overlapped in the last half hour, we have chosen to simulcast with BBC One the premiere of part three of Pirates of the Caribbean, which means that Hamlet (showing on BBC Two) will be available on BBC HD on 27 December.

We've also tried - in as thoughtful a way as possible - to give you a chance to see and to share a range of the programmes we've showcased over the year. In the mix you will find Torchwood: Children of Earth, Emma, extracts from Britain from Above, the Electric Proms, Shaun the Sheep, South Pacific, Planet Earth, our series of short films, and Gigglebiz. On New Year's Day, you will find the channel dedicated to a celebration of Doctor Who. From early afternoon we will be showing all the special episodes broadcast over the year, with a range of under the bonnet Doctor Who Confidentials (made with BBC Three), some episodes from The Sarah Jane Adventures (from CBBC) and Dreamland, the Doctor Who Animation first shown on BBC Red Button.

There is more - of course - both new and old. The schedule comes together through a lot of hard work from a lot of people across and beyond the BBC, and the BBC HD team. We hope you feel it brings you the best of what is on the BBC's channels over the holiday weeks, and more than anything that you find something in the mix to enjoy.

Danielle

Danielle Nagler is the Head of BBC HD.

As there is no conspiracy around picture quality, and therefore no great revelation to make, I can only apologise to those of you who found my Points of View appearance a disappointment. But given the blog inches which have been devoted to the subject - and the challenges therefore for new joiners - I thought it might be helpful to set out clearly and at slightly greater length than is possible on air, the issues that are being debated.

The charge made by a number of you is that the substantial drop in bitrate for BBC HD since the channel was launched - and in particular the reduction in bitrate in August when new encoders were introduced - has had a "catastrophic" effect on the picture quality offered by the channel.

For those not in the know, it might help to clarify what bitrate is. Just like MP3 music, pictures can be broken down into digits or bits, and transmitted as a stream of information. The bitrate is the number of bits of information sent every second. This debate is to an extent about the impact that more bits per second has on quality. Those who believe that picture quality has deteriorated because of the drop in bitrate are of the view that picture quality is determined to a significant extent by the "speed" at which bits are transmitted. My view, and the view of the BBC HD team that works with me, is that picture quality is less to do with "speed" and more to do with the way the information is processed.

Now back to what has happened to date.

• When BBC HD launched as a trial service in June 2006 it was one of the first HD channels off the block. It used first generation systems with first version software, and used a bitrate of around 19Mbs. Consistent picture quality was a big issue even with a pretty limited range of content.


• By June 2007, new software delivered improvements to picture quality, and the bitrate reduced to around 16Mbs.


• By August of this year, the old hardware was reaching the end of its life and was no longer supported effectively. We therefore put new encoders into service, supported by new software. These encoders handle pictures differently from the old, and are able therefore to work with a lower bitrate of 9.7Mbs.


• The new encoders were tested in advance of being slotted into the BBC HD broadcasting chain. But that testing did not pick up problems with some very specific mixes and lighting changes. These issues became apparent very quickly during the broadcast of a Championship Football match on the channel. We acknowledged the problems, apologised, have put a temporary solution to the problem, and are testing a permanent one.


• There also appear to be some issues around picture "noise" - basically more fuzziness in what should be solid areas of pictures - which we have been seeing a bit more of since the encoder change. As far as we can tell, these are as a result of the "better" pictures now being transmitted to TV sets by the new encoders. Because the new technology conveys the picture information captured by cameras more comprehensively, for the first time we are seeing information that has been picked up but which was effectively "softened" by the system previously in place. We're obviously working on dealing with that too.


• But, with the exceptions I've outlined, in our view the new encoders are as we hoped delivering the same or better picture quality across the majority of programmes, the majority of the time.

We all need to accept that a great deal of our perception of HD picture quality is driven by our pre-conceptions. Some Dutch research published last month (the report I saw was from Informa, dated 28 Oct 09) highlights the extent to which views on picture quality are driven by expectation and emotion. On an HD TV, without an HD connection or receiver, some people will believe that they are watching HD pictures and believe they look substantially better than SD. I have no doubt that for those who believe the bitrate cut has killed picture quality, none of the changes to the encoders that we will make to address the problems which we know are there will make any difference, unless they go hand in hand with an announcement that we've upped the bitrate.

I hope what I have outlined makes clear there is no grand cover-up - and I know that the Head of Technology for BBC HD, Andy Quested, has plans to write at length on the testing that we have done and the detailed assessment that underpins the view that there is no decisive relationship between bitrate and picture quality. I hope it is also clear to everyone - regardless of where they sit in this debate - that it would be an act of extreme stupidity for the BBC deliberately to create an HD service which set no higher standards, and delivered no better picture quality, than its SD channels.

Picture quality, and beyond that the overall delivery of the channel, is of course of the utmost concern. But so too is ensuring that there are programmes available that people want to watch on BBC HD. At the moment we are airing around 40 hours of new content a week on BBC HD, a reflection of the extent to which the mainstream of BBC programming is moving across to the new technology. Sunday night sees the long-awaited arrival of Top Gear on BBC HD, in conjunction with its return to BBC Two. The coming weeks will also see the first ever Children in Need night in HD, and a broadcast of a special Children in Need concert. There's new contemporary comedy and drama, and we are going of course to be bringing you the last appearances of David Tennant as Doctor Who, and next year will see the arrival of Matt Smith as the new Doctor, and the first full series to be made in HD. Next year will also herald moves into HD for The Apprentice, and a number of other major series are also in discussion, alongside an emphasis through the year on some major science programming. The Christmas schedule will be out in the next couple of weeks - we're in the process of finalising it - but I can promise you that the vast majority of BBC treats will be in HD, and we will be offering extended broadcast hours through the holiday period.

I'm delighted that beyond the commentary here, more and more of you and your friends are finding and enjoying some of the new programmes that we're showing in HD. We will keep on extending the range - and managing the quality of what we do - and trying to organise those programmes as best we can for you while the BBC HD shelf gets progressively fuller.

Best wishes,
Danielle

Danielle Nagler is the Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision.

I know the extended silence has been frustrating you - I've been away from the office for some of the time, and also handling a range of other issues. Looking at your comments and questions, I thought that it might be useful to give you a sense of what I do apart from writing this blog - not just to justify the time I spend away from it but because I think it might help to give you a flavour of the range of current issues for the BBC and HD.

On a daily basis, when I get into the office, I look at the overnight log from the broadcast engineers. That identifies any technical problems with the channel - and unfortunately, as many of you will be aware, frequently highlights problems with HD transmissions. Sometimes the cause is clear - human error or a system not doing what it should - and often we're only talking about a few seconds of interruption. But on other occasions (audio drop outs from the Electric Proms) it is harder to get to the bottom of what is going on.

Like you, I find it deeply frustrating that more than 20 months after we launched the channel the service still doesn't always run smoothly. I appreciate that we are deliberately pushing at the boundaries of what has been done before - regular live broadcasts, switching between different channels and different types of content, but I would like us to be in a better place than I feel that we are, and believe me, I'm working with a team of others (hopefully) to get us there.

I also receive on a daily basis the channel audience figures from BARB, colloquially known as "the overnights". Across channels they are a less than perfect guide to viewing, but they are the basic currency all channels work with. With BBC HD figures which I know some of you look at, there are particular concerns. Numbers of those with access to HD are growing all the time, which must make it difficult for BARB to keep pace. HD households still represent a relatively small proportion of the total TV audience and therefore the figures are less reliable than they otherwise might be. Take those factors together with the prevalence of recording devices for those with HD, and the willingness to use them, and it means that while the figures give us a sense of how programmes have performed relatively, they are just one of a number of sources of information which we look at to evaluate the channel's performance.

Those issues out of the way, the day, tends to be taken up with meetings. In no particular order, the issues I'm focussing on at the moment are....

Picture quality: I know this is a big concern for some of you, and honestly, I don't need lots of complaints to start to worry about this. I'll defend to the hilt a programme like Criminal Justice, which I think looked fantastic, though others are entirely within their rights to dismiss the "film look" that it went for. But of course I want to make sure that we keep up the standards of the HD offer from the BBC, and I want to make sure, through looking at both technical and audience filters (pardon the pun), that we are in good shape.

I've launched some further work around this - not because I believe there is a problem, but because I want to make sure there is not - and together with Andy Quested I will of course bring you the outcomes of that work as soon as I can.

HD programmes and schedule: As you'll know, we're still a growing channel. We're actively exploring whether we can extend the channel hours overall, but meantime there is plenty of work to do in growing the amount of content that the BBC is making in HD. Lots of time is spent on conversations with producers inside and outside the BBC looking at whether they make a move to HD, how they do it, and how much it will cost. I really feel that we are experiencing a sea-change here.

When I started last Summer there was a marked reluctance to consider HD in many areas, and very little proactivity from producers. We are now reaching the point where in some areas there is more demand to work in HD than we have the resources to support. It is a good problem to have, but it also generates a second, much more difficult issue of which you will be well aware: With more and more content coming through, how do we best schedule the channel? This Autumn we have a particularly rich mix of programming, including The Restaurant, The Culture Show, Children in Need, new drama and comedy, new US acquisition from BBC Two Defying Gravity, and of course Life, Strictly Come Dancing and Top Gear.

We know that programmes work best for you when we show them at the same time as the standard definition channels, but with such a diversity of content we can't always deliver it, and we're as frustrated as you are when we have to make those choices.

Navigation: Many of you comment on the difficulty in knowing when things are on. I run the channel, I sign off the schedules, and I also as a viewer sometimes find it difficult to locate content I'm looking for. There are a variety of routes to solving this, and believe me when I say that I am working my way along all of them. BBC HD is not like other HD channels in the UK. Because 100% of our programmes are made in HD, we are not a simulcast of another channel that you know and has a familiar structure.

Because we want to bring you the very best programmes across the full range of flavours from the BBC, you will find programmes from BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, Cbeebies, CBBC, and even occasionally some programmes which can only be seen on BBC channels in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, or on BBC Red Button. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to enjoy BBC HD, rather than to battle with it, and therefore to find effective ways to plan your viewing, and to move between BBC channels to access the HD versions of programmes which you love on other BBC services.

Freeview HD: A lot of the thinking in the BBC about HD has been around making sure that HD does not become an exclusive, subscription-only offer in the UK. You can get BBC HD even on Sky without paying an additional subscription, and of course getting the channel (and other HD services) on to Freeview as well as Virgin and Freesat is an important part of ensuring that everyone can have access to what we believe is simply the next, normal TV standard.

I'm expecting that when HD arrives on Freeview at the end of the year the platform will probably play a significant role in the growth of HD homes through 2010, although I think that HD take-up from the other existing platform providers will also increase over the next year . There are plenty of other people around the BBC who are actively involved in making HD on Freeview, because of the BBC's involvement in switchover and the overall development of the digital terrestrial platform. Really, I'm just a channel provider. But I'm conscious of the need to make sure that BBC HD is fit for the mainstream audience which I'm sure will come to HD over the next 12 months or so, through a variety of platforms.

BBC HD Strategy: I know that many people ask where the BBC goes next with HD, and a number of you have thoughts about what the answer to those questions should be.

Thinking about our service development is just one aspect of the BBC's approach to HD. I also have to work with others to address the questions around how fast we move BBC in-house production across to HD delivery, how we move programme commissioning across, how we work with independent producers around these issues, what cameras and other resources we should use, and how we ensure that we deliver the best possible value for licence payers out of the investment we're making in HD at the moment.

I don't think that HD is a luxury for the BBC - it is the way that TV production is going and we could not turn our backs on it, anymore than viewers would have thanked us for deciding that colour TV was not for us. But that doesn't mean that there is lots of money to spend on this area, nor should there be when across the BBC we are looking for savings, and trying to make money go as far as possible. That of course presents daily challenges around how we make the budget we have stretch to encompass our ambitions for you - the HD audience.

In between meetings - and of course in the evening - I do what I hope you would want and expect me to do: Watch television. I try to look at what we are about to broadcast, and what we do broadcast, but also need to see programmes we are considering for HD delivery, and I try to watch other channels - both SD and HD - to get insights into other ideas that we should be considering.

I also - of course - check this blog for your comments and feedback, and even write a new post when I can and have something to say. I don't want to give you just marketing for programmes and therefore, I'm afraid, there may be longer breaks between posting than any of us would ideally like. I hope this is useful, and even possibly interesting. I will be back.

Danielle Nagler is the Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision.

I wanted to share with you at the earliest opportunity the news that from November 15th you will be able to see Top Gear in its true colours.

Yes, after several hundred emails from you as to why you feel Top Gear needs to make the journey from the SD to the HD world, I can confirm that the team is now working with HD cameras on the new series.

You've been very clear that this is a BBC programme that for you represents the best of what we do, and that you believe it is one of those series that can benefit most from HD. I agree with you, and I'm confident that the shift will ensure that the cars are glossier and faster than ever, and the presenters... well, probably will look even more like their reflections in the mirror but we'll all have to wait to judge.

I have said for some time now that what the BBC is aiming to do in HD is to extend the range of programming that is available, to showcase programmes that are loved in SD, and to explore the creative potential of the new technology. Top Gear helps us to do all of this, but it's not the end of the BBC HD story, just one further link in the transition chain that will over time see the vast majority of programmes made by the BBC shifting into HD.

Meantime, steady yourselves and tell your friends.

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision

I thought that you might like to see the detailed response which I have sent to someone who contacted me regarding the picture quality issues which are under discussion here:

"...Your complaint refers to the introduction of the new transmission encoders for BBC HD which were introduced into operations on Wednesday 5th August. There was an extensive process of assessment in advance of the selection of new encoders for the BBC HD service, using both objective and subjective criteria. The encoders which were chosen then went through further testing in advance of operational use, not only for picture quality but for compatibility with the Sky and Freesat platforms and their ability to deliver other services such as subtitling and surround sound successfully.

The new encoders were intended to help us in handling the wide range of material which the BBC broadcasts in HD, and to help to improve the picture quality of some of our most challenging programmes. These may combine progressive and interlaced shooting or where the BBC has limited control over some aspects of the broadcast chain. I believe that the new encoders have achieved this in relation to programmes such as the series of BBC Proms broadcast, Gardeners' World, Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes and the recent Athletics World Championships, for which our coverage using the host broadcaster feed was as good as and sometimes better than other broadcasters covering the same event. However we of course continue to assess coder settings against the wide range of material which they have to handle to determine the best settings on an ongoing basis.

Following the introduction of the new encoders, there were some issues around the handling of some pictures - primarily mixes and fades - which we acknowledged through the BBC HD blog on picture quality almost immediately. We have worked with our encoder supplier to address these issues in the long-term, and also put in place interim changes to minimise the difficulties. That the encoder change should generate problems for viewers watching BBC HD content is of course a matter for regret, but I do not believe that this was the result of errors in the preparation process.

You have also highlighted the issue of the bit-rate at which BBC HD broadcasts, and the changes to this over time. I do not believe that the problems that arose following the introduction of the new encoders had anything to do with the broadcast bit-rate, even though they coincided, as you have rightly identified, with a reduction in bit-rate for the channel.

One of the central issues in selecting new encoders for BBC HD was to deliver pictures at the same or improved quality while allowing a reduction in the channel bit-rate. As MPEG 4 encoders have evolved, the relationship between bit-rate and picture quality has also shifted. This is not an issue that is specific to BBC HD, or to the encoders that we have selected.

The BBC has an absolute responsibility to use bandwidth efficiently - whether on digital terrestrial muxes or on satellite. Bandwidth is not unlimited, and on UK-footprint transponders the demand for capacity is very high. The current bit-rates were selected through a process which directly evaluated quality on the new and old encoders, using a wide range of programme material and both subjective and objective assessments.

Bit-rate is not the only factor affecting picture quality and a higher bit-rate will not automatically deliver higher picture quality.

HD is still an evolving production technology. A variety of production techniques are - in my view quite rightly - deployed as experimentation continues to explore what HD can delivery creatively.

As in standard definition, it is also important that HD delivers a range of "looks" for producers, appropriate to the nature of the subject matter. I do not prescribe a single standard for HD work for the BBC. Decisions regarding frame rate and progressive versus interlaced styles are the responsibility of individual producers. These choices do not impact on quality provided that the camera is set up properly and the shutter speed set correctly, issues on which the BBC HD team provides ongoing advice and guidance. As the discussion on the BBC HD blog suggests, there is a range of views around these issues, and the degradation or quality they may bring to HD pictures. It is worth noting that 25 frames progressive mode in fact has more resolution than a 25 frame interlace image, and is used by the majority of drama, documentary and natural history programmes to great effect.

While very clear, sharp images have become closely associated with HD, it is important not to confuse "sharpness" with resolution. The use of electronic sharpening on standard definition pictures can make images clearer but does not increase the amount of information in the picture, one of the defining features of HD.

Electronic sharpening is not a characteristic which BBC HD encourages since we prefer images to look more natural, and to allow directors to offer contrasting focus in order to highlight the key features in a scene. Indeed, some of our dramas are now using the latest large image format cameras. These cameras use an image sensor about the same physical size as a 35mm film frame that gives the image a very shallow depth of field. This will put all but the key subject out of focus and allows a director to use focus as a story telling tool.

HD picture quality is not purely about a crispness of image, but about a richness of image which comes from the amount of detailed information included.

Within the BBC HD team we work consistently to explore new HD technology with a particular view to enhancing picture quality across the range of programme projects with which we are involved. Filming in certain environments or using small cameras remains challenging, and where it is not possible to deliver HD pictures to the standards we set, we limit the use of lower quality images to a maximum of 25% of an individual title.

Finally, you raise the issue of surround sound and the number of programmes broadcast which offer a 5.1 sound mix. Wherever possible we buy series and films with surround sound tracks, and try to ensure that sound is captured in this format for outside events. But 5.1 sound is not always available, and a genuine surround sound mix can add substantially to production costs in HD at a time when we are concentrating the resources available to increase the total volume of programmes made in HD. At present we do not routinely "up-mix" programmes from stereo to surround.

I can assure you that picture quality is a very important part of the work that we are doing in BBC HD. We clearly have different views on the picture quality that is delivered and the factors that contribute to it, but I do believe that we share a perspective that the quality of images is central to delivery of HD television.

I want to add that the BBC HD blog is a very important discussion and communications forum for us, but as you have clearly observed we don't respond to every single comment raised on it. We do take on board all the views expressed, and look seriously at substantive issues that are highlighted, whether they attract one comment or many.

I am sorry that in this case you feel that your original contribution did not receive the attention which you believed that it should have done."

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision

There has been a communications lull from me over the summer - although I know that a number of you have been engaging vigorously with Andy Quested's entries about our new encoders, and debating picture quality.

Unfortunately I've not spent the last six weeks with my feet up in hot and sunny places where BBC HD doesn't penetrate - unless a week in Devon experiencing analogue/digital swtichover at first hand in a rented cottage counts. I have been working on a range of issues relating to the future of HD and the BBC.

They don't address entirely the points that many of you regularly raise with me around your desire to see all the BBC channels, and certainly all the programmes you regularly watch, in HD. But the demand for more HD from the BBC has been heard and understood, and this Autumn will see a wider debate within the BBC around the pace at which we can grow our offer to you.

When I started as Head of BBC HD a year ago, I was concerned at what I perceived as the gap between the BBC HD promise - the best content from the BBC - and the reality. I also felt that the channel broadcast was limited and unpredictable.

Those concerns haven't entirely gone away - and as contributors to this blog you frequently remind me of them too. But looking at the Autumn schedule I do feel that we are moving in the right direction and I would hope that you agree.

Returning to the channel at weekends are Strictly Come Dancing (this time, with the results), and Antiques Roadshow. There are channel debuts for Hole in the Wall, Countryfile, Waterloo Road and political satire The Thick of It. There's a range of new comedy, from BBC Two's Home Time, and series two of Beautiful People, to BBC Three's Lunch Monkeys (pictured) and How Not to Live Your Life, as well as the channel's new horror title Harper's Island.

You'll find the majority of big BBC programmes for the Autumn on the channel, including Life, the Electric Proms, Lost Land of the Volcano, Emma, and The Art of Russia. As well as the Doctor Who specials, we'll be showing the animation series Dreamland, and the next Sarah Jane Adventures, and younger viewers may also appreciate the arrival of Shaun the Sheep and new Justin Fletcher (aka Mr Tumble) series, Gigglebiz, which is a bit like Little Britain for under 6s.

I do try to ensure that we look across everything the BBC is doing, to bring you some pieces that can benefit from HD but might otherwise get overlooked. My personal recommendations for viewing in the next few weeks both fall into this category. Land Girls is a great light drama which looks fabulous, with rich colours and landscapes, and which is running through the week starting 7th September every day at 7.15pm on BBC HD, with a repeat run which will be simulcast with BBC One on successive Sundays at 6.15pm.

Crash is a production for BBC One Wales which can currently only be seen across the UK on BBC HD (and of course BBC iPlayer). It begins on the 9th September (09/09/09) appropriately enough for a drama about junior doctors and the issues they face as they move from the classroom to real live medical situations. The writing is really fresh, the young cast do a good job, and the story moves fast to a dramatic conclusion in episode one - subsequent episodes are lighter, and funnier, and each offers a separate story although there are some running threads.

Finally, please don't feel your thoughts/ pleas/ paeans of praise for Top Gear have disappeared into the ether, or into my recycling bin. I really value your contributions to our thinking, and hope to be able to update you very soon. But I also want to work through this Autumn to make it easier to get information about what is on BBC HD when so that I can tackle the frustrations you air around missing programmes in HD or not knowing what is available.

I'd value insights from you about how you decide what you are going to watch and where you get information about schedules (not just for BBC HD) from.

Thank you as ever for the part that you are playing in developing BBC HD.

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision

Editor's note: Comments about BBC HD picture quality will be considered off-topic for this post. If you wish to continue to comment on HD picture quality, please do so here. (NR)

Yes - I share the frustration on The Open this year.

I keep asking the question and getting the same answer from the various parties involved, so it is safe to confirm to you that it will be in HD starting from next year.

But I also want to bring you news of programmes coming to BBC HD rather sooner.

Knowing the enjoyment that many of you get from the US series Heroes, which we've shown over three series now together with BBC Two, we're going to be offering those of you who didn't have HD at the time - or just hadn't caught up with the programme - another chance to watch series one of Heroes on Saturday nights. We'll be running a double bill of Heroes at 11.30 every weekend, starting with this, ahead of the start of series 4 (again on BBC Two and BBC HD) which should be in October.

Other summer fixtures include our Music Festival season with sets from across the country on Thursday nights at 10.30. The range will be pretty broad and while I'm sure not to everyone's taste, I hope you'll find something in there to enjoy. We've also got Friday night films, running at 10.30, through to the Autumn when Jonathan Ross will be back for another series.

If you are going away this summer, I hope the separation from your HD set won't be too painful - and there's always BBC iPlayer. And for those of you that are at home I do hope you'll sample what we have to offer.

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision

All Danielle's HD posts

Danielle's post Sport on HD

"BBC Open Golf Coverage" from Digital Spy Forums

Thanks as ever for all your comments.

I just wanted to reflect on Dragons' Den, since I know that some of you took the view that this shouldn't be a priority programme for BBC HD, while others have written here about their enjoyment of it.

Thanks to my PVR I was able to catch up on the first HD episode last night. Watching it confirmed my view that HD brings real benefits to programming which is about people and their emotions, and where the viewing experience is about support and empathy.

Yes, at one level Dragons' Den is a business show, about projects, profts and margins. It's also of course a kind of poker game between the Dragons. But above all it is a blind dating show in which every blink and twitch and bead of sweat tells a story.

In SD of course you get the postures, the bravura, the studied casualness, the overall shape of each invention put forward. In HD I felt I got the sticking plaster on the flying machines, the slight tackiness of all that fake blood on the horror actors, every slight frown as the Dragons reviewed their position, the wild desperation that occasionally flickered through contestant's eyes, the blankness as they realised that they were cornered.

These are of course not the jaw dropping moments that natural history can offer, with thousands of birds filling a screen, or a tree slowly maturing before our eyes. But they do change my relationship to what is going on, they make me feel that I'm there in that slightly odd room with the polished floorboards and the distressed walls, the cheap polyester drapes and the expensive suits, and they make me care more about the people and the outcomes.

So I do still think that this kind of programming is an important part of the mix of what we make - of course it shouldn't be the only thing that we do, but I'm really glad that we decided to make the move into HD for this series on.

On another note, I do recommend Desperate Romantics which starts tonight on BBC HD, also simulcast with BBC Two. Yes it is costume drama, but trust me when I say it moves fast, is rich and funny in quite unexpected ways, and I really, really enjoyed it.

Lots of questions from you about other things - the Championship live matches will be in HD, starting from August 8th, although the round-up programme will not be. And Big Top will also be in HD when it broadcasts.

Not planning to resign just yet I'm afraid Wednesday83.

• Read Danielle Nagler's other posts on HD at the BBC
• Visit the BBC HD homepage
• Watch Dragons' Den in HD on iPlayer
• Visit the Desperate Romantics website

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBCHD, BBC Vision.

I'm sorry about the viewing problems with the Michael Jackson Tribute. Like Krayzee, I also set my Sky + to record and got home to find that it had been knocked out by thunder, leaving me with a blue screen and just the sound coming through, so I share the frustration. But the event organisers were at least kind enough to finish in time for Torchwood though I had some anxious moments at around 8.15.

It looks unfortunately as if there are no worldwide rights to a repeat showing - so I'm sorry since we'd have liked to have done so, but if things change I'll bring you an update.

Danielle Nagler is Head of BBCHD, BBC Vision