Freeview & HDTV.....When/Will it happen

Conrad11

Conrad11

Conrad11

Soldato
Joined
12 Jun 2005
Posts
5,361
Hi there,

I am looking to buy some kit for my bedroom and was looking for a TV aswell, will freeview ever be HDTV, if so when is it likely to happen soon as I am buying a TV aswell.

Thanks
 
H def DVB-T is already used down under, quite a lot of TV cards support it. The only problem is a lack of bandwidth so you won't get HD until they turn analogue off in your area.
 
I dont think they will ever offer HD as MPEG2.

IF things go HD then it will be transmitted in MPEG4, something no current UK freeview boxes support.
 
Tesla said:
I dont think they will ever offer HD as MPEG2.

IF things go HD then it will be transmitted in MPEG4, something no current UK freeview boxes support.
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Disagree, all HD in the US, asia and europe (Euro1080) is currently MPEG2.

The BBC have applied for frequency space for a new DVB-T multiplex to broadcast HD Freeview (in MPEG2) and there potentially is space available on the spectrum to do this within the UK, unfortuntely, this frequency space is already used on continental europe so it cannot be used here incase of crossover (which is more political than a technical reason)

I believe we will get some HD channels on freeview before the analog switch off, but theres lots of politics that needs to be sorted first.
 
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I agree that there may be a single HD channel on freeview, however the amount of data will take up most of a single MUX (and will require a new set top box which supports componat input or HDMI).

For the next few years it will be sky/ntl/telewest or BBC freesat for HD feeds
 
Sclodion said:
Disagree, all HD in the US, asia and europe (Euro1080) is currently MPEG2.
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Sky HD is MPEG4.

MPEG2 is an old technology.

MPEG4 is the way forward, they should have used it from the offset, not like it wasnt available.
 
Tesla said:
Sky HD is MPEG4.

MPEG2 is an old technology.

MPEG4 is the way forward, they should have used it from the offset, not like it wasnt available.
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Sky HD is not broadcasting yet, so i'll standby my statement of all current HD broadcasts being MPEG2... ;)

You're correct, it was available, it was getting the decoding hardware to a price point that would make set top boxes viable that stopped mpeg4 till now.
 
Sky HD is broadcasting at the moment.

If a HD service is launched via freeview then boxes with a compatible HD output will be required so why not just make these boxes MPEG4 compatible too.

Broadcast all the HD stuff in MPEG4 and for now the SD stuff in MPEG2. A good middle ground I think.
 
Tesla said:
If a HD service is launched via freeview then boxes with a compatible HD output will be required so why not just make these boxes MPEG4 compatible too.
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Cost. MPEG4 decoder chips cost a lot more than MPEG2 ones.
 
Tesla said:
Sky HD is broadcasting at the moment.
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Sorry, they're not. They are due to go live 1st april, but there is still concern over getting the HD enabled set top boxes in time.

Sky will be very very upset if they miss showing the world cup in HD which is seen globally as the biggest driver of HD this year.

Sky knew going with MPEG4 was more risky than MPEG2, but the payback is they can get more channels in the same data space.

NTL / TEelwest on the other hand are going down the low risk MPEG2 route for their first HD services. The set top boxes are much cheaper and theres no risk of them not appearing as the HD MPEG2 decoders are already in mass use in America and Asia.
 
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Sky HD is being broadcasted at the moment, It's encrypted with Videoguard so you just cannot watch anything.

You can listen to the DD 5.1 stream if you wish, they are just running a Sky demo loop at the moment.

I think Sky are doing the right thing, if companies didn't push new technology we would be all watching black and white sets!
 
Some interesting news about an HD free to air service here...

http://www.hdtvuk.tv/2006/02/is_a_freeview_f.html

Tesla said:
Sky HD is being broadcasted at the moment, It's encrypted with Videoguard so you just cannot watch anything.
Click to expand...

I'd have thought the fact that no one yet has a set top box capable of decoding MPEG4 would be somewhat more of a setback.
 
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