The first BBC HD broadcasts on Freeview will start in December, it has been confirmed.
Manchester and Liverpool will be the first cities to get Freeview HD, said Graham Plumb, Head of Distribution Technology at BBC Operations. This will happen on 2 December, when the free HD signal will be switched on at the Winter Hill …
Booo!!! Crystal Palace was broadcasting HD signals during the trial a couple of years back, so not sure what this upgrade malarkey is all about! I managed to capture about 10 minutes of the BBC loop on a DVB card - couldn't get it to transcode in realtime though.
Get the finger out! I read all the time how London gets unfair preferential treatment, let's see some proof of it! :-D
You can already get HD on Freesat. Nothing to do with Sky, completely free TV with a couple of HD channels. By the time there are any on freeview, I would expect to see several more on Freesat.
Just out of interest - if I had a DVB(T) card, and if I were in one of these lucky areas (we are currently scheduled to be even later than London in switchover I think) - if so, could I then receive HD Freeview without upgrading ? If it's only a matter of codecs, it seems to me it should be at worst a Simple Matter Of Programming.
The article says that it'll be broadcast using DVB-T2 (which some of us knew anyway) for the higher bandwidth; so no, you won't be able to receive it without new cards or USB sticks. But your existing hardware will still be fine for everything else since the other multiplexes will still be using DVB-T.
Anyway, once the data is received, handling it *is* just a matter of codecs (as I understand it) – it's still DVB.
Thanks PhilR and Quirkafleeg - I hadn't appreciated the difference of DVB-T2. Must read more carefully (since I am always complaining that Reg journo's don't any more !)
We were the told the reason for going through the hassle of the digital switchover was to free up bandwidth for additional services. We've had the pain of being one of the first to be switched over. I say switched over. We didn't have ANY digital services until the day they turned off the analogue. Nothing.
But hey, at least we'll be first to get all the new stuff, won't we. Oh no. We don't get half the new digital stations, they are turning off some of the ones we get now (we've only had them for 11 days) and now we find out Winterhill (which has not yet switched) will get the new stuff before we do.
So can someone please explain what the fuck the point was of of being forced to be first when they clearly weren't ready? Oh yeah, I live in a small rural area so no-one gives a shit. I forgot.
So does this mean that all those people out there today buying a shiny new HD TV with the brilliant benefit of built in Freeview, are effectively buying already obsolete hardware?
Despite have Freeview built in, you STILL need another box?
Correct, very few, if any, current "HD" TV sets will be able to display HD. But don't expect any TV salepersons to know, or mention, this little problem.
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Freeview HD to debut in December
The first BBC HD broadcasts on Freeview will start in December, it has been confirmed. Manchester and Liverpool will be the first cities to get Freeview HD, said Graham Plumb, Head of Distribution Technology at BBC Operations. This will happen on 2 December, when the free HD signal will be switched on at the Winter Hill …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Posted Friday 26th June 2009 17:31 GMT
Annihilator
Upgrade of Crystal Palace #
Booo!!! Crystal Palace was broadcasting HD signals during the trial a couple of years back, so not sure what this upgrade malarkey is all about! I managed to capture about 10 minutes of the BBC loop on a DVB card - couldn't get it to transcode in realtime though.
Get the finger out! I read all the time how London gets unfair preferential treatment, let's see some proof of it! :-D
Posted Friday 26th June 2009 17:31 GMT
Apocalypse Later
Late #
You can already get HD on Freesat. Nothing to do with Sky, completely free TV with a couple of HD channels. By the time there are any on freeview, I would expect to see several more on Freesat.
Posted Friday 26th June 2009 22:03 GMT
Lost in a maze of twisty messages, all alike.
HD DVB-T on my PC ? #
Just out of interest - if I had a DVB(T) card, and if I were in one of these lucky areas (we are currently scheduled to be even later than London in switchover I think) - if so, could I then receive HD Freeview without upgrading ? If it's only a matter of codecs, it seems to me it should be at worst a Simple Matter Of Programming.
Posted Friday 26th June 2009 23:18 GMT
PhilR
@Lost in a maze of twisty messages, all alike #
You'll need a new receiver card. Freeview HD will use DVB-T2 instead of DVB-T, which will require different demodulation hardware.
Posted Friday 26th June 2009 23:39 GMT
Quirkafleeg
Re: HD DVB-T on my PC? #
The article says that it'll be broadcast using DVB-T2 (which some of us knew anyway) for the higher bandwidth; so no, you won't be able to receive it without new cards or USB sticks. But your existing hardware will still be fine for everything else since the other multiplexes will still be using DVB-T.
Anyway, once the data is received, handling it *is* just a matter of codecs (as I understand it) – it's still DVB.
Posted Saturday 27th June 2009 15:15 GMT
Lost in a maze of twisty messages, all alike.
Re: HD DVB-T on my PC? #
Thanks PhilR and Quirkafleeg - I hadn't appreciated the difference of DVB-T2. Must read more carefully (since I am always complaining that Reg journo's don't any more !)
Posted Monday 29th June 2009 10:06 GMT
Bassey
What was the point of the switchover #
We were the told the reason for going through the hassle of the digital switchover was to free up bandwidth for additional services. We've had the pain of being one of the first to be switched over. I say switched over. We didn't have ANY digital services until the day they turned off the analogue. Nothing.
But hey, at least we'll be first to get all the new stuff, won't we. Oh no. We don't get half the new digital stations, they are turning off some of the ones we get now (we've only had them for 11 days) and now we find out Winterhill (which has not yet switched) will get the new stuff before we do.
So can someone please explain what the fuck the point was of of being forced to be first when they clearly weren't ready? Oh yeah, I live in a small rural area so no-one gives a shit. I forgot.
Posted Monday 29th June 2009 12:56 GMT
The Impostor
Freeview HD TVs? #
Any news of LCD TVs with integrated Freeview HD receivers in the pipeline? I hope there will be some available in time for December.
I look forward to the day when HD broadcasting is standard. But then how long did it take for widescreen to become the norm!
Posted Monday 29th June 2009 12:56 GMT
Kevin Gordon
Oh no.... #
So does this mean that all those people out there today buying a shiny new HD TV with the brilliant benefit of built in Freeview, are effectively buying already obsolete hardware?
Despite have Freeview built in, you STILL need another box?
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 14:06 GMT
SImon Hobson
RE: Oh no.... #
Correct, very few, if any, current "HD" TV sets will be able to display HD. But don't expect any TV salepersons to know, or mention, this little problem.
This topic is closed for new posts.