GregA1503560021

I've been watching with interest the newest MPEG4 specification - (MPEG4-10, aka h.264, aka AVC) It's been ratified by the DVB group and is commonly touted to provide the same quality at 1/3 of the data rate of MPEG2 (and the worst predictions are for half the data rate). Anyway, HD video in 8Mbps (a few sites say this, one is www.apple.com/mpeg4/h264faq.html) The decoders are still more expensive, but will be built into all Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players, and h.264 is to be used in the French terrestrial PayTV system, and in HD content from satellite TV in the US (for starters). The price will come down. There's a lot of people with HD equipment in this forum, but the take off of Digital TV in Australia has been pretty subdued. With the current review in place, if there's any time to make a switch it would be now. I was wondering if you'd prefer to have the government start pushing for MPEG4-10 and getting some great HD quality, or if they should stick with MPEG2 for the next 10 years (say) before looking at MPEG5 or whatever happens then. What do you think - I know you've got investments....

Just wondering if the bit rate is different on satellite and cable. Anyone know?

Thanks for reporting that, at least it confirms my understanding of the system. It's a pity the Foxtel box can't allow either 2 horizontal channels to record simultaneously OR 1 vertical channel. I guess the system would need enough 'brains' to stop you turning on channel 9 while recording Fox8 as well. Ahh well. What do you mean you couldn't convince Foxtel? If the Strata Account Manager (or whatever) said it's okay, isn't that enough?Basically if you can get satellite in the building at all, then if you plug in the Foxtel IQ you'll just get the horizontal channels ("LITE"). What does Foxtel say when you ask?

I set the Foxtel IQ at my parents to "16:9 screen" (another option is "auto" which will change depending on the program). I then set the output of 4:3 programs to 15:9 (ie zoomed in, cutting off the top of the picture).This means that widescreen movies etc look great. 4:3 programs get slight black bars down the left and right but are okay. The problem I have is with Fox8. Fox8 transmits 4:3 programs as 16:9 with black bars! This means both that the Foxtel box doesn't know to zoom in (for 15:9), AND they're wasting some of their resolution for black bars that aren't used. There are a few channels that do this. Anyone noticed that? Greg ps. I agree with your comment that 7 & 10 should come aboard too! And series link should work for FTA!

I'm sure this could get into a complaints about the stupidity when cable started.... which hopefully it won't... BUT, in the US, cable TV started by wiring up all the marginal reception areas and retransmitting FTA signals. They got a huge uptake in those areas, easily justifying their investment. Then they expanded content and area. Cable got subscribers by including FTA, and FTAs got more happy viewers... a win win. Pity it's not so simple here? - In Australia, they wired up the central cities first, there are still marginal areas on the outskirts of Sydney that don't have cable at all. Ah well. Greg

I've seen many DVD players advertising progressive output. I take that to mean, instead of 720x576 interlaced, they output 720x576 progressive. In Australia, 576p is considered HD (ED elsewhere), and 576i is SD TV... I'm wondering if any SDTV set top boxes convert the signal to 576p, and if it is a useful thing to do???? Thanks

Thanks for some excellent advice (both the Teac and Ebay) My TV is not flickering this morning, though despite disconnecting it from the power last night and reconnecting several times, removing the antenna etc, the problem continued. Perhaps I'm getting some interference through the AC. Time will tell... and I will watch the auctions on eBay and see what I see regardless

Hello, Half way through a DVD tonight my TV started flickering strangely. This happens on all AV inputs (Video, SCART, S-Video) and the TV tuner. I've powered off and will check again in the morning... (and make a quick call to repairers to see if it's likely to be easily fixable). Anyway, it has got me looking at a replacement. I don't have much money to spare right now and have to stick under $1000. I noticed that some 66cm widescreen models fall into this price range - TEAC has 3 models at $699, $799, & $899. LG has one at $799. Sony has one at $999. I was hoping someone could tell me 1) Is it still more cost effective to buy a 4:3 TV and just have black bars? 2) What are the TEAC and LGE screens like - any experiences? 3) Any advantages between them.... hints and tips? I wish I could spend more! But that will be left for another time. Thanks for any help Greg ps. I'll buy a SDTV receiver too to go with this... pps. I gave away my old 68cm TV yesterday. My parents just gave me this 78cm (yesterday). DAMN.

If the major player goes bellyup?Optus still has its cables and set top boxes, Austar has dishes and set top boxes, Telstra has its cables. If Foxtel got "switched off", I imagine Optus and Austar would move to an alternative line up very quickly, and seal a temporary deal with movie channels, news channels, the XYZ channels pretty quickly. News and PBL would sell them Fox Sports in a heartbeat too. Soon after, someone would buy the Foxtel set top boxes (lots of bidders - maybe Telstra for the cable boxes, maybe Austar for the satellite boxes?) and you'd have a service up and running. If administrators were called in, things would be as normal, and slowly parts of Foxtel would get sold to other companies (that also includes selling the customers!). In either case, the bits that are uneconomical wouldn't get bought, so new negotiations would occur or better technology, and a more effective PayTV setup would form in Australia. The whole reason competition works is that a badly setup company will sell products that are too expensive or low quality, and people won't buy them so the company goes bust, and a competitor with better products takes over. The moment you prevent a badly setup company from going bust, you stop better companies and deals from growing. The product/service decreases (whether seen through over pricing, low quality product, or more outages etc etc). I'm not saying Foxtel is badly setup, it was always going to cost a bucket to start PayTV here - but I would prefer to see the content provider separated from the platform. Eg multiple payTV cable/satellite companies (Telstra/Austar/Optus/TransACT/etc) sourcing their channels from multiple content providers (split "foxtel" into 4 or 5?) - with no exclusive deals. All products would end up with similar blends, but more competition. Greg

In fact, the cable providers not only HAVE to rebroadcast the FTA, they have to provide a service with JUST the FTA channels (I think it was free, but it's been 10 years so I'm not sure). Of course, you could simply plug your VCR straight into the cable socket in the wall to get the channels, you didn't need a set top box (you used to be able to do that with Optusvision here too). In NZ, TVNZ has put their own channels on the satellite, which are then received by Sky TV subscribers. Apparently if you have your own dish and receiver, you can receive the TVNZ stuff for free (they're working at adding the other FTA- TV3/Prime etc).I assume Foxtel Satellite uses the existing ABC and SBS signals on the satellite, not their own? So that'd be roughly your idea AJL? Anyone know? Greg

In terms of competition, I don't think it changes anything from what it was before. Just means that one of the technologies for viewing Foxtel is upgrading from analog to digital.I wonder when the first people can switch to Optus Digital?

(the box) makes no relationship between repeats of shows that I have seen. Even when I clicked series link on Stargate on a "+2" channel, it only timed itself to record the +2 broadcasts. I think (though haven't tested) if I'd done series link on the standard channel it would have given me 2 copies. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No I don't think so. Stuff recorded on various channels does not record twice when series linked. It only records the one you set it to and not the +2 channel. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I think we agree.If you click series link on a program on Fox8+2, it will find the next time the show appears on Fox8+2 - it will ignore Fox8. If you ALSO click series link for the same program on Fox8, it'll then record the show twice, once on each channel, even though it's the same episode. I just tested that and that's what happened. I believe the TiVo series link was smarter - it found the program you wanted, no matter what channel it was on, and then it made sure it didn't record the same episode twice.

I wouldn't be so sure about what it must have done....But what you say is interesting. Will have to explore some more! Thanks

NO worries Gadget has corrected me on my point #2 - you don't need a multiswitch in the roof if it's just 2 tuners (or 1 IQ box) - the LNB does the job. If you're already getting the ABC on satellite then you probably have the right LNB already. If you do NOT get an extra wire from the dish to your Foxtel IQ then they put you on "Digital LITE". This stops you getting access to FBO, ABC, SBS, Nine, Antenna & RAI, and Sports Active for now. I'm asking questions about that in another thread in this area. Hope that helps. Greg ps. I'm not sure how to get notifications of replies to my posts...sorry about the delay

We're in what amounts to a unit block (only 2 units).The guy upstairs said he had Foxtel Digital installed a couple of months back. He reckons he gets 9 and ABC and can watch FBO - but the Foxtel techs checked something on the IQ and said that only horizontal was available. It should be reasonably easy to get a multiswitch put in, but cabling it to the Foxtel IQ box will be a hell of a problem.

So assuming I've got a multiswitch in the roof, I could unplug one of the tuners and get the vertical channels? (not an ongoing solution, just understanding the technology).

I believed (WRONGLY) a few years back that DVHS would be the way everyone moved to digital TV.I thought we would simply go to the shop, and by a DVHS deck instead of a VHS deck. The DVHS deck would receive digital TV with all the bells and whistles, record it to digital VHS, and output to my current analogue TV screen. The advantages of this would've been 1) I wouldn't need a set top box 2) I could still play back my old VHS tapes 3) I could record a whole High Definition program on one tape. 4) In a few (!) years time when I get a HD widescreen television, my newer recordings would look great on it. 5) There is virtually NOTHING to learn. You've had VCRs before, and now you still do - just the quality jumped up with the switch to digital. I still think that's got potential... but I believe it'll happen via DVD-recorders now (dual layer). Greg

Just looking at the current options for recording programs, watching PayTV and digital FTA etc, and wondering what happened to the original design goals of the DVB-T and DVB-S groups (and DVB-C) in Europe. Foxtel satellite (then Galaxy) uses DVB-S. The idea was that TV signals can come from terrestrial antennas or satellite (or cable), but that the digital signals from each of the 3 systems would really be almost identical. So put the common parts all in 1 box, and the differences between T, S, & C get designed into a card slot, like a card in your PC. The technologies are very similar to each other today. The Foxtel IQ seems almost identical for cable or satellite. And Topfield has a satellite receiver and terrestrial TF5000PVR(t) which are almost identical. Maybe someone can tell us just how similar they really are. Still, the old articles I read were more focussed on allowing a consumer to have one set-top box and place a few cards in it, 1 for satellite and 1 for terrestrial. Having 2 separate boxes is a pain in the butt, and here it is partially solved by Foxtel showing the FTA stuff sometimes. So what happened? I notice that in America the government is encouraging a market for set top boxes, by forcing cable operators to make a "cablecard" that fits into EVERY set top box. If that happened here, Topfield could make a PVR and (assuming you had Optus or Foxtel CABLE) you'd put your PayTV CableCard inside it and have the programming. http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsf...eCARDprimer.php http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=230733 The cablecard doesn't seem designed to have 1 set-top box working with 3 systems, it is more of a card to ensure a common yet secure technology across all cable providers. Some people say the "cablecard" is like the smart card in a satellite box, but with more features. Anyway, just wondering if anyone has heard anything in Australia that might let us combine Digital FTA with Foxtel on our own terms. Greg

That would be a great feature. Though I haven't done the test, I am positive the box just isn't capable of that as it stands. It makes no relationship between repeats of shows that I have seen. Even when I clicked series link on Stargate on a "+2" channel, it only timed itself to record the +2 broadcasts. I think (though haven't tested) if I'd done series link on the standard channel it would have given me 2 copies.

Hello, I understand fully that a single cable down to your Foxtel IQ currently restricts you to Digital LITE. The installers actually put a splitter on the cable just before it goes into the box, so that the satellite signal goes into both tuners. Now, if we had a regular Foxtel satellite tuner (and assuming everything in/on the roof was wired correctly), we would have access to all channels (those on horizontal AND vertical). (Someone correct me if I'm wrong). Since we have 2 tuners sharing 1 wire, the wire defaults to Horizontal, and we don't get all the channels. I KNOW that 1 wire can't actually have both H & V simultaneously for the 2 separate tuners. But why is there no option for the IQ to switch off one tuner temporarily, and then have access to the Vertical signals? Am I missing something?

My parents had regular satellite but in an apartment. They now have Foxtel IQ (but with Digital "LITE"), and I understand a bit more about it.Firstly, the thing to remember is that the Foxtel IQ has 2 Tuners in it - it's like 2 set top boxes in your TV room. That way it can record 2 things at once (or record one channel while you watch another channel) Now, Foxtel has recently started using 2 polarities of the satellite so they can fit more channels in, and the polarities can't both come down 1 cable at the same time. So if you had 2 set top boxes they'd have to have their own cables, or they might fight each other for the signal they each want. Your original wiring just needed one cable from the dish's LNB (the white thing in the middle), down to your Foxtel box. It just has the horizontal frequency, and may be split for a few set top boxes. The NEW wiring requires the following 1) A change on your satellite to a dual LNB that can output both the vertical and horizontal polarised signals. 2) A multi switch in your roof close to the satellite - this takes the 2 separate signals (Vert and Horiz.) and outputs a separate cable for each tuner in your set top boxes. The tuners tell the multi switch whether they need V or H. 3) A separate wire from the multi switch to each tuner - that's TWO cables for a Foxtel IQ! You can get Foxtel Digital LITE instead if you want. It'll just use exactly you're current cabling because it ONLY uses the horizontal signals. So (1) the satellite dish doesn't need to output both, (2) you don't need a switch to handle both, and (3) one wire is fine to be split for multiple tuners. Not that much is on the Vertical stuff YET. Right now, you don't get 2/9/SBS, FBO, Sports interactive, or RAI/Antenna. Any new channels you probably also will not get. You're investing $500 so get the cabling done IMO. Good luck. Greg

Hopefully they'll start using higher quality compression algorithms (MPEG4?) and keep the same bandwidth for each channel. If they're bringing on a new satellite next year they may broadcast on a different frequency range too - I wonder if that'll negate the need for separate H & V cabling.

Yeah, but the FBO are all on the Vertical polarisation... so everyone on Foxtel Digital LITE can't get to those. The only option would be for Foxtel to move some of their channels over to the Vertical to free up some horizontal bandwidth - so we'd lose some channels...Not that I'd mind them moving a few channels - like TVSN!. Seriously though they could move the +2 channels without too much problem for me (though sorry to the guys in the west!)