djOS Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 We're only in this absurd situation because there just isn't enough spectrum allocated to the FTA broadcasters. not to mention the fed gov tied us to an outdated codec - they should have waited before speccing HD as mpeg2 and gone mpeg4 like the kiwis, then we could have 1 HD and 2 SD channels from each 24mbit allocation with no issues.
The D-Train Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 Well if they are going to play solely sport why not get english premier league (which people will watch) instead of nascar and baseball etc, especially if they are happy to splash out on the cash.
djOS Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 Well if they are going to play solely sport why not get english premier league (which people will watch) instead of nascar and baseball etc, especially if they are happy to splash out on the cash. There are plenty of us that do watch NASCAR thanks - many of us started watching when Marcos ambrose moved from v8sc to NASCAR 3 years ago and got hooked!
own-goal Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 Nascar is gay Hopefully they get the budesliga or la liga or serie a on ten hd. Hire Kevin Muscat as host as he will have no job after the gf win on that saturday night in feb.
The D-Train Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 There are plenty of us that do watch NASCAR thanks - many of us started watching when Marcos ambrose moved from v8sc to NASCAR 3 years ago and got hooked! I think you would find this is a niche sport and not one that would appeal to the masses of Australia. Im not saying everyone doesnt like it just that its not going to get huge numbers like the premier league would.
Darthdury Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 And that would prevent all the viewers with SD only tuners from watching the 24x7 sport channel.We're only in this absurd situation because there just isn't enough spectrum allocated to the FTA broadcasters. Then put the sport on the SD channel and leave the HD channel for dramas, HD movies, Sci fi etc etc either way whatever you want to watch somone will need to buy a new STB
djOS Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 Nascar is gay. Any more enlightened insights to share with us?
dan2007 Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 Nascar isn't that bad, I just can;'t sit there hours on end watching it, so I tend to watch a few hours of it and that's it. Just a shame Ten is pulling the plug on HD Drama programming too.
Basil1503559642 Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 Hi IMPO there will be more twists,turns,permutations and metamorphoses than a Agatha Christie novel before Ten settles on a stable DTV programme schedule. I've posted about it before but it less than 12 Months since Ten announced it would be broadcasting new release Movies in HD "where possible". TV Station executives have life spans like football coaches(nic Sheedy) these Days, David White might not even be at Ten in 12 Months time, however its good to see DTV starting to take shape and direction thou.
Sambo90 Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 So if the allocation is 24mbit, would it be reasonable for them to do 2x 720p HD channels @12mbit? Then the people who want to watch digital tv it's time to get an HD STB?
Hosko Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 Nascar is gay I'd agree with that sentiment about Channel Tens offering. Channel 10 only show the Nationwide Series which is the second tier series. The only saving grace is Ambrose races in the Nationwide series. Next year he moves to the Sprint Cup which is only available on Fox Sports and looks great in HD.
davmel Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 So if the allocation is 24mbit, would it be reasonable for them to do 2x 720p HD channels @12mbit? Then the people who want to watch digital tv it's time to get an HD STB? No, the multiplex is 23Mbps. And you need 448kbps each for the audio streams if you want DD 5.1, plus you need room for the EIT EPG data and other information data streams that take up roughly 400kbps. Oh, and of course you'd make all the TV's and STB's with SD only capability utterly useless if they switched to HD only. 720p @ 12Mbps would still look noticeably inferior to TenHD as it is now, but to fit two 720p transmissions only into the existing multiplex they could be no more that 10.75Mbps each which would look almost as blurry as ABCHD which operates at 9.6Mbps. Frankly, there's little point in running HD that low when a SD transmission at that bitrate would look just as good if not better.
yabbal Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 ... 10.75Mbps each which would look almost as blurry as ABCHD which operates at 9.6Mbps. Frankly, there's little point in running HD that low when a SD transmission at that bitrate would look just as good if not better. When the olympics were on the ABC HD channel, I did notice the picture quality, while lower quality then the the 7HD coverage, was still better quality then the SD coverage. So while I hope that we never get stuck with 10Mbps 720p on the comercial channels, It would still be better then no HD for most things (sports such as football would be a green blur).
digitalj Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 So if the allocation is 24mbit, would it be reasonable for them to do 2x 720p HD channels @12mbit? Then the people who want to watch digital tv it's time to get an HD STB? no, because SD is a legal requirement.
davmel Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 When the olympics were on the ABC HD channel, I did notice the picture quality, while lower quality then the the 7HD coverage, was still better quality then the SD coverage. Well of course the 9.6Mbps ABC HD would look better than the 5.4Mbps ABC1 channel or the awful 4.4 Mbps ABC2 channel in SD. Do you remember how good the 7SD channel looked during the Australian Open tennis when Seven removed the HD stream and pushed the bitrate of the SD channel up to 10Mbps? IMO it looked much better than ABCHD has ever looked. But the days of good quality video are coming to an end with ~4Mbps average SD channels and <13Mbps HD channels coming in 2009 from Seven, Nine and Ten. And if ABC tries to squeeze another stream in for ABC3 I hate to think what the other channels would look like.
own-goal Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 I like the us way NO SD Only analogue and hd best way.
fredofrog Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 One HD could easily accommodate some non sport e.g. premiere movies, but all these calls for all sport to be SD only because only non sport is good enough for HD is a crock. ONe HD could easily repeat some Ten SD series e.g. Smallville after the inital run. That might mean you wait for optimum looking PQ of the series of your choice but at least it acommodates most people. The urge to d/l a HD version prior to HD screening the repeat would be dimished if the SD channel showed series in a timely manner and in full even if it was a dog where a 3am timeslot is fine becuase increasin g numbers use a PVR. Ten at least are doing something people want i.e. some want more sport (sport channel 1) and some more drama/entertainment (channel 10). The HD v SD debate is somewhat minor as good quality programs (PQ as well as it popularity etc) look good enough on a good lcd/plasma on SD. I PVR'd a SD series called Journeys to the ends of the world on SC10. It looked great compared to most average SD material (avg in the sense of PQ) on SD channels or older movies on HD channels. If some people upgrdae their CRT to a no name 2008 model LCD/Plasma for $500-1000 less than the cutting edge models and expect seemless / awesome PQ well that's unrealistic. 2 or 3 years from now even low end models will be very good in the PQ aspect - so hold out or pay up now for top end plasma (lcd if you must). If ABC want to split their allocation thinly well the advantage is that content has more opportunity to be shown and if that content is generally average SD PQ then no harm done. High quality PQ series should be in some form on a HD channel whether first run or repeat. I'm sure if ten presents a statement which plans to ensure dramas will be run if full in order without excessive schedule changes then the SD v HD anger would diminish
digitalj Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 One HD could easily accommodate some non sport e.g. premiere movies, but all these calls for all sport to be SD only because only non sport is good enough for HD is a crock. no one said that, the problem is more that Dramas, movies, etc won't be seen in HD on any of Ten's channels anymore, everyone is fine with a part sport, part everything else HD Channel.
mjstokesy Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 (edited) First off, what a pathetic decision Ten have made & a waste of bandwidth. Secondly, OneHD should be a variety channel. The fact that programs are recorded in HD here in Oz like Rove makes this a no-brainer!! But in saying this, some sport should be a feature of this channel. Any Australian sport should be in HD & broadcast on OneHD. This has been mentioned before but I believe the best option is to use OneHD similar to what the ABC was doing with the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. Anything recorded in HD, which is appealing to a wide audience should feature on this channel. That way more people would be willing to purchase a HDTV or set top box. It's a complete waste to broadcast sport 24-7 in HD when there's not a majority to watch it, let alone 2 channels with the same stuff. If Ten wants to incourage more people to HD, broadcasting the same channel in SD is just plain stupidity!! In saying that, a sport channel in itself is not a bad idea but it would be best on SD. From what I have read, some of the sport Ten has purchased rights to is in SD anyway so what would be the point of HD? If it's provided in HD, then screen it on the HD channel if it rates well enough. And for the arguement that Nine & Seven will be broadcasting their own genre-specific channels, where the F*** is the evidence for this? I haven't seen one article even suggesting yet that 9 & 7 will be doing anything next year. IMAO, it all comes down to 2 things. Clients who will fund the new channel & the audience who will watch. If you haven't got this right, don't even bother trying. Edited November 2, 2008 by mjstokesy
davmel Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 And for the arguement that Nine & Seven will be broadcasting their own genre-specific channels, where the F*** is the evidence for this? I haven't seen one article even suggesting yet that 9 & 7 will be doing anything next year. Well if you actually bothered to search for the evidence you'll see that Seven for one have been announcing their intention to launch a 2nd SD channel at the start of 2009 ever since their media release of their new 7HD multichannel back in October 2007: http://www.sevencorporate.com.au/_uploads/...-16-october.pdf Nine have also made it known that they would also be starting up a 2nd SD multi-channel in 2009.
Saturated Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 Sorry Peter but I can't swallow that, they could have simply left things the way they are and added the 24/7 sport channel to the extra SD channel...........that makes more sense to me. Even if you are a sport fan you still spend some of your time watching prime time programs <-----which should have the prime viewing option.cheers Mate, you are a minority. 10 as a business has been losing capital and have a receding share price that has been on steady decline since 2005. Their current business model is not working. If they keep going the way they are they could possibly cease to be an entity you are familiar with anyway. I would imagine that US networks would seek a premium for HD content and possibly 10 have done the figures and decided to go with SD for their US content and buy up big in sport. Ever thought they might simply drop all the Sci Fi US content altogether to allow either 7 and 9 to pick them up? For the minority of the population who dislike sport on TV it is disappointing but to suggest sport is not a ratings winner and therefore large positive income stream is delusional. Foxtel in this country could have posibly gone the way of Galaxy if it weren't for Fox Sports. Yes, Discovery and Fox 8 and NG were all there but the sport got the punters in. As a shareholder of 10 from time to time I applaud their fresh approach in creating a new concept in a stagnent FTA world. MAybe in five years Channel 10 will be a pure 24 hour sport / 24 hour news channel or push harder with 24 hour reality. They should be commended for risk taking in an arena where they could have sat back and continued to offer up tripe for as long as they please or funds would allow. I'll be keeping a keen eye on their share price come q2 09. cheers,
digitalj Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 Mate, you are a minority. could be argued as to whether there are more sport fans or more people who hate sport.
donaldp Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 yep, it will be bye from me as well, only the NFL in HD is what I'd consider watching on it.however, everyone missed a positive thing: In a further blow to pay television, the free-to-air body Free TV is scheduled to later this week announce "Free View", a free-to-air electronic program guide showing all schedules on all five channels, including high-definition, in the manner of the Foxtel guide, which operates from a set-top box for pay TV subscribers. so finally, no need to keep changing channels to find out what is on the other channels exact timing would be a bonus. Wel, I'm missing something here. I already get this in my Blu Ray Recorder EPG, so what's the big fuss about with this announcement? It doesn't seem to be giving me anything I don't already have (yes, I know not everyone has a Blu Ray Recorder, but surely my EPG isn't that unique? Don't all devices with an EPG have the same?).
donaldp Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 no one said that, the problem is more that Dramas, movies, etc won't be seen in HD on any of Ten's channels anymore, everyone is fine with a part sport, part everything else HD Channel. Well, therefore everyone is fine with watching 2/7/9/SBS HD. There ARE other networks. God, I can't believe the fuss about this! People are carrying on like this is the only channel and you've just been dictated to that you can only watch sport. If you don't want to watch sport in HD, you have 4 other FTA HD channels to choose from. For those who don't want to keep paying for cable to watch the sport of their choice, this is great news! :-) (and this is who 10 seems to be targetting)
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