Digital Television Revolution

[komodo]

I just choked and spat my glass of water over my desk / keyboard / mobile / paperwork and screen - thanks for that LOL.

I spose I better not tell you that I pulled all my 2 core in star topography out from under my house and bought it back to the big T's conduit installed a central filter spliter and ran cat5E from the filter in bus topography to 3 points (down from over 12 - including one in the bathroom...) one in the study one behind the TV for the payTV and the cordless phone base (piggy backed) and one in my comms rack for DSL (this ones an RJ45 with outside points as the unfiltered pair with a patch lead made up to suit all others are RJ12 with standard config using the orange and blue pairs. Being that I have the point in the comms rack theoretically I "could" route the phone to any RJ45 wall plate in the house - but with cordless phones I have no need to. I fax out using the land line and use m-Box for my incomming faxes with a local number - a lot cheaper than a second line. Eventually when the minister of war and finance needs to start working from home more I'll set up VoIP in the comms rack that way any point in the house could be a VoIP point. I could even use one of the unused pairs if i really wanted to (its not likely I'm ever going to use gigabit ethernet so it wouldnt poase a problem - 100mbps is more than enough for me currently - especially concidering that the only things connected wired are the printer/fax and the PS3 and media centres. The laptop is wireless...)

I've also pulled just under 400 meters (shame is comes in 305 meter boxes - any one want about 200 meters of cat6...) of cat6 through my house and up the walls (cathedral ceilings make it a bit hard to go through the roof space where I would have preffered it). ACMA can kiss my rear. I asked a mate who is a cabler (but lives on the other side of town) if he would sign it off - his reply "What for - its not rocket science and whos to say the previous owner didnt have it installed or a tenant - did you get any paperwork with the house to say all the wiring was completed by a competent licence electrician?" He had a point and I know some of the electrical wiring wasnt done by anyone with eyesight let alone a licence and competent electrician... (this has since been rectified by a licenced electrician when I had a safety switch installed along with a 45 amp circuit for my AC unit)

I gave up all hope with getting the professionals in when a big T technician called me from the exchange when I reported a fault on one of our 3 ISDN2 services. He asked me what an ISDN2 service was...

Oh BTW since changing my phone wiring my ADSL speeds have increased by 30%

 

[technocat]

10HD has finally got to tassie but alas my Toppy 5010 SD PVR won't make any sense out of it. I guess I will just have to keep recording NRL games. Many people have SD settops and PVR's which are useless for HD. Give us a break.

 

[komodo]

Do the SD STB not decode HD but out put the picture as SD?

 

[bum]

Many people have SD settops and PVR's which are useless for HD. Give us a break.

If memory serves HD boxes and SD boxes came out at the same time. The tight-arses made their decision.

 

[technocat]

Komodo.........It is not technically possible to upgrade an SD PVR to HD as the hardware is technologically incompatible and cannot receive a HD signal. One way around the problem is to buy a HD Topfield STB which are currently selling on ebay for around a 100 bucks and run it through a separate input on your TV or the bypass of your existing PVR

Cheers

 

[technocat]

Bum.....Your comment is hardly worthy of a reply, you appear to have an attitude problem. HD in the early days was never in contention and the Television Broadcasters of Australia gave it the bums rush (pun intended) as being to expensive to implement. As digital SD was at the forefront and HD programs were almost non existent obviously people bought equipment that was available for this medium.

 

[bum]

Bullshit. The HD standard was legislated in the late 90s. HD was always going to get up.

 

[mwd]

A Topfield SD PVR will record High Def Programs/stations no problem at all BUT it will not display them on the TV.

You have to copy them onto a computer via the USB cable then play them on the PC or run them through a program such as VideoReDo to convert them to a format that Media Streamers can use.

It is a royal pain in the, but can be done if you have the time and inclination.

Best thing is to buy a Topfield HD PVR or a Beyonwiz or something similar.

My Topfield Masterpiece SD PVR cost $1000.00 not that many years ago and is still going strong so not ready to upgrade until it dies and its a great piece of useful kit.

 

[technocat]

A Topfield SD PVR will record High Def Programs/stations no problem at all BUT it will not display them on the TV.

You have to copy them onto a computer via the USB cable then play them on the PC or run them through a program such as VideoReDo to convert them to a format that Media Streamers can use.

It is a royal pain in the, but can be done if you have the time and inclination.

Best thing is to buy a Topfield HD PVR or a Beyonwiz or something similar.

My Topfield Masterpiece SD PVR cost $1000.00 not that many years ago and is still going strong so not ready to upgrade until it dies and its a great piece of useful kit.

Agreed, but the question was basically would a SD STB receive a HD signal and give a SD signal out. The short answer is no. However it has been pointed to me by knowledgeable people in the industry that the government provided in the legislation that the TV Broadcasters were required to broadcast SD & HD content simultaneously until 2013, something I need to look into. An to the misinformed quality SD equipment didn't come cheap.

 

[bum]

So it cost more than comparable quality HD gear? No? Then I don't understand your point at all.

 

[komodo]

That a bit crappy. I would have thought that an SD reciever should be able to recieve HD 720p and fullHD 1080p but just decode them to the lower SD res.
I wouldnt be happy if I were you guys who purchased the SD STB/PVR's

By the same token (and i'm going to come across as a bit of a prick here) I dont understand why you would buy an SD PVR. Surely if your buying a PVR you're going to be looking to continue to use it after you upgrade to a HD television so why would you not have purchased a HD PVR?

I understand SD STB's because most people bought them because they were conciderably cheaper and they understood that when they purchased a newer television it would have built in HD recievers and thus elliminate the need for a HD STB any way. In this instance I feel sorry for such consumers as its not their long pockets short arms approch that is causing them to miss the HD content its the broadcasters not accomodating such users.

[TIC] Meh I dont care - I've got my TH50-PZ800a and F**tel eye-cue-two and PS3 for bluray along with IR extender and comonent & HDMI over cat5 to distribute vision around the house [/TIC]

 

[mwd]

Joe Public has largely forgotten just how expensive TV and equipment was just a few years ago.

Remember when a SD 50" plasma by Fujisu was about $15 K.

 

[komodo]

yeah that was about 7 years ago. I was actually flicking through an old magazine the other day with an ad for a grudig or loewe 42" plasma TV in 4:3 format for about $14,990.00 in about 2003

by the same token - not many people were buying STB's and PVRs back then and the people who could afford such items surely would be able to afford to upgrade them now so that arguement falls on its face.

I remember reading a report a few years ago about the fact that most poeple replace their main TV every 5-7 years. At the time I laughed thinking "yeah the rich and famous maybe". But then I thought about it and it was pretty spot on. Since 1989 my family has had a mitsubushi 58 cm TV, an RCA 68cm TV, a BenQ 42" LCD and now a Panasonic 50" plasma. Thats 4 TV's in the last 20 years and thats without there really have been unnecisary upgrades. (ie we've only replaced TV's as the old one has died or the second TV has died so we've swaped the family room TV to the lounge and upgraded the family room TV.)

 

[Bribie G]

Our faithful 37 inch LG LCD is coming up 4 years old and cost $3800 with HD box. I noticed that BIG W are selling virtually the same spec TV but with built in HD tuner now for sub $1000.

Anyone remember that Sony ad where the guy in the canoe had a big black boxy CRT Sony displaying a fly and the fish were jumping out of the water into the boat "It's a Sony", well in that era a good Sony with stereo sound was about the $1200 mark and of course they weren't even top of the range, Mate bought a Loewe CRT for around 3 grand, would be 5 grand in todays money. Amazing when you think about it.

 

[komodo]

Sony Triniton - I have one of those big ass heavy suckers in the bedroom. I hate the damn thing, but kel bought it (before we met) and she loves it.

Any one remember Sony minidisc - yep I spent 1000's on mini disc equipment. Portables, mini hifi systems, component sets, car headunits with MD/CD and a 3 disc stacker. Not worth a dime these days. But I took a punt as an early adopter of the technology and got burned. Big deal it was good while it lasted end of story. I've had to move on and join the iPod / MP3 player band wagon.

Same with sat nav. For dads 50th we all chipped in and bought him a garmin sat nav unit. From memory it was about $2100 by the time we bought the unit, car kit, maps, chargers etc. Dads now 54 (55 in dec.) and that nav unit doesnt get touched. its big, heavy, slow and the maps to update it are expencive. instead we now all have portable nav units that cost $200 and the maps are $49 when you want to update them (the come with maps) does bluetooth hands free and is fast. Plus the memory can be expanded and they can be used for storing digital images, music and files.

Do we bitch that we spent 10x what they are worth ? no, because if we did we'd bitch about a lot of things.

Mum and dad both drive range rover sports. Mum has the V6 turbo diesel, dad the V8 twin turbo diesel. When they bought mums the V8 diesel wasnt available and there are a lot more features in dads than what was available in mums. Mums dropped in value by about 60% as soon as the V8 turbo diesel was released and it feels like your driving a slug when compared to dads - and they were built not 6 months apart. Does mum bitch that it sucks that the V8 wasnt available when she bought hers or that it didnt come with as many features? No.
At the end of the day who cares its only money, hind sight is a wonderful thing. If you want the newer features - cough up sport! You cant have your cake and eat it too.

 

[bum]

If you want the newer features - cough up sport! You cant have your cake and eat it too.

Sounds familiar. Let's see if you are obliged to cop personal remarks for it too.

 

[komodo]

Every one retuned their TV's for the new channel 9 station?

 

[peas_and_corn]

Is it anything special or is it just a second channel?

 

[bum]

Reminds me of the low-rent cable channels no one will watch in the States.

 

[peas_and_corn]

OK, Here's one article

Nine has indicated that its new channel will be operation from August this year and will be filled with content that was unable to find a home on the normal channel.

That sounds interesting, but this article

CHANNEL 9 will be out to capture the imaginations of celebrity-obsessed teenagers with the August launch of its new digital channel, GO!

...

Reality shows Survivor, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares and The Hills will feature on GO!, as will comedies Seinfeld, Entourage, Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Nine's move comes after Channel 10 secured the sports crowd with its free digital channel ONE, and the ABC stitched up kids with the planned ABC3. Seven has yet to announce which programs will be on its new digital channel.

First-run shows to screen on GO! this year include the critically applauded US series The Vampire Diaries, about a girl torn between rival vampire brothers.

...

In the past, Nine has on-sold some of these niche shows -- including Gossip Girl and Entourage -- to Foxtel, but now they will be earmarked for GO! The new channel also gives shows such as Fringe, which scored only lukewarm ratings on Nine, a second chance.

Implies that it's going to be little more than a dumping ground for crap that couldn't draw audiences on their main channel.