I hope all channels are MPEG-4 only by 2025. Currently we have:
SBS Viceland
SBS World Movies
10 BOLD
7mate
7Bravo
All in HD only. I feel like SBS might be next and then 10. Nine, ABC, WIN, SCA and Imparja will be reluctant to but at some point I think all channels will be MPEG-4 HD only. Look at the UK.
Or go to 77 / 79?
Where most services are 704x576i.
Seven are going to run out of numbers!
A good thing is that 7flix is already MPEG4 now, so there will be no need for a placeholder. 7two will be a different story. Either way, it is good Seven is the first network to have 3 HD channels (4 in RQLD) and that they are giving Seven Regional the new channels too.
I dont think the regionals will bother with this type of transition, if Tasmania’s all-MPEG-4 fiesta is anything to go by.
Nothing stopping them using 700 to 799.
But yep, imagine what an extra hundred channels would look like! 
They need to get rid of that stupid 71 number!
I wasn’t aware that this was a thing
Yeah, that’s a not a thing.
Receivers not correctly allocating services with no LCN to the 351-399 range is a thing though.
Worse, outside the three PSB muxes most services are 544x576i 
I have a Set Top Box that will stop at LCN 399 when I feed it too many channels. It will put any extras all on LCN 399.
Sounds like bad firmware rather than a feature, especially if the 399 is repeated
When I was on the GC in August (was staying in a hotel in Coolangatta) the gym TV got both Gold Coast and Lismore channels. NBN, WIN and 7 Regional GC were pushed into the 800s while 9GC, 7GC, 10GC, WIN Lismore, NBN Lismore and 7 Lismore were on their normal LCNs. So some TVs can get 400+.
Freeview UK got many things right in it’s early stages but it’s HD transition isn’t one of them - indeed we’ve had two HD muxes close in the last couple of years, leaving just the one for the main PSBs. It was always known they would close but the plan should have been there to convert two of the SD muxes at that point to offer more content in HD.
There are signs though things are beginning to move - the BBC are finally making their regions HD next year and fazing out their SD services on satellite with a plan to follow suit on Freeview down the track, and ITV HD’s channels are no longer behind a paywall on Sky so that exclusivity barrier has been removed.
Bit of info - HD is done differently in the UK. Basically traditionally Freeview was set up on DVB-T muxes (like Aus) which are used for SD channels, but HD channels are only transmitted on DVB-T2 muxes, where they take up less space. One DVB-T mux was converted in 2010 to launch HD channels, then two more temporary muxes launching around 2013. No kind of HD switchover plan was ever implemented, although since 2016 all Freeview branded equipment has had to be able to receive the DVB-T2 signals.
In theory had they adopted a plan to convert all the SD muxes (perhaps leaving one as a legacy mux for those with old equipment) all the Freeview channels could have been converted into broadcasting in DVB-T2 with all the core channels (i.e. the BBC/ITV/C4 spin offs and a few others) in HD.
Agree. Nine’s main channel is bit starved. Especially when they also give 9Gem a big share of the multiplex. THough even the static images didn’t look as good as could be expected for live sport especially on the commentary desk.
One of the reasons could be like the ABC, Nine squeezes all SD multis into MPEG-2 SD which take up a lot more bandwidth. SBS, 10 and 7 have most of their multis in MPEG-4.
