Yes, but the NZ broadcasters have wasted a lot of spectrum on their +1 hour time shifted channels.
The quality of TV in NZ is no comparison to Australia, which has a much better offering.
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Iām pretty sure it was initially to keep a hold of their coveted single-digit LCNās. They had to launch something on them within a set timeframe or risk losing them. I remember TV3+1 launching on 8 in 2009 (I think it was that year, Iām going from memory).
Not really sure if theyāre watched all that much now, now the audience has migrated away to streamy-land. Although, Iām sure the sales reps love to include them as bonus add-onās (or use them to fudge the numbers).
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Really, they should be overhauled with something different, aside from infomercial channels. It means less choice for consumers at the end of the day.
I donāt really see a lack of choice being a problem. Thereās enough re-runs as it is. As handy as it can be to have the +1 channels, I donāt think theyād be replaced with anything else now, given the ever-shrinking audience for linear tv. In fact, if you ditch them alltogether, you can just about fit everything in (thatās sustainable), into 4 muxesā¦
I have prepared my crystal ball, and this is the result:
Iāve left the ?'s marks there in TVNZ and WBD landā¦ they could be +1ās still, or something new, or leased to other broadcasters. Who knows what the future may hold.
Edit, I didnāt put the note about the SKY mux there. Theyāve got rights to broadcast something there until 2033. They used to have Igloo on those frequencies, but I doubt they will use them. A reshuffle allows for the higher frequencies to be turned over to the telcoās, which is probably what would happen.
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wasnāt sure where to comment
Started watching the once popular, acclaimed and multi-award winning show āThe West Wingā (yes Iām only 25 years late) on Binge.
The episodes so far open in 4:3 aspect (where it re-caps the previous ep), but then by the opening credits become full screen. Are Foxtel using a spliced master of their old tapes then the new latest files? Or is this how the current eps look?
Interestingly, thereās a whole discussion on it online, one here from long-time Victorian public transport union spokesperson Daniel Bowen (in his own hobbie-esque article) and another article linked in this with a whole other discussion about the early 2000s analogue to digital and 4:3 to wide screen transition of TV:
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Not sure if this is the right forum thread, but the bushfires in the Mount Cole region West of Ballarat appear to have over-run the Lookout Hill transmitter site. TV and FM radio is still On-Air, although itās likely to be on backup diesel generator power.
With many relying on ABC radio emergency broadcasts, one hopes thereās plenty of diesel in the tanksā¦
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Fortunately 594 am also provides great coverage throughout Western Victoriaā¦ hopefully listeners are being reminded/aware of that in case 107.9 has to go off air.
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A Q for @RFBurns possibly.
Are the Sydney TV services still all at Gore Hill, following the electricity issues from last week at Artarmon?
If not, do you know when services will be moved back? I note SCA are still transmitting 2Day and Triple M from Gore Hill as well.
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DTV are in normal locations, 7, 9, 10 & SBS from Artarmon, ABC from Gore Hill, they have been that way since Saturday.
SCA is still at Gore Hill as we were doing monthly transmitter testing today & itās easier due to antenna/test load configurations to have them on air at Gore Hill for this, I assume they will switch back to Artarmon overnight tonight?
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I never use this thread and am not a tech head, so excuse me if this has been covered a lot before. Is there a reason no Australian network has used any codecs other than MPEG 2 and MPEG 4, such as HEVC or others? I know some US stations have begun using HEVC to broadcast multiple HD and 4K stations on the existing spectrum.
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Lack of support on TVs, I would say. Itās taken them this long to switch to MPEG-4 because for so long most of the TVs in peopleās homes couldnāt decode it.
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Pretty much any TV sold in Australia in the last 12-13 years can decode MPEG-4.
Lack of support was a valid reason, but not anymore. With all channels in MPEG4, each network could get rid of the SD duplicates since HD is an MPEG4 standard and thereād be enough bandwidth to make all secondary channels like 9Go and 7two HD. It should be a no brainer for networks to do it. Itās time.
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On the WIN network here in the Darling Downs and in a lot of other places 9HD, 9Go!, 9GEM are all MPEG4 HD, matter fact the only channel that isnāt MPEG is 9SD which is still MPEG2 for the moment
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The USA uses a different digital TV format to us, so thereās different codecs available to be used in each type, we use DVB-T here, the USA uses ATSC 3.0.
ATSC 3.0 is more like what our DVB-T2 would be like, better compression, fit more data in the bandwidth.
The Americans donāt do anything the same as the rest of the world, just like in the analogue days, we used PAL, & they used NTSC.
The cost to the broadcasters for us to got DVB-T2 is not insignificant, it has been trialled here & theyād like to use it, if the Government subsidised the costs, but then they want to take more spectrum away & give it to the telcoās so networks would have to double up on a frequency, e.g ABC & SBS use VHF channel 12, then 7, 9 & 10 share say VHF channels 8 & 11 in the metro areas.
Also many viewers would have to buy a new TV set to get DVB-T2 channels, which they may not be happy about.
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I donāt think this would really be the case. I bought a TV in 2013 which was compatible with DVB-T2.
Seems like most new MPEG4-compatible TVs would also be compatible with DVB-T2
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The 4K trials were done using DVB-T2. I remember having to get a new tuner card to receive the broadcast from Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
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yes they were, thereās also been a number of not on air (not publicly receivable I should put it, tests were on air but in a workshop situation) DVB-T2 tests done in the workshop with lots of STBās & DTV sets to see how many are compatible & can receive DVB-T2, I donāt know the full results of those tests, but I donāt think they went very well, the broadcasters pulled back on moving to DVB-T2 after that trial, which was done about 18 months ago.
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And some regional viewers would need new aerials as some regional services would need to move to VHF, as any more spectrum sold to telcos would be in the current UHF TV band (say UHF channels 40-51), as telcos are not interested in VHF.
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Itās true tho, why have 4K cameras recording when TV channels donāt support
This^^
I got a tv way back in 2010 that was mpeg4 compatible (back when this wasnāt really a thing) then in 2013 got another slightly better one that was DVB-T2 compatible. So pretty much all the Tvs Iāve had since 2013 have been DVB-T2 compatible.