Is 7two actually in Full HD or are they just testing the name out?
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Looks full HD to me
Yea it is.
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W regional VIC and NSW (and GC)
In the UK Channel 4 will be closing its SD channels on satellite next month. That follows ITV1 and 2 SD channels closing earlier this month.
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Great news! Seven is really pushing forward with removing MPEG-2. Glad they didnāt bother with simulcasting 7two and 7twoHD for a period like in Regional Qld. Thereās no point now.
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At this point, the government should send free STBs to all households. No need for networks to say (Youāre TV may not work with this channel lul)
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No
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Are you willing to pay higher taxes to fund them?
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The amount of people in this scenario would be so incredibly small. What a waste of money to hand them out.
If anything, work with the big retailers to offer a subsidised STB for people who go to a store.
Even then, theyāre $50ā¦
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The government should set up a website. Quote your Centrelink benefit number, address, details get validated to confirm income support status, STB gets sent out, max 2 per household.
Even then, I doubt many people would claim.
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didnāt the government have some sort of subsidise scheme for STBs when digital TV first came out. It was necessary then as we had to get everybody onto digital by 2008 (later 2010-2013). Now I am not so sure.
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Itās going to be the same outcomeā¦ once MPEG2 stops being used altogether, they will have no signal, just like they would have had no signal when analogue TV was switched off, unless they upgrade/changeover in both cases. I know MPEG2 isnāt being switched off officially as such, or with a shutdown date, but surely will be obsolete soon.
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how many non-MPEG4 sets are out there? Any tuner up to about 15 years old shouldnāt have an issue. Any tuner older than that is probably coming to the end of life anyway?
There also hasnāt been (AFAIK?) any widespread impact on viewers by existing broadcasters migrating to MPEG4?
I am just not sure there is any need for any subsidising of TV tuners now.
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Iām back from a short trip I had, and obviously that meant grabbing some bitrate analysis in a few different markets, as everyone does for funā¦
Anyway closest to home for me to start with, Ballarat. I didnāt bother sampling the ABC/SBS setupā¦
WIN
| WIN Television | Video | Format | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Ch9 Ballarat | 2.3Mbps | MPEG-2 SD | 128k MP2 |
| 81 | 9Gem | 4.15Mbps | H.264 HD | 384k AC3 |
| 82 | 9Go! | 4.82Mbps | H.264 HD | 384k AC3 |
| 85 | GOLD | 0.98Mbps | H.264 SD | 128k MP2 |
| 84 | New Channel Coming Soon | 0.48Mbps | H.264 SD | 128k MP2 |
| 83 | 9Life | 1.32Mbps | H.264 SD | 128k MP2 |
| 80 | 9HD Ballarat | 5.5Mbps | H.264 HD | 384k AC3 |
| Nulls | 1.08Mbps |
So WIN is kinda the least interesting, the āNew Channel Coming Soonā isnāt, and their āCh9ā branding over just ā9 Ballaratā bothers me, but those are some pretty good bitrates compared to what Nine Metro dishes out.
I really donāt know why they donāt put the time into a proper program guide for GOLD - I ended up watching half of an Alive and Cooking episode on there - which included one āad breakā for a Crawfords DVD collection. Other than randomly stumbling on it, youād have no reason to try and watch it - despite it not being wall to wall advertorials like Nineās Extra.
Seven
| Seven Network | Video | Format | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/60 | 7HD Ballarat | 2.78Mbps | H.264 HD | 256k AC3 |
| 62 | 7twoHD Ballarat | 3.00Mbps | H.264 HD | 256k AC3 |
| 64 | 7mateHD Ballarat | 4.11Mbps | H.264 HD | 256k AC3 |
| 65 | 7Bravo | 4.16Mbps | H.264 HD | 256k AC3 |
| 66 | 7flix | 1.05Mbps | H.264 SD | 128k AAC |
| 67 | TVSN | 1.42Mbps | H.264 SD | 128k AAC |
| 68 | RACING.COM |
1.33Mbps | H.264 SD | 128k AAC |
| Nulls | 3.28Mbps |
Seven just seems like they stopped including the SD version of Seven in the multiplex, but havenāt otherwise corrected for it, so thereās excessive nulls. It would shock me if thatās something required as a stat-mux safety barrier, so probably could be allocating that.
Southern Cross Ten
| SCA | Video | Format | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/51 | 10 Ballarat | 2.42Mbps | MPEG-2 SD | 256k MP2 |
| 50 | 10 HD Ballarat | 4.11Mbps | H.264 HD | 384k AC3 (5.1) |
| 52 | 10 Peach Comedy | 2.47Mbps | MPEG-2 SD | 256k MP2 |
| 53 | 10 BOLD Drama | 2.8Mbps | MPEG-2 SD | 256k MP2 |
| 54 | Nickelodeon | 1.70Mbps | H.264 SD | 256k MP2 |
| 55 | SBN | 1.63Mbps | H.264 SD (640x576) | 192k MP2 |
| 56 | Sky News Regional | 1.75Mbps | H.264 SD | 192k MP2 |
| 57 | gecko | 1.15Mbps | H.264 SD | 128k MP2 |
| 58 | you.tv |
1.40Mbps | H.264 SD | 64k AAC |
| Nulls | 0.46Mbps |
So a few interesting things there - I didnāt realise it myself but I cross checked Ten Melbourne, and it indeed also has surround sound enabled on their HD channel. I donāt know if any programming airs with native surround sound.
SBN has an odd horizontal resolution - but that has otherwise vanished as a thing broadcasters use to squeeze bits - otherwise all channels are 1920x1080i for HD services, or 720x576 for SD services.
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Great work!
Interesting that 7ās main channel has a lower bitrate than Two and Mate. Was there sport on at the time?
I wonder if the āCh9ā'thing was ordered by Nine themselves to differentiate from their own LCN naming conventions?
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There have been social media posts locally about people losing access to Seven, but itās hard to tell if itās because their TV/STB canāt do MPEG4 or because itās not picking up changes in the stream properly (which was a common issue)
Telling viewers they might need to buy a new TV off the bat hasnāt helped the situation.
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Great to see WIN in Ballarat isnāt wasting bits by simulcasting Go! and Gem in MPEG2 SD like they do in metro areas
This has been the case for as long as I can remember. The 5.1 indicator would always light up on the amp for 10HD.
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Yeah, when digital first started it was commonplace, but nearly every other network has dropped it over time - I think with the launch of the MPEG-4 HD channels. Tenās seemingly the only network that kept it in that process - and in Ten metro both 10HD and 10 Bold Drama have it.
Itās like they just forgot to stopā¦
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