About time ABC News and ABC Entertains get upgraded to HD.
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They could almost do this with absolutely no change to actual bitrates.
A random sample I opened to look at had:
ABC NEWS - 2.9Mbps MPEG-2 SD
ABCTV HD - 2.5Mbps H.264 HD
ABC TV - 3.3Mbps MPEG-2 SD
ABC Kids/ABC Family - 2.5Mbps MPEG-2 SD
ABC Entertains - 5Mbps MPEG-2 SD
The HD version of the main channel using less bits than the SD service, and an SD only service being the highest channel.
Iâm sure the ABC will do a better job at explaining this to the public than other companies - indeed I think one of the few that said set top boxes exist, not just go stream it insteadâŚ
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Great to see ABC finally get on board! No surprises that theyâre leaving 22 til last. I wonder if theyâll stop with the time-sharing and give both Kids and Family their own channels?
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I couldnât see them bringing back Family, as Familyâs essentially a stripped back ABC Me, and they axed that in favour of Family unfortunately 
Why not make the kids and family channel MPEG 4 as well. Even if it is in SD
Baby steps for the ABC. They donât want to upset the 2% of taxpayers/luvvies who still only have a MPEG-2 compatible TVâŚ
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I certainly have enjoyed explaining MPEG-4 to someone while their screaming child complained about missing their cartoons.
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Hey, at least Miraculous Ladybug at 7.30am on Entertains is HD 
Nothing is HD to my eyes at that time of the morning. Everything is still blurry to me!
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4 posts were merged into an existing topic: ABC operations
There are 3 FAST channels on iview with Family program schedules that could be used post 7.30pm to fill the gap. Cartoons from 7.30pm to 5am(?) would be awesome.
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New promo for the upcoming MPEG-4 HD upgrades.
What surprises me though is when they mention âStandard TVs wonât be compatible, and you may require a digital set top boxâ in the promo, theyâre literally showing an old analogue TV. For historical reference, analogue TV signals were switched off here in Australia between 2010-2013. Is the ABC trapped too far back in the past? Surely they couldâve used a very old MPEG2-only digital TV in its place instead.
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It could be pointing to older set top boxes which circulated around the time of the analogue switch-off, which may no longer be compatible.
an MPEG2 TV probably doesnât look much different to a current TV, e.g. just a large flat screen.
For the sake of a few seconds on a promo, I think itâs just a very blunt visual way of displaying that âoldâ TVs will not be compatible.
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The thing is that some old HD TVs wonât be compatible either, but you canât say âVery old HD TVsâ because some old HD TVs (like mine) are compatible.
The best way they could say this is âIf your TV can receive ABC HD then itâs compatible, otherwise, youâll need a set top box.â If they could add âand SBS Vicelandâ then that would be even better, as there is no SD option.
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This is long overdue.
It appears the ABC is finally showing some good leadership.
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Off topic about ABC, but I think Melbourne shud be the first East Coast city to receive 7two in HD.
Why Melbourne?
Because itâs next most popular to Sydney and Brisbane can wait because in most places, Seven is in HD on LCN 7 or 6 with 7twoHD
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Just noticed that 7Bravo is HD in Melbourne. Is 7Bravo HD in areas where 7 and 7TWO are in HD only?