MPEG4 HD baby. I’m putting bets on Nine. Similar date to the last time they refreshed their lineup in 2015. Graphics refresh too?
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Nine in MPEG4 only is my guess too… IF it is true, hopefully then all of 9Go, 9Life and 9Rush will be HD too.
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I think it’s far more likely that the multis will all go MPEG4 HD only with the main channel still having an MPEG2 SD simulcast.
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I would argue that it’s time MPEG2 is dropped for good. It’s been a good 7 years since MPEG4 channels were first introduced. It’s got to happen eventually. MPEG2 is a bandwidth hog.
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My guess was just a channel flipping their main channel over to the single digit LCN.
10 putting 10HD on 10 would be my main guess given how odd their current allocation is, so they’d benefit the most from a reshuffle.
Though if it’s not Ten, then I suppose you’d also see the HD multichannels flip, so 7MateHD on 73 or 9GemHD on 93, etc. That then eases phasing out the SD simulcasts, especially for Seven as I believe you’ll see Mate SD removed for Bravo.
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What about a 4k channel?
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You’d need far too much bandwidth for that… at least two or even three multi channels would have to be axed to make room.
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Seven should do something before the introduction of 7Bravo in January. So possibly implement the 7 regional solution where 7Tow and 7Mate are HD only with no SD option.
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I think that would be a good idea, also implement it on Seven Regional. For example it could look like this:
6/7: 7
60/70: 7HD
61/71: 7
62/72: 7twoHD
63/73: 7mateHD
64/74: 7Bravo
65 (Seven Regional only): ishoptv
66/76: 7flix
68/78: RACING. COM
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I’m surprised that none of them have launched a 4k stream to try and complete with Foxtel.
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It could be as simple as 9GO not being on 99 any more as it’s also on 93, or 10HD being on only 1 or 13, not both.
Other possibilities:
- One broadcaster could drop the SD simulcast of its secondary HD channel (i.e. 7Mate or 9GEM). Note that 10BOLD already doesn’t have an SD simulcast, neither does SBS Viceland HD or SBS world Movies HD.
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No commercial network is going to dedicate a channel to something that won’t deliver decent ratings
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Kmart have just started selling a set top box again, the purchasing team must know more than the rest of us on what changes are coming 
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When did they stop selling them?
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Probably a random question but why couldn’t they just have another HD channel with the difference being it would switch to 4k and show 4k content and back again? Now if that’s not a stupid idea I don’t know what is. hahaha
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Unsure, its been an extended period of time though
Other than the coincidental timing of them restocking STB’s again it shows that there continues to be MPEG4 devices for between $39 and $49 on the market… and as such really no excuse to keep MPEG2 floating around … except for the main channels… for now
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I hope it’s more and they drop MPEG2 completely, except perhaps for the primary channel.
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And for the ABC’s maybe only News 24, and ABC TV for MPEG2?
Guess I better make sure we have a good stock of STB at my work, as we sell a few a week and it ramps up when a channel switches to H.264
Hope they all go to H.264 HD/SD like in NZ, this MPEG2 bullshit should have been long gone
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If I have to replace my 15yo Sony MPEG2 only Bravia, my main interest is going to be the connected TV features not its MPEG4 capabilities. That is probably why FTA broadcasters are not in a hurry to kill off MPEG2. Bet the replacement TV I get has a remote with a Netflix and YouTube button but not a channel 9 or 7 button…
One DVB-T carrier with MPEG2 and at least 5 FTA SD primary channels is going to be around for quite a while yet.
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