Wow, I didn’t know that. Further evidence Seven doesn’t really take HD as seriously as their competitors.
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Although I think Regional Queensland advertisers would complain if their ads aren’t seen by local viewers on the HD channel! And would Seven really be happy if regional viewers were watching Seven News Queensland live on LCN-70 instead of the local/condensed state edition they’re supposed to be seeing?
Seven Gold Coast probably runs the exact same ads (despite the localised watermark, promos and late afternoon programing to accompany the 5.30pm local news bulletin) as the main Seven Brisbane feed. With both that and the fact that Seven Gold Coast airs the full hour of Seven News Queensland live every night, it mightn’t matter as much if the Gold Coast can watch the main Seven Brisbane feed on LCN-70.
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Replacing 7mate’s HD with 7HD isn’t the answer.
Firstly, that HD gear may not be MPEG-4 compatible, but it would also leave no gear for 7mate to still be broadcast in SD as the main channel will still require the same gear to broadcast the SD version. It would require new gear as it is still adding a channel, despite it being the same content.
It is my understanding that 7flix (for the whole of Australia) is played out of MediaHub (or it was to begin with anyway) as BCM didn’t have the capacity to accomodate it - that’s why Seven didn’t use it for the Olympics as it would be a lot more complicated to out something on it live.
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[quote=“SydneyCityTV, post:1284, topic:279”]
Seven Gold Coast probably runs the exact same ads (despite the localised watermark, promos and late afternoon programing to accompany the 5.30pm local news bulletin) as the main Seven Brisbane feed.
[/quote]Correct. Between 4.30 and 6.00 the ad breaks on both channels are the same length and play the exact same ads. The only difference is that any news promos are a version that includes both Brisbane and Gold Coast presenters.
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If I was in control of broadcasting, etc., I’d severely reduce the bitrate of the MPEG-2 simulcast channels, and put most of it into 3 x MPEG-4 HD channels.
I’d have:
07: 7 SD -------------> 3.0 mbps (MPEG-2)
70: 7 HD ------------> 4.0 mbps (MPEG-4)
72: 7Two HD -----> 3.5 mbps (MPEG-4)
73: 7mate HD ----> 3.8 mbps (MPEG-4)
74: 7Two -----------> 2.1 mbps (MPEG-2)
75: 7mate ----------> 2.1 mbps (MPEG-2)
76: 7flix -------------> 2.4 mbps (MPEG-2)
78: Racing.com → 1.1 mbps (MPEG-4)
Obviously, the MPEG-2 channels wouldn’t look fantastic, but that would hopefully encourage more people to utilise the HD channels.
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For those in signal overlap areas like Sydney, Central Coast, Gold Coast, etc., the way it is currently is actually a positive thing – i.e. I get to have both 7 and 7mate in HD. Though I can see why those who can only get the regional affiliates’ signals would prefer to have 7HD.
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More likely encourage them to watch another network. It’s not like 7Two and 7Mate are must watch TV - similar content can be found on other channels.
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After the switchover with WIN, many other Channel 9 Affiliates don’t have HD yet. Murrumbidgee, Mildura, Griffith, WA have primary Channel in SD. It is about that Channel 5 should get it in HD.
WIN should just bite the bullet in these areas and swap 9Gem for Nine on the MPEG-2 HD channel vice-versa on the SD channel. The audiences are small. WA was very late with digital rollout so there would be an overwhelming majority of MPEG-2 HD households than in other areas. I’m sure the household subsidy schemes in both SA and Mildura ensured MPEG-2 HD equipment as well. Just do it.
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People have to accept that Technology moves very fast now. It’s not like the old days where Analogue Television lasted for more than 40 years and only difference is colour and better scan lines was added. Soon HDR is being added to broadcast aswell as 4K in some countries so say by 2020, we will be still in the stone age of Digital TV if we gave up and kept with MPEG2. MPEG2 died really at the turn of this decade, 7 years later we still have it!
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So the only reason the metro areas have 7HD is because the AFL isn’t on anymore? As soon as the AFL season comes back it goes back ?
Unlikely since AFL started back nearly 4 weeks ago.
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Here’s an idea… what about timeshift channels?
So as an example, you could have VICELAND HD live in MPEG-4 and a +1 or +2 hour delayed VICELAND SD using MPEG-2.
Seems like a win-win to me. That way those who watch live only experience the best quality, the MPEG2-only people don’t miss any content, plus it could kind of count as a ‘new’ service as it isn’t a duplicate of what is already live on air (which in its current form just seems wasteful to me). Best of all, it encourages the great Australian MPEG4 revolution! 
Most people I know choose their viewing via the EPG and couldn’t care less if they land on the HD or SD channel, however with programs at different times they’ll start to take notice. 
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im boycotting prime7 till they go to hd:)
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Again, they don’t want to because the Nine affiliate is not their primary channel in monopoly areas. Providing their ‘premium’ (I use the term loosely) Ten content in HD could potentially draw viewers over to their primary Ten affiliation as opposed to Seven or Nine content that is only in SD.
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How much do you think WIN is actually paying NINE to keep broadcasting their programs though?
It wouldn’t be 50%. Every chance it’s on par or less than what they pay TEN
WDT pays 20%
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Well if thats the case I’m confident WIN isn’t paying too much more than that in SA and Griffith/MIA. If they were then perhaps 9LIFE would still be on the air
So in these cases I’m sure WIN would not care too much as long as each channel is actively making revenue, not just their WIN branded channels
As discussed previously, other issues that would stop this from going ahead:
- No SD simulcast of the main channels, locking out the very few viewers with MPEG2 SD only equipment
- Breaks number ordering (GEM on 50, 7MATE on 60, WIN HD on 80; it would be NINE HD on 5, SEVEN HD on 6, WIN HD on 80)
- WIN SA at least - would possibly require new equipment as they have one statewide feed per multichannel but two different feeds for main channels
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Not if they do what they did for TDT, they reshuffled to the LCNs aligning with metro on 5 but didn’t launch 9Life:
5/51 - Nine
50 - 9HD
52 - 9Gem
53 - 9Go!
But again, WIN has no incentive to launch these channels as it takes away from their primary Ten affiliation, so Eastern SA and Griffith/MIA will just have to be content with what they’ve got.
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