Maybe they’ll dump the SD version of 7Two just for the Olympics. Otherwise how on Earth can they run three HD channels plus all the other crap they broadcast in SD?
EDIT: Apologies Nicholas. That’s what you had already suggested!
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LOL, I’m not trying to come up with an “Exclusive” but I am at least attempting to make educated guesses!
For instance, many people seemed confused about the closure of 7Food Network/the relaunch of 7mateHD around the time of those announcements even though it was fairly clear early on what Seven’s intentions were - closing an underperforming multichannel (how Nine thinks it’s going to get anything out of this proposed “Rush” channel is beyond me) to make way for a much needed 2nd HD multichannel to finally end the ridiculous two tier system where some markets temporarily got 7mate on LCN-70 due to sports coverage, etc.
In that case, very interesting stuff.
Knowing Seven it wouldn’t overly surprise me if 7TWO is only a HD channel during the Olympics and (remembering that coverage of Rio was on 7TWO) maybe the Paralympics.
SBS only got away with switching VICELAND to be a MPEG4 HD-only channel (which probably should’ve been a MPEG4 HD channel from the moment SBS2 was relaunched, but anyway) because the demographic of that one is likely younger and probably more likely to have MPEG4-capable equipment. Compare that to 7TWO and all their old fogie programs which are basically at the calibre of what 9Gem runs outside of sports coverage.
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If we sit around waiting for the older generation to get with the times and upgrade then we’ll be waiting forever. I’m sure that even with the analogue switch-off that everyone had years to prepare for there was still a group of disgruntled elderly who weren’t prepared when the day eventually came.
Sometimes you can’t sit around stuck on outdated technology and wait for the market to catch up to what’s new. This is one of those times.
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In an ideal world, every terrestrial television channel in Australia (or at the very least, major metropolitan and aggregated regional markets) would be MPEG4-only from January 1, 2021 to mark 20 years since the start of digital television.
But for many reasons, that’s unlikely to happen.
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Sorry, I didn’t mean you!
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You absolutely could run 3x HD channels and not kill any of the SDs, with reductions in bitrates of the SD simulcasts. As I’ve said a billion times before, if someone cares about PQ, they’ll watch in HD - and figure out how to. So you can safely make any program that has a HD simulcast a low bitrate, as people who care have an option.
So, some numbers:
Bitrate reductions to all
Current Potential Reduction
7 SD 2.60Mbps 1.90Mbps 0.70Mbps
7Two SD 2.50Mbps 1.90Mbps 0.60Mbps
7mate SD 2.70Mbps 1.90Mbps 0.80Mbps
7flix SD 2.00Mbps 2.00Mbps 0.00Mbps
Openshop 1.10Mbps 0.75Mbps 0.35Mbps
Racing 1.20Mbps 0.75Mbps 0.45Mbps
7HD 3.70Mbps 3.40Mbps 0.30Mbps
7mate HD 3.60Mbps 3.40Mbps 0.20Mbps
7Two HD 0.00Mbps 3.40Mbps 0.00Mbps
Replace openshop with static slide/remove
Current Potential Reduction
7 SD 2.60Mbps 1.90Mbps 0.70Mbps
7Two SD 2.50Mbps 1.90Mbps 0.60Mbps
7mate SD 2.70Mbps 1.90Mbps 0.80Mbps
7flix SD 2.00Mbps 2.00Mbps 0.00Mbps
Openshop 1.10Mbps 0.10Mbps 1.00Mbps
Racing 1.20Mbps 1.00Mbps 0.20Mbps
7HD 3.70Mbps 3.50Mbps 0.20Mbps
7mate HD 3.60Mbps 3.50Mbps 0.10Mbps
7Two HD 0.00Mbps 3.60Mbps 0.00Mbps
Replace/remove both Openshop/Racing
Current Potential Reduction
7 SD 2.60Mbps 2.20Mbps 0.40Mbps
7Two SD 2.50Mbps 2.20Mbps 0.30Mbps
7mate SD 2.70Mbps 2.20Mbps 0.50Mbps
7flix SD 2.00Mbps 2.00Mbps 0.00Mbps
Openshop 1.10Mbps 0.10Mbps 1.00Mbps
Racing 1.20Mbps 0.10Mbps 1.10Mbps
7HD 3.70Mbps 3.50Mbps 0.20Mbps
7mate HD 3.60Mbps 3.50Mbps 0.10Mbps
7Two HD 0.00Mbps 3.60Mbps 0.00Mbps
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It might be because the shows were shown live this morning and the EPGs are now out of wack.
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Sunrise and Today switched to live when the PM media conference started.
Studio 10 was live as well and ran for one extra hour.
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I know it’s been a while since we last really discussed HD news (not really much to discuss from a Sydney perspective with almost all local & national content on TV here being full 1080i these days), but I thought it’d be interesting to follow up Ted Lech’s comment sent to independent Adelaide news site InDaily about their article on the TV news battle in that market:
Now obviously Nine News Adelaide is in full HD and has been for years now, ditto SBS World News. But unless I’ve missed something, 10 News First Adelaide (even after the move of production to Melbourne) and ABC News SA are still produced in SD?
Something else that may be of interest:
Such an upgrade can’t come soon enough. You’d think that after two decades of digital television in Australia + at least 4-5 years of HD main channels in their current incarnation, we could’ve got all (or at least most) local news bulletins for metropolitan markets in 1080i!
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It’s not necessarily that a bulletin being produced in SD that results in a poor picture quality on the HD channel. The quality of the upscalers at play out can make a difference. Ten and ABC may have better upscalers.
For instance, when ABC News NSW was still SD, it was still markedly better than NBN News on their respective HD channels.
But nothing beats a native HD production of course (except 4K or 8K!).
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Pretty much everything is produced in HD, it’s just that the outputs and control rooms are all SD.
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Same with downscaling. A good example is the comparison of 10 Central from Canberra playout versus 10 Central from NPC playout. I believe @Abesty posted a comparison - I’ll see if I can find it.
Edit: Here it is. Note the clarity of the watermark.
10 Central from Canberra:
10 Central from NPC:
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As mentioned on the WIN Television thread:
WIN Channel 8 changing to HD
From Monday 29th March, WIN’s Illawarra Channel 8 will be changing to the High Definition Mpeg-4 format.
In doing so, some viewers may lose the ability to receive WIN’s Illawarra Channel 8 as your TV may not be compatible with this format, similar to when mobile phones changed from 3G to 4G and now 5G.
Please contact your preferred local electrical appliance supplier for advice on what solutions are available.
Source: wintv.com.au
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WIN the first network becoming full HD on LCN 8. 80 will be the HD simulcast of WIN
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Great news. If only all the stations switched their main LCN to an HD version.
On another matter, why is NBN News on the Gold Coast only in SD? All the commercials, promos etc are in HD during the news. Is there some problem with the feed? Or is NBN News only in SD for all of northern NSW?
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NBN news isn’t broadcast at all in HD in any region.
An upgrade will probably come when they move locations soon.
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Yes having MPEG4 HD on the main LCN is good, but not having MPEG2 SD on 81, if that’s what’s happening (the very short bit on their website doesn’t say), could be bad for anyone with an old TV.
As was mentioned in that thread, many viewers won’t know what’s happening, won’t get a cheap set-top box. It may help the other channels.
Interesting to see what happens, and how quickly WIN deploy the change to their other regions.
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Moving to brand new digs around June and everything will be upgraded then.
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Interesting that the Communications Minister posted to his website instead of a government website (e.g. his department’s).
I wonder what differences in TV ownership (MPEG4-capable vs not) there may be in the different viewing areas.
The metros have been quite reluctant, but hopefully things have changed and they’ll see it as safe now; perhaps 7flix can switch back to MPEG4 (and HD this time)?
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Hopefully.
NTD got Full HD output before they moved to Mitchell Street in early-2019 despite not having a bulletin being produced locally.
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