Having ‘sound but no visual’ proves she’s got an MPEG-2-only TV. The audio channel on MPEG-4 services is usually backwards compatible with older equipment.
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Good chance that it’s disabled in System Settings. I have a 2009 Panasonic Plasma and oddly enough MPEG4 was disabled by default.
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Assuming there has been no warning of this or advise on other Prime channels about the change, it really is poor form from Prime to just instantly switch to MPEG 4. Given a significant number of viewers would not have MPEG 4 compatible devices - even if it was as low as 25%, that’s is a bad way to treat your viewers. Also, 7Mate is a very popular channel in regional areas so it would impact a lot of people.
These changes really need to be advised well in advance and clearly. People are going to be wondering what is happening, thinking they have a fault with their TV or DVR and even calling in service people for repairs.
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Perhaps that’s why they’re testing it out in one market; to gauge how much of an impact it would have?
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Yeah, no warnings at all. I just happened to notice while flicking channels tonight that the picture quality was very clear, then saw the “1080i” in the corner of my TV screen. That was the first I noticed of it.
No different to North Queensland though, who also only have 7mate in MPEG-4 HD.
It has to happen eventually… though I agree that more notice is needed.
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Especially for live sport (like the AFL, which was coincidently the program the said viewer was after at the time) and if done for the Olympics is even worse as those with the older technology will miss out and could cost Prime ratings (if they have a RegionalTam Neilsen peoplemeter that is).
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But we can’t just keep living in the past to support old technology.
That’s why 2G was switched off… things evolve!
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How hard would it be to put up notices for a few weeks or so on 7Mate and the main channel. If people don’t even know they are going to be affected, they can’t act to upgrade their TVs. It also has more of an impact with a channel that carries AFL that can’t be seen on 7Plus.
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I agree.
But there really should be an on-air campaign to advise viewers of a MPEG2 SD > MPEG4 HD switch for a reasonably popular multichannel like 7mate.
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Yep - I’d say in regional areas you in general have better MPEG-4 uptake, owing to the broadcasters taking longer to start digital at all, and more channels already being exclusively in MPEG-4. So it’s fine for them to be doing this - great even - I’d hope it happens in more places on more channels so we can have more HD.
Just it needs to be promoted and explained. Promos in the lead up - with a simple “check 7flix on 66/7HD on 60, if you can’t watch it you will lose 7Mate on date, visit the website/call hotline for more info”.
If that’s too hard, at the very least replace the EPG with that in the description for a bit.
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I agree with that. I don’t think it’s a good idea to just make these changes suddenly.
I’ve just checked 7mate now that the AFL is over and the channel is still running at MPEG-4 HD, so at least we know they weren’t just doing a test during sporting coverage tonight.
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I agree, I’m all for notices. I just think this is a test, just like WIN Illawarra a few months ago and perhaps 7 North Qld. I don’t think there is any other way to truly know the kind of impact it has, especially since the MPEG-2-only crowd gets smaller every time a new TV is purchased.
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I agree with the others, but I’m not convinced that 7 North QLD is just a test given that they’ve had the titlecard on air on LCN73 for at least 3 months now advising that 7mate is on 74 in HD.
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I think the 7QLD regional option is good , where they have put up a slide on 73 that takes up virtually no bits and put 7Mate HD on another LCN. The slide could probably be better - rather than just “7Mate Now on channel 74 in HD, You may need to rescan.” A bit more info to say that it may not be compatible with TVs purchased before 2009 or something.
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As I’ve mentioned a while ago, the networks should band together for a switchover date in a year’s time (July 1 2022?) where they all do the switch to MPEG4.
We can’t stick on MPEG2 forever.
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I think they should definitely go down the route of switching all multi-channels over to MPEG-4, and switch another one to HD in the process (if there’s space).
And then just leave the main channels in MPEG-2 only, for the time being.
This would leave them with 3x MPEG-4 HD channels, remaining multis/shopping in MPEG-4 SD and the main channel in MPEG-2 SD.
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Sounds like a good idea. Maybe also with that keep News 24 on MPEG2 for the time being as well - probably a good idea to have a news channel available to everyone during the switchover period
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If we’re going to get a full years preparation they might as well switch to DVB-T2 as well. Can be sold to viewers as one big switchover (can probably even be nationwide instead of region-by-region like the digital switchover), much easier to understand even if their TVs are completely fine and they don’t need to upgrade. If the networks are able to knuckle down and make a switchover happen without needing the government then they absolutely should. It shouldn’t be too hard of a change, most Australians should remember the digital switchover.
In any case, running a test channel loop would be one way to help viewers understand the switchover as well. Ad campaigns can include something along the lines of:
If you can see and hear the test channel on Channel [x] with no issues then you’re good to go, there’s no need to change your TV. If you can’t see or hear the test channel, you’ll need to buy a set top box or upgrade your TV.
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A year isn’t very long when almost everyone will need to purchase a new TV or set top box. Given the worldwide electronics chip shortage I don’t even know if it would be possible to supply that many in that timeframe.
I think a switch to DVB-T2 would just speed up the decline of FTA. A lot of people, particularly those who don’t watch much FTA now would simply not bother to upgrade.
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How new does a tv have to be to support that ?