Either that or a rushed change to do with the Olympics deal.
1 Like
One of your caps (the Magic Millions) was Primeâs normal generic sport watermark, but for 7Two.
As seen with most of their telecasts (such as the AFL - except thats the main channel âPrime7â one).
So it seems both the âLive & Freeâ / âSportâ being controlled from the tennis production, plus the addition of the âOlympic ringsâ has made things challenging.
That could be why. Was todayâs Horse Racing the first non-Tennis sports telecast on Seven since the Tennis started?
1 Like
I think so.
Prime may think âif 50% of the watermark if out of our control, plus our programming partner requesting Olympic rings, letâs just rely on them for the next couple of weeksâ?
Perhaps. Letâs see what the next event gives us.
1 Like
The advantage in the Gold Coast is that both 7 and 7mate are available in HD, (as they are on the Central Coast, and large areas of Sydney that get Wollongong television).
1 Like
Wimbledon would be a good time to compare.
As youâll have the AFL alongside it.
With Olympics / Comm Games either side or around it.
1 Like
Hereâs a comparison video of the closing of Magic Millions and beginning of Are We There Yet? on both 7 Perth and GWN7.
Both feeds are in sync to the millisecond but the MKR promo aired on GWN7 slightly earlier, hence the echo.
7 Likes
Sport watermark delay:
8 Likes
That HD watermark is for sure inserted at Mediahub by the lack of delay in the main feed and the way it cuts in.
1 Like
Given itâs 2018 and SD-only equipment in the market is at its lowest, I think Prime could easily get away with just swapping 7mate and Prime7, resulting in no SD simulcast of Prime7, no MPEG-4 and no need to change anything on their backhaul networks or at transmitter sites.
I also think this could be a solution for WA where backhaul is maxed out and the costs of tweaking or upgrading ~120 transmitter sites is not feasible. The quality of 7mate HD MPEG-2 as it is now is brilliant and rivals HD MPEG-4 broadcasts.
5 Likes
agreed thats been done in melbourne when i was there i think. 7 mate was in sd and was fine to watch and 7 was in hd so i agree with what your saying so why cant it be done??? thats what i cant understand . Just turn down what ever it is that 7 mate are using to get 7mate hd and turn up whatever it is to make prime7/gwn7 hd sshouldnt be that hard . since thats what they did by the looks when 7 mate came in to play and they got rid of primehd to make 7mate hd or do people just prefure 7mate in hd i hardly watch it anyways
I agree, butâŚ
Itâs not. They launched a whole new 7HD alongside 7SD and reduced 7mate down to SD. My hypothetical solution wouldnât involve having to launch a new HD channel, just a straight swap. The reason they didnât do it this way is because a small amount of people with equipment that doesnât pick up MPEG-2 HD channels would miss out on their most popular channel. Keep in mind these people also missed out on 7mate HD for years while it was the âhome of AFLâ so they canât be that important. I reckon that number is smaller than ever and regional stations could probably get away with doing this to save costs and speed the process up.
3 Likes
but you can pick up a set top box for like $30 or$40 which picks up all the hd channels my father has got a flat screen tv but it was one when the tv digital first came in so it couldnt pick up all the hd channels so i got a set top box and its fixed i fully agree with ur hypothetical solution
1 Like
Exactly! If anything it would force these last few people to buy an el cheapo device and get with the times! Lol
Also, I think a straight swap would work well for areas like regional WA and remote Central as they were the last places to get digital television, so there would be less older equipment than other areas of Australia.
3 Likes
Thanks for your videos @WAtvVideos, now I can see it properly.
So it looks almost like MediaHub have photoshopped 7HD (metro) sport olympics watermark!
As I mentioned and most would know, the âHDâ add-on (in metro) is seperate to the watermark. Fading in a split second before and after an ad.
Whereas in the video, the â7 Olympics HDâ on GWN flashes in suddenly altogether.
Weird eh.
NFL is showing on 7mate right now and Prime arenât using their own watermark again. Theyâve gone with the horizontal one with the small âmateâ
1 Like
Since thereâs probably not overly many people in regional Australia that have SD-only Digital TV equipment, I agree that swapping the positions of Prime7/GWN7 and 7mate as the MPEG2-HD channel seems to be be the easiest thing to do from a technical perspective. Coinciding that with a short âRetune your TVâ promotional campaign with the local newsreaders and an info/FAQ section about the change on the website would likely work quite well IMO.
MPEG4 probably had to happen for the launch/return of HD main channels in the metro markets though, because itâs likely that the Foxtel satellite retransmission(s) of the commercial network main channels for the three biggest East Coast markets are reliant on the terrestrial MPEG2 SD broadcasts for Seven, Nine and Ten.
1 Like
Really? Iâm not sure whether their existence on Foxtel Satellite plays any part in the matter to be honest. I thought the change from offering Seven and 7TWO to Seven and 7mate recently was a decision based on both AFL coverage and limited satellite space - if thatâs the point of reference youâre using.
3 Likes
If this were to happen what would be the scenario for Foxtel viewers who donât subscribe to a HD plan? Would Prime expect Foxtel to downconvert their main channel to SD for these people?
1 Like