FreeviewPlus coming mid-2015, smart TVs from April

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1149 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1335411 1-Jul-2015 21:53

LGSAM: I have just changed my 2014 LG to Australian broadcast location and turned HBB TV on , re tuned and reset GMT time and now have Freeview plus working fine , haven't noticed any bugs with it considering the way I have had to do this ,

Nice. :)
I suspected it might. Now you have ammunition with which you can advance your case if LG doesn't deliver official support.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1335463 1-Jul-2015 23:12

grolschie: Interestingly, Panasonic rolled out HbbTV to their 2014 devices in Australia late last year via an update: http://www.cnet.com/au/news/panasonic-brings-hbbtv-to-blu-ray-and-dvd-recorders/

EDIT: And their 2011 VT30 series TVs got HbbTV overseas.

Their last email to me about my still-retailing BWT840 PVR inferred that it had been manufactured before the specs for Freeview Plus were known, so was not able to be upgraded. I quote: "the Freeview Plus issue relates to Freeview – when a product is designed, developed and released – it is made to the whatever the specifications was given by Freeview at that point in time which is what our existing models were made to."

Their previous email said that because our platform differed from Australia's, we would not be treated to a firmware update like their existing models were.

Maybe I'm being uncharitable in feeling vaguely suspicious about that. Possibly it's because I like to have a proper explanation for things. Everything I've read suggests most TV equipment made since 2013 has the required hardware for HbbTV 1.5. I don't understand what the major difference is between Australia's Freeview Plus and ours that makes our existing models unable to be upgraded as theirs were. Is anyone able to explain the mechanics of it?

Edited to add: The fact LGSAM's LG TV is working on the NZ Freeview Plus platform on the Australian setting makes the above info from Panasonic look even less feasible.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

JarrodM

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1335466 1-Jul-2015 23:22

Been playing around with my TV. A 2014 model Sony Bravia, there was no sign of Freeview plus working but then the little icon popped up just when I was about to give up. Played around with it a bit, you have to log into tvnz on demand, no log in required for 3now. It crashed a couple of times with a message about a memory shortage or something so maybe not a good sign. Once I got a show streaming on demand it was fine, no lag. Not sure if this is because of the quality of the streams (same as the standard on demand from the websites) or because it was working well.

mm1352000

1149 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1335470 2-Jul-2015 00:20

littleheaven: I don't understand what the major difference is between Australia's Freeview Plus and ours that makes our existing models unable to be upgraded as theirs were. Is anyone able to explain the mechanics of it?

Edited to add: The fact LGSAM's LG TV is working on the NZ Freeview Plus platform on the Australian setting makes the above info from Panasonic look even less feasible.

Both NZ and AU are using HbbTV version 1.5. I'm not aware of any significant difference in implementation requirements for NZ or AU, or any significant differences when comparing NZ and AU implementations with those in Europe.

If you're interested you can check out the AU implementation guidelines:
http://www.freetv.com.au/Media/Engineering/Free_TV_OP_61_Implementation_of_Hbb_in_Australia_Issue_3_-_December_2014.pdf

Unfortunately I haven't been able to locate an equivalent for NZ. However, Freeview have said of HbbTV:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=169779&page_no=2#1322399

yes we would expect this standard to be in place for at least 5 years . The UK are moving to a hybrid HbbTV 2.0 model so that is something we will follow closely as will Australia. We are working more closely with Australia now to aligning out specs and make it easier for manufacturers to provide product across both territories.

[edit: As I said to LGSAM, the issue may be money. Panasonic/LG/<whoever> would have to pay for certification testing for their products if they want to label them as FreeviewPlus compatible at retail... even though they've already been tested as compliant for the AU market which ostensibly uses the same standards.]

BigPipeNZ

1170 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

BigPipe

#1335472 2-Jul-2015 00:57

LGSAM:
mm1352000:
LGSAM: The reason I ask is because my LG does not appear on the list of supported devices but I know if I set it to Australian broadcast service I will be able to turn on HBB and then re-tune to our free-view Frequency . But I have no idea if this will work .

AFAIK the main difference between AU and NZ broadcasts is the DVB-T bandwidth. AU has 7 MHz channels; NZ has 8 MHz channels. The rest - DVB-T, EIT and MHEG 5 for EPG, and now HbbTV - is much of a muchness. If I owned your TV and FreeviewPlus support is not enabled in the near future then I'd start making a lot of noise on Facebook and Twitter, email and call support channels etc., because the only reason not to enable support would seem to be money.

I have just changed my 2014 LG to Australian broadcast location and turned HBB TV on , re tuned and reset GMT time and now have Freeview plus working fine , haven't noticed any bugs with it considering the way I have had to do this ,

yep, same.

set location to australia, then had to fart around a bit manually re-tuning channels. But it seemed to pick them up just fine and freeviewplus seems to work 'ok'.

The menu seems quite laggy, but watching catchup content works fine, for the couple of things I tried
(of course, the resolution is absolutely terrible when I compare to Lightbox and Netflix)

oh, and the 'guide' button no longer works properly on my remote. I have to use the red button to get the freeivewplus epg (this is bound to confuse the heck out of my wife)

bigpipe.co.nz
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timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#1335510 2-Jul-2015 08:54

Has anyone tried getting FreeviewPlus on a Panasonic Plasma. Apparently they are capable of hbbtv (see this page) in the European market. Any idea how this would be activated in NZ?

I have a 65VT60

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1335532 2-Jul-2015 09:33

mm1352000:
littleheaven: I don't understand what the major difference is between Australia's Freeview Plus and ours that makes our existing models unable to be upgraded as theirs were. Is anyone able to explain the mechanics of it?

Edited to add: The fact LGSAM's LG TV is working on the NZ Freeview Plus platform on the Australian setting makes the above info from Panasonic look even less feasible.

Both NZ and AU are using HbbTV version 1.5. I'm not aware of any significant difference in implementation requirements for NZ or AU, or any significant differences when comparing NZ and AU implementations with those in Europe.

If you're interested you can check out the AU implementation guidelines:
http://www.freetv.com.au/Media/Engineering/Free_TV_OP_61_Implementation_of_Hbb_in_Australia_Issue_3_-_December_2014.pdf

Unfortunately I haven't been able to locate an equivalent for NZ. However, Freeview have said of HbbTV:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=169779&page_no=2#1322399
yes we would expect this standard to be in place for at least 5 years . The UK are moving to a hybrid HbbTV 2.0 model so that is something we will follow closely as will Australia. We are working more closely with Australia now to aligning out specs and make it easier for manufacturers to provide product across both territories.

[edit: As I said to LGSAM, the issue may be money. Panasonic/LG/<whoever> would have to pay for certification testing for their products if they want to label them as FreeviewPlus compatible at retail... even though they've already been tested as compliant for the AU market which ostensibly uses the same standards.]

Cool, thank you. I appreciate the links and will take time today to have a good read.

I'd be interested if anyone finds a way to get a Panasonic device to work. At the end of they day I have a nice little HTPC that does OnDemand just fine, so it's not like I'm missing out, but it would be nice to know if my gut feeling is right or not.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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LGSAM

237 posts

Master Geek

#1335543 2-Jul-2015 09:52

BigPipeNZ:
LGSAM:
mm1352000:
LGSAM: The reason I ask is because my LG does not appear on the list of supported devices but I know if I set it to Australian broadcast service I will be able to turn on HBB and then re-tune to our free-view Frequency . But I have no idea if this will work .

AFAIK the main difference between AU and NZ broadcasts is the DVB-T bandwidth. AU has 7 MHz channels; NZ has 8 MHz channels. The rest - DVB-T, EIT and MHEG 5 for EPG, and now HbbTV - is much of a muchness. If I owned your TV and FreeviewPlus support is not enabled in the near future then I'd start making a lot of noise on Facebook and Twitter, email and call support channels etc., because the only reason not to enable support would seem to be money.

I have just changed my 2014 LG to Australian broadcast location and turned HBB TV on , re tuned and reset GMT time and now have Freeview plus working fine , haven't noticed any bugs with it considering the way I have had to do this ,

yep, same.

set location to australia, then had to fart around a bit manually re-tuning channels. But it seemed to pick them up just fine and freeviewplus seems to work 'ok'.

The menu seems quite laggy, but watching catchup content works fine, for the couple of things I tried
(of course, the resolution is absolutely terrible when I compare to Lightbox and Netflix)

oh, and the 'guide' button no longer works properly on my remote. I have to use the red button to get the freeivewplus epg (this is bound to confuse the heck out of my wife)

I have the same issue with the original guide not showing , this may be a side effect of having set Australia as the broadcast location , apart from that everything else seems to work fine , For Panasonic owners I don't know if this approach would work or maybe there's a way to get into the service menu to enable HBB TV .

upsilon

84 posts

Master Geek

#1335936 2-Jul-2015 16:29

JarrodM: Been playing around with my TV. A 2014 model Sony Bravia, there was no sign of Freeview plus working but then the little icon popped up just when I was about to give up. Played around with it a bit, you have to log into tvnz on demand, no log in required for 3now. It crashed a couple of times with a message about a memory shortage or something so maybe not a good sign. Once I got a show streaming on demand it was fine, no lag. Not sure if this is because of the quality of the streams (same as the standard on demand from the websites) or because it was working well.

Hey, which Sony TV are you using? I have a 48W600B, even the sony site says it supports freeviewplus but I don't see anything (and pressing red or green doesn't help).

Latest firmware (removed MHEG Guide), interactive applications enabled, did a factory reset.

JarrodM

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1336010 2-Jul-2015 18:23

upsilon:
JarrodM: Been playing around with my TV. A 2014 model Sony Bravia, there was no sign of Freeview plus working but then the little icon popped up just when I was about to give up. Played around with it a bit, you have to log into tvnz on demand, no log in required for 3now. It crashed a couple of times with a message about a memory shortage or something so maybe not a good sign. Once I got a show streaming on demand it was fine, no lag. Not sure if this is because of the quality of the streams (same as the standard on demand from the websites) or because it was working well.

Hey, which Sony TV are you using? I have a 48W600B, even the sony site says it supports freeviewplus but I don't see anything (and pressing red or green doesn't help).

Latest firmware (removed MHEG Guide), interactive applications enabled, did a factory reset.

that is my model. when watching tv press the i button to bring up the info about what is on, and if there is a little computer monitor like icon by the subtitle and AD and resolution info I think that means that it can see the freeview plus application. my only advice is to leave it on one channel for a while and see if it pops up. maybe also it popped up for me because I think I was holding down the red button.

debo

307 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1336048 2-Jul-2015 20:48

JarrodM
I have a similar model sony but can't get it to work. What firmware has your sony got? Do you have the standard freeview guide or the new sony guide?

JarrodM

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1336049 2-Jul-2015 20:55

debo: JarrodM
I have a similar model sony but can't get it to work. What firmware has your sony got? Do you have the standard freeview guide or the new sony guide?

pkg2.303gaa, the sony guide comes up when I hit the guide button. do you have the interactive application setting turned on? under the digital tuning menu, right down the bottom.

debo

307 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1336056 2-Jul-2015 21:26

JarrodM:
debo: JarrodM
I have a similar model sony but can't get it to work. What firmware has your sony got? Do you have the standard freeview guide or the new sony guide?

pkg2.303gaa, the sony guide comes up when I hit the guide button. do you have the interactive application setting turned on? under the digital tuning menu, right down the bottom.

Yes. Comes up with the monitor icon too but that's where I get stuck. Can't seem to get it do anything from there.

peejayw

1841 posts

Uber Geek

#1336138 3-Jul-2015 06:48

I have just changed my 2014 LG to Australian broadcast location and turned HBB TV on , re tuned and reset GMT time and now have Freeview plus working fine , haven't noticed any bugs with it considering the way I have had to do this ,

I changed my LG 2014 WebOS TV to Australian location and was able to turn on HBB but when I retuned no channels were found. Can you step me through what you did to get it working?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

E3xtc

773 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1336141 3-Jul-2015 07:31

timbosan: Has anyone tried getting FreeviewPlus on a Panasonic Plasma. Apparently they are capable of hbbtv (see this page) in the European market. Any idea how this would be activated in NZ?

I have a 65VT60

Would love to know this also...however as mentioned elsewhere it is likely to be a cost issue (from Panasonic's perspective), in that they wouldn't be interested in getting Freeview compliance for older models (even though technically they support the hbbtv standard being currently used). I own 2 Panasonic Freeview devices (VT50 and PVR), but am not holding out any hope for them to start working with it. Would be nice if they did though.

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