New Zealand Freeview | HD Guide (DTT/DVB-T)

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358 posts

Ultimate Geek

#115748 10-Mar-2008 14:23

walt12: If the go-live is in April, I would be amazed if we don't at least see some overseas content broadcast here in HD. Sure, local content will have to wait until production facilities are up to scratch (I think I can handle the news in SD for a bit longer!). I'm thinking movie features and US/UK prime-time shows shot in HD.

Otherwise where is the selling point for people to buy $599 STB's?

My "drip feed" comment above didnt mean "none". It just means not alot initially, and things will be more manual (like TVNZ throw in a highdef tape for playback of certain highdef shows).

I did hear Canwest are further along though.

walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#115749 10-Mar-2008 14:32

sub - wasn't having a crack at your comments.

The point I was trying to make is why launch now if there's barely any content. Upscaled SD looks good but it's not true HD. That being so, they must have some content to broadcast, and we'll just have to wait to see locally produced HD content.

SKY are more fully HD-advanced than any of the broadcasters, and given the shocking compression and bit-rates on SKY channels, and the type of content (sports + movies), that's the area where the average joe will see the largest improvement.

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#115752 10-Mar-2008 14:58

Don't forget, TVNZ have already said that 50% of 'peak time' TV1 and 80% of TV2 content will be HD, so that means they must have a collection of HD content from somewhere, like overseas. I doubt TVNZ would advertise this fact and then screen it all from 576i content upscaled to 720p, given the quantity (not quality

) of overseas HD programs. Of course I could be totally wrong.....

sub

358 posts

Ultimate Geek

#115753 10-Mar-2008 15:04

I'm as eager as the next guy for HD, but it does say on that same page:

The Freeview Digital Terrestrial (DTT) platform goes live in March/April 08. Will you broadcast in HD from the start?
No, but the Freeview DTT Set Top Box will be HD capable from day one and ready to receive.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#115755 10-Mar-2008 15:12

The official launch date was supposed to be set today. I've yet to see any media releases about this. Aybody else spotted it yet?

geekiegeek

2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#115761 10-Mar-2008 15:22

sbiddle:
walt12: If the go-live is in April, I would be amazed if we don't at least see some overseas content broadcast here in HD. Sure, local content will have to wait until production facilities are up to scratch (I think I can handle the news in SD for a bit longer!). I'm thinking movie features and US/UK prime-time shows shot in HD.

Otherwise where is the selling point for people to buy $599 STB's?

The 720p upscaled content really does look amazing. IMHO most people with anything less than a 42" TV sit so far away they would never be able to tell the difference anyway between true 720p and upscaled 576i.

I've just got a new 8500GT card today so it will be interesting to test that this evening and see whether H.264 acceleration works better under Vista than the ATI2600

I have to agree re the upscaled stuff looking great. I got a new install of mediaportal up and running on Saturday so that I can intergrate DVB-T in with my Sky feed (must say MP has come a long way since my last play with it).

Keen to hear how you get on with the nvidia card. I am currently running a ATI HD2400Pro and it seems to have a little bit of issue with TV3's 1080i feed.

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#115762 10-Mar-2008 15:27

Really? I am guessing you mean for the launch of DVB-T? I did see the DSE box mentioned before has a out of stock until the 15th (This Sat) message.

Anybody seen any officialy or otherwise boxes? freeviewshop.co.nz have an information page put no products. A quick search on pricespy revealed nothing for DTT or DVB-T that wasn't PCI/USB based.

There SHOULD be something if today is the offical date!

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timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#115763 10-Mar-2008 15:33

Just looked on trademe and saw one of the Philips 400GB DVD boxes. I think they are MPEG2 only? It is going to be a REAL pain for general Joe Public to understand that these and most other STB's cannot work with the NZ MPEG4 based transmissions. Which is a shame, especially since these boxes seem to be a good choice, a HDD/DVD recorder with 400GB HD and HDMI.

itey

476 posts

Ultimate Geek

#115766 10-Mar-2008 15:46

sbiddle:
I've just got a new 8500GT card today so it will be interesting to test that this evening and see whether H.264 acceleration works better under Vista than the ATI2600

I've too have a hd2600 (AGP), and its a real pain to get hardware acceleration working - I've spent hours fiddling with it, still can't get it to work.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#115770 10-Mar-2008 15:55

itey:
sbiddle:
I've just got a new 8500GT card today so it will be interesting to test that this evening and see whether H.264 acceleration works better under Vista than the ATI2600

I've too have a hd2600 (AGP), and its a real pain to get hardware acceleration working - I've spent hours fiddling with it, still can't get it to work.

Under XP I had no problems. using the PowerDVD H.264 decoder I was getting ~5% CPU utilisation. Under Vista I was getting around 20% for 720p up to around 40-50% for 1080i but I was experienging issues with 1080i content and picture breakup. Some form of hardware accelation was occuring - running on the X1250 chipset with no H.264 support I was getting around 70% for 1080i streams.

When I was discussing the issue with Brad Stewart he also mentioned a customer who's had similair issues. There definately are people out there (incl sub) who can get 5% CPU utilisation so there is definately a problem somewhere.

I just hope we see a Microsoft H.264 codec out some time in the not too distant future that supports DXVA2 - the Vista MPEG2 codec is fantastic.

itey

476 posts

Ultimate Geek

#115772 10-Mar-2008 15:59

sbiddle:
Under XP I had no problems. using the PowerDVD H.264 decoder I was getting ~5% CPU utilisation. Under Vista I was getting around 20% for 720p up to around 40-50% for 1080i but I was experienging issues with 1080i content and picture breakup. Some form of hardware accelation was occuring - running on the X1250 chipset with no H.264 support I was getting around 70% for 1080i streams.

When I was discussing the issue with Brad Stewart he also mentioned a customer who's had similair issues. There definately are people out there (incl sub) who can get 5% CPU utilisation so there is definately a problem somewhere.

I just hope we see a Microsoft H.264 codec out some time in the not too distant future that supports DXVA2 - the Vista MPEG2 codec is fantastic.

hrm, were you using a sapphire hd2600 agp card?

Which drivers were you using ?

and finally, which powerDVD version were you using, standard (ie free trial), delux or ultra ?

thanks

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#115773 10-Mar-2008 16:00

timbosan: Just looked on trademe and saw one of the Philips 400GB DVD boxes. I think they are MPEG2 only? It is going to be a REAL pain for general Joe Public to understand that these and most other STB's cannot work with the NZ MPEG4 based transmissions. Which is a shame, especially since these boxes seem to be a good choice, a HDD/DVD recorder with 400GB HD and HDMI.

If they're the same ones I saw at Appliance Shed at Xmas, then yes they are Mpeg2 brought over from Ozzy by Philips who had assumed that freeview was going the Ozz way for DVB-T. They had a A$1500 price when they were released there in 2006. At the AP Shed they were just over $400..

Regards,

Old3eyes

openmedia

3332 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#115777 10-Mar-2008 16:11

Today is supposed to be the day that freeview announce the launch date, so its no surprise if there are no STBs today.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

geekiegeek

2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#115778 10-Mar-2008 16:12

hrm, were you using a sapphire hd2600 agp card?

Which drivers were you using ?

and finally, which powerDVD version were you using, standard (ie free trial), delux or ultra ?

thanks

I'm using a Gigabyte HD2400 PCI-E with the latest drivers and PDVD Ultra. Averaging around 30-40%CPU on 720P content.

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#115783 10-Mar-2008 16:23

old3eyes:
timbosan: Just looked on trademe and saw one of the Philips 400GB DVD boxes. I think they are MPEG2 only? It is going to be a REAL pain for general Joe Public to understand that these and most other STB's cannot work with the NZ MPEG4 based transmissions. Which is a shame, especially since these boxes seem to be a good choice, a HDD/DVD recorder with 400GB HD and HDMI.

If they're the same ones I saw at Appliance Shed at Xmas, then yes they are Mpeg2 brought over from Ozzy by Philips who had assumed that freeview was going the Ozz way for DVB-T. They had a A$1500 price when they were released there in 2006. At the AP Shed they were just over $400..

$400! That's SO funny. The one on trademe had bids of over $600 when I looked! Yeah, I also saw them in the Appliance Shed, in Henderson, last year I think. Looked great at the time but SO glad I didn't buy one!

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