Opinion - Freeview TV adverts

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8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#483240 20-Jun-2011 16:07

When I saw the ad my first thought was "who the hell does this target?", it looks like it is aimed at children but even there I think it fails.

The ad does not need to worry about trying to 'sell' us freeview, we have to get it or we won't be able to watch tv. Just tell us that and what we need to do as if we were adults.

Jaxson

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#483242 20-Jun-2011 16:11

casewindow: Most older "crap" tvs should still have the old composite RCA

Nah there's an awful lot of non RCA enabled TV's.

Not saying I like it, just that there are.

blakamin

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#483277 20-Jun-2011 17:06

Jaxson: Do any freeview boxes, sat or uhf/hd/terrestrial/dvb-t, have rf out?

I mean do you have to junk your old heap a s, just because analogue is being turned off?
If not, then stories like this are a bit hyped up.

And the TV in that story has AV inputs on the side, so it could have been used with a STB.
Now some people will think they have to throw away <10y/o TVs.

mcraenz

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#483294 20-Jun-2011 17:37

casewindow: Here - you can have this for free - get's the message across :-)

Nice but you're not going to get much without an LNB in your dish!

But in all seriousness I would have featured the old telly in the 2 set-top box pictures just to get the point accorss that you don't need a new telly.

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casewindow

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#483322 20-Jun-2011 18:13

mcraenz:
But in all seriousness I would have featured the old telly in the 2 set-top box pictures just to get the point accorss that you don't need a new telly.

I think that's what is in question here - just how new does a TV have to be before it can't be used with a new STB?

My experience with three boxes in NZ (one satellite and two terrestrial) and two in the UK (both terrestrial) is that the RF out is just a direct feed off the aerial (in the terrestrial case). So you need a TV with at the bare-minimum an RCA composite input.

I recall an old Panasonic I had 20 years ago had this - but I am fairly sure my parents old TV from when I was young (a big one in a wooden cabinet) would not have had this sort of input - it just fed straight off the aerial (which was routed through an old JVC VHS)

So in many respects, the concept of a "Modern tv" is a hard one to define for an advert.

naggyman

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#484107 22-Jun-2011 06:49

The first thing I thought is that the "f" on his chest looks so much like the fedora logo.

I wish they would use their region advertising so that freeview owners don't have to watch a ad telling them to watch freeview.

I know that it is required in the freeview agreement that they play the freeview TV ads, but not to freeview owners please.

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bfginger

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#485070 23-Jun-2011 15:36

mcraenz, wouldn't the message people derive from that image be that CRTs can't work with Freeview?

People really don't understand what's going on. The Herald printed a letter a couple of days ago saying that to record Freeview people would need to buy a "$699" "DVD Recorder".

A slug riding a tongue and a whale isn't nearly as effective as a some informative line art and a retired newsreader.

casewindow

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#485125 23-Jun-2011 17:48

bfginger: mcraenz, wouldn't the message people derive from that image be that CRTs can't work with Freeview?

I take responsibility for the image - it was meant as a bit of a joke.

I don't really think it should be used in an advertising campaign ;)

The problem that the advertisers face is that there are so many variations in terms of CRT capabilities that trying to convey the concept of an RCA composite video input as the basic requirement for your TV to work with a freeview box is probably difficult in a 30 second advert.

They're trying to rely on retailers to do this - but retailers are only interested in selling as much as possible, particularly nice brand spanking new TVs

Jaxson

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#487307 29-Jun-2011 10:28

The HD side of things is different between Sat and UHF but I'd also like to see some mention of the 5.1 audio capabilities.

And then I'd like to see some info about all the steps you need to take to actually hear 5.1 sound, as that requires UHF, coax/optical connection to a dolby digital capable midi system/receiver etc. Good luck to the average public getting that one up and running.

You know I keep going on about it, but I really like the energy spot ad campaign as they've broken down all the info they'd like to convey into small bite sized simple pieces.

Freeview should start with something like:

"Freeview is up and running now so soon we will begin to turn off the old TV signal.

If you are currently watching freeview then you'll know how great it is and you won't have to do anything more in 2013 etc.

If you are not watching freeview then you will have to make some changes to continue receiving free TV. You'll have to do this quickly, or soon you wont see s$@"

Then go into

"To view freeview you'll need a freeview tuner. This can be:
a set top box that plugs into your existing TV, or
a new TV that has freeview buried inside it already."

Then

"There are two ways to receive freeview, either via:
satellite, which covers all of the country, or
UHF which covers most of the main areas of the country.

To view satellite you'll need a dish and a satellite decoder box.

To view UHF you'll need to live in a UHF reception area.
You'll need an aerial and either a set top box, or a tv with freeview built in."

Then,

"If you want to record freeview, instead of just watching it live, you'll want to look at the range of freeview PVR's, called myFreeview PVR's cos we're constantly pretending we're in competition with SkyTV, who called their PVR mySky, when really it could have just as easily been called iFreeview 2.0 PVR sort of thing.

PVR means Portabilityless Video Recorder, and is really good...."

hangon

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#487449 29-Jun-2011 15:07

hate the freeview ads, now and then.

the earlier ones such as "easy! how easy?" all the actors looks really really *&^%$#@!.

the current ones replaced the actors with some clueless animations and imho even worse.

illicit

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#488219 1-Jul-2011 12:08

Right;

I have posted the following in the 'You Ask Freeview (June 2011)'.

I am probably going to contact Freeview directly with this also, as I have had far too many confused people going out and buying the incorrect equipment, throwing their current TV etc etc

illicit: Regarding advertising;

1) If they are not confused by the poorly conveyed information, then the strange/unnecessary animations will either distract, annoy or cause people to 'switch off' and ignore the advert.

2) The current animated blob riding a whale has no relationship to the information that needs to be portrayed. (the older generations have NO IDEA what it is these adverts are trying to portray - I know this is fact as I have been in their house working and asked them "what was that advert about that was just on?" - The Answer = "I have no idea!")

3) The adverts should be designed to inform the masses, not sell them something.
There is no need to employ flashy animations and TV personalities to convey information in a strange, dis-jointed way.

I think most would agree that the advertising needs to be plain and informative. (No unrelated animations - just one person giving info with helpful shots of current aerials/dishes and analogue TVs and shots of what will be used in future.

- Ideally broken up into 'blocks' of info (ie: start with what is going to happen in 2012/13 and why).
- Run each block of info for a period (1 or 2 months?)
- Move on to the next block of info.

4a) Print advertising should be portrayed in the same plain and informative way ie: EQC style.
It should also match the current info block being run on TV.

4b) Articles in Local papers featuring info on Freeview NEEDS to be checked/approved first, there is too much misinformation going out that is confusing the general population.

5) Retail store staff need to have a decent product/service knowledge session in regard to Freeview as I have found that there is just as much misinformation coming from salespeople as there is from any other source. ( As a local installer I am more than happy to spend an hour or two of my time with the local salespeople at a product knowledge session, as it would save me hours of repetitive phone calls from confused citizens asking why their CRT needs to be thrown out next month.)

Myself and many others consider the current advertising for Freeview to be a wasted effort.

I'm sure the plain adverts will be cheaper to produce - allowing more adverts to be placed across more mediums, therefore achieving the goal of informing the masses.

In short, the above is not really a question but a summation of views expressed here on Geekzone by the small population of well informed New Zealanders. I hope this is given some serious thought/discussion and I'm sure the folks here at Geekzone are more than happy to help out in any way possible.

Any other thoughts before I proceed?

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Jaxson

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#488222 1-Jul-2011 12:14

illicit: Any other thoughts before I proceed?

Only what I wrote above, I think that would be a good start/way to initially break this into different simple blocks/bite sized pieces.

Any only to agree with you again in that I think freeview is passing the buck by handing this to retailers who are there to make sales rather than act as a library of information/unbiased opinion. The offloading of this is a cop out in my opinion.

wired

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#488249 1-Jul-2011 13:31

I find the adverts generally annoying and hope that I don't have to put up with them for another 2 years - they are on just too often and the cutoff is so far away to have a blitz campaign.

Couple of things that I don't remember from the adverts
1) Can I still use my old VHS VCR? Do I need another freeview box for that and how do I get the VCR to record the different channels automatically.
2) Freeview gives you more TV, that is, the normally TV cuts off the sides of the picture and by getting a new TV then I can see all the picture. already I am only seeing part of the captioning. People who have never compared freeview to analogue TV won't realise that they are missing anything. That should be promoted
3) What should the hard of hearing or Deaf do? Will subtitles still be available?

Jaxson

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#488251 1-Jul-2011 13:40

Not sure if you were actually asking those questions here, but just in case:

wired: 1) Can I still use my old VHS VCR? Do I need another freeview box for that

Yes can still use it, but yes you will need another freeview box. Any device with an analogue tuner won't work on the new digital signals. (The analogue tuner will still work, just nothing will be broadcast in this format so there will be no signals available for the VCR to receive.)

wired: how do I get the VCR to record the different channels automatically.

You can't.

The VCR/DVD/Hard Drive Recorder will now only ever be looking at the one input, AV1 or whatever, and you'll need to have pre selected the right channel on the set top box in advance.

wired: 3) What should the hard of hearing or Deaf do? Will subtitles still be available?

You mean for the freeview adverts? It is available for some programs via freeview I believe already.

minimoke

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#488264 1-Jul-2011 14:20

Its another crap add in a long line of crap ads. For a start it is too "busy". There is too much spoken information which includes inaccuracies. The visuals don't tie to the audio so Nana is sitting on the couch trying to process the spoken word while being bombarded to a totally irrelevant visual message.

The ad may appeal to a "younger " generation - but that generation will be savy enough to know about freeview allready. Its the Nana's that have to be targeted. She needs Judy Bailey or Phil Sherry (is he still alive?) telling them what they need.

If the Freeview people wants some inspitration look at a cat food or washing powder ad. A simple message delivered slowly with no fuss.

(and if digital was so great we wouldn't be getting these adds on a freeview telly!)

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