Why is Freeview Satellite still not in HD?

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Declan224

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Topic # 228552 11-Jan-2018 11:37

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Does anyone know why Freeview Satellite is still not available in HD, or when it might finally be available? What's stopping it? I have asked Freeview directly and I was stold by them that it is Sky TV's fault for buying up all the bandwidth on the satellite, but this isn't something I can confirm and I have my doubts about it.

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Reply # 1936109 11-Jan-2018 11:43

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Free to view TV is free and HD bandwidth costs a lot so its hard to justify.
Do the math :)

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tdgeek

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Reply # 1936115 11-Jan-2018 11:48

Sky was buying satellite space long before Freeview existed, so its not their fault. Maybe FV can buy their own satellite? Or use another (probably not possible)

They could extend terrestrial?

Jase2985

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Reply # 1936117 11-Jan-2018 11:49

There is not enough bandwidth on the sattelites. the move to H.265 might help this a bit but thats essentially all it is not enough space for all the channels to be HD.

Pumpedd

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Reply # 1936162 11-Jan-2018 12:28

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There needs to be more work done on terrestrial services in that case. Large parts on NZ both urban and rural dont get coverage and the transmission keeps breaking down regularly.

Jase2985

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Reply # 1936168 11-Jan-2018 12:35

given the costs involved in building the new infrastructure, and that its a LOS service, and that its a free service, whos paying for it?

cyril7

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Reply # 1936169 11-Jan-2018 12:35

I understood this is a plan to migrate all FV services on satellite to DVB-S2 to allow HD in the near future, not sure what the schedule for that is.

Cyril

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Reply # 1936188 11-Jan-2018 12:51

Won't the move to HD / DVB-S2 mean new set top boxes?

Or do the current boxes already support that?

Won't be an issue for me as I have tuner cards in a PC that support it. :)

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cyril7

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Reply # 1936190 11-Jan-2018 12:54

Hi, I think there was a mandate from FV a couple of years back that from a certain date all STB's supported DVB-S2 and HD, same goes for TV's with builtin tuners, all the ones I have seen support it, so yes it will affect older STB's.

Cyril

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Reply # 1936211 11-Jan-2018 13:19

DVB-S2 H.264 upgrade is scheduled for 2018 sometime.

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Declan224

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Reply # 1936237 11-Jan-2018 13:48

Well I know the satellite STB I have already supports HD.

B1GGLZ

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Reply # 1936242 11-Jan-2018 13:56

Well once they start streaming everything online in HD there won't be much need for Satellite or UHF delivery. I believe Freeview is already available via an Add-on for Kodi.

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Reply # 1936255 11-Jan-2018 14:29

Spyware:
DVB-S2 H.264 upgrade is scheduled for 2018 sometime.

Cool. Only 354 days to achieve that then! ;-)

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djtOtago

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Reply # 1936258 11-Jan-2018 14:33

But my $10, 10 year old STB from TradeMe doesn't do HD

mattwnz

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Reply # 1936260 11-Jan-2018 14:34

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Jase2985:

given the costs involved in building the new infrastructure, and that its a LOS service, and that its a free service, whos paying for it?

Nothings free. It will be getting paid for by the taxpayer. When it was introduced, very few TVs were HD, and not much content was either, so at the time it was introduced, it was fit for purpose. But technology has advanced a lot and things have moved on, and IMO that is no longer the case. WHen I used the satellite service, the picture was so pixilated on fast moving pictures, it was almost unwatchable. We are now demanding 4k + content, and I can't even see terrestrial freeview getting that for some time, if ever, as I suspect we are moving to online streaming. We do now have a reasonable fibre infrastructure in much of the country, so IMO it makes a lot of sense to use that for broadcasting.

tchart

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Reply # 1936265 11-Jan-2018 14:42

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Jase2985:

...that its a free service, whos paying for it?

We are paying for it (taxes etc) and its subsidised through advertising...

RE taxes etc, we could always opt for a "TV license" like the UK but then there would be an expectation of quality and advert free programming (like the BBC)

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