Freeview = Easy peasy

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ilovemusic

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#70865 1-Nov-2010 21:25

I wonder how many sales have been lost due to that dumb TV ad ?

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#398890 1-Nov-2010 22:52

Their marketing is so bad that many if not most people don't know what Freeview is and are ignoring it. Alot of people buy satellite receivers because they think "Freeview|HD" can only work with HD televisions. A large retailer in their full page newspaper advertisement said a satellite receiver was needed for after the analogue shutoff. The list goes on.

robbyp

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#398892 1-Nov-2010 22:58

bfginger: Their marketing is so bad that many if not most people don't know what Freeview is and are ignoring it. Alot of people buy satellite receivers because they think "Freeview|HD" can only work with HD televisions. The list goes on.

The whole freeview HD UHF, and freeview SD satellite , is so confusing to many. I don't know why they didn't just make all freeview HD satellite, so 100% of NZers can get it. I suspect however this would have cost too much, or not enough room/capacity on the Optus D1 satellite. As areult many people are buying the wrong gear. People are buying satellite dishes and satellite boxes, even if they live in a main centre where they can get UHF freeview.

bfginger

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#398895 1-Nov-2010 23:06

Satellite broadcasting is expensive would put them at the mercy of the satellite company if they shut down terrestrial infrastructure. The country's television system would then have a single point of failure, leaving us all without broadcasts if the satellite had an accident.

Speaking of confusing, alot of people with Masterchef on series link are going to wonder why it hasn't recorded tomorrow. It looks like TVNZ has broadcast the same episode ID for two days in a row.

Jaxson

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#398976 2-Nov-2010 08:56

The whole freeview thing has really annoyed me. I've helped set up heaps of people on freeview and no one has a handle on it. Everyone seems to know one fact out of the 6 or so.

The whole concept of freeview being a company and having to generate income etc is just ludacrous. I thought the freeivew platform was initially meant to be simply how television was going to be broadcast in the future. If this was the case it should have been a simple upgrade concept to move people across before the switch off date.

Why the heck are they trying to win customers and compete with SKY TV etc? (MYfreeview HD?!) It's just plain odd and stupid given SKY and freeview have completely different content.

Just last night I managed to explain to someone that they had freeview built into to their flatscreen TV and they could return that $229 freeview set top box they just got from JB Hifi.

xpd

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#398983 2-Nov-2010 09:15

Jaxson:

Just last night I managed to explain to someone that they had freeview built into to their flatscreen TV and they could return that $229 freeview set top box they just got from JB Hifi.

Heh Ive got a similar one, client went out and purchased a new TV to watch his Sky through, they sold him one with Freeview built in even though he had said he only watches Sky via his standard digital decoder and didnt need anything else.

Wish my friends and clients would talk to me first before buying Tvs etc...I may not be a know-it-all on them, but at least I usually have a better idea than what the salesman do.........

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#399004 2-Nov-2010 10:16

xpd:

Heh Ive got a similar one, client went out and purchased a new TV to watch his Sky through, they sold him one with Freeview built in even though he had said he only watches Sky via his standard digital decoder and didnt need anything else.

To be fair it's pretty much impossible to buy a major brand (Panasonic/Samsung/LG/Sony etc) TV without Freeview built in now.

Linuxluver

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#399005 2-Nov-2010 10:21

ilovemusic: I wonder how many sales have been lost due to that dumb TV ad ?

I'm coming to the conclusion most people are - functionally, if not actually - dreadfully stupid.

(For most people) You buy a Freeview terrestrial receiver and get a UHF antenna if if you don't already have one. I worked this out in less than 5 minutes reading the Freeview web site.

End of story. All done. Lotsa channels, excellent reception....No $1000 / year for Sky. If saving $1000 / year isn't enough incentive to invest 5 minutes in working out what Freeview is, then 'one' isn't really up to much.

But then most people don't seem to be up to much. Too incurious and thus rendered ignorant..and cant make sense of anything as they know so little about so much.

Bitter? Yeah.....probably. Just very tired of incurious people who reckon the consequences of their self-imposed ignorance are someone else's fault.

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#399009 2-Nov-2010 10:26

Linuxluver: No $1000 / year for Sky.

If you had Sky for anything other than the free to air channels then you won't get getting the same thing.

Linuxluver

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#399011 2-Nov-2010 10:28

Jaxson:
Linuxluver: No $1000 / year for Sky.

If you had Sky for anything other than the free to air channels then you won't get getting the same thing.

I don't watch sports or rugby. I'll *play* sports but sitting watching someone else play is like sitting through Uncle John's holiday snaps from last year. ZZzzzz.

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Dunnersfella

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#399012 2-Nov-2010 10:35

Linuxluver:
ilovemusic: I wonder how many sales have been lost due to that dumb TV ad ?

I'm coming to the conclusion most people are - functionally, if not actually - dreadfully stupid.

(For most people) You buy a Freeview terrestrial receiver and get a UHF antenna if if you don't already have one. I worked this out in less than 5 minutes reading the Freeview web site.

End of story. All done. Lotsa channels, excellent reception....No $1000 / year for Sky. If saving $1000 / year isn't enough incentive to invest 5 minutes in working out what Freeview is, then 'one' isn't really up to much.

But then most people don't seem to be up to much. Too incurious and thus rendered ignorant..and cant make sense of anything as they know so little about so much.

Bitter? Yeah.....probably. Just very tired of incurious people who reckon the consequences of their self-imposed ignorance are someone else's fault.

Agreed.
But on the other hand, try explaining to a friend just why they can't use their old VCR / DVD recorder like they used to... Watch one channel, tape another.
That is most certainly not spelt out clearly enough for a majority, and when they understand, many (rightfully so) believe that the new technology is actually taking a backwards step.

xpd

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#399014 2-Nov-2010 10:38

Im in the odd situation of when trying to follow the basic rule of "if you get a Prime signal you can get FreeviewHD", we dont get Prime at all (tried multiple TVs, cables etc etc) but putting a signal meter on the UHF antenna shows full signal for Prime....... so would we get FreeviewHD ? ;)

Not that we care, weve got DVB-S and happy with it.

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#399026 2-Nov-2010 11:00

xpd: ....... so would we get FreeviewHD ? ;)

Where abouts are you in the country?

Do you have a UHF aerial currently?

xpd

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#399028 2-Nov-2010 11:14

North Shore, Auckland and yes. Friends down the road have Freeview HD etc but for some reason our Prime signal seems to get lost :)
Ive been through it all on GZ before so wont go into details etc. So in theory yes we should be able to get Prime and HD......

In the new year when we get another TV Ill look at getting everything redone but until then were happy with our DVB-S feed.

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#399031 2-Nov-2010 11:21

Dunnersfella: But on the other hand, try explaining to a friend just why they can't use their old VCR / DVD recorder like they used to

Totally agree on this one.
Whilst the quality is now stunning, no questions about that, the functionality of the devices has definitely gone backwards in that area. I know this is probably not freeviews fault, but gone are the days of taping something and giving it to your mate who missed it. It's difficult though to transfer files over 4Gb in a lot of cases so yeah, it's just interesting how the technology isn't as versatile as it once was.

Actually as a laugh they are actually doing a lot more to ensure people don't see their content. For example not allowing it to be transferred so others can watch it, or not giving out the data so people with non approved devices don't know when a show is on. (windows media player, playTV, TIVO etc).

XPD, just go for it. Beg/borrow or steal a box and try it out. Technically a site survey would be worthwhile in case there are any quiet spots.

dale77

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#401078 6-Nov-2010 09:58

ilovemusic: I wonder how many sales have been lost due to that dumb TV ad ?

Which is a shame because FreeviewHD plus a FullHD TV is very nice.

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