One HD coming to a TV near you!

In another crusing blow I have found the following article http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/0,239035250,339294814,00.htm

To quote the article:

To quote the article, “A spokesperson for Southern Cross Broadcasting, which retransmits Network Ten in rural areas, said ONE would also be coming “as is” to rural viewers but sometime later in 2009.”

Keeping in mind all the broken promises of retransmitting Ten HD and missing several announced deadlines in the past, this could potentially mean many more months of nothing but a High Definition Loop. If history tells us anything, it could be as far as 2010.

Sorry to bring you the bad news. Maybe it is time for the internet ass beating of a lifetime, an e-petition! 😉

An update for all those interested, One HD is set to launch on March 26, just in time for the Melbourne Grand Prix according to a Channel Ten press release. Still no direct word from Southern Cross 10 on the status of the potential simulcast for us “regional” viewers.

peterh said :

powell01 said :

SBS is decent enough to show gridiron. late at night.

Ok. Might be worth it when I am on holidays.

powell01 said :

If it is going to be a true live 24/7 sports channel lets see something without endless reruns of NRL\AFL\Super 14. Give us the nascar, indy car,etc. Heck, Gridiron and professional wrestling would be an improvement over the other options out there.

SBS is decent enough to show gridiron. late at night.

Jonathon Reynolds said :

@peterh:

peterh said :

set the STB forward one hour. I got it sorted with my tevion unit.

nope – my recorder is also Tevion – didn’t work.

set to GMT+11?

If it is going to be a true live 24/7 sports channel lets see something without endless reruns of NRL\AFL\Super 14. Give us the nascar, indy car,etc. Heck, Gridiron and professional wrestling would be an improvement over the other options out there.

johnboy said :

ABC2!

Where else do you get non-stop red-dwarf, black books, and music videos?

Isn’t ABC2 just standard definition?

@peterh:

peterh said :

set the STB forward one hour. I got it sorted with my tevion unit.

nope – my recorder is also Tevion – didn’t work.

Gerry-Built said :

(big nods of agreement with Holden Caulfield @#11) F1 could do with some better coverage…

nothing more frustrating that waiting for the coverage to start, having a mate from sydney call and ask “if you saw that??” when obviously, you didn’t.

Jonathon Reynolds said :

Slightly OT:

Has anyone else noticed that the timecode on the ABC Digital TV channels has not accounted for daylight savings? The time is picked up from the ABC signal on my set top boxes (especially most annoying on the recorder) is an hour out. There is no provision to make allowance for daylight savings in the settings menu.

jonathon, set the STB forward one hour. I got it sorted with my tevion unit.

H1NG0 said :

As mentioned before Holden, the Freeview site is crap. There is plenty of discussion about it on the DTV forums (http://www.dtvforum.info/). It has been “confirmed” by Media Spy and Southern Cross’ HD facilities will be up and running by February ready for the April launch.

Cool, I’ll check out DTV. 🙂

(big nods of agreement with Holden Caulfield @#11) F1 could do with some better coverage…

As mentioned before Holden, the Freeview site is crap. There is plenty of discussion about it on the DTV forums (http://www.dtvforum.info/). It has been “confirmed” by Media Spy and Southern Cross’ HD facilities will be up and running by February ready for the April launch.

Maybe send this bloke a letter…
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/senators.asp?id=3L6

Three post nutbag (apologies)…

When you click on Canberra above it lists a different matrix, and, ho hum, we’re still in the regional grouping FFS. So on that evidence it looks as though One HD won’t be for us. Hope I’m wrong. 🙁

The Freeview site is one big cock-up. It gives a pretty poor representation of the coming changes. Under Sydney and Melbourne, it lists both TenHD and OneHD. The thing is TenHD will no longer exists as it is being replaced by OneHD.

Oops, forgot to post the link: http://www.freeview.com.au/#/channels

Interesting that the freeview website lists Canberra in the metropolitan grouping, rather than the regional set, which we currently experience.

johnboy said :

ABC2!

Where else do you get non-stop red-dwarf, black books, and music videos?

If it was Live At Montreaux, odds are it has been shown on ABC2.

Having said that, there has been the odd gem like Scrapheap Challenge and it’s always useful for catching up on ABC1 programs you forgot to watch the previous night. Not a total loss of a channel.

Holden Caulfield said :

Hopefully we can finally enjoy live F1 on Channel When like every other capital city in Australia. >(

You are not wrong. I hope Reprobate is right and it is ready in time for the Melbourne GP. It would be a good opportunity to market/test the channel.

I want a NFP station like Ch31 for Canberra, screw a FTA 24hr sport channel (unless they cover foxy boxing, or nomic games like Calvinball or Bartok)…

SGS having his own, low-budget, half-hour, phone-in tv show filmed in front of a hung-up bedsheet could be hilarious.

Slightly OT:

Has anyone else noticed that the timecode on the ABC Digital TV channels has not accounted for daylight savings? The time is picked up from the ABC signal on my set top boxes (especially most annoying on the recorder) is an hour out. There is no provision to make allowance for daylight savings in the settings menu.

Hopefully we can finally enjoy live F1 on Channel When like every other capital city in Australia. >(

johnboy said :

ABC2!

Where else do you get non-stop red-dwarf, black books, and music videos?

I like the way you think…

I saw on another forum that the big launch of Ten’s new One channel will actually take place just before April, as the last weekend of March hosts both the Australian F1 grand prix and the opening round of AFL – whatever that is :-P. However, as I have learnt with Southern Cross Ten before, I will believe it only when I have seen it.

Shame we yet again miss out on the biggest race on the NASCAR calendar, the Daytona 500, in February…

The EPG is a lot better than what it was. I think every cahnnel except SBS now show their programming for at least a few days in advance. You are right though about our Digital service being sub-standard. We are miles behind other countries including New Zealand! Hopefully the law changes (otherwise known as Freeview) will change things for the better. Seven and Nein are still holding the cards close to their chest and are yet to reveal their future plans. ABC hopes to introduce ABC3 which will be a kids channel. The channel is there, but it is simply linking to ABC1 at the moment.

i will turn my set top box on. it has been dormant for almost 2 years now.

oh – YourTV link for anyone interested (good for the guide etc)

Digital has so much promise, and no delivery. EPG (Electronic Program Guides) rarely have programs listed, and when they do, they are only current program and next program (although ABC1 has ALWAYS been better than the others). The EPG also take absolute ages to populate. in that time, I can go to YourTV.com and see days in advance…

None of the secondary channels broadcast much (and then it is not advertised on the primary channel – nor listed on the EPG) except the ‘loops’ previously mentioned.

The promised Digital TV Revolution leaves a lot to be desired, but at least there seems to be ‘A New Hope’ of something happening now… Thanks for the heads up JB!

ABC2!

Where else do you get non-stop red-dwarf, black books, and music videos?

True. HD coverage in regional areas is far behind that of Sydney. WinHD will broadcast some movies in Dolby 5.1 which is the only regional channel to do so.

That’s a bonus – HD TV in Canberra is a complete joke… The Prime signal is flaky, and the other commercial channels are permanent Test patterns

Phew you are quick Johnboy. Added to this, the channel may also be simulcast on SC10’s second SD channel for all those with antique SD tuners!