Mate how bout a couple new channels.. that’d be a GEM.
The Freeview commercial station wars are heating up with even more channels set to launch. Recently Australians have seen the introduction of 7TWO, Go! and OneHD, now there’s set to be two more channels added to the free-to-air line-up.
Channel 7 have announced they will launch a new male-orientated channel called 7mate. This actually sounds pretty good as a concept, it could be the channel you throw on when you have mates over. Entertaining, comedy / action content sure to make you the perfect host, avoiding those embarrassing moments when Desperate Housewives shows up on your manly HDTV.
7mate will broadcast in HD and is set to launch in just over a month – September 25th. The first program broadcast will be the AFL Grand Final which from memory hasn’t ever been broadcast in HD before.. A great step forward.
Channel Nine are trying to trump channel 7 by launching their new channel a few days before 7mate. While details are still light-on at this point, it’s believe Nine’s new channel will be called GEM. TV Tonight say “Rumours on Nine’s channel extend from a crime channel, lifestyle channel or a female-skewed channel possibly called GEM.”
Ultimately all this competition is great for Aussie consumers, getting more free-to-air content than ever before.
More @ TVTonight
ABC Channel 24 goes live.. official launch next week
Earlier this year we heard about the ABC’s very ambitious plans to create Australia’s first 24 hour news channel. The wait is almost over. Today the channel went live, however before the channel’s official release next week, Channel 24 is currently looping a preview reel of what to expect.
Channel 24 will contain news reports from around the world, with live reporters on the ground when the action happens. It will be interesting to see how commercial stations react to Channel 24, in the past major events seen all stations attempt live coverage, but often falling pretty short. After Channel 24 officially launches, I’ll know there’s 2 places for the latest info that I’ll turn too… Twiiter and Channel 24.
Sadly a consequence of this awesomeness is the removal of ABC HD, this is related to our ridiculous restrictions on the number of free-to-air licences available. We seen this same issue when Ten launched One HD and TenHD disappeared, frankly it is insane. We all spend thousands on high definition televisions and want to see more content in high quality.
Digital TV Transition begins, Mildura farewells Analogue
Today is a landmark day in Australia with the first switch off of analogue TV broadcast. When the digital TV transition was first announced, the Federal Government created a website http://www.digitalready.gov.au to explain the transition and provide information on upcoming transition areas.
On 30 June 2010, Mildura Sunraysia became the first region in the country to switch to digital TV. If you live in the region and have not yet made the switch then don’t worry, it’s not too late.
The wireless spectrum that Analogue TV runs on is incredibly valuable and has attracted very strong interest from mobile network providers. Some of its biggest benefits is that it can transmit large distances with good penetration through most types of walls. This means fewer mobile towers would be required to deliver next generation 4G networks and at a lower cost than existing 3G networks.
I don’t need to point out the benefits of Digital over Analogue because your all watching digital TVs already.. aren’t you ? If you’ve purchased a TV in the past 3-4 years chances are your already set. If your parents or grandparents are super nostalgic and refuse to release their death grip on that old tube TV, get them a sub-$100 set-top-box. If you need additional help, email switchover@dbcde.gov.au.
So while Mildura has lead the way in the digital transition, by the end of 2013 analogue TV will be shut off 2013. At this point your likely wondering which region is next ? In what seems like the ultimate game of throwing darts at a wall, it turns out Regional SA and Broken hill area are next in line on December 15, 2010.
For a full timetable of switchover dates (or to check your area), check out this Digital TV transition timetable.
Some Freeview boxes get EPG, CRID = awesome
![image[23]](http://www.techau.tv/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/image231.png "image[23]")
From September, Freeview compatible set-top boxes will receive their very own electronic guide. After the announcement today, my first question was.. don’t they have an EPG already ? Essentially some do, but these can be paid solutions, so this free, continually updated, unified UI is a welcome addition.
The list of supported Freeview products getting the EPG is listed below.
Depending on the features of your specific Freeview box, your EPG will control a number of pretty standard DVR features. It seems some Free-view compatible products like TiVo will continue with their own EPG, but could really do with an increase in updates.
Today’s announcement included a gem, a new feature of Freeview. The Content Reference Indicator (CRID) system allows the DVR to actually know when the start and end of a program occurs, rather than relying on the antiquated date and time system. DVR owners will be all too familiar with the issue of shows going longer than expected then having your favourite show cut off. As a TiVo owner, I’m very happy to hear that TiVo will add support for this.
More @ Freeview
TiVo jumps on the 3D bandwagon
TiVo is the latest in a long line of manufacturers to catch the 3D bug, announcing today they will support 3D channels. If you live in a major city, you may be getting a 3D channel right night, try rescanning your channels. The TiVo is capable of interpreting this channel and doing the pass-through to your 3D enabled TV.
Hybrid TV, creators of TiVo in Australia say that if you don’t have a 3DTV yet, you can record the shows to your TV now and watch them back when you do. A nice idea, but given most people won’t replace their HDTV for a few years, you’ll need a lot of storage to hold all your 3D.
If you are one of the ‘lucky’ ones with a 3D TV and live in a major city that’s getting 3D, then you can watch the State of Origin tonight in 3D. With TiVo you can record it and show it off to your friends later, after all there’s not a lot of other 3D content around to demo your 3DTV.
For those without a 3DTV the channel is still viewable and looks like this. The 3DTV would take the left side of the image, un-squash it to the full 1920×1080 image, then follow that frame with the right side of the image. Showing one frame after the other and pairing that with appropriate glasses will give the appearance of 3D. This technique should mean that recording 3D shows on your TiVo requires the same storage as a normal show, the smarts is done by the TV, rather than more data being sent in the broadcast over-the-air stream.
3D TV broadcast has begun in Australia, 3 people rejoice!
This morning a historic event took place, the first 3D television signal began broadcasting in Australia. But you already knew that right ? Cause you have yourself a 3D TV don’t you ? Oh you don’t, well I’m sure the 3 people in Australia who do really appreciated it.
Of course I’m being a tad facetious, when really it is a technological achievement that should be commended. However, this technology is way ahead of its time. Often in technology there’s a chicken and egg problem, think of the recent example of Blu-ray. Movie companies wouldn’t produce movies on Blu-ray because not many consumers had Blu-ray players. Consumers had little incentive to buy Blu-ray because the selection was so limited.
In this case 3D content has arrived despite the very low number of TV’s in homes that support it. The licence required to transmit 3D content on a new free-to-air channel is currently jointly held by both Channel 9 and SBS.
The new 3D channel is currently only in trial phase in a specific area of Sydney, but will be rolled out to a number of major cities over the coming weeks. The footage for this mornings first broadcast (starting at midnight) was filmed in Canada, Panasonic was quick to point out it was done using their AG-3DA1 camera.
Whilst the initial offerings are pre-produced content, the first live 3D broadcast will come in the coming weeks and months. Naturally the first genre to benefit is Sports. Rugby are amongst the first on offer so if your a fan, make sure you have plenty glasses for you and your friends to watch in 3D.
Like most I forked out for a HDTV not long ago, so I won’t be rushing to replace it just for 3D anytime soon. Going forward in the next 12 months you’ll be hard pressed to find a TV that doesn’t support 3D. That means when you go to replace your current set, you’ll get a 3D-capable set wether your into 3D or not. Remember they still do 2D as well. I just hope the 3D format wars are resolved sooner rather than later.
More @ Broadcast Australia
Internet connected TV’s start supporting Win7 Play-to feature
For what seems like an eternity, home users have had to search for ways to get content from their computers to their TV. Interim solutions have often been via set top boxes or game consoles, but ultimately this solution was only a workaround to what should have arrived years ago.
Toshiba will be the first manufacturer to ship a TV with a ‘Compatible with Windows 7’ logo. This means the network port in the back of their UX600 Cinema Series LED HDTVs will allow users to stream content directly from a Windows 7 PC to the TV. Making use of the ‘Play-to’ feature in Win7, getting content on your biggest screen in the house is finally a simply process.
Other TV manufacturers take note, this is the new benchmark, make this standard across all sets as soon as humanly possible.
More @ The Windows Experience Blog
