TV3 to go high def on Sky
May 19th, 2008 at 3:38 pm by David FarrarYay Canwest is negotiating to have high definition TV3 available on Sky.
The Government and TVNZ is trying to force everyone to have two set boxes – MySky and Freeview. The problem is they have an inferior product in Freeview.
It is not just about the cost, even though it rankles I am paying through my taxes for two TVNZ channels that the Government refuses to allow me to access without an unnecessary purchase.
But the big issue if convenience. I don’t want to have to flip between two boxes to see what is on TV. I don’t want some shows recorded on one box, and some on another. I want to be able to, in fact, just get one listing of upcoming shows and decide which ones to record.
May 19th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Great!
High def drivel. Just what we need.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Actually, frewview is better than sky and they both come from the same satallite.
Get the hacked box and you can get like 70 channels free.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Where I am you can have cable TV (essentially sky) Freeview and Sky. We have none and live with crap reception on Tv1, 2 and 3 as the other options are too costly. I guess when they turn off the old system we won’t have any TV.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
How are they forcing everyone to get two boxes? Are you saying that if I get a Freeview box, they’ll force me to join up to Sky to get their box?
I don’t think so.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Quite an easy decision, really.
DPF, You said it well about Freeview being the inferior product, so dump it and stick to Sky TV, a far better choice.
The less we all support TVNZ, the faster it’ll go under. It should’ve been sold long ago.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
The biggest problem with freeview is that sky isn’t putting Prime on it. Is that anti-competitive and when will we ever see any competition against Sky?
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I can’t afford Sky TV because I’m not a beneficiary.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Don’t forget that Freeviews HD is uhf only. Looking at there coverage map I think they are a tad optimistic as to coverage, so if you do want tv3 HD and you are not going to get UHF the only way is though sky.
PS has anyone heard yet what the “compelling arrangement” from sky will be to upgrade from mysky to myskyHD?
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Presumably, the Sky+ (Sky Hi-Def box) will be required to watch TV3 in hi-def?
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
The Freeview TV3 HD is at 1080p and the Sky HD is only 720. Even the TVNZ stuff looks incredible through Freeview. Can’t wait for the Beijing coverage.
I like the idea of three tuners in the MySky HD box allowing you to watch one channel and record two others, and the big 320gig hard drive.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I think it will have four tuners! Record three and watch one.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
You can watch something off the hard drive while recording three channels – or watch a live match/movie and record another two channels. Very cool, but even with a big memory, HD takes up so much space you can only record 30 hours in full quality.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Someone is really going to have to tighten up on use of the phrase ‘HD’. We’ve seen countless cheap lo-res TVs being touted as having HDMI, and the 1080p ones are marketed as ‘TrueHD’. It should be 1080p is the only standard that can be referred to as HD.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
DAVID FARRAR BAN ALL THESE TOSSIERS AS THEY CONFUSE ME IE the best way to run a blog
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
DPF Sky has got completely shit. Since when was pay tv supposed to still have ads every 10 mins. All the programmes on Discovery, History etc are repeats and they screw the crap out of the encoding rates so that you get pixelation all the time. They are also a bunch of wankers. What other service provider (except Telecom) charges the customer if they have to increase redundancy in the network and charges you for new programmes you don’t want to watch.
Also 720 isn’t HD, it might be what the Americans call HD, but you want the full rate if you’ve splashed out on a HD tv set.
Apparently Sky are getting a lot of cancellations since Freeview HD was launched.
I’m just waiting for Freeview to release a HD PVR/tuner combo and then it will be worthwhile making the purchase and dumping Sky.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Dog I agree. You go to Harvey Norman and they have HD and FullHD. Its like buying a car and having to choose between almost V8 and full V8.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
It just annoys me to see a technical standard become a buzzword that most mum and dad customers won’t understand. If it says HD anywhere on it, and it’s cheap, they’ll buy it.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
What about the fact once you have purchased a HD tv they try to sell you the HDMI cable for upwards of $150.
These cables must be made of solid gold.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
720p is good for downloading… 4gb compared to 12gb.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
The freeview encoder will become standard equipment on NZ market TVs ( built in).
Vote:But first they have to sell all the current stock. But for Xmas new sets will have this feature
May 19th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
South Raider – just get the PS3 HDMI cables. Same price, and 1080p optimised.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Ghostie finally said something useful!
Give the man a cigar. You’ve saved me $200, so I can now donate it to National instead.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
By Xmas ghostiie? excellent. I’ll be able to watch the new national government in High Def allowing free speech
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
And best of all Patrick that Labour ludite Russel Brown would have been replaced on TVNZ 7 with a rapid right winger
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
No ones forcing you to do anything, if you cant afford to watch tv (or eat… ect) then dont, simple as that..
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Tip; If your in Hong Kong and want some cheap HDMI cables, or any other electronics jump on the MTR from the Airport, change over at Lai King to the Tsuen Wan Line and get off at Sham Shui Po. Easy as the massive electronic markets are at the exit. I paid $20 HKD ($4NZD) for 5m long AV Monster cables (take a large backpack)
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Cool I’m flying there on Friday and need to get the wife a new phone.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Patrick having never been to Hong Kong before do you have a top 5 must do things.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
SR -Apple iphone for $HK900. Are you taking kids or just the wife?
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Given that the taxpayers are putting tens of millions of dollars into FreeView, it would be unfair if it penalised the 25 per cent of viewers who will not be able to get FreeView HD.
From other sources and the posts above it seems that in the near future FreeView HD will be broadcast only from upgraded UHF ground-tower transmitters covering the main centres and Hamilton and perhaps cities like Hastings and Palmerston North.
FreeView, with only one transponder on the new Opus satellite, doesn’t have the capacity to offer broadband via satellite. Sky TV with four (or is it five) transponders on the same satellite does. It will be able to run four or five HD channels by satellite.
For the quarter or fifth of New Zealanders out of range of Kordia’s HD equipped UHF ground-tower transmitters, TVNZ should offer some or all of its HD channels to Sky for broadcast from Opus. Otherwise these taxpayers, all in export-generating regions, will be paying through the FreeView handouts for TVNZ HD they cannot access even by renting Sky.
As public broadcasters (with the exception of TV3′s owner which is going to put its HD on Sky), members of the FreeView consortium are surely required to offer their HD to as many as possible, even if that means using Sky in regions out of range of Kordia’s HD ground transmitters.
These regional viewers, some in places as populous and fast-growing as Queenstown-Wanaka, are being totally shut out of State HDTV.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
No kids that I know about
The wife wants a Nokia N95, but an iPhone would also be good except having to hack it all the time.
On a work trip though so will hopefully not have to spend to much time shopping as shes not coming with.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Disneyland and waterworld are out then? Shopping is fantastic for electronics in HK and clothes shoes in mainland China. Visa into China is about $100Hk, just looking at my passport but no price on it. If you go into Shenzhen by train go in the evening as no queues. the markets in Hk keep you busy enough. went again in March with the handbrake so did the shopping. – went down to the fishing village built over the water (sth HK) in Aberdeen. worth a look but long bus ride. mainly shopping and dining (careful wher you eat) what are you looking for?
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Thinking more of the touristy things like the must see. Not really a big shopper.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
theres the ancient ruins which I found a bit boring and the fishing village, apart from that you can spend a lot of time on the ferries going over to new terries etc. how many days have you got (not working?) Make sure you buy an Octopus card, its a prepay that you can use in many shop, MTR, Bus etc
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Two days of free time and then working. Between waking up late with a hangover and shopping for the wife I doubt there will be much time left for sightseeing anyway. Thanks for the advice on the electronic market.
Its a pity bringing home a new Sony Bravia 50″ HD LCD screen might be a bit difficult.
Vote:May 19th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
not when your other half is aircrew!
Vote:Go to ShamShuiPo in kowloon. you’ll spend the entire day there. There is an underground dept store (on the corner, -maybe Apilu st?) selling everything you can think of in PCs, LCD’s and Plasmas, (as well as the gaming platorms), you’ll die at the prices.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Great news, TV3 has everything to gain here at the expense of TVNZ’s ignorance
Vote:May 20th, 2008 at 9:27 am
If you are stuck in NZ and don’t want to pay heaps for a bullshit mega-expensive digital cable.. try http://www.cablesdirect.co.nz/catalog
$16 is a bit more like it.
One of the more amusing experiences in life is having a laugh at salesmen justify the criminally high prices for interconnects. It does help being an electronics engineer (in my case) but a simple comparative plug and test comparison would show the emperor has no clothes.
Vote:May 20th, 2008 at 10:44 am
The government have no bloody clue
Vote:They think by not putting TVNZ 6 and 7 on Sky it’ll slow the uptake of Sky
As if anyone with Sky would get it just for TVNZ 6 and 7
May 20th, 2008 at 11:02 am
emmess, the current analog transmission by VHF and UHF will be gone, finished , kaput in a couple of years. And without some sort of ‘box’ all current TVs will be unusable.
The only way to get TV1,2,6,7 etc will be via freeview ( terrestial or satellite)
Vote:That is why they will be built in, as is the ‘reciever’ for the analog system now is.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
TV3 is NOT broadcasting in 1080P – they are broadcasting in 1080i (Interlaced).
Vote:In fact nobody in the world broadcasts in 1080P over satellite or terrestrial, the bandwidth requirements are too high.
TV1 & TV2 are using 720P (Progressive) which is generally considered better for viewing action/sports because of the higher frame rate. 1080i is generally better for documentaries and content that doesn’t contain a lot of fast movement.