Hi Def TV

[SkydiverMel]

Morning all,

Just a thought after reading a post from BGonaSTICK which I have cut & paste below. (I hope I'm allowed to do that)

"I use the CAM slot in my TV to remind me that terrestrial telly should be unencrypted, and that I should forever boycott terrestrial pay-TV because I've already paid for it once via my TV licence tax, err, I mean fee.

Now I'll probably wait for Sky to buy up all the existing freeview DTT capacity and then launch their own proprietary NDS-powered STB so that I can boycott that too.

It's a good job the government aren't auctioning off all the spectrum available after analogue switch-off or Sky would bid on that!

It's nice to know that some things are sacred. I mean, can you imagine a world where Public Service Broadcasters were unable to launch FTA HD channels because they'd been priced out of the market, for example?!?!"

If the above were to become the case then why has the whole country been force fed the marketing of Hi Def Telly's, Digital TV etc. when it looks more and more likely that the only way to receive hi def is through a subscription? ops:

Could this be the biggest case ever of mis-selling? to the public. I think so.

[Gav]

Didn't read all of the post, but you don't need to subscribe for High Def. BBC HD broadcasts FTA as do a few other channels on different satellites.

[Stv]

Being able to speak German helps though - other than some German things it appears the rest are all looped previews. I'm set up on 28, 23, 19 and 13.

What I think is wrong is that Virgin and Sky are charging for people to watch BBC HD. They should offer a hardware upgrade route where there is no monthly fee. So I guess the broadcasters are as bad as the telly makers!

Also, other reasons for HDTVs are next gen consoles, blueray, PCs etc. I think HDTV is basically synonymous to "giant monitor" in most cases nowadays.

[BGonaSTICK]

Personally, I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head Mel.

The pionerring days of broadcasting expensive hi-tech stuff to only a handfull of suitably-equipped people are long gone, testing excepted. Now it has to be the other way around for commercial reasons - putting the cart before the horse IMO.

The number of people that are being sold Hi Def TV's (as opposed to choosing to buy them) is pretty sick. How many buyers have any High Definition video sources in their houses?

OK, HD gaming consoles are now taking off big-time, but who spends £1000 - £1500 on a telly just to play games? I'm sure most of those people expect there to be free HD TV some time soon.

How many people are offered a realistic selection of Standard Definition TV's (other than portables)?

More to the point, how many people really spend much time watching Standard Definition TV on their prospective HD screen purchase before spending their cash? How many salesmen point out that SD on a Hi-Def screen nearly always looks worse than on an standard CRT screen?

BBC HD is a nice start and has some impressive content, but it's far from being a full service, and it's a trial, that is scheduled to end this summer!

HD is the greatest thing that has happened to TV since the introduction of colour in the mid-60's, but the greed of commercial enterprises could just kill it before it's born. If the spectrum is sold-off to the highest bidder, then HD will effectively become synonymous with pay-TV in the UK.

Rant over

[SkydiverMel]

Come 2012 and the entire analogue system is switched off then everything has to be digital.

Also 2012 sees the broadcasting to the world of the Olympic games. Wont it just be typical of the UK that anyone without a Sky subscription will only see the Olympics in SD when the rest of the world will be watching in HD.

It beggars belief. :?

Mel.

[BGonaSTICK]

I agree, but it's not over until the Fat Lady Sings. Ofcom and the government may yet be shamed into doing what they should have done in the first place.