[mythtvnz] Diskless Frontend

[Steven Ellis]

Steve Hodge wrote:
> On 9/4/06, Steven Ellis <steven@openmedia.co.nz> wrote:
>> Steve Hodge wrote:
>> > Is that really a concern here at the moment? I guess HD-DVD and/or
>> > Bluray will arrive here some time soon, but as of right now what HD
>> > content is there?
>> I personally don't see HD to be that far behind the digital launch
>> especially if they follow the UK and go H264 over DVB.
>>
>> Plus with my current solution the HD up-scaling of the new FreeView
>> signal is excellent, especially the widescreen channel, if you use
>> DVI/HDMI.
>
> The problem is content - AFAIK local producers aren't set up for HD.
> Would TVNZ want to show HD shows from overseas when all their local
> stuff is SD only? I doubt it. I guess Canwest might be more keen.
> Would either company choose one HD channel when they could have (e.g.)
> 4 SD channels for the same transmission price? Especially when so few
> people have HD ready equipment?
Sorry but not true.

1. Most local production companies have international owners and are
moving over to HD as they can afford it. Shooting on HD video is usually
cheaper than film.

2. Some local content is produced on film which if it is Super16 or
better can be turned into HD.

3. TVNZ's new equipment is all HD. They can't buy SD kit even if they
wanted to.

4. Maddigan's Quest was shot in HD.

5. Most US and a lot of UK/AU imported is in HD.

6. One H264 HD Channel takes the same bandwidth as One SD MPEG2 channel.

> After all there's no reason why Sky couldn't broadcast in HD now. The
> launch of MySky would surely have been the perfect time to also launch
> HD. But they didn't.
Because it wasn't ready. They can't make HD PVR units fast enough for
the UK market. The waiting list is huge.

<disclaimer on "This is my opinion and not that of my company">
What I'd personally like to see is One HD channel per multiplex. One
each for TVNZ and Canwest featuring the best they have in HD, plus Prime
in HD, which Sky would use to try and up-convert people to the full Sky
offering. Pipe dream I know, but I think it would drive the market in an
amazing way. Over time the main channels would slowly switch over as the
market grows or as additional UHF Frequencies (SkyTV's UHF block comes
to mind) become available.
</disclaimer on>

I doubt we will see something like this immediately because of the lack
of decent set-top boxes that support H264. The UK HD services are still
in a "test" mode.

The funny thing for me is that the OpenMedia myPVR already supports SD
MPEG2 DVB-T/S, and I'm testing HD H264 DVB-T/S patches. I say "bring it on".


Steve

-- 
Steven Ellis - Technical Director
OpenMedia Limited
email   - steven@openmedia.co.nz
sales   - sales@openmedia.co.nz
support - support@openmedia.co.nz
website - http://www.openmedia.co.nz