[opendtv] Re: NZ DTT
- From: "Barry Wilkins" <barry.barrywilkins@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 21:12:10 +1200
Decided to buy a DSE620 Freeview HD STB.
Hooked this up to a basic external antenna ( 8 element ) and scanned for
channels. Got everything.
Well, not surprisingly I got rock solid reception as the infill Tx is clear
line of site about 2.5km away. I actually thought this was positioned on
another part of the Napier Hill I am on so the antenna was pointing at 90
degrees to the correct direction! The Tx site was actually on the local
airport control tower. Makes me think I could have got away with a set top
antenna.
Been operational since Sunday last weekend with no pulse noise blocking or
any detectable interference.
Now the interesting thing is this. I had to use my component input to my
screen/receiver box even though I knew this would force only SD capability
(576i) because of no HDMI input.
I was very pleasantly surprised with the image quality. It was very good
indeed on a channel reserved for HD demo material. The other 3 HD capable
channels are presently mainly broadcasting upscaled SD material to either
720p or 1080i. Both these look very presentable compared to my previous
reception on digital SKY. But how good compared to if I had an HDMI input on
my screen?
To answer the above question I nipped into a local Department store to see a
range of large plasma and LCD screens all of which were hooked up to the new
Freeview HD signal or a demo Blu Ray player output.
I could see a small difference between the Blu Ray quality and HD broadcast
but this difference I think, would not be as significant if the Blu Ray was
playing actual movie imagery rather than the demo.
The satisfying thing was that there was only a very slight difference
between the image quality presented on my 3 year old plasma and that of the
latest screens with HDMI. I went to pains to note specific parts of the
transmitted demo programme imagery to see the differences and there was
nothing of significance. Both my own and the shop images were very
presentable.
I asked the shop salesman how popular the new HD DTTV STBs were and they
said they were selling at a higher rate than the cheaper satellite SD
version of Freeview STBs. Had a stack of them right next to the counter.
This bodes well for the future as its popularity will translate into more
channels and variety of content.
So now I have better quality and saving myself NZ$90 a month (I took my SKY
box back)
The "Law of Murphy" is supposed to prevent such scenarios as this but
defiance of the law is bliss.
Regards
Barry
On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 5:57 PM, Barry Wilkins <barry.barrywilkins@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Hi Bert,
>
> Yes, I know that I can probably use an HDMI output into a DVI input (for
> video) but I have been assured they will utilize the HDCP function for
> broadcast on Freeview HD. When, I am not yet sure.
>
> I've had my 42" set for a few years now and perhaps I may just trade up in
> the near future or use this one elsewhere.
>
> Regards
> Barry
>
> On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 12:10 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <
> albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Barry Wilkins wrote:
> >
> > > Greetings:
> > > News from Kiwi land.
> > > Freeview HD (DTTV) is due to officially launch here on April 2nd.
> > >
> > > Spec:
> > > DVB-T, MPEG4/H.264, AAC+ audio. MHEG5 middleware. See Kordia
> > > website for full spec.
> >
> > Exciting!
> >
> > > I personally will be holding off getting one of these Freeview
> > > HD STBs until I can be sure of obtaining a version that outputs
> > > 720p from the analogue component outputs. The present units
> > > convert HD to SD on these outputs and 720p and 1080i is only
> > > available from the HDMI port. I only have DVI input on my
> > > screen.
> >
> > In theory, if your monitor does DVI with HDCP, it should be compatible
> > with an HDMI source. I say "in theory" only because the one opportunity
> > I had to see this in action did not work. Even though I bought a
> > ridiculously expensive cable HDMI-to-DVI cable.
> >
> > Of course, audio would have to be separate. DVI doesn't do audio.
> >
> > Luckily, the component outputs from the Accurian box definitely did
> > support HD, either 1080i or 720p, so no big problem in our case. A
> > friend who got Verizon FiOS service recently said that the tech that
> > came to install his system (with Verizon's proprietary STB of course)
> > didn't even try the HDMI interface.
> >
> > I trust the teething problems with HDMI have been resolved by now.
> >
> > Bert
> >
> >
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