New Freeview TVs and boxes to be HD only from 2016
As part of the rolling process to upgrade Freeview to an HD service, Freeview (as well as Digital UK and the DTG) are going to withdraw licenced use of the "Freeview trademark" from equipment that does not meet the most up-to-date high definition standards.
This is good news for anyone who might have bought a high definition capable TV set and found that it was incapable of watching the channels broadcast on Freeview in HD.
It is also good news for the mobile broadband industry: the sooner all homes have Freeview HD equipment, the sooner the TV frequencies can be rearranged to free up capacity for mobiles.
Freeview HD
Freeview HD provides two important differences to "standard" Freeview. The most obvious is an increase in the resolution of TV pictures that provides a better viewing experience. Hidden behind the scenes is another technology called "DVB-T2" that increases the amount of data in a digital TV broadcast: this is needed to carry the better pictures.
Freeview HD for all
All homes in the UK can currently watch at least five channels on Freeview HD. These are BBC One HD, BBC Two HD, one of ITV HD, STV HD or UTV HD, Channel 4 HD and BBC Three HD and CBBC HD.
Freeview HD for some
About 60% of homes can also get another selection of HD channels (BBC Four HD, BBC News HD, Al Jazeera HD, Channel 4+1 HD, 4seven HD, CBeebies HD, QVC HD and QVC Beauty HD) but only from a selection of "main" transmitters.
Freeview HD later
Over the next decade, it is expected that there will be another "digital switchover" as the allocated frequencies for television are reduced further. For this to happen without the loss of Freeview channel selection, it will be vital for all Freeview homes to be using Freeview HD equipment, even for channels not broadcast in HD.
Because of the extra bandwidth provided by DVB-T2 as well as the improved data compression provided by MPEG4, it will be possible to provide the same number of TV channels whilst providing considerable extra capacity for mobile phones and tablets using 4G-type services.
When will there be more HD channels for everyone?
It is likely that improved (backend) computation speeds will allow the national PSB3 multiplex to carry an additional channel in the next couple of years. After that it will require the reconfiguration of another multiplex to DVB-T2 to create the required capacity.
However the BBC's universal service obligation can't do this until 100% of homes can use DVB-T2, and the same applies to ITV and Channel 4. The commercial multiplexes also will not wish to drop homes for their viewers, so the upgrade may be many, many years away.
This is similar to the reasons that DAB+ stations can't be broadcast: such a transmission would be invisible to any home with "classic" equipment.
Any questions?
| Whenever i watch moving sport especially football I experience much poorer pictu | 1 |
6:25 AM
Does this Freeview announcement mean that the new TVs will stop sticking the HD channels at the end of the channel list, starting at 101?,
Will it also mean that local TV news will be broadcast in HD so we do don't have to switch back to the beginning of the channel list just before the announcer says, "and now for the news where you are"?
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Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
8:21 AM
Macclesfield
Chris Shaw: Not at the moment - until T2 tuners become standard a fair number of people would be without those channels at all. As Brianist writes:
'However the BBC's universal service obligation can't do this until 100% of homes can use DVB-T2, and the same applies to ITV and Channel 4. The commercial multiplexes also will not wish to drop homes for their viewers, so the upgrade may be many, many years away.
This is similar to the reasons that DAB+ stations can't be broadcast: such a transmission would be invisible to any home with "classic" equipment.'
I suspect that the upgrade might be sooner than they think. Most of my customers are upgrading their main TV's on a roughly 5-8 year cycle. Digital switch over on out area was in 2011, and that was the point where many TV started to have HD tuners. Within 2 years they pretty much all did, so consumers have had roughly 3 years of HD tuners as large standard. With PVR's being replaced on a slightly more frequent basis (and HD tuners becoming standard even quicker), HD tuners should be on the majority of main TV's (one way or another) within a year or two. And retro fitting a 5 year or older TV with an external HD box is pretty easy.
However, I'm glad they are finally taking this step. How many times have people asked the question 'why can't I get HD channels on my new HD TV?', and where you have to tell them that they can't, because its only got a Freeview tuner, even though the retailer has 'Full HD' in big letters to trap the unwary.
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MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
10:11 AM
Problem is-relay transmitters and ultra low powered sub-relay transmitters do not have capacity to carry a lot of HD channels, to do this you either;
-convert all transmitters main/relay and sub-relay to dvb-t2 format,
OR -totally switch to MPEG4 transmission for all services, this will ultimately give much better quality and space for more channels with DD5.1 surround sound audio bit streams available to all services sd and hd.
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Anthony : The issue here is that standard Freeview boxes can't decode MPEG-4. The only ones that can are the "old" BT Vision ones. Not much point broadcasting in a format that viewers can't see?Freeview=DVB-T+MPEG-2
Freeview HD=DVB-T2+MPEG-4
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8:28 PM
DVB-T2 will be a better alternative for all high power tx sites, low power relays then and ultra low-power less than a Kw sub-relays for urban, rural and difficult to reach areas that can't pick up relays and high power transmitters. If Freeview did go full MPEG4 you just bring out MPEG4 capable Freeview HD boxes and televisions to suit it. MPEG4 has more capacity, more bandwidth and can carry more channels at much better quality, MPEG4 SD is better quality over MPEG2 SD, can in more more channels with no quality loss, and can support SD and HD channels in the same MUX slots at the same time, along with Dolby Digital Plus stereo multilingual surround and mono bitstreams-flexibility quality and broadcaster friendliness all in one, and more people get to see more irrespective of transmitters they are tuned to-sub relay/relay and main high power tx sites.
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7:36 AM
Anthony :
But that will introduce a further problem! Who is going to pay for the replacement of all the existing 'standard' TVs and Freeview boxes that are not MPEG-4 capable and only have a DVB-T tuner and not a DVBT-2 tuner with MPEG-4 capability? That is why a 'phased' roll out is used.
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8:16 AM
Macclesfield
MikeP: I think the market will go a long way to sort that out - once pretty much all the CRT TV's and early flat screens (DVI imputs) are out of the way, everything will have at least one HDMI. Since the majority of TV's (at least of the four big brands) have been HD equiped for at least 2-3 years, there will be a natural 'wave' as these become the main TV, etc. And as long as a TV has an HDMI or two, then a T2 equiped box is easy to hook up. In fact I've done just that, to upgrade an 'hand-me-down' Freeview flatscreen, with a box which cost be less than forty pounds.
As long as there is some education and a realistic time scale (3 years?), then its pretty doable.
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MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
2:34 PM
Why on earth do they not include an H265 decoder as well. This can be used with HD and SD as well as UHD.
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5:18 PM
A new telly costs a lot of money which most people don't have. Freeview are exploiting the public by making everyone, even those who can't afford it, have an HD thing. I have an HDTV but my family inherited it from my late Gran due to our old telly going kaput first on the day after the election and then a week later. We couldn't afford a new one.
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5:20 PM
Our old telly was a Sony one from the mid noughties
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