[mythtv-users] Australia, Freeview and MythTV

[Shawn Haggett]

On Monday 16 March 2009 13:53:45 sonofzev at iinet.net.au wrote:
> We've been duped..
>
> Australia has a new Digital system being launched.. I'm writing just to
> check and see what I/we will need to do if this does eventuate.
>
> Freeview has announced that there will be a move from the current MPEG-2
> based (DVB-T)system to an MPEG-4 based system... and here's the catch (that
> I'm dubious of) "only Freeview branded set top boxes and TV's will be able
> to see those channels"

From the article at: 
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25192280-11869,00.html

"New high-definition set-top boxes conforming to the networks' new 
specifications will be on sale by May 1."

"The broadcasters will not begin this transmission until the majority of the 
population has a device that can receive MPEG4 transmissions," Freeview's 
chief executive Robin Parkes said.
"Each broadcaster will decide this individually."

So they want to push for MPEG4, and they want devices that support this to be 
available for purchase on May 1st. But the stations aren't going to change 
until there's people that can receive their transmissions. I'm sure there's 
still plenty of people not ready for digital, and people that have recently 
upgraded are not going to want to do so again for a while. I see an MPEG4 
system some time off in the future.

Shawn