• Re: Time to axe SD

    From Steve@steve@nospam.invalid to uk.media.tv.misc on Fri Jul 18 15:34:48 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.media.tv.misc

    On 10/02/2025 19:11, MikeS wrote:
    On 10/02/2025 13:11, Ar wrote:
    How long are we going to keep pushing the crappy SD video on Freeview
    and Freesat / FTA? It wastes bandwidth transmitting SD and HD, and
    there are hardly any HD channels because there's no incentive to
    switch, also crappy 5G mobile phones stole a huge chunk of radio
    spectrum that was used for TV for crappy mobiles - and a number of HD
    channels got the axe (but are still on Freesat).

    Transmit all the SD channels in T2 (MPEG4) saves bandwidth. Axe ALL
    BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel4, Channel5 that are in SD and only have HD
    option. Move the HD from 101, 102 etc. to 1, 2, 3 etc, in the EPG.

    Why is the UK so backwards? Look at now much HD stuff is free to air
    on foreign satellite, especially Germany.

    Surely every TV by now has HD capability, you can't blame pensioners
    having ancient TV's and old Freeview boxes for not having the switch
    over.

    There is no shortage of bandwidth on the 28.2E satellite if anyone wants
    to use it for more FTA HD channels. On Freeview which broadcasters are queueing up for an expensive new HD slot?
    I've recently taken up a rolling subscription to Now so I can watch the
    Sky Sports. I would have to pay extra to watch in HD! That's why Sky are
    still using SD, so they can make some more money.
    Steve
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  • From NY@me@privacy.invalid to uk.media.tv.misc on Sun Aug 31 15:53:13 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.media.tv.misc

    "Steve" <steve@nospam.invalid> wrote in message news:105dm1v$23nes$1@dont-email.me...
    On 10/02/2025 19:11, MikeS wrote:
    On 10/02/2025 13:11, Ar wrote:

    Surely every TV by now has HD capability, you can't blame pensioners
    having ancient TV's and old Freeview boxes for not having the switch
    over.

    My mum's TV can receive T2 so she can *watch* HD versions of programmes. However her PVR (HDD), bought at the same time AFAIK, can only
    receive/record T1 so she can't *record* any HD programmes. If mainstream channels ever went T2-only, she'd lose the ability to record anything.

    I don't see her ever replacing the PVR. She's of the very understandable mentality that an item should have a usable (non-obsolescent) life of more than 15 years or so. It should work till it breaks, not until the technology no longer works with the broadcasts. Having had to upgrade from VHS to PVR when analogue was switched off, she's reluctant to have to change yet again. (Even if "yet again" is 20 years later!)

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  • From JNugent@JNugent73@mail.com to uk.media.tv.misc on Sun Aug 31 17:03:04 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.media.tv.misc

    On 31/08/2025 03:53 PM, NY wrote:
    "Steve" <steve@nospam.invalid> wrote in message news:105dm1v$23nes$1@dont-email.me...
    On 10/02/2025 19:11, MikeS wrote:
    On 10/02/2025 13:11, Ar wrote:

    Surely every TV by now has HD capability, you can't blame pensioners
    having ancient TV's and old Freeview boxes for not having the switch
    over.

    My mum's TV can receive T2 so she can *watch* HD versions of programmes. However her PVR (HDD), bought at the same time AFAIK, can only
    receive/record T1 so she can't *record* any HD programmes. If mainstream channels ever went T2-only, she'd lose the ability to record anything.

    I don't see her ever replacing the PVR. She's of the very understandable mentality that an item should have a usable (non-obsolescent) life of
    more than 15 years or so. It should work till it breaks, not until the technology no longer works with the broadcasts. Having had to upgrade
    from VHS to PVR when analogue was switched off, she's reluctant to have
    to change yet again. (Even if "yet again" is 20 years later!)

    VHS / Beta machines didn't become *totally* useless overnight when
    analogue was switched off. True, they could no longer record broadcasts
    under their own stream, but they could be fed with a video signal from a
    set top box or even a Sky box if one wanted to keep a recording for
    whatever purpose. Indeed, that was originally the only way to record a programme shown only on a satellite channel (before Sky+). To this day,
    the software on a Sky+HD box can be used to dump recordings on to an
    esternal recorder and it gives the user instructions step by step.

    A few years ago, I bought an unused NOS Sony DVD/HDD recorder with no
    digital tuner for -u30.

    You could record from a PVR or Sky+ box for achival purposes and the
    trump card was that it had a brand new remote control with it, at a time
    when a NOS Sony remote would fetch -u30 and more on its own.

    Of course, nowadays, cloned versions of the Sony remotes are easily
    available from China for a few pounds each.

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