23 replies to this topic

[bellotv]

As as ex pat Kiwi  Its good to see  

[Scorchie™]

Jokes aside, this has been created to give our fellows across the ditch a place to discuss their venture into the digital world.

[cdn]

Caniffe, on Mar 22 2008, 10:19 PM, said:

Jokes aside, this has been created to give our fellows across the ditch a place to discuss their venture into the digital world.

Is it true that their setup is going to better than ours and all country areas will get digital at the same time not like OZ where you can wait 8 to 10 years before anything happens.

[mtv]

No, there will be a progressive rollout, just like Oz.

[dryfry]

New Zealand already has its Freeview  available across the country on satellite but no HD.
Its truly Free to Air just plug in a set top box connect up a dish pointing at Optus D1 scan in the frequencies and away you go.

[Timmy Downawell]

cdn, on Mar 22 2008, 11:43 PM, said:

Is it true that their setup is going to better than ours and all country areas will get digital at the same time not like OZ where you can wait 8 to 10 years before anything happens.

Only 75% of the population will be getting the terrestrial service (at least initially?) - some regional centres/cities will miss out; e.g. (populations in brackets) Rotorua (55,000), Taupo (22,000), New Plymouth (51,000), Gisborne (34,000), Masterton (20,000), Blenheim (29,000), Nelson (58,000), Invercargill (48,000). I'm not sure what Freeview's plans are, whether they will progressively roll out terrestrial coverage to some of these places, or whether they will miss out on HD altogether (which seems a bit unfair).

If they set up new transmitter to each of these towns and surrounding areas, terrestrial coverage would be increased to maybe 85% of the population. Given the eight areas about to get the initial launch gets 75% it is not a very cost effective exercise to set up eight more for a paltry 10% gain.

But wrt your first point, yes, NZ is getting are more advanced system, using MPEG4 as opposed to our MPEG2, so they can fit twice as many channels in a mux.

[FreeView NZ]

We also have more bandwidth ( 8 meg channel spacing)  , the same as Europe

[digitalj]

FreeView NZ, on Apr 6 2008, 02:18 PM, said:

We also have more bandwidth ( 8 meg channel spacing)  , the same as Europe

but all up you get 24MHz, we get 35MHz (to start with and eventually 49MHz!)

[FreeView NZ]

Two more MUX ( UHF Channels ) have been allocated to sites ,   not sure when Transmitters will be installed though

When Analouge is phased out more UHF channels can be added .

[cdn]

FreeView NZ, on Apr 7 2008, 01:40 PM, said:

Two more MUX ( UHF Channels ) have been allocated to sites ,   not sure when Transmitters will be installed though

When Analouge is phased out more UHF channels can be added .

If I was a betting man I would say that they will be faster than in OZland

[dtvforum.co.nz]

Caniffe, on Mar 22 2008, 11:19 PM, said:

Jokes aside, this has been created to give our fellows across the ditch a place to discuss their venture into the digital world.

Well good luck with that..
  

[Mining Man]

dtvforum.co.nz, on Apr 7 2008, 10:52 PM, said:

Well good luck with that..
  

Well, you and I are in here.

[Timmy Downawell]

Hey I'm an expat and I keep a watchful eye on proceedings over there. And I approve!

[cdn]

Timmy Downawell, on Apr 9 2008, 07:48 PM, said:

Hey I'm an expat and I keep a watchful eye on proceedings over there. And I approve!

I like to have a look just for interest sake

[bellotv]

FreeView NZ, on Apr 7 2008, 01:40 PM, said:

Two more MUX ( UHF Channels ) have been allocated to sites ,   not sure when Transmitters will be installed though

When Analouge is phased out more UHF channels can be added .

Is analog going to be phased out throughout NZ ?
Does this mean that places like Westcoast Sth Island ,are unlikely to ever get terestrial HD due to low popoulation and will need to go to Freeview Satalite on SD ?

[cyril]

The guvment stated analog would be shut down in 2012 or when >75% of population had digital (either FreeView or Sky) which ever comes first. So 2012 it is. My prediction, and its purely speculation, is by then the Guvment will spring the $ for another D1 transponder to carry 1,2,3 HD streams.

That said the satellite service is a good one, all the channels are in 16:9 (except Stratos and Cue), all with decent (>5Mb/s, typically 6-8Mb/s) bit rates, I think for folk who live out in the remote areas this step into the digital world alone is enough for most.


Cyril

[FreeView NZ]

I would tend to go along with that , the Satellite service it is pretty good quaility .
The D1 NZ Spot beam is pretty grunty and rain fade is minimal

They could have made more efficent use with Mpeg4 and a few HD channels added
but the  TEST service had been up on B1 for so long and there were a considerble
number of STBs already in use .  

Yes a second transponder could be added later   !!   provided
some other network hasnt reserved the remaining empty ones

Edited by FreeView NZ, 11 April 2008 - 11:50 AM.

[cyril]

Another prediction, total speculation, in 4-5yrs time, optus will be flying a 2nd bird at 160E to provide additional low band capacity, so transponder space may not be an issue.

Cyril

[penguincentral]

Kiwi's have it way better than us.  Whereever you can't get terrestrial television, you can tune in via the satellite dish.  But still, australia's digital tv has the HD "breakaways" from SD simulcasting, you can't beat that... *Rolls Eyes*

[norpus]

And kiwis get a Rugby channel
Something I definitely miss in VIC

[Bluesambucca]

Hello I would like to know if anyone knows the name of the Satellite Sky New Zealand uses and the name of the Satellite Australian AUSTAR uses.

Thank You

[cyril]

Hi, SkyNZ and FreeViewNZ both use Optus D1 at 160E, all these transmissions are on NZ only spot beams so can not readily be seen in Aus.

Foxtel and Austar use Optus C1 at 156E, again due to the antenna configurations on C1 Foxtel/Austar transmissions cannot be readily seen in Aus.

Cyril

[DrP]

cyril, on Oct 25 2008, 05:55 AM, said:

Foxtel and Austar use Optus C1 at 156E, again due to the antenna configurations on C1 Foxtel/Austar transmissions cannot be readily seen in Aus.

[cyril]

Doh, you know what I meant

Should read Foxtel/Austar transmissions are not readily seen in NZ.

Cyril

Edited by cyril, 26 October 2008 - 12:10 PM.