20 replies to this topic

[willwalk]

Nine Darwin has finally confirmed to the public that GO! would be delayed.  Also Terrritorians are angry about the present AFL coverage they are about to get when it comes to the business end of the season.

See the article in the NT News on http://www.ntnews.co...331_ntnews.html

William Walker

Edited by willwalk, 27 August 2009 - 08:01 PM.

[Alista]

That article stated that GO! is a HD channel which it is not. But it's disappointing that SCTV didn't reply to the request although I can't say I'm surprised.

[willwalk]

Alista, on Aug 27 2009, 05:39 PM, said:

That article stated that GO! is a HD channel which it is not. But it's disappointing that SCTV didn't reply to the request although I can't say I'm surprised.

I've seen letters / sms texts to NT News editor, some of them stating that TV in Darwin is a joke.  They are referring to why SC shows the same Saturday AFL games on which DDT will televise them later, some of them are wondering if it s really worth the money to upgrade to digital and there are some people here in Darwin who doesn't believe that digital is worth the upgrade given the poor TV coverage especially AFL.

A majority of interstate migrants currently residing in Darwin are from Victoria and that would explain the anger toward all stations in relation to AFL coverage.

The Nine manager says he can't do anything about it (re lack of AFL footy show on NINE HD).  It is because Nine Darwin is really a relay of TCN 9 Sydney with the exception of news on weeknights and local ads.  Nine Darwin won't change it because it would require a big switch to GTV 9 Melbourne, and they probably cannot afford it given it is a expense to switch from TCN 9 to GTV 9.  I'm sure that the majority of people would favour a switch from TCN 9 to GTV 9, but it is very unlikely that Nine Darwin will do that.  Even since PBL bought the station in 1990s  it had always received TCN 9 news on weekends with the sport part read in Darwin.  Nine Darwin (formerly channel Eight) used to show a mixture of 9, 7 and 10 network programs when solo in the Darwin market in the 1990s - it became a full time 9 network station in 2003.

William Walker

[wilrc1]

willwalk, on Aug 27 2009, 07:58 PM, said:

I've seen letters / sms texts to NT News editor, some of them stating that TV in Darwin is a joke.  They are referring to why SC shows the same Saturday AFL games on which DDT will televise them later, some of them are wondering if it s really worth the money to upgrade to digital and there are some people here in Darwin who doesn't believe that digital is worth the upgrade given the poor TV coverage especially AFL.

A majority of interstate migrants currently residing in Darwin are from Victoria and that would explain the anger toward all stations in relation to AFL coverage.

The Nine manager says he can't do anything about it (re lack of AFL footy show on NINE HD).  It is because Nine Darwin is really a relay of TCN 9 Sydney with the exception of news on weeknights and local ads.  Nine Darwin won't change it because it would require a big switch to GTV 9 Melbourne, and they probably cannot afford it given it is a expense to switch from TCN 9 to GTV 9.  I'm sure that the majority of people would favour a switch from TCN 9 to GTV 9, but it is very unlikely that Nine Darwin will do that.  Even since PBL bought the station in 1990s  it had always received TCN 9 news on weekends with the sport part read in Darwin.  Nine Darwin (formerly channel Eight) used to show a mixture of 9, 7 and 10 network programs when solo in the Darwin market in the 1990s - it became a full time 9 network station in 2003.

William Walker

A switch from TCN or GTV does not cost anything, its a couple of key strokes in the playout control room in Sydney, Sydney has a permanent feed of whats shown on GTV any way, its more along the lines that Sydney wants Darwin to stick to their programming, not Melbourne's!
If you want GTV programming you just need to organize a foxtel box from someone in Melbourne, I know of many people in Darwin that have foxtel boxes from Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane, each has their own local network station.

[willwalk]

wilrc1, on Aug 29 2009, 12:39 AM, said:

A switch from TCN or GTV does not cost anything, its a couple of key strokes in the playout control room in Sydney, Sydney has a permanent feed of whats shown on GTV any way, its more along the lines that Sydney wants Darwin to stick to their programming, not Melbourne's!
If you want GTV programming you just need to organize a foxtel box from someone in Melbourne, I know of many people in Darwin that have foxtel boxes from Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane, each has their own local network station.

Does those Foxtel boxes need to rely on a cable system (which Darwin already has - similar to Sydney, Melb and Brisbane) rather than satellie dish?  Are all houses in the Darwin city area together with Palmerston excluding the rural area hooked up to that cable system?  If so are sections of the cable system underground when powerlines are underground?

William Walker

Edited by willwalk, 29 August 2009 - 07:50 PM.

[rfnetsolns]

willwalk, on Aug 29 2009, 07:19 PM, said:

Does those Foxtel boxes need to rely on a cable system (which Darwin already has - similar to Sydney, Melb and Brisbane) rather than satellie dish?  Are all houses in the Darwin city area together with Palmerston excluding the rural area hooked up to that cable system?  If so are sections of the cable system underground when powerlines are underground?

William Walker

It would have to be satellite one would think as the smart card activation would be locale based, hence all the grey nomad's sat dishes on their van's at shady glen caravan park so they can still get the footy.

CUL8R

[rfnetsolns]

Oops I forgot to add the most important bit, I believe NTD8 would be aiming to stat-mux their streams and so will consequently have to lower the HD and SD stream data rates to squeeze it in (GO! that is). Probably waiting on an encoder and mux. Remember how long DDT took to get online..umm Darwin is a "capital city" in name only. Also someone said in another post the ABC was using PAL (I guess they meant analog) camera's they are using Panasonic P2's although I guess some stringers may have Sony SX's still.

rfnetsolns

[willwalk]

rfnetsolns, on Aug 30 2009, 11:14 PM, said:

It would have to be satellite one would think as the smart card activation would be locale based, hence all the grey nomad's sat dishes on their van's at shady glen caravan park so they can still get the footy.

CUL8R

So if I choose to buy a Foxtel box from Melbourne to watch GTV would it work with the satellite?

William Walker

[Alista]

willwalk, on Aug 31 2009, 10:57 AM, said:

So if I choose to buy a Foxtel box from Melbourne to watch GTV would it work with the satellite?

William Walker

I think the only way you could is have a Melbourne/Sydney friend that signs up for a second Foxtel box and then send it up to you. It's via satellite it's not cable.

[willwalk]

Alista, on Aug 31 2009, 02:15 PM, said:

I think the only way you could is have a Melbourne/Sydney friend that signs up for a second Foxtel box and then send it up to you. It's via satellite it's not cable.

Could I get GO! and One SD (when available) that way without waiting for the local channels?

But the channels will be a lot better than the local SC / Nine / DDT that Darwin gets right now.  A true proper 7, 9 and 10 with true proper ads.

SC here in Darwin in my view is not a true proper 7 station if they continue to show 10's Saturday afternoon AFL.

William Walker

[Alista]

willwalk, on Aug 31 2009, 06:03 PM, said:

Could I get GO! and One SD (when available) that way without waiting for the local channels?

But the channels will be a lot better than the local SC / Nine / DDT that Darwin gets right now.  A true proper 7, 9 and 10 with true proper ads.

Not sure about the multi channels... I think ONE HD is up there but could be wrong...
http://www.lyngsat.c...ges/foxtel.html see the package here but only NINE and Ten are on the list so you would have to see about 7 because it wouldn't be worth it if it wasn't available.  

willwalk, on Aug 31 2009, 06:03 PM, said:

SC here in Darwin in my view is not a true proper 7 station if they continue to show 10's Saturday afternoon AFL.

Same in Tassie but TDT still isn't rolled out to smaller towns and SC and WIN are in no hurry to get it up and running and the smaller towns complain if they miss out on AFL so it's a difficult situation.

[willwalk]

Alista, on Aug 31 2009, 06:46 PM, said:

Not sure about the multi channels... I think ONE HD is up there but could be wrong...
http://www.lyngsat.c...ges/foxtel.html see the package here but only NINE and Ten are on the list so you would have to see about 7 because it wouldn't be worth it if it wasn't available.  


Same in Tassie but TDT still isn't rolled out to smaller towns and SC and WIN are in no hurry to get it up and running and the smaller towns complain if they miss out on AFL so it's a difficult situation.

About ONE HD, sorry it hasn't arrived in Darwin yet.  It's still the natural loop that SC 10 used to see.  Judging on previous comments about GO!, I'd expect action rolling soon on GO! not sure about ONE HD, even though I am assured that both are coming here.  Still no date has been announced as yet.

William Walker

[Alista]

Sorry I meant about ONE HD being up on the satellite as part of the Foxtel package. (Sorry I was in a rush when I was writing that) I think it's supposed to be part of it now but I'm not sure.

Also I noticed that the Lyngsat site had Channel 7 as part of the Austar package which I think may be a error as I'm sure it's Foxtel and only in the 3 big cities but someone feel free to correct me.

I'm also not sure about Go! being on Foxtel I think It's only NINE but If ONE HD and 7 are part of it it would be great if you could get a box off someone in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

[willwalk]

Alista, on Aug 31 2009, 09:06 PM, said:

Sorry I meant about ONE HD being up on the satellite as part of the Foxtel package. (Sorry I was in a rush when I was writing that) I think it's supposed to be part of it now but I'm not sure.

Also I noticed that the Lyngsat site had Channel 7 as part of the Austar package which I think may be a error as I'm sure it's Foxtel and only in the 3 big cities but someone feel free to correct me.

I'm also not sure about Go! being on Foxtel I think It's only NINE but If ONE HD and 7 are part of it it would be great if you could get a box off someone in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

That's okay.  Yeah I had a look at the foxtel package, it looks good.  Darwin (and more importantly Central Australia in particular) needs access to a proper 9, 10 and 7 with proper ads (i know it is not local but proper ads), not half baked dud local versions offered by the local stations here in Darwin and Alice Springs.

William Walker

Edited by willwalk, 31 August 2009 - 09:40 PM.

[willwalk]

Alista, on Aug 31 2009, 10:06 PM, said:

Sorry I meant about ONE HD being up on the satellite as part of the Foxtel package. (Sorry I was in a rush when I was writing that) I think it's supposed to be part of it now but I'm not sure.

Also I noticed that the Lyngsat site had Channel 7 as part of the Austar package which I think may be a error as I'm sure it's Foxtel and only in the 3 big cities but someone feel free to correct me.

I'm also not sure about Go! being on Foxtel I think It's only NINE but If ONE HD and 7 are part of it it would be great if you could get a box off someone in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Hmm I read it somewhere that GO! is not due to start on Foxtel until October.  Correct me if I am wrong.

William Walker

[Smacca]

Alista, on Aug 31 2009, 10:06 PM, said:

Sorry I meant about ONE HD being up on the satellite as part of the Foxtel package. (Sorry I was in a rush when I was writing that) I think it's supposed to be part of it now but I'm not sure.

Also I noticed that the Lyngsat site had Channel 7 as part of the Austar package which I think may be a error as I'm sure it's Foxtel and only in the 3 big cities but someone feel free to correct me.

I'm also not sure about Go! being on Foxtel I think It's only NINE but If ONE HD and 7 are part of it it would be great if you could get a box off someone in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

GO! and One HD are technically part of the Foxtel package, but only for cable subscribers. Satellite subs in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will be able to watch the channels by October. For the record, any Foxtel customer located anywhere in Australia can receive all the free-to-air channels using a 3rd-party set-top box (for example; someone with a Gold Coast address can pick up 7,9,10 Sydney using their legitimate card) so friends don't necessarily have to be in the area you want channels from. A multiroom Foxtel box however is limited to the free-to-airs from the area it's supposed to live.

Regarding Lyngsat, most of the free-to-airs are jumbled around - I have no idea why. To get a full scope of what's on offer, just use both Austar and Foxtel 'package' pages, and use the channel's encryption as a method of working out whether Austar or Foxtel carry the service (NDS VideoGuard = Foxtel, Irdeto 2 = Austar)

Edited by Smacca, 01 September 2009 - 11:35 AM.

[Alista]

So how would you get a Foxtel card to get the commercial channels???? I'm dying for a true Ch7 in Tassie! I'm sick of the crap Southern Cross serve up!

[willwalk]

Alista, on Sep 1 2009, 04:47 PM, said:

So how would you get a Foxtel card to get the commercial channels???? I'm dying for a true Ch7 in Tassie! I'm sick of the crap Southern Cross serve up!

I don't know how Foxtel works as I am yet to live in a big capital city.  I've always lived in a Austar area and I don't know if they (Austar and Foxtel) work similar or not.  I would assume that Foxtel is more advanced than Austar

William Walker

[ajgreen]

willwalk, on Aug 27 2009, 10:34 AM, said:

Nine Darwin has finally confirmed to the public that GO! would be delayed.  Also Terrritorians are angry about the present AFL coverage they are about to get when it comes to the business end of the season.

See the article in the NT News on http://www.ntnews.co...331_ntnews.html

William Walker

I have checked the broadcast guide at afl.com.au and Darwin fares very well for live afl games this weekend on Seven.  Country Victoria is not so lucky with Sunday's game St kilda vs Collingwood delayed by 30 minutes. and WIN Mildura has 2 out of the 4 games on delayed telecast by 30 minutes.

[Robin1302]

willwalk, on Aug 27 2009, 10:34 AM, said:

Nine Darwin has finally confirmed to the public that GO! would be delayed.  Also Terrritorians are angry about the present AFL coverage they are about to get when it comes to the business end of the season.

See the article in the NT News on http://www.ntnews.co...331_ntnews.html

William Walker

Can anyone help ... I have a new Toshiba32 with integrated HD tuner .... the HD channels scanned in fine, but they _ Nine (90) and SCTV (70) _ are decidely unstable at times, picture breaking up but more frequently, and annoyingly, is the variation in volume levels on the HD channels.
I have a UHF aerial, coaxial connection,  the analogue channels are A1.
Is this typical of HD reception in Darwin (I am in the CBD)?
any assistance would be appreciatied
cheers, Robin (rph1302@bigpond.net.au)

[willwalk]

Robin1302, on Sep 7 2009, 11:48 AM, said:

Can anyone help ... I have a new Toshiba32 with integrated HD tuner .... the HD channels scanned in fine, but they _ Nine (90) and SCTV (70) _ are decidely unstable at times, picture breaking up but more frequently, and annoyingly, is the variation in volume levels on the HD channels.
I have a UHF aerial, coaxial connection,  the analogue channels are A1.
Is this typical of HD reception in Darwin (I am in the CBD)?
any assistance would be appreciatied
cheers, Robin (rph1302@bigpond.net.au)

Not sure, but at my place at Malak, every afternoon espeically during the build up and wet season the picture breaks up both SD and HD in all channels due to afternoon seabreeze, I get frustrated but theres nothiing I can do except to grin and bear it or turn TV off until it gets dark post sunset. otherwsie the picture is okay, night and morning.  i have HD and digital coaxial cable with UHF antenna.  Malak is closer to the main TV tower at Berrimah.

It is my understanding that there was plans to install a North Darwin digital TV translator in CBD a few years back but the plans seems to have stalled.  The breakup factors depends on location and weather.

ATM Berrimah is the only TV tower fully digital with all commerical and national TV in digital mode in the whole of NT.  Other TV towers including Alice springs, Katherine, Darwin's rural area and Tennant Creek only have ABC digital and SBS digital, the commerical stations are not in digital mode yet outside of Darwin.

My view is digital TV has always been a farce to start with here in the Northern Territory anyway. The only blessing we Darwinites have is Channel 10 DDT SD, and that is about it.  No ONE HD or GO! and if you want to watch DDT 10 HD get used to the SC 10's nature loop, and that's all we have here.

William Walker