Is the Topfield TF4000 available for purchase anymore, or are they not made any longer?
Where does one buy a Healing box? (Their website can't even tell me that!)

Any other recommendations for quality SD boxes, with RF modulator?

Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Topfield-Digital-TV...S:B:SRCH:AU:101

http://www.australiandigitaltv.com/healing/scarthealing.htm

Ross,
SD STBs are a dying breed because they are not Freeview Approved. This means you cannot view the HD channels and any future additional programs. All STBs can output composite video which can be fed into an old Videocassette recorder. You can connect its RF output to any TV which does not have AV inputs.

AlanH

Alan,

Thanks for the suggestion of getting RF output via the VCR. That hadn't occurred to me.

I agree that SD STB's are on their way out - they were hard to find in the shops here in eastern Melbourne suburbs. However, my parents wanted the cheapest option for getting ABC2 and SBS2.

I wasn't sold on the "Freeview" approved boxes. It seemed the "Freeview" tag applied to HD boxes that could also decode MPEG4 signals as well as MPEG2. However, I could find no timetable anywhere for digital TV in Australia switching to MPEG4 or MPEG4-only. It seemed the "Freeview" label was just a gimmick to charge $100-$150 more for a HD box than was necessary. And judging by the piles and piles of non-Freeview HD STB's I saw in stores, I don't think many others are buying that line either.

I did hear the "HD box gets you the new channels" repeatedly from salesmen. I'll admit I'm no expert here, having just been back in Aus for 10 days - but I couldn't find much evidence of my folks missing out on different programming as a result of only having SD STB's. It seems the truly new channels (One Sports, ABC2, SBS2, and ABC3 when it debuts soon) are all available in HD and SD or SD only. Looking at 3 weeks of TV listings, it seems 9HD and 7HD differ from the standard 9 and 7 feeds for only a few hours (of mostly non-innovative!) programming a day. As my folks don't have any HD-TV's, I couldn't see any benefit in the extra cost of a HD STB.

I agree things may not always stay this way, but I suspect they'll be more likely to be buying new TV's in the next 2-4 years (all their TV's are 5+ years old), than cursing (or even noticing) that they're missing some different programming on 7HD or 9HD.

Have I missed something here?

Thanks

Ross,
There are to be more non simulcast programs on air before the end of the year.

ABC3 is a specialist childrens channel. The ABC has the greatest number of program streams on a single TV channel. They are faced with degrading the picture quality of ABC HD or using MPEG4. The ABC is keeping this detail secret, however they are proposing to keep some childrens TV on ABC2. Why???

AlanH

What utter rubbish.

What utter rubbish.

That may be a small part of the reason they loose their popularity in the short term.
Many people wouldn't really understand 'Freeview Approved', or make their buying decision purely on that basis at the moment.

Probably more likely is the fact that they can't display the HD transmissions. Simple as that.

that and the falling price of HD boxes has made SD less attractive than it once was, the lack of SD boxes has nothing to do with Freeview, I'm sure Freeview would like to think it is though