General Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2018) - Page 75

OLD BOY · 26-06-2018, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by denphone

Tell that to the millions who don't have HD.

In the larger population, yes, good point. But what proportion of VM customers cannot get HD?

---------- Post added at 12:33 ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliver1948uk

The problem is that the East Midlands local news (and I suspect other regions too) is not shown on BBC1 HD

That's right, but the BBC has indicated that they are working on a fix for this problem.

Chloé Palmas · 26-06-2018, 12:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Boy

In the larger population, yes, good point. But what proportion of VM customers cannot get HD?

Isn't that primarily just a matter of time before people move over though? A majority of manufacturer's no longer have 720P on their production lines even - when the big names like Sony / Samsung etc all follow suit, 1080 will be the lowest level of spec that you can buy.

A lot of the older machines are still functional though, right? I mean aside from the digital transfer, they should still work, no? The problem is that we have gone from CRT's to 8K in like the space of 15 to 16 years and while older systems are effectively obsolete, the rate of upgrades is ridiculous and I swear it puts people off as a new advancement in technology is available like every 6 months. The refresh rate works as a deterrent for larger household appliances IMO.

denphone · 26-06-2018, 12:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

In the larger population, yes, good point. But what proportion of VM customers cannot get HD?.

Some won't touch HD no matter what whether its with Virgin , Sky or any other platform as my estimate of those without HD is well into the millions.

https://www.barb.co.uk/tv-landscape-...y-tv-platform/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...great-britain/

oliver1948uk · 26-06-2018, 12:52

Some people still watch in black and white to save on the license fee!

Chloé Palmas · 26-06-2018, 13:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by denphone

Some won't touch HD no matter what whether its with Virgin , Sky or any other platform as my estimate of those without HD is well into the millions.

https://www.barb.co.uk/tv-landscape-...y-tv-platform/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...great-britain/

Out of interest, why not? I had a look at some of those links and articles and even though the statistics seem to back it up, it doesn't seem to give any reason for it.

And yeah even though the platforms are still SD production, the providers refuse to give any more SD coverage so all new boxes / set tops / satellites are all in HD only and with some like Sky 4K only.

Not sure about BT but Sky or Virgin should start investing in hardware manufacturers. If they get a say in what TVs even come off the manufacturing line (what definition) they should have a better idea of what to set as the lowest definition on their boxes...(per the market availability of older software / spec TVs).

denphone · 26-06-2018, 13:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chloé Palmas

Quote:

Out of interest, why not? I had a look at some of those links and articles and even though the statistics seem to back it up, it doesn't seem to give any reason for it.

And yeah even though the platforms are still SD production, the providers refuse to give any more SD coverage so all new boxes / set tops / satellites are all in HD only and with some like Sky 4K only.

Not sure about BT but Sky or Virgin should start investing in hardware manufacturers. If they get a say in what TVs even come off the manufacturing line (what definition) they should have a better idea of what to set as the lowest definition on their boxes...(per the market availability of older software / spec TVs).

Some don't like the costs involved with HD and don't see it offers them any value as they see it as too expensive and some don't like new technology and l am pretty sure they are others reasons as well.

Chloé Palmas · 26-06-2018, 13:21

Hmmm, seems fair - or at least at the time.

These days though (in comparison) HD seems cheap, no? The average cost of a (big back) TV back then (pre HD) was about the same as an HD TV now is, in the era of UHD / 4K.

Soon enough HD TVs will have pretty antiquated software, so people may as well get them as cheap as they are now.

It is kind of like what people do with Apple...get the model before last as the newest one hits stratospheric levels of cost and technology.

Ultimate.Conj · 26-06-2018, 13:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by denphone

Tell that to the millions who don't have HD.

It was a tongue-in-cheek comment, Den..apologies

On a serious note though, can they not take the HD feed and downscale it to SD?

Would this save some bandwidth on the network too? I'm not sure.

heero_yuy · 26-06-2018, 14:16

Quote:

Quote from Ultimate.Conj:

On a serious note though, can they not take the HD feed and downscale it to SD?

Would this save some bandwidth on the network too? I'm not sure.

Our Cisco VHD box does this naturally on the SCART socket presenting downscaled SD here whilst full fat HD is on the HDMI connector simutaneously.

Does the TIVO do this as well?

If that's the case then there's really no need for the duplication.

denphone · 26-06-2018, 14:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultimate.Conj

It was a tongue-in-cheek comment, Den..apologies

On a serious note though, can they not take the HD feed and downscale it to SD?

Would this save some bandwidth on the network too? I'm not sure.

No apology needed

.

Ultimate.Conj · 26-06-2018, 14:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Our Cisco VHD box does this naturally on the SCART socket presenting downscaled SD here whilst full fat HD is on the HDMI connector simutaneously.

Does the TIVO do this as well?

If that's the case then there's really no need for the duplication.

The V6 doesn't have a SCART port, HDMI only. I think they are trying to minimise the SD channels, but there are some that are only broadcast/shown in SD.

As someone said in the earlier post, I too am sure the cost of filming/broadcasting in HD is significantly lower than it was 5/6 years ago.

I guess for the smaller channels it still doesn't make sense to put a lot of money into HD if their audience is small too.

oliver1948uk · 26-06-2018, 14:55

. . . Except as I have already stated many of us like the local news not available on the HD versions of BBC1 and, I think, ITV1

denphone · 26-06-2018, 14:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliver1948uk

. . . Except as I have already stated many of us like the local news not available on the HD versions of BBC1 and, I think, ITV1

Indeed no local news for our region is in HD because as soon as the main national news is finished its reverts to a screen saying its not available in HD.

fox35 · 26-06-2018, 15:48

This may sound silly, but in the case of channels that simulcast in both SD and HD, then why do the broadcasters and providers show both? Surely it makes sense just to broadcast the HD only version of a particular channel and so the the viewers TV or box will show a downgraded SD version of the same picture to viewers without an HD subscription or equipment on the same channel number, and also freeing up space? and so obviously HD viewers will receive the full HD variant also on the same channel number....?

Chloé Palmas · 26-06-2018, 15:55

While broadcasters still show both, providers like Sky / BT (unsure about VM) all charge a standalone fee for HD (10 a month or something as I understand it) but without an option for SD that charge may go away which is good but in HD format will it still air well without warp / pixelation on a 10 only capable of SD / 720 calibration? Short of a run on sales of TVs, removing Standard definition of what is already filmed in HD might be a good idea for providers and manufacturers alike but cable and satellite providers may lost the ability to charge for it as a base benchmark rate.