Digital TV

OK, i have a question, I understand that we will need some sort of decoder/set-top box for receive the digital signal, but how will the signal be delivered? satellite/cable/wireless antenna? None of the articles i have read have indicated this....

anyone know?
 
It will be the same terrestrial broadcasts as the current analog signal but instead of being analog it will be digital. Any DVB-T compliant TV will be able to tune in on it without the need for any alteration provided that they use the same bands that your current antenna can pick up (like UFT or VHF).

In the case of M-net there is speculation that they will simply stop terrestrial boardcast all together and clients will have to upgrade to DStv.

The article basically underlines the fact that marketing always ruins it for everyone.
 
I will only buy my decoder when I am certain that the digital signal reaches my house. I am not dropping cash only to have the thing gathering dust in the garage for 10 years while government try to complete the roll out of transmitters...
 
Well most people don't want to see adverts... It's something that gets shoved down our throats like taxes we can do f-all about it.

As for the digital signal. Why do you think they announce daily on SABC 2 that such and such a transmitter will be out during such and such a time? That's the upgrades they're doing to make the transmitters digital capable.

M-NET will never transmit their signal over a digital terrestrial network unless the STB's have got IRDETO in them, and as we already know, the esteemed ANC government wants to do their own thing in this regard.

I will only buy my decoder when I am certain that the digital signal reaches my house. I am not dropping cash only to have the thing gathering dust in the garage for 10 years while government try to complete the roll out of transmitters...
Click to expand...

If you are currently receiving the analogue signal, chances are you will be able to receive the digital signal.

Any DVB-T compliant TV will be able to tune in on it without the need for any alteration provided that they use the same bands that your current antenna can pick up (like UFT or VHF).
Click to expand...

I doubt that. It is supposedly going to be encrypted with some grandiose scheme devised by Poison Ivy.

I wish they'd try digital terrestrial radio aswell, but then that would put the average FM radio out of reach of the poor. Currently you can buy an FM radio for about R30
 
Last edited:
Turiko said:
If you are currently receiving the analogue signal, chances are you will be able to receive the digital signal.
Click to expand...

I doubt that everyone currently receiving analog (terrestrial) TV will automatically receive the digital broadcasts when it starts. The financial and technical outlay for this would be massive. I can foresee the changeover taking a year or 2 or 3 or ............ ;)
 
I have a TV card on my PC that supports DVB-T, so am I ok for viewing TV on my PC ???
What about HDTV, is it possible to view HD on a PC or do I have to buy some HD hardware for my PC ???

Thanks in advance
 
dabbler said:
I doubt that everyone currently receiving analog (terrestrial) TV will automatically receive the digital broadcasts when it starts. The financial and technical outlay for this would be massive. I can foresee the changeover taking a year or 2 or 3 or ............ ;)
Click to expand...

For those who receive the signal, yes. They will have to buy STB's unless they have TV's capable of decoding the signal. That's what I meant.

But the SABC is already modding ALL the transmitters across SA to do digital. They've even changed antennae on some sites.
 
kaspaas said:
If the advertising guys do a better job, people won't "scroll" past the adverts.
Click to expand...
This comment is based on this Patterson guy saying something quite stupid. The STB will not be a VCR or PVR. It is a simple real-time receiver/decoder. How can one skip adverts on a live signal?
 
Yes you will be able to view tv on your pc. I can view the digital tv on my laptop, I just plug in my antenna and point it in the general direction of the Sentech tower and I pick up the digital signal.

To view HD on your pc you will need some HD input (HDMI port ?) since the HD protocol is encrypted and needs a HD device to communicate with.


MR.C said:
I have a TV card on my PC that supports DVB-T, so am I ok for viewing TV on my PC ???
What about HDTV, is it possible to view HD on a PC or do I have to buy some HD hardware for my PC ???

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
 
sprinkaan said:
Yes you will be able to view tv on your pc. I can view the digital tv on my laptop, I just plug in my antenna and point it in the general direction of the Sentech tower and I pick up the digital signal.

To view HD on your pc you will need some HD input (HDMI port ?) since the HD protocol is encrypted and needs a HD device to communicate with.
Click to expand...

Oh, so the signal is unencrypted then? What channels are you picking up?
I am not surprised :) Thank you for your input.
 
Turiko said:
M-NET will never transmit their signal over a digital terrestrial network unless the STB's have got IRDETO in them, and as we already know, the esteemed ANC government wants to do their own thing in this regard.
Click to expand...

When Sentech went digital there were talks that they would also use irdeto so that you do not need a second decoder (Vivid) and a second smart card. But that did not work and you now need a separate decoder for Vivid. There is no chance that irdeto is going into any of the STBs - instead it will have some goverment e-services crap added to it.

Hopefully they do encode the DVB-T channels cause then you can buy a TV without having a TV License.

Turiko said:
I wish they'd try digital terrestrial radio aswell, but then that would put the average FM radio out of reach of the poor. Currently you can buy an FM radio for about R30
Click to expand...

Hehehehe - well - as spectrum is a wanted commodity I would like to see digital radio become reality. You can carry a FM quality signal on frequencies below 30 MHz using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) since it uses MPEG-4 compression. Also, since this is in mostly in the medium wave sector the signal will travel a lot further and is open for DXing. If all radio is migrated to that then the entire FM radio spectrum can be used for something more meaningful.
 
Bottom line is .. there is no way in heck that i'm forking out R700 bucks to watch TV.
No flipping ways.
I thought that the advertising I am forced to watch pays for my TV?
 
Either way you will pay. Take these examples :

*Your are an existing digital TV user using monochoice, you pay monthly subscriptions and a TV license.
*You are an existing digital TV user using sentech vivid, you pay a TV license.
*You are a M-net subscriber - you will have to pay to go over to DStv and then you pay monthly subscriptions and a TV license.
*You are a normal TV viewer - you will have to pay for a DVB-T set top box and then you pay a TV license.

Who scores the whole time ? That's right - government/SABC is bagging the TV License in all those scenarios.

The only hope is that somehow with this whole process you could land in a position where you can tell them you don't have a STB or DStv so you are not receiving anything so they must get the hell out of here with their TV License fee. But they will make sure that loop hole is closed... How I don't know.
 
You will still need a tv license regardless. they'll make sure of that
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X