Is the Digital TV switch-on imminent?

If anyone in Cape Town can say if they are getting a signal for SABC1-3 on a DVB-T2 decoder of any sort, that would be a good start.

Personally I do not think the DVB-T2 transmitters have been switched on yet, if they even exist.
 
Can you buy dvb-t2 set top boxes locally? Will it work with SABC or will you need a special stb that you have to buy from them?
 
dade said:
Can you buy dvb-t2 set top boxes locally? Will it work with SABC or will you need a special stb that you have to buy from them?
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That is a very good question. As far as I am aware dvb-t2 STB's are not available here yet, and will not be until the DOC (department of communications) has got its local procurement / manufacturing facilities in place, along with its BBEE policies etc. To date reports suggest that a dvb-t2 STB will cost you around R800, which is expensive. I got mine in the UK for 35GBP, and it wasn't even made in China.

Since dvb-t2 is a 'standard', it will really boil down to whether the channels are encrypted or not, and here, at the moment they do not appear to be, but there is no guarantee they won't be in future. If they are, we will need to purchase a card to put in the decoder to decrypt the signal, or buy a specific device with the decryption routines built in.

In the UK there is a mixture of FTA (free to air) and pay channels available over DTT/DVB-T/DVB-T2. It is actually quite impressive. You will find more channels on DTT in the UK than we currently have on DSTV in ZA (way to go mono-choice!!!).

I am still sceptical of the DTT platform though. Satellite TV is just so much more flexible and cheaper as the footprint is much larger, and the installation costs for the consumer are so much lower. Am playing around with it for the novelty...
 
PS, yes it appears to work with SABC and E-TV at the moment, in Cape Town, on channel 38, but you will need a DVB-T2 decoder.
 
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IdlePhaedrus said:
PS, yes it appears to work with SABC and E-TV at the moment, in Cape Town, on channel 38, but you will need a DVB-T2 decoder.
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Thanks for the info.

Lucky you that you have a decoder.

I recently switched from dstv back to terestrial mnet and upgraded my uhf antenna. I also would like to play with dttv if only for the novalty.

Ps. The uhf amp nogal ewe said digital ready :p
 
anyone know where to get a cheap non sabc dvb-t2 decoder?
 
grim said:
Well I've been getting DVB-T signal in PTA for a while now without any noticeable interference, why all of a sudden make noise about CPT being switched on?
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Where in PTA have you been receiving signal? Can you actually get any channels?
 
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