{"id":89079,"date":"2013-10-16T12:15:48","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T10:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=89079"},"modified":"2013-10-16T13:10:42","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T11:10:42","slug":"openview-hd-launched-and-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/89079-openview-hd-launched-and-tested.html","title":{"rendered":"OpenView HD launched and tested"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>OpenView HD (OVHD) decoders from <a title=\"Ellies\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/398597-Ellies-Holdings\">Ellies<\/a>\/Elsat recently became available at South African retailers, with the box, dish, and installation going for around R1,600.<\/p>\n<p>Once installed, OpenView HD has no further fees, and Platco Digital has promised that it will remain \u201cfree forever\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On its own, the Elsat OVHD decoder has a recommended retail price of R999, which means you can shave R600 or so off the installation cost if you have an existing <a title=\"TopTV\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/385929-TopTV\">TopTV<\/a> dish in place.<\/p>\n<p>For your R1,000, Ellies offers a decoder with the following specifications:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1080i high definition (HD), 16:9 widescreen compatible;<\/li>\n<li>Surround sound compatibility via HDMI cable;<\/li>\n<li>Parental controls and electronic programming guide;<\/li>\n<li>F-type RF-in connector for the satellite dish (LNB);<\/li>\n<li>HD output via HDMI 1.3; and<\/li>\n<li>SD output via RCA audio\/video cable, or RF out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to Ellies, two decoders can be controlled with the same remote, and multiple decoders can be chained so they share the same dish.<\/p>\n<p>As noted on the decoder box, to view HD channels you will need at least an \u201cHD Ready\u201d (or 720p) TV with HDCP-compliant HDMI ports.<\/p>\n<p>The decoder also only comes with an RCA cable, so you\u2019ll need to buy an HDMI cable if you don\u2019t already have one.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_89081\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-89081\" class=\"size-full wp-image-89081\" alt=\"OpenView HD Elsat decoder\" src=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/OpenView-HD-Elsat-decoder.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/OpenView-HD-Elsat-decoder.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/OpenView-HD-Elsat-decoder-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-89081\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">OpenView HD Elsat decoder<\/p><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">OpenView HD channel line-up at launch<\/h3>\n<p>As announced earlier in October 2013, OpenView HD has launched with 15 channels: SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3, e.TV, eKasi+, eAfrica+, eMovies+, Glow TV, ASTV, Deen TV, eToons+, Mindset TV, Da Vinci Learning, Spirit Word Channel, and Inspiration TV.<\/p>\n<p>At the time of writing, Glow TV was displaying a \u201cComing Soon\u201d banner and 4 of the 15 channels appeared to be broadcasting in 1080i.<\/p>\n<p>Based on information output by the decoder, the OpenView HD channels broadcasting in HD at launch are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>e.tv<\/li>\n<li>eKasi+<\/li>\n<li>eMovies+<\/li>\n<li>eToons+<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of the 4 HD channels, only e.tv was broadcasting HD content when we tested the service on the morning of 16 October 2013.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">First impressions<\/h3>\n<p>While the competition that OpenView HD brings to the South African satellite TV space (or more generally: the multi-channel broadcast platform market) is welcome, the R1,600 price tag is steep.<\/p>\n<p>Comparing OVHD to other entry-level services such as <a title=\"Sentech\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/220208-Sentech\">Sentech<\/a>\u2019s <a title=\"Freevision\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/563355-Freevision\">Freevision<\/a> and <a title=\"DStv\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/383647-DStv\">DStv<\/a>\u2019s EasyView, it\u2019s worth remembering that the cost includes an HD decoder while its competitors only offer SD at this stage.<\/p>\n<p>One could argue then, that the biggest drawcard of OVHD over other entry-level multi-channel services is that it offers HD channels.<\/p>\n<p>If it\u2019s HD you\u2019re after, and not the entertainment or kids\/education channels (where OVHD seems to have <a title=\"OpenView HD vs Freevision vs DStv EasyView\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/87929-openview-hd-vs-freevision-vs-dstv-easyview.html\">more options than its direct competitors<\/a> for the moment), keep in mind that OVHD\u2019s HD channels do not broadcast only HD content.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Availability<\/h3>\n<p>At a recent launch event, <a title=\"Platco Digital\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/547417-Platco-Digital\">Platco Digital<\/a> boss <a title=\"Maxwell Nonge\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/550623-Maxwell-Nonge\">Maxwell Nonge<\/a> announced that OpenView HD is available at the following retailers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>OK Furnishers,<\/li>\n<li>Jet Mart,<\/li>\n<li>Pick n Pay,<\/li>\n<li>Hirsch\u2019s,<\/li>\n<li>Extreme Discounters,<\/li>\n<li>Game,<\/li>\n<li>Dion Wired,<\/li>\n<li>Makro,<\/li>\n<li>House &amp; Home,<\/li>\n<li>Hi Fi Corporation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Disclosure Message: The author\u2019s OpenView HD installation was provided by Platco Digital.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"related\">More satellite TV news<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/88919-dstv-installation-voucher-changes-to-stop-fraud.html\"><strong>DStv installation voucher changes to stop fraud?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/87929-openview-hd-vs-freevision-vs-dstv-easyview.html\"><strong>OpenView HD vs Freevision vs DStv EasyView<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/88169-toptv-becoming-startimes-tv.html\"><strong>TopTV becoming StarTimes TV?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/87262-sabc-cant-stop-us-openview-hd.html\"><strong>SABC can\u2019t stop us: OpenView HD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What to expect from OpenView HD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":83719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[2092,18911,21823,35,20163,20837,20709,20533],"class_list":["post-89079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-e-tv","tag-ellies","tag-elsat","tag-headline","tag-high-definition-hd","tag-maxwell-nonge","tag-openview-hd-ovhd","tag-platco-digital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89079"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89091,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89079\/revisions\/89091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}