Digital TV STBs will be expensive

What about those DVBT antennas they sell on BidorBuy, eBay, etc?

Would they work?

Actually just bought one and awaiting delivery
 
Does not matter which format is cheaper for the public.

But before I approve your format it does matter how much money your going to invest in my brother's cousin's sister's business.

If the wheel is greasy, oil it.
 
IPTV

There is no DSTV it is dead and so are decoders/set top boxes. Long live IPTV. I open up bit torrent and lo and behold I can watch amazing tech break throughs or just stream it on my phone. There are 40 ways to watch legitimate free high quality content. Besides, youtube surfing is becoming quite a past time in it's own right. Again companies like dstv and vodacom play games with their pricing. I say keep playing that game and you won't have customers overnight! Yes I said it, when that smart ass startup from silicon valley drops a bomb you didn't buy in time or tie up with legal tape your days are over! Oh I forgot, make large profits now and leave it to someone else to mop up the after math!
 
Why do people actually care? With the current fracas between DSTV and TOPTV, you can get STB's for their bouquets installed sub R200 and offered a lot more channels depending on your preference. Why would anyone purchase a state sanctioned STB to watch the same basic crap? :wtf:

MartyMarts said:
Why will we need STBs ??
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Due to the switching off of analogue transmission, the old yagi's will work no more :p
 
nalu said:
There is no DSTV it is dead and so are decoders/set top boxes. Long live IPTV. I open up bit torrent and lo and behold I can watch amazing tech break throughs or just stream it on my phone. There are 40 ways to watch legitimate free high quality content. Besides, youtube surfing is becoming quite a past time in it's own right. Again companies like dstv and vodacom play games with their pricing. I say keep playing that game and you won't have customers overnight! Yes I said it, when that smart ass startup from silicon valley drops a bomb you didn't buy in time or tie up with legal tape your days are over! Oh I forgot, make large profits now and leave it to someone else to mop up the after math!
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Wall of text FTL....
 
Kosmik said:
Why do people actually care? With the current fracas between DSTV and TOPTV, you can get STB's for their bouquets installed sub R200 and offered a lot more channels depending on your preference. Why would anyone purchase a state sanctioned STB to watch the same basic crap? :wtf:
Due to the switching off of analogue transmission, the old yagi's will work no more :p
Click to expand...
Exactly. Sounds like a few big money makers trying to protect potential income streams and to hell with Joe public, as usual.
 
Kosmik said:
Due to the switching off of analogue transmission, the old yagi's will work no more :p
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But don't all these new(ish) LCDs, Plasma, HD ready TVs etc come with digital tuners? My sister recently bought a 32" Sony FHD TV and it picks up the 3 sabc channels, some sabc news channel, etv and whole lot of radio stations via a digital signal.
Will the STBs just be required by us poor folk with old CRT TVs?
 
I have said this a million times before - stop terrestrial broadcasts !

In South Africa we have been using DVB-S for 15 years now and STBs are selling for below R500. There is not digital drop off (digital cliff) and the choice of what is available to you is pretty huge. It is just better than DVB-T in every way.

Rather use terrestrial broadcasts for latency sensitive uses such as telecoms, but for pete sake don't waste it on mindless one-way broadcasts - we have satellites for that.
 
The SABC is running out of time. analog is dead so they need to sort this out soon.

DVB-T is the way forward.
 
Buzybuy said:
The SABC is running out of time. analog is dead so they need to sort this out soon.

DVB-T is the way forward.
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No. Anything-T is dead. We already have the future and it is -S, multichoice has it, vivid has it - no more spending is required. Switch to DVB-S, the S is for Super.
 
i already have a digital tuner and will not buy one of those crappy boxes.
 
Tns said:
i already have a digital tuner and will not buy one of those crappy boxes.
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Most people already have multiple digital tuners - your DSTV is a fully functional DVB-S receiver & decoder. That is why I am saying stuff DVB-T and even more set top boxes, we have enough. For the poor people just ramp up the production of Vivid decoders and dishes - prices will come down and we can fee up terrestrial transmission for something better and TV.
 
Naaaaah, not interested.

Pass.

Besides, those who got the expensive sets, will just get hit by affirmative shopping...
 
Her statement was rubbished by various industry players, including M-Net and e.tv.

Ex-Minister of Communications, Siphiwe Nyanda, revealed later that South Africa's chosen standard remains DVB-T, but that recent technological advances caused the whole SADC region to "explore the possibility of using a different standard."
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This proves that technology development progresses at a pace faster than ANC-decision-making does.
They can't decide on a standard until the back-end wheeling and personal-enrichment dealing can be settled, and just as they are about to start planning how to start passing the buck about passing the bucks, whammo, a new standard is on the market. Shame. So they have to start their "negotiations" again ...
 
It’s called forward planning, The ANC need funds for the next election.
 
Rouxenator said:
Most people already have multiple digital tuners - your DSTV is a fully functional DVB-S receiver & decoder. That is why I am saying stuff DVB-T and even more set top boxes, we have enough. For the poor people just ramp up the production of Vivid decoders and dishes - prices will come down and we can fee up terrestrial transmission for something better and TV.
Click to expand...

Agree, terrestrial signal distribution is expensive and inefficient in a large sparsely populated country, hell I am only 26 kilometres outside Cape Town and my terrestrial signal is rubbish because there is a great big mast between me and the source signal full of disrupting gadgets used for the SAT3/SAFE landing station.

Satellite would be a much better delivery mechanism for us, and cheaper for the consumer too probably, but to my knowledge we would probably be the first country in the world to go that route, and we probably won't because the greasing of wheels capability would be limited.

Is there any reason why other, less corrupt, more logical countries haven't gone the route of satellite only?
 
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