cool

Yes, it's about time the terrestrial broadcasters stepped into the fold. After Sky's lambast about Public Service broadcasters and the like, the service should now hopefully be available to the masses and not just the few people who are prepared to shell out for Sky's HD system as well as what they've already spent on TV sets.

excellent. championsleague in the HuD

Very welcome yes, but why is it taking so long? Japan is already planning to introduce the next HD standard but in the UK the broadcasters are acting like coy virgins. Get on with it for goodness sake.

the fact is that everyone is making the transfer before the deadline.

What deadline?

Do you mean terrestrial analogue TV switch-off? There is no deadline for the introduction of HD progamming as far as I am aware. Even the BBC who are usually out in front only has one trial HD channel.

Originally posted by JezQuig:

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Very welcome yes, but why is it taking so long? Japan is already planning to introduce the next HD standard

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- Can you provide some details about this?

Cos from what I've read no-one is doing anything other than 720p/1080i broadcasting.
The problem is that the bandwidth requirements/demands are far to great for anything beyond this to be truly a credible alternative.

Even Sky who have only just (summer 2006) launched their HD TV service (and therefore have possibly the most up-to-date kit in UK broadcasting?) have only gone with 720p/1080i.

But it's good to hear ITV (and Channel 4 btw) are getting on-board with HD TV, atm a lack of HD channels & content on UK TV is a big problem IMO.

Originally posted by JezQuig:

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What deadline?

Do you mean terrestrial analogue TV switch-off? There is no deadline for the introduction of HD progamming as far as I am aware. Even the BBC who are usually out in front only has one trial HD channel.

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I think it highly unlikely that there would be any sort of move towards total HD viewing for some time to come... if at all. See, as much as we all like hi-tech and going one better all the time, the lower tech seems to win through... especially with media formats. After all, who would have thought that lower quality mp3s would win over CD, or that we'd still be mainly burning single layer DVDRs when the technology is there for dual layer?

It'll probably be a two-tier market for many years, and unless theres a big drive to bring down the cost of HD equipment (As has happened with Digital Set-top boxes in the UK), it'll never be as successful as the standard "Telly" format we British are used to. It's more likely that it'll remain a cash cow for the manufacturing industry and will continue to be targeted toward the better off among us.