Andre Yoskowitz
28 Jun 2008 13:57
The BBC has announced they have begun testing the transmission of HD services over Freeview using the second generation DVB-T specification DVB-T2. If the trials are successful then HD can be introduced to Freeview by December of next year, says the broadcaster.
The new spec is supposed to offer "30 percent more data-carrying capacity" as DVB-T "under the same conditions."
Justin Mitchell, DVB-T2 modem development team leader for the BBC, added: “This is a big step forward in enabling the introduction of full HD terrestrial on Freeview by the end of 2009.”
The trial was approved by the DVB Project, the industry-led consortium which designed the DVB-T2 specification.
Freeview uses the over 10 years old DVB-T standard but hopes to move to the DVB-T2 standards soon, especially for "use in a post-Analogue Switch-Off environment".
In 2005, the BBC ran a trial of DVB-T based HD content over Freeview but compatibility issues and bandwidth limitations prevented anything more than a trial.