Sixteen million UK households will have access to Freeview HD by Christmas 2010, according to Freeview managing director Ilse Howling. Speaking at London’s Intellect Consumer Electronics Conference, Howling said the new service, featuring BBC HD, ITV HD, Channel 4 HD and (at some point) Five HD will be available to half of all UK homes in time for the 2010 World Cup. This will rise to 60 per cent by the following Christmas.
Howling also revealed that there are now one million Freeview+ PVRs in use, a figure achieved in just 12 months. ’40 per cent of all current Freeview box sales are PVRs. And with 12 million analogue videos, DVD, and other recorders in UK homes we know there is an even bigger market out there,’ she declared.
The Freeview chief also confirmed that work was progressing on a next-generation Freeview box, able to offer BBC iPlayer and other VOD services. ‘These Freeview services will stand alongside the very best in the market today, and side-by-side with new products as they emerge, such as the proposed Canvas service.’
Speaking at the same event, Sony UK’s managing director chief Steve Dowdle urged the UK CE industry to work together to develop and promote new IPTV services. ‘Let us as an industry work together, without lots of consultations and investigations,' he said. 'Get the right people in the room. It may be a bit contentious, but that way we can get on and we can drive business.’
Sony’s proprietary Internet TV service, Applicast, featured on a small range of its LCD TVs, currently lags behind competing products from Samsung, which uses the Yahoo TV Widgets platform, and Panasonic’s Viera Cast content portal.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited
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In the latest Home Cinema Choice:
So where are the Freeview HD
cerebros - 3 July 2009 - 7:59pmSo where are the Freeview HD boxes to receive Freeview HD on? And how soon before it's integrated into TVs bearing in mind only Panasonic are doing integrated Freesat tuners at the moment despite Freesat having been around for a while now?
At least 1080p50 is best
Joseph Einstein (not verified) - 5 July 2009 - 3:37pmFreeview HD should be at least 1080p50 resolution with a high bitrate. None of that low frame rate 24-25fps juddery and jerky stuff please BBC.
And please make the 1080p50-capable Freeview HD boxes available as soon as possible please, because 1080i50 or 25fps is just not good enough for current HDTVs.
What planet are uo n
Kevo (not verified) - 6 July 2009 - 12:54pmWhat planet are uo n 'Einstein'?
Of course 1080i is good enough for for modern TV
And who broadcasts in 1080p?....NOBODY
I think you've been watching too many blu ray popcorn cgi movies.
I'm more concerned about the added confusion it will make to the current sd digital switch over which is currently taking place
We need 1080p50 for Freeview
Joseph Einstein (not verified) - 8 July 2009 - 7:27amThe EBU project manager Hans Hoffman says we should "Act now for 1080p50"
See this page describing how we should have 1080p50 as soon as possible. http://tvbeurope.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1790
And 1080i is not good enough, interlacing is a technique originally decided upon for CRT TVs, from many years ago, before digital TV where the compression can be done in codecs instead of throwing every other line of TV pictures away before they are broadcast. Current TVs are progressive, there's no need for many interlacing/de-interlacing and filtering stages which reduce picture quality as well as resolution. Also interlaced footage is harder to compress.
According to Hans Hoffman, project manager of the EBU "If 1080p50 is used for transmission it "provides better quality at reasonable bitrates. You do not need higher bitrates than 1080i".