Today, the BBC has officially announced the launch dates for Freeview HD for each television region in the UK, starting with Manchester and London on December 2nd 2009. It is claimed that 50% of the UK population will be able to enjoy Freeview HD in time for the 2010 World Cup which also means that 1 in 2 of people reading this will be disappointed.
Read our updated article When will Freeview HD be available where I live? to see when you can expect to receive Freeview HD.
Despite the imminent launch, the UK public will not be able to watch Freeview HD using their existing TV and Freeview set-top-box as it makes use of updated compression technology to ‘squeeze’ in that extra picture definition in to the signals received by existing TV aerials. To rub salt in the wounds of those who have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Freeview HD, there won’t be any compatible Freeview HD set top boxes or Freeview HD equipped televisions until early in 2010, with Humax expected to be among the first-to-market. The new technology makes use of the DVB-T2 compression format and the UK is believed to be the first country in the world to make use of it.
The only glimmer of hope is that PC users with Windows Media Center may be able to receive Freeview HD without any additional hardware, but that has yet to be confirmed by Microsoft.
At launch, only BBC HD and ITV HD will be available with the BBC appearing to have a more complete program line-up. At a later date, Channel 4 HD and Five HD are also expected to become available although the exact details are still a little vague.
Like me, there are going to be thousands, millions of people who will still be receiving standard definition Freeview TV for years to come. For these people, there are still two alternatives, in Freesat (free-to-air) and Sky HD (subscription based)- both of which are gaining new viewers at a phenomal rate by all accounts. As the Freeview HD rollout gains pace, you can be sure that there will be some deals to be had.
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What a bunch of mugs we are in the UK…We were told only a few scant years ago (3-5) that we needed to get the latest HD ready TV’s and be ready for the ‘digital revolution’…yada yada yada…So, guess what, yeah, we were suckered…how many countless millions went out and payed through the nose for ‘state of the art’ TV’s; set top boxes; etc etc and now, surprise surprise,they’ll soon be as useless as the mud on a hippo’s backside…the ‘latest’ deal from that Australian ‘never enough’ sky bloke is to reduce his prices to ensnare even more idiots like me who believed all the hype. The annoying and sad thing is, the EU powers that be allowed it all to happen, and we voted them in…surely the ultimate display of stupidity. 3 or 4 years down the road, we’ll be told that we now need to buy more new equipment, because there are now different standards, and all the new gear we bought in 2010, is obsolete…Nice state of afairs innit…
The goverments decision to sell of the ‘old’ analogue UHF tv frequencies via Ofcom is totally wrong and limits the amount of HD channels that will be available on Freeview to about 4. If the old analogue channels were to be recycled for Freeview HD that would add another 10 HD channels to Freeview HD. You can guess what I can think of that decision and the money gradding approach of the government, and the PROFIT orientated Ofcom. What a regulator, it simply makes as much as it can available for profit, and thats it.
Having been in the Electronic Service Industry for 30years Im am not surprised to hear that customers will have to update thier TV’s by purchasing another add on. Imust have been the only techy who was advising his customers not to purchase TV receivers with integral Freeview as Freeview and Freeview HD were not compatable. As some one who repairs this stuff and Installes Aerials I will continue to advised customers to purchase Tv, Freeview and freesat as seperate boxes, two reasons one is when you need to update or repair you wont lose the use of a Tv set or have to buy a new Tv.