Was just going through the TV guide to see when the Accenture Matchplay starts on Fox Sports. Much to my annoyance I have now realised that it won’t be shown at all on Fox Sports. It is only going to be shown on thr new Ten HD channel. This channel is only available in the capital cities which dosn’t help anyone like me in a regional centre. It gets worse though as I understand that Ten HD has the exclusive rights to a number of other golf tournamants some of which include the Tournamant Players Championship. Not Happy.

That’s a joke, 10 ran their big marketing campaign about how sport should be free for all Australians to watch…I guess they meant all Australians in capital cities with a digital receiver. That, or they want the rights and they don’t care who sees it.

I did see however that Ten HD will be showing the Masters and US Open in HD. Lucky for me I’m in Sydney and can view it in true HD, but it would suck not have access to it.

At least they won’t cut it off short if it goes overtime or into a playoff when their ‘morning shows’ want their airtime.

I personally can’t wait to watch the golf in HD!

I am with JohnG, cannot wait!! I do however sympathise with those who cannot get HD.

How do you get HD and how much $$$$$

You just need a HD set top box, they aren’t that expensive. The only problem is posted above – you need to be in a capital city to recieve HD coverage.

1. Forget the settop box. There are a number of 106cm Plasma’s with integrated HD tuners on the market for about $1500-$1800 now – Panasonic Samsung LG – you just plug em in and they tune themselves. Superb.

2. When is the accenture matchplay on pls ?

You can pick up a H.D. set top box for around $150 & I am in Townsville which is not a Capital city. So I would you check out your nearest Electtrical retailer to find out if they have one & if you can use it where you are.

Have to say that it’s a rather nasty precedent forcing people to buy an HD tuner to watch “free to air” golf . Makes me wonder if there’s a sweetener from some of the manufacturer’s at work here?More likely, they just need to have more people convert to justify their expenditure on HD transmitters etc.

You can get yourself a HDTV USB stick for well under $100 ($49 @ MSY Computers in Melb). Then you can watch TV on your computer, including all the currently available HD channels.

Will this HDTV USB stick work on any computer/laptop, eg not currently able to watch any tv. Or do you have to already be able to watch tv on your computer?

Are Channel 10 going to retransmit their digital channels on Foxtel down the track anyway….?

Foxtel are going HD mid-year so it’s a possibility – Ch 7 have gone on Tivo’s side but everyone else will be there.

Josh_N – That stick will give you all the channels. Make sure you get a reasonable one though as the software is what will make the process stress free. Good brands are Pinnacle, Haupage (not correct spelling)

See here

Have to say that it’s a rather nasty precedent forcing people to buy an HD tuner to watch “free to air” golf . Makes me wonder if there’s a sweetener from some of the manufacturer’s at work here?More likely, they just need to have more people convert to justify their expenditure on HD transmitters etc.

i thought all TV is going this way, not sure about regional i guess, this year analog was supposed to be switched of and the only way you could watch tv was with a digital tv or set top box but it got put back a few years not 100% sure thats right though.

Super glad it’s not on fox though at least some good sports are still free.

Have to say that it’s a rather nasty precedent forcing people to buy an HD tuner to watch “free to air” golf

It’s the way of the future man!

I tell you, digital TV craps all over analogue stuff, and HD on a good LCD screen is another step up.

Watched the 20/20 cricket in HD the other night and it was awesome.

You can pick up a set top box with your groceries from Aldi if you want to, wont be the best but will show you what you’re missing out on.

Matt

While the claims from ten are that you wont receive TenHD outside of a capital city, I live in Newcastle and have no problems with TenHD. The frequency is 219.5 MHz, if the scan doesn’t pick it up set this as a channel and see what happens.

I have the el-cheapo QASA 32” lcd with in-built HD tuner, was under $1000 from JB Hifi.

Worth it just for the golf ;)

The only problem is posted above – you need to be in a capital city to receive HD coverage.

For example, I get my digital signal from Bendigo (Mt Alexander) and all stations have HD: ABC (through Channel 20), SBS (through Channel 30), 10/SC (through Channel 50), 9/WIN (through Channel 80) and 7/Prime (through Channel 60). I watched the US Masters in HD last year. Look up Digital Broadcasting Australia for their reception guide. So it’s a question of whether the local HD signal will relay the 10HD transmission.

The best option is a digital HD television, failing that get a set-top box with SD and HD capability.

I’d be very surprised if you lived near a regional centre and couldn’t pick up the HD channels, including 10 (Ch 50 up my way).

If you don’t have an HD STB or HD TV you are really missing out on quality of vision and sound. Golf looks spectacular in HD as you can clearly see the ball in flight. Have a look at the HD loop on Channel 9 (Ch 80) in a shop as they show some of the 1997 Masters – it is fantastic.

I prefer to buy a STB rather than integrated as it gives me more options. Mine is the highly regarded Topfield which gives great pictures, fast channel change and excellent sound.

I am about to work on putting together a PC using Vista which will become my HD STB, HD recorder and games console. You need a very fast processor and truck loads of disc to handle HD on a PC (and that’s why HD PVRs are so expensive).

I am about to work on putting together a PC using Vista which will become my HD STB, HD recorder and games console. You need a very fast processor and truck loads of disc to handle HD on a PC (and that’s why HD PVRs are so expensive).

I’ve investigated it a couple of times, and given the extra features, it’s certainly worth considering… A Shuttle system, a DVico Fusion DVB-T dual tuner card and eSATA PCI-E card onto an external 1TB HDD would be the way to go for a system like that, IMO. You’ll get more hours of recording than you can shake a stick at, plus direct access to all those ripped movies you own :)

How does Digital reception compare to normal signals? Or are they essentially identical? If a digital signal is patchy will it break up or just completely blue screen?

We are in a pocket where you need a damed big aerial – and so we can’t get a tellybision in the bedroom (no outlet).

If this is a candidate for Dumb Post of the Year, please be gentle.

Whitednj: The cpu requirements for a HD-HTPC aren’t that grand. Disc space yes.

A good quality HD-TV tuner and any old PCI-e graphics card will be fine. SATA and RAID are top ideas for increasing HDD throughput. MythTV is a wonderful application.

Dual tuners are the go, the ability to watch one HD channel and record another is great.

muntz: As the signal is digital either 1 or 0, rather than analogue a much weaker signal will still produce a perfect picture. If the signal does drop off completely, a blank (often blue) screen will be displayed.

It is the same with cables.

Simply

The quality of an RCA cable has a very large impact on sound and picture quality particularly as the length of the cable increases, due to degradation of the analogue signal.

HDMI however is a digital signal and a $12 cable will produce exactly the same picture as the $400 monster cables. As long as the receiver can tell the difference between on and off everything is good.

Not at all a dumb post mate.

Our TV reception in the bedroom is also shocking, but digital is perfect using only a coathanger. (really need to kill the bedroom tv though. Nothing like late night murder and crime shows to kill the romance!!!)

OK – really getting off topic here, but are there any decent solutions for getting Foxtel into another part of the house without shelling out for another connection?

Tried one of those wireless re-transmitters from Dick Smith but interference from other wireless devices rendered it useless.

Sure there are. It depends on what you want. If you just want to replicate the picture and sound cables will do the job. If you want to watch 2 different channels then I believe you’d need a seperate box. I am not sure if the agreement with foxtel will allow you to watch the output on more than one display at a time. Sometimes these contracts have some funny conditions.

email me if you want.

How does Digital reception compare to normal signals?

In capital cities, e.g. Melbourne and Sydney, most digital signals are still carried on the old VHF, plus a few (like SBS) on UHF. In the rural areas, just about all digital channels are UHF. So there may be some aerial requirements depending on where you live. UHF may have slightly better quality because in some areas VHF transmitters are low-powered compared to UHF, but the biggest difference is just that more frequencies are available on UHF for broadcasting.

My place is about 60km direct from the Mt Alexander transmitters, and with our old combined VHF/UHF antenna, the only digital signal we could get was SBS. We put in a new (longer) UHF-only antenna with an amplifier and it’s fantastic. My daughter’s place is on the wrong side of a hill in inner Melbourne, and they also needed a new VHF/UHF antenna because of poor reception issues.

The Digital Broadcasting Australia website I mentioned earlier has a heap of information on digital television and reception.

This is from dtvforum.info. I don’t have foxtel to verify but these guys are experts:

I want to watch Foxtel in another room ?

Foxtel Multiroom is one option. Another is a wireless AV Sender. Foxtel set top boxes output the video and audio out various connections at the same time so there are many other options. *Check your Foxtel terms.

What is Foxtel Multiroom ?

(Note Foxtel are now calling having an additional STB in another room, Multiroom, so it is confusing).
The Foxtel Multiroom remote kit is a product for viewing/controlling Foxtel at location in your house away from where your Foxtel set top box is located. Not as good as having a second box (because it just shows what is on your main Foxtel box) but it doesn’t have ongoing fees.
It consists of a remote and remote sensor package you buy that can be used to control Foxtel in another room. You connect your own coaxial cable (RG-6 normally) to the RF output on your existing Foxtel set top box and run it to the other location. At this other location your cable then plugs into the Multiroom remote sensor which connects to your other TV’s RF input. Check that your STB will output the power required by the remote sensor (iQ).