Hi crew,

Returning to oz for good in Oct. I run vista media centre over here for all my tv goodness. I run two digital tv (sd) cards, but dont know if they will work there. If they dont ill ebay them. So questions -

1. Is there free HD trestrial?
2. What diggy tv cards do i need for oz?
3. How many free to air diggy channels are there?

Ta.

1. Yes
2. See if australia is listed in your location settings?
3. http://www.yourtv.com.au/

We use DVB-T which I believe is exactly the same as the UK...

Rather than us going through the entire list of cards, why don't you tell us what cards you have, and we might be able to say if they're sold in .au or not...

Popular cards here are the DVICO, Twinhan and Hauppage brands... but there are a lot of them.

In terms of channels, we have ABC, 7, 9, 10 and SBS. ABC have three channels, 7 and 10 have a "HD" channel which sometimes shows something different to the main channel in HD and SBS has a dedicated news channel that has a lot of different foreign news.

abc only has 2 channels

urgh, my bad... I thought they had just brough back ABC3 for some reason (kids channel).

question - I just got digital TV w/ my new TV - it has the EPG thing, but I notice when I activate the guide, it basically takes like 20-30 seconds to load the program info, during which time it has to cut out the video feed. It's really annoying; is that normal or have I done something wrong?

you talking about the channel, or just the osd epg?

Most set top boxes / tuners support an "over-the-air" 7 day tv guide. Unfortunately, our networks have decided that they'll only give Now & Next over-the-air.

When loading NaN, I haven't seen a TV take 20-30 seconds to load the info, however I know that they can only receive guide data for the channel they're connected to - so perhaps your tv cuts out signal all together and quickly scans all of the channels to get the NaN data?

It really depends on the tuner you're using - you can't really do anything wrong with guide data - its automatic.

last edited by mongie at 11:04:10 12/Aug/08

Most set top boxes / tuners support an "over-the-air" 7 day tv guide. Unfortunately, our networks have decided that they'll only give Now & Next over-the-air.

When loading NaN, I haven't seen a TV take 20-30 seconds to load the info, however I know that they can only receive guide data for the channel they're connected to - so perhaps your tv cuts out signal all together and quickly scans all of the channels to get the NaN data?

Yeh that's what I'm thinking. I might try and record it to show you what I mean. Its really annoying, seems to be the sort of thing that should be utterly utterly trivial and fast and instead its gay and slow. Its almost faster to just flip between all the channels to see what is on.

Big tip is - guide data is nearly useless in Australia.

The guide is my favourite thing about Foxtel.

I mainly use the "info" button on my STB's - its the same thing, but doesn't bother with multiple channels - just the pid i'm watching.

last edited by mongie at 11:50:06 12/Aug/08

Trog, if you want Comcast-like experience, get Foxtel.

I did hear some time ago that the Networks had agreed to make the data available, however in a format different to what our set top boxes and tuners are able to receive - weird.

I still think Foxtel's prices are too high for what you get so I'm not really interested. They need to price it a bit more competitively against, like, the Internet. I'm interested to see the quality of their HD is - anyone know? Is it better than the bulls*** HD the FTA stations use?

If you want to setup free guide listing for media center in australia, use http://epgstream.net

Not quite as good as IceTV but its free!

no select TV...
its got all the discovery's, eurosport, BBC, movie-one/2/greats etc...
for like 30 bucks a month. it's the bomb.

http://www.selectv.com/

Is it a Sony Trog? Kind of dumb question knowing your stance on Sony, but I've read many Sony owners complain of this.

Our Panasonic shows all channels fine, no delay and they are all there.

I reckon FTA HD looks great, so much better than analogue. although it does depend on the show.

I still think Foxtel's prices are too high for what you get so I'm not really interested. They need to price it a bit more competitively against, like, the Internet. I'm interested to see the quality of their HD is - anyone know? Is it better than the bulls*** HD the FTA stations use?

Hang on - whats wrong with FTA HD?

I haven't got HD Foxtel at home, but considering the abysmal quality of their SD, I can only assume that it would look worse than FTA.

I'm sure I read somewhere that they were using some sort of crazy MPEG4, but surely that can't be right.

PS: I completely agree with you that its way too expensive - to get every channel including HD is now more than $130/month.

last edited by mongie at 15:51:55 12/Aug/08

foxtel sd is fine (perhaps its your tv mongie)

it used to be bad (their channel 9 was a shocker) but has since improved accross the board (obviosuly provided you use component cables with YUV signal turned on)

fta HD is EXCELLENT;

in particular the olympics are looking awesome;
footy always looks great too

Is it a Sony Trog? Kind of dumb question knowing your stance on Sony, but I've read many Sony owners complain of this.

Nah its a Samsung

Hang on - whats wrong with FTA HD?

It's generally s***, there's compression artifacts everywhere and it looks like balls as soon as there's any motion or if there's a lot of things on the screen. It's mostly Channel 7; channel 10 is heaaaaaaaaaaaps heaps heaps better. SBS also seems to suck; it has some weird laggy effect thing going on which again just looks like bad compression techniques.

Foxtel use far higher compression that FTA SDTV.

there's compression artifacts everywhere

Are you sure these are compression artifcats? It could be signal breakup, or that you're not actually watching HD programming... It could also be your HD tuner / panel.

it looks like balls as soon as there's any motion

Is it an LCD? :D

or if there's a lot of things on the screen.

I've never seen this - ever?

yer, you getting a decent signal?

channel 7 used to be my flakiest channel, sounds a bit like the signal is breaking up:

http://hd.foxtel.com.au/what-is-hd/hd-demo.php

Rather than us going through the entire list of cards

thanks for all the imput guys. sorry mongie, posted late last night and meant to put that in.

hauppauge 1300

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_hvr1300.html

mooby, I don't see why that wouldn't work here...

channel 7 used to be my flakiest channel, sounds a bit like the signal is breaking up

mine too.. strangely.. when someone is standing in the middle of the loungeroom it's perfect :/


I had some problems with my cordless phone some time back, and a friend came over and setup a new phone jack behind the tv.


go figure... perfect HD tv reception when it's on. unplugged it and things goto s***.


one day I hope they invent some sunglasses or something so we can see the fields different devices give off. that way we'll be able to set up stuff in the home without the usual hit-and-miss learning curve

last edited by koopz at 23:11:47 12/Aug/08

thanks mongie. might hang on to em, then upgrade to a hd card later.