FREEVIEW

[JJCRU23R]

Ive just been to the FREEVIEW website to see what all the fuss is about - and it really didnt answer what Ive been wanting to find out..

whats the difference between getting a HD tuner with FREEVIEW and an HD tuner without the FREEVIEW feature?

went to Big W and saw a regular HD tuner for $99, while the same brand HD tuner + FREEVIEW was $149?!

if anyone can help id really like to know, thanks.

Jase.

[Guest]

afaik there is no difference... freview is just the name for the extra digital channels.... maybe the freview one has a special EPG or something, or does HD...

[Brad!]

I'd say its to do with it having an EPG - Most decent tuners will have an inbuilt EPG anyway

[JJCRU23R]

EPG = the tv guide like in foxtel?

[¥uri]

EPG = the tv guide like in foxtel?

correct.

and I think `FREEVIEW is just an updated collective name for `Free-to-Air Television

...not a 100% sure, but someone please do correct me

also, if you buy a HD Tuner, it WILL have `FREEVIEW as standard

[Matty P]

Freeview is just a marketing campaign by the free to air channels to make it look like they are providing you more.

You do not require a special tuner (apart from your average digital tuner/set top box) and it only needs to be HD tuner to pick up HD channels such as One.

The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) has supposedly been improved as part of Freeview, but I'm not convinced of that!

[JJCRU23R]

i got used to foxtels EPG.. very convenient. if freeview offers a similar service (my previous HD tuner had no such feature) then i guess thats a good thing. meanwhile... must get antenna fixed. apparently jims antennas dont service my area.. will keep looking.

[DJKOR]

Yeah, this Freeview thing is just a marketing ploy. It's out there to hopefully make better sales. From my perspective, I find it quite funny, but I deal with everything TV related for my job.

Basically Freeview IS digital television. Every broadcaster is allowed 2 standard definition (SD) channels and 1 high definition (HD) channel. Being able to get up to three channels per station when compared to analogue TV is what made their marketing guys call it Freeview. See digital TV in the form of built in tuners and set top boxes have been out for ages. There are still quite a few people out there who haven't put thought to it and still use analogue TV. By calling digital TV by the name of Freeview, it sounds a bit more appealing I guess.

The EPG feature is always broadcasted with digital. Most in-built TV tuners and set top boxes these days already handle this and how well it displays it basically comes down to the quality of the TV/box you purchase. For example my $50 HD set top box here can only handle the next few programs on every channel, but my $600 ($850 retail) Samsung LCD with HD tuner can display up to 1 week of programs in advance for every channel tuned in.

[Hiro]

Agreed, Freeview is just a marketing term for the extra free-to-air digital channels, the price difference between the Freeview-capable tuner and the one without is most likely because one is an older model and is on run-out, whilst the newer one has the Freeview label (without having any "new" features).

As for EPGs, it is dependent on both the tuner AND the channel. My $1500 Panasonic 37" LCD has an awesome EPG (will do upwards of 1 week in advance), except that Prime never displays shows more than an hour or two in advance, and Southern Cross Ten has no EPG listings at all (but Southern Cross Ten Newcastle DOES).

One thing that pisses me off though is that I have 5 Prime channels (Prime Newcastle, Prime HD, View 1, View 2, View 3), and the three View channels are all identical What a waste of bandwidth.

[Tats]

Agreed on the wasted Prime channels. When DTV was in it's infancy, it was touted that such channels could be used for simultaneous broadcasts from the same event (i.e. Bathurst 1000 main channel + pit lane channel + in car cameras channel). Fail.