Freeview HD to debut in December

[TimberWolf]

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/06...ew_hd_arrival/

But you'll have to move oop North initially and buy new hardware, as the current stuff being sold in the shops even today has been superseded.

Don't forget to retune your Freeview boxes after lunchtime today.

[The Lone Gunman]

But you'll have to move oop North initially and buy new hardware, as the current stuff being sold in the shops even today has been superseded.

Another bloody government sponsored con.
They have spent the last few years encouraging everybody to buy new digital equipment as required. Then announce that to get the new HD channels you will have to buy it all over again.

[DimPrawn]

Cash for clunkers (set top boxes).

[Moscow Mule]

Another bloody government sponsored con.
They have spent the last few years encouraging everybody to buy new digital equipment as required. Then announce that to get the new HD channels you will have to buy it all over again.

VHS-DVD-BluRay - it's no different. If you want progress, you have to pay...

Is there any chance Freeview boxes could get a firmware update to decode MPEG-4 or is it all on dedicated chips?

[The Lone Gunman]

VHS-DVD-BluRay - it's no different. If you want progress, you have to pay...

Is there any chance Freeview boxes could get a firmware update to decode MPEG-4 or is it all on dedicated chips?

I dont mind when it is new tech, but this stinks.
The public have been encouraged to go digital long before it was necessary. The manufacturers and Government have known for some time what the protocols would be, but there has been no information to tell the public which equipment would be compatable.
THIS STINKS.

I believe most of this is hard wired rather than a software fix, otherwise it would be OK.

If the UK is the only place using these protocols we are going to get shafted on kit price again.

[d000hg]

The poor public. That £15 freeview box from Tesco will only have provided them with loads of extra channels for a couple of years. Hardly a vast expense, especially when you don't have to use FreeviewHD... you don't need it and only a selection of channels will be offered in HD anyway.

[The Lone Gunman]

The poor public. That £15 freeview box from Tesco will only have provided them with loads of extra channels for a couple of years. Hardly a vast expense, especially when you don't have to use FreeviewHD... you don't need it and only a selection of channels will be offered in HD anyway.

To some people that 15 quid is a lot of money.
What about the thousands who bought HD tvs with built in freeview which were marketed on the basis that you would not need an extra box.
Why were such items marketed when the manufacturers knew they would be obsolete so quickly?

[HairyArsedBloke]

The lifetime of the cheap boxes is just over that required by the sale of goods act. I'm on my second box now and it looks like that one is playing up.

I'm thinking of getting one of those freesat boxes now.

[d000hg]

To some people that 15 quid is a lot of money.

Well they won't have HD TVs then will they?

[Moscow Mule]

To some people that 15 quid is a lot of money.
What about the thousands who bought HD tvs with built in freeview which were marketed on the basis that you would not need an extra box.
Why were such items marketed when the manufacturers knew they would be obsolete so quickly?

They all knew (if they'd done even the tiniest bit of research) that Freeview was not HD and that you need an HD source to get those TVs to show HD pictures.

They are not obsolete, Freeview isn't being switched off before the end of those TVs lifetimes (5-10 years).