Big gaps in HDTV data

netmask · Post by **netmask** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 17:11

The subject says it all

prl · Post by **prl** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 18:10

netmask wrote:The subject says it all

Do you mean this, or a bigger problem?

IceTV only shows native HD broadcasts in its HD timetables. SBS has no native HD broadcasts. Currently ABC is only showing Rain Shadow, Captain Cook: Obsession and Discovery, The Catalpa Rescue, Dorothy the Dinosaur and Erky Perky in native HD. That's more than they usually have showing in prime time. The last native HD drama that ABC TV showed was Bastard Boys (dramatisation of the Maritime Union's strike against Patrick's).

The commercials only have to show 1040 hours of native HD each year. That's less than 3 hours a day. They do in fact show a bit more, in 2006, between 1318 hours (Ten) and 2144 hours (Nine), but not all of that is prime time. Prime time is more round the 400-650hours/year mark (~1-2 hours/day). The details are here.

Except for the extra non-simulcast (mainly late-night) HD that Seven recently started broadcasting in the state capitals, the IceTV guide really does have all the native HD that there is to watch. It's just not all the programming on the HD channels.

peterjcat · Post by **peterjcat** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 18:46

You can go to the IceTV website and tell it to "Copy SD programming to HD channels" or similar, and it will fill in the gaps. However, you'll then lose the ability to distinguish native HD programs and upscaled SD programs (since the Beyonwiz EPG doesn't currently display the HD flag). Also, 7HD is beginning to diverge from simulcasting the SD channel, with the other commercial HD channels to follow, so this workaround is getting less useful.

netmask · Post by **netmask** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 19:36

Guessed as much - pity IceTV can't fill the gaps with the SD programs upscaled in Italics or a different colour.

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 20:16

What we need is for the bw to read the existing flags in the data and then colour, or otherwise highlight, the actual HD programs. And while they are at it they could indicate which programs are repeats too.

But this issue becomes more complicated when the HD channels do not always show the same programs as their sister SD channels.

prl · Post by **prl** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 23:04

Its already a mess, because some channels show SD programs on the HD channels in prime time, and others don't, just showing their loop when they aren't broadcasting native HD. Multicasting on HD just makes it slightly worse