Half of Australia's first Freeview devices won't be Freeview compatible
Freeview is coming, but Adam Turner says around half of the Freeview-branded digital television equipment to go on sale in May won't support Freeview's advanced features.
After an initial campaign heavy on hype and light on details, Freeview is about to go into overdrive. A new advertising campaign will launch on April 26 and then Freeview-branded PVRs and set top boxes will hit the shelves on May 1. The Freeview consortium can't/won't tell me exactly who is releasing what. Instead they gave me a list of 10 manufacturers to call. Here's the list;
- Arista Electronics
- Beyonwiz
- DGTEC (Hills)
- Kogan
- LG
- Pixel Magic Products
- Sharp
- Strong Technologies
- TiVo
- Topfield
After ringing around, I know at least seven of these manufacturers will have boxes with Freeview stickers in May; Arista Electronics, Beyonwiz, DGTEC, Pixel Magic Products, Strong Technologies, TiVo and Topfield. The "maybe" list includes Kogan and LG, while I'm not sure about Sharp.
This looks like an impressive start for Freeview until you dig a little deeper. At least four of these manufacturers - TiVo, Beyonwiz, Topfield and Strong Technologies - will be releasing "Phase 1" Freeview equipment that doesn't support Freeview's planned advanced features.
All this means when Freeview gets around to releasing the fancy skin for the free-to-air EPG, and eventually perhaps other features such as Season Pass support, these devices won't be able to access them without firmware upgrade. That's *if* they can be upgraded and *if* the manufacturer decides to license the technology and release an upgrade. (Obviously TiVo doesn't give a stuff because it has its own advanced EPG).
The technology that we're talking about is MHEG-5, which lets you run apps on a CE device (kind of like Java, but not exactly). MHEG-5 shouldn't be confused with MPEG-4, which is an upcoming broadcast format which Australia may eventually embrace. All Freeview-branded equipment must be MPEG-4 compatible, but not MHEG-5 compatible until "Phase 2".
The amazing thing is that, even though Freeview hopes to introduce "Phase 2" devices with mandatory MHEG-5 by the end of the year, manufacturers are allowed to sell MHEG-5-less "Phase 1" devices for another three years. They're not even required to label them as "Phase 1", and Freeview chief executive Robin Parkes says "retailers will explain the benefits of each model to consumers". Yeah, right.
I don't really blame manufacturers for not introducing MHEG-5 up front, considering some claim that Freeview hasn't given them enough time to introduce it. To make matters worse, Freeview's Robin Parkes says she's only "90 percent" sure that MHEG-5 is the technology that will be used to support the advanced features. The problem is that Freeview is still negotiating a license to use MHEG-5, negotiations which are obviously complicated by the fact Freeview has already told everyone it intends to use it. So much for keeping a poker face at the negotiating table.
The whole MHEG-5 situation is a mess and typical of Freeview's strategy of making grand statements before consulting the industry. It doesn't bode well for early adopters.
Other Blog Entries written by Adam Turner:
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Comments: 4
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Apr 9, 2009 8:27 PM
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petergaskin
Apr 9, 2009 8:36 PM
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Who cares about freeview?
the biggest con around.
I will slowly adopt digital tv - in my own time of course. i still have a long time to go before I am pushed. In fact, I expect to need to change my tvs before the phase out of old style tv.
I will look for the best screen I can affford with a good viewer that will pick up both hd and sd. freeview - not required! |
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vjay
Apr 14, 2009 6:20 PM
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vjay
Apr 14, 2009 6:21 PM
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I smell ham, erm... I mean spam. |