Its been round a little while now...so what are your thoughts on each of the HD Channels?

I must say I'm am disappointed with Nine so far, but loving TEN, particularly for their Sci-Fi Thursday nights. SEVEN seems to be making a go of it to some degree (especially with something like Supermodel). ABC & SBS both have a few interesting things on at times.

IMO - still a long way to go until they're true alternatives, but still I love the extra choice.

Yeah, there's still a while to go until the HD channels get up and running properly. I think 10 is leading on the alternative programming side of things. But yeah... we shall see.

I can still only get 7HD

Can anyone tell me ...are all ABC2's programs repeats after they have screened on ABC1?? Saw a great docu on Krakatoa the other night ...hadn't seen it advertised anywhere else though.

Quoted from Tasman

Can anyone tell me ...are all ABC2's programs repeats after they have screened on ABC1??

Not always. ABC2 has a small share of exclusive and/or first run content.

I don't watch ABC2 often enough to know, but I do know that they screen Good Game on ABC2 before it airs on ABC1. Also, I once watched an episode of this interview show called Shrink Rap which I'm not sure has ever aired on ABC1.

But yes, generally ABC2 is a dumping ground for repeats and time shifted programming.

Thanks silly. It would also be nice to see what percentage of people are watching these channels as I don't ever see ratings being available.

Hey ABC 2 has red dwarf!
I'd be curious to know ratings also.

We watch ABC 2 quite a bit, say for 2 hours a night...........and sometimes rock concerts on the weekend

I have just got my HD to work   so what should I be watching ? I see that tourchwood is on 10HD so thats a start, Q: can I record it on my old VCR ?

You can't unfortunately. The VCR only works in analog, and 10HD is a digital channel.

If it's a converter box that sends it to a normal TV then it would be recordable though.

It seems that the networks tried to offer a bit of alternative stuff on the HD channels, playing movies or or older shows and alternative programming to the late night 'paid commercial advertising' but that's mostly stopped.  I was a big fan of sci-fi Thursday but for now Smallville isn't on, Euereka isn't on, Journeyman got axed, and I missed the starting gun on Battlestar Galactica so never got into the plot well enough and it's too late now.  I've seen all the X-files too many times and I don't really have the patients for new things at the moment.

I only have HDTV because a while back I bought a laptop and when I opened the box it came with a bonus TV tuner that does HDTV.  I have that plugged into a home server and ever since then I've used it to watch HD shows that I don't really want to miss, but it isn't just flipping on the TV and it isn't even connected to the TV.  It sends encodes it into something small enough to send accross the wifi network and is picked up on my laptop, so that has a lot to do with not watching HD as much.  At the same time as it being a little bit more difficult, it's great for recording and even when I'm just watching it normally I can do that pausing it, or even better some things I'm a half hour late for and going straight through the commercials is nice.  
I was just remembering why I never just hooked the computer up to the TV and it was because I didn't want to spend on a remote control thing, however I just now realised that the computer has bluetooth and I can use my mobile as a remote.  I wonder if that's even worth setting up.  Probably not.
My computer shipped with Windows, supposidly didn't have bluetooth, no drivers were available for it, there was no indication of it, but I run Linux and one day I compiled an acpi module to see if I could... don't remember why now, I really didn't need this as I already had proper acpi support.  It turned up a bluetooth device though, I enabled it, and it works quite well.  I pull photos off my phone with it then send them back to this computer.  The laptop model isn't supposed to have that feature though.  I think it must be a feature on a later model, but it was cheaper to mass produce the boards with cheap bluetooth devices on all of them and not release a driver than it was to produce 2 differant sets of motherboards.  Don't know how it doesn't show up in the Windows device manager but I was really pleased when I made the find.

Just been pondering why my hubby and I purchased an HD TV when the likes of channel 7HD 9HD and 10HD etc only have HD programes listed once or twice a week mostly they are simulcast with 7digital  9 10 abc ect, I think we are being cheated into buying these appliances with false promises of HD-TV programmes that are not acutally being aired at all. I feel like selling our HD TV and going back to a cheaper brand of TV and watching Digital anyway cause thats all thats on anyway.  

Hmm this thread should be merged with our current HD-TV thread.

But in response, I've noticed since getting my new TV that the HD channels, although they are mostly simulcast, have a much better picture quality to them.

TartanGal - welcome to the eBlah forums!

Don't forget that a lot of 'simulcast' content on the HD channels is also broadcast in HD, so you'll still benefit from a much higher picture quality on popular shows such as Neighbours and Home & Away and many of the popular American dramas.

I agree though that it would be great to have a lot more alternative content on the HD channels. But you can still benefit from the HD picture quality on the "normal" shows..

Seven do seem to think 'alternative' is Make Me A Supermodel.  

We have a DVD recorder with a 250 gig hard drive which has a SD tuner so we can watch digital on our tele. If we bought a new HD tele would it receive HD signals if it came via the DVD recorder as it does now, or would it be still all in SD  ??

thanks for the info guys, Im so happy now  that I get SBS nice and clear   will still need to play around with it to see if I can record on the VCR. Plan to get a HD recorder, but Im still waiting to see what happens with all the Tech stuff.

Quoted from LB

We have a DVD recorder with a 250 gig hard drive which has a SD tuner so we can watch digital on our tele. If we bought a new HD tele would it receive HD signals if it came via the DVD recorder as it does now, or would it be still all in SD  ??

Come on all you young wizz kids, surely somebody can answer this   ??

I asked here, hopefully someone will answer

http://qna.live.com/ShowQuesti.....;pUrl=Browse.aspx%3f

someone replied -
no you would need a hd reciever,
thats what people dont understand,
new hdtv dosnt mean hdtv quality!!

but I don't think that's what you asked..?

Quoted from LB

We have a DVD recorder with a 250 gig hard drive which has a SD tuner so we can watch digital on our tele. If we bought a new HD tele would it receive HD signals if it came via the DVD recorder as it does now, or would it be still all in SD  ??

Short answer: Yes is will be all in SD.

Seeing as your input is SD, SD will be you output (shown on the tv) regardless of if you have a HDTV or not. If you want to record HD you will need a recorder that has a HD tuner.

Side note: If you still had a SDTV, and you recorded whatever program in HD using a recorder with a HD tuner, playback will be in SD, mainly because the TV is not HD enabled.

Can anyone tell me which is best? Plasma or LCD??

Quoted from Tasman

Can anyone tell me which is best? Plasma or LCD??

I personally like LCD better,but Plasma is closing the gap.You guys were talking about HD i could'nt care less about it really in my opinion it's just a alternate channel  to show old shows,old mini-series,and shows that have got axed get a new life on HD,generaly the stuff that gets axed originally i don't watch anyway lol.I know Channel 7 keeps talking about the talk show Andrew O'Keefe will host on HD but never happens and if it's shown and gets some sort of following they will put it on Channel 7 anyway Not that this will happen Andrew is hopeless lol

I understand there is a new type of TV coming out soon, in a format that will obsolete plasma and LCD............has anyone any info on this..??

What's it called?
do you mean blu-ray? that sucksssss

Quoted from Tasman

Can anyone tell me which is best? Plasma or LCD??

I think it all depends on the size,

Size matters you know,

and on what you watch a lot eg if you watch a lot of sport and there is a lot of fast movement then I believe that Plasma is better.

but this is just what I have herd,

quick some one find a 12 year old to get the right answer.

apparently plasma has better pic quality but I think LCD is better.

Yeah I see theres no 'right' answer by the looks of it. Even sales assistants all seem to have different ideas. I had heard on large screens over 50" that Plasma is better and on the smaller LCD is better. Plasma has a problem with 'burning' if you leave a picture on by mistake I've heard. Personally I'm leaning towards LCD *shrugs*

Quoted from buzz3

i could'nt care less about it really in my opinion it's just a alternate channel  to show old shows,old mini-series,and shows that have got axed get a new life on HD

Alternatives are great and I wish they would play more old series etc., I've watched some great things whilst nothing of interest was on the main ones. I have also liked the ABC2 coverage of the Paralympics  

Quoted from LB

I understand there is a new type of TV coming out soon, in a format that will obsolete plasma and LCD............has anyone any info on this..??

I've heard about a "laser" TV from a friend, but I can't substantiate this with any evidence.

It will be a while before it would catch on anyway. Plasma TVs were were like $20,000 during the early days.

These are the ones...........

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/CES/J3J9X7G7

Quoted from Tasman

Yeah I see theres no 'right' answer by the looks of it. Even sales assistants all seem to have different ideas. I had heard on large screens over 50" that Plasma is better and on the smaller LCD is better. Plasma has a problem with 'burning' if you leave a picture on by mistake I've heard. Personally I'm leaning towards LCD *shrugs*




Alternatives are great and I wish they would play more old series etc., I've watched some great things whilst nothing of interest was on the main ones. I have also liked the ABC2 coverage of the Paralympics  

This is what i have heard from so called experts i have read is if you are a fan of playing games definately LCD is the way to go

Cool thanks!!  

I'm finding TEN is really the station doing the best with HD. Lots of Sci-Fi. Never caught Torchwood before but really liking it!!!

YAY another on the Torchwood bandwagon!

Quoted from LB

Come on all you young wizz kids, surely somebody can answer this   ??

I see you got an answer.  However, I too also just purchased a DVD Recorder (SD) and a new HDTV (both Panasonic).  I can't really tell difference between HD (1080i is what TV broadcasts in so not TrueHD) and SD.  I noticed that with a HDMI connection (my DVD Recorder says it upgrades from DVDs but I haven't read further) my Foxtel (in SD as well) seems to be a lot better so I'm thinking that DVD Recorder upgrades the SD signal (maybe not to 1080p standard but still pretty good).

So, my experience is that for the additional $1000.00 they want for a HD DVD Recorder isn't worth it.