Jai Parr Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 I heard Foxtel's digital network got the go ahead for a march 2004 release...Firstly I'm getting a WS TV in Feb should I just wait for the foxtel digital box or by a stb??? I hear that the foxtel box will be free!? Also will it be STD or HD or a mixter meaning HD compatible but it depends on the show????? Can anyone shed any light on this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdigital Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 I have heard that the foxtel stb's will be SD only. i was in the same boat and was thinking of waiting but thought I might as well get one now. I got a Nextwave STB 2 days ago. I can only get 2, 7, 9 and 10 but SBS doesn't show up due to my antenna and I can't warrant spending an extra $100-$200 on an antenna ontop of the $275 I spent for the SD STB just to get one extra channel. While the picture is very crisp and the sound great. Digital TV in aust seems to be still in it's infancy. I don't regret getting the STB at all but to be honest I would say I watch 70% foxtel so I bought it more out of curiosity. If you can afford to get a STB then get one. They make quite a bit of difference to quality of viewing, especially with a projector. I'm sure I will appreciate the STB with time and as digital programming gets better. But I honestly could have waited for the foxtel stb's to come out. Who knows foxtel may not make their march release anyway. They seem to be having alot of difficulties with the satellite changover so it may not happen till later in 2004. Pure specualtion though Just my 2 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wile E Coyote Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 Who knows foxtel may not make their march release anyway. They seem to be having alot of difficulties with the satellite changover so it may not happen till later in 2004. Pure specualtion though eh? They've been broadcasting on C1 now since June and quite successfully. All they've been waiting for is the ACCC to give them the go ahead to charge other companies to access the system. They are currently updating satellite smartcards to eradicate piracy. This will be all finished by late February for a March-May digital switch-on. It's expected to start in March and the 1st phase to be completed come May. For all the news on Foxtel Digital come across to our Pay TV news portal at My Webpage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonymy01 Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 They are probably talking about Foxtel cable. Fox cable is about to go digital, and rumour has it that the STB will have a hard-drive in it (PVR?, or perhaps just to make buffer storage for timeshifting pay per view movies?) I haven't heard about HD (high def), maybe this person got confused about HD (hard-drive). edit: eeekkk.... Tony didn't read the 2nd message properly where it mentions satellite. OK, the 2nd poster may have also got confused that the original poster was referring to cable? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datvman Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 hey awesome cable shall be getting better too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 All I want is a satellite stb with component outputs! only then to me it becomes SD not S-Video! cheers laurie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdigital Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 hey awesome cable shall be getting better too Thats what I am hoping too My comment was about foxtel cable digital STBs I have heard that they are only going to be SD boxes. HD would be great but I doubt we will get them in 2004. I reckon they might bring them in in 2005 when digital TV in aust gets more widespread. I'm sure they will just test the waters first rather than jump in headfirst. I wish I could find the site that I heard all these rumours about digital foxtel cable. Might be here somewhere. http://www.austech.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supraman Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 I have Foxtel satellite, so I'm not sure if this will help those with Foxtel cable, but it might be worth a go. I improved the picture quality ENORMOUSLY by purchasing a scart to s-video cable (you can use scart to scart if your display has scart). The trick is you then have to go into the Advanced Setup menu, using password 9949, and change the scart output to s-video. Result: perfect picture. Note: using the s-video connector on the back of the Foxtel box will give you a picture, but it's far from the quality you get using the scart. My theory is that the s-video port only outputs a composite signal. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonBB Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 I wouldnt hold my breath for HD on foxtel, even if they did I'm sure it would lucky to be as good as SD, they would compress it that much. I'm not sure how much there network will be able to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyR Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 They are probably talking about Foxtel cable.Fox cable is about to go digital, and rumour has it that the STB will have a hard-drive in it (PVR?, or perhaps just to make buffer storage for timeshifting pay per view movies?) I haven't heard about HD (high def), maybe this person got confused about HD (hard-drive). Foxtel satellite is already digital, and the cable is being changed to digital also. The service itself will be rebranded "Foxtel Digital". Satellite and Cable users will get a new STB. Oce teh upgarde has been completed, you will get the same quality and features regardless of wether your conenction is via satellite or cable. The major features will be: - Interactivity on some channels such as Fox Footy, Sky News, V, etc. - TV Banking, shopping etc. - 16:9 on many channels such as movies, fox sports, fox 8 etc. - Near Video on demand for ordering pay per view movies. - Foxtel Digital remote (Controls TV volume, AV inputs etc, programmable for simple TV features + interactive stuff). - Week long EPG (When oh when will we see this on FTA Digital!). - Digital teletext (When oh when will we see this on digital FTA!) The interactive features need a phone line to operate (even on cable stupidly enough). Its all SD, no HD at all. Don't expect this to change anytime soon. Murdoch has been forced into doing HD in the states un willingly so its not goign to happen here until hes forced into it. It just adds cost to the service. If you have seen Sky Digital in the UK, you have seen Foxtel Digital. Or coarse in the UK is via satellite only. HDD PVR is avaiable for an EXTRA charge. Probably will not be launched until 2005. Expect Optus to offer a simmilar service soon after with the same channels. I assure you the above information is 95% correct. If you have a generic satellite receiver pointed at the C1 satellite, you can see SkyNews Active tests currently. Its a video wall with 8 video screens and you select from the 8 audio streams for each video clip. Obviously its a much neater implementation if you have an inetrective box. Just buy a STB now anyway, it can be used for a seccond TV later, or used to record 16:9 digital FTA whilst watching Foxtel digital. Danny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jai Parr Posted December 20, 2003 Author Share Posted December 20, 2003 Thanx for yor replies fellas very informative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datvman Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 WHEN DOES THIS COME TO CABLE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris29579 Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 It will be better quality picture than the current "digital" satellite service, whose bit rate leaves a lot to be desired, apperently. I have never seen it, but when I had Optus digital, it was easily dvd quality, and that was only rca. Thats was a pure digital stream, and I regret to this day switching back to analogue from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasy Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 Looks like a busy time early next year. Given there are new STBs coming out and now the announcement soon of Digital cable, we will all have a fun time picking and choosing which way to go! I'm already getting tired just thinking about it. I already have 4 remotes, so 2 more won't be a problem - NOT! Perhaps the new near on-demend stuff will make DVDs less atractive over the long term. Time will tell. Oh well, at least this beats getting stoned at the pub - too old for that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Williams Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 Note: using the s-video connector on the back of the Foxtel box will give you a picture, but it's far from the quality you get using the scart. My theory is that the s-video port only outputs a composite signal. Yes. That's EXACTLY what I found a few months ago as well. I also found that the picture was really crappy unless I pulled the S-Video plug out of the socket slightly. When I discovered the Scart-SVideo trick, I then realised that by pulling the cable out slightly, I was probably only making contact with 2 of the 4 pins and thereby getting a composite signal. The S-Video on scart looks really good. It is also good that Fox seem to be converting to 16:9 so you can get proper widescreen if you set the aspect ratio of the box properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuozL Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 I have Foxtel satellite, so I'm not sure if this will help those with Foxtel cable, but it might be worth a go.I improved the picture quality ENORMOUSLY by purchasing a scart to s-video cable (you can use scart to scart if your display has scart). The trick is you then have to go into the Advanced Setup menu, using password 9949, and change the scart output to s-video. Result: perfect picture. Note: using the s-video connector on the back of the Foxtel box will give you a picture, but it's far from the quality you get using the scart. My theory is that the s-video port only outputs a composite signal. John Supraman where did you get the Scart to Svideo cable from ? Currently I'm using svideo out of my foxtel satellite stb to svideo in on my Plasma but want to see if Scart to svideo will improve the picture at all. All I could find at VideoPro was a Scart to Svideo or RGB adaptor they didnt have a Scart to Svideo cable. Thanks for any info you can provide. Cheers Alastair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 I wouldnt hold my breath for HD on foxtel, even if they did I'm sure it would lucky to be as good as SD, they would compress it that much. I'm not sure how much there network will be able to take Thats why Optus are putting 2 more satellites between 2005-2007 anyhow if Direct TV in the states can deliver HD tv via satellite so should Foxtel cheers laurie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supraman Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Supraman where did you get the Scart to Svideo cable from ? I got it from MegaMart Alexandria (I'm in Sydney). I had tried Tandy, Dick Smith Powerhouse, etc etc but they mostly gave me a blank stare - "What's scart???" If all else fails, I'm sure a scart to s-video adaptor combined with your existing s-video cable will do the trick. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datvman Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 that sounds like dse up here, till i pointed out on a dvb 300 a scart slot (or was it the dse box) annyway 1 of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Williams Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 If all else fails, I'm sure a scart to s-video adaptor combined with your existing s-video cable will do the trick. That's exactly what I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADLAND Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Supraman where did you get the Scart to Svideo cable from ? Currently I'm using svideo out of my foxtel satellite stb to svideo in on my Plasma but want to see if Scart to svideo will improve the picture at all.All I could find at VideoPro was a Scart to Svideo or RGB adaptor they didnt have a Scart to Svideo cable. Thanks for any info you can provide. Cheers Alastair Alastair If you are in Melbourne, you can buy this cable at Jaycar Electronics. Here is a link to some info about it - Jaycar Scart cable info Regards Colin Adland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunbro Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 hmmm sry guys but i just can't see the difference between "scart to s-video" and "s-video to s-video" on foxtel. its not my eyes because i can see the difference between channel 9's HDTV and channel 7's cheap imitation on their loops (576p is substandard compared to 1080i). btw i'm using the hitachi pd32-a3000 hi-def plasma tv with foxtel satellite set-top box and a dgtec dh-2000a HD box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VT Convert Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Supraman where did you get the Scart to Svideo cable from ? Currently I'm using svideo out of my foxtel satellite stb to svideo in on my Plasma but want to see if Scart to svideo will improve the picture at all.All I could find at VideoPro was a Scart to Svideo or RGB adaptor they didnt have a Scart to Svideo cable. Thanks for any info you can provide. Cheers Alastair Alastair If you are in Melbourne, you can buy this cable at Jaycar Electronics. Here is a link to some info about it - Jaycar Scart cable info Regards Colin Adland I purchased one of these yesterday, and couldn't get it to work. On closer investigation, it looks like the cable is intended for applications where s-video/RCA is the source, and SCART the destination (according to the arrow indicating signal flow on the box). Flow needs to be the other way round for this use. Why is direction impt in this application (or am I missing something)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdigital Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I have seen ones at hifi stores that have a switch on them that you can flick over to change which direction the signal is intended to go. If you are in brisbane I got mine at Todds Hifi. the direction is important cause there are different pins for input and output. http://www.acl.co.uk/pinouts.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam73 Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I have seen ones at hifi stores that have a switch on them that you can flick over to change which direction the signal is intended to go.If you are in brisbane I got mine at Todds Hifi. Good Guys see an Avico scart to Svideo and 2x audio RCA cable. (Loganholme store has them for sure) It is a decent quality cable, with a metal scart body. It also is direction switchable using a little switch on the body. These are marked at $35 - $39, but just ask and they will sell them for $25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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