Freeview HD - when and how?

History
Freeview HD in the UK has been a long time coming, especially as it was tested about a 3 years ago in London. It got to the point when the majority thought that it would never come.

A privileged 450 companies and households were chosen in the Crystal Palace Transmitter Area back in 2006, to test out this new technology, this trial lasted about a year and further trials have conducted by the BBC since then.

The trials proved very successful and it was decided in 2008 to reorganise the Digital Services, to free up the capacity available, giving HD its own group and to upgrade to more efficient technologies.

Extra space or bandwidth is required for HDTV transmissions. In fact, within the HD bandwith of one channel you can run four standard TV channels. At present some of the bandwidth is being used up by analogue signals.

When will Freeview HD start in the UK?
From December only a three HD channels will be broadcast, BBC, ITV and C4. In late 2010 channel Five HD was to be added, but has been declined by Offcom. Eventually after ALL areas have been switched over to digital, you will begin to see more HD channels on Freeview.

Ofcom fixed late 2009 as the date to start HD transmissions and are making them available on an area-by-area basis. From 2nd December, 2009 areas that have already been switched over to digital will begin receiving HD through you aerial, starting with Granada TV region.

The broadcasts will be transmitted via DVB-T2 and encoded using MPEG-4. Freeview HD digital boxes will need to decode this signal. For all who want Freeview HD it will mean buying the new DVB-T2 MPEG-4 HD Boxes or TVs.

How will we receive Freeview HD?
The easy bit was explaining when HD will come to Freeview, the difficult bit is how we will receive the transmissions.

At present (February 2010) the next generation Digital Freeview boxes and TVs are beginning to trickle through. They are capable of receiving and decoding the HD programmes.

A word to the wise
Be careful there are still a lot of Freeview digital set-top boxes and TVs out there that are HD Ready with a Full HD (1080p) upscaled picture. But they are not compatible, as a lot of these only decode MPEG-2. Not to mention the tuner will not be translate either.

The equipment needs to decode MPEG-4 broadcast via a DVB-T2 receiver (tuner). We suggest that you exercise caution if you are thinking about buying one. Don't spend your hard earned cash unnecessarily, on a new box or TV which is not compatible. If you are after Freeview HD, don't be afraid to ask the sales person "Will this receive and decode Freeview HD?".

Of course, if you don't require HD then any Freeview box or TV will be ok - you don't need to change equipment you will still be able to receive the standard Freeview reception - exactly the same as you are now.

The new equipment out now has a logo on it saying "Freeview HD" - look out for this logo when purchasing equipment, if in doubt ask.

Eventually there will be a lot of choice, then the manufacturers will bring out the next wave of equipment that will allow you to record, rewind and pause live TV - Our suggestion would be wait until these hit the market, we anticipate similar pricing hence more value for your money