WINTV, New Channels SOON for Regional viewers !!!

[gordon_s1942]

I havent been down the Mountains for over a year now but its easy to see all the UHF antennas pointing to the South East from Katoomba down as far as Penrith to believe signals from Wollongong are still available.
Parts of Mt Victoria show the strongest signal for them (MySwitch/Digital ready) is from the Translator for Portland/Wallerawang as it has a clear line of sight and is beamed towards them.

[OSIRUS]

WIN based in Wollongong south of Sydney covers a surprisingly large area of the Sydney Metro area

Yes Indeed,

I lived in North Ryde in Sydney for a while & I had an Antenna up and facing towards Woolongong to get the Wollongong channels, WIN, Prime, Southern Cross Ten , (or was it called Ten Capital then?)

I even went to a Sony shop in Chatswood & they had all the Woolongong channels as good as the Sydney channels showing in their shop .....

[gordon_s1942]

I think 'Capitol' was used by the ACT back then for the watermark on their TEN network and I think it was used in the Orange/Dubbo area also until it became Southern Cross.

[Escape_from_Oz]

NBN (Newcastle & Gold Coast feed) will be 100% adding 9HD MEG4 and 9Life MPEG2 from March 1 2016.

Just note that the logo and channel ID will be 9HD NBN.
So they are following their parent owner with 9Life being stuck at MPEG2 HD for the foreseeable future.


100% confirmation link

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[OSIRUS]

Just note that the logo and channel ID will be 9HD NBN.

thanks ...... I will be interested to see the logo they use for the NBN (channel 80) HD channel ...... (9HD logo would be good)

and the logo they use for the NBN (channel 8 & 81) SD channels .....

[OSIRUS]

They were advertising the New 9HD channel 80 on NBN Television tonight ...... (starting on March 1st)

This is the Advertisement (I found it on YouTube)




And this is the WIN HD coming soon Advertisement ?

[hidefdave]

Here's the official presser from WIN:

WIN Network launches WINHD and 9Life

From Tuesday March 1st regional audiences will have the potential to access their favourite WIN programs, movies and sport in full High Definition when the WIN Network launches its new channel WINHD.

The introduction of WINHD, along with the exciting new lifestyle channel 9Life, will give viewers greater choice of programming while complementing the WIN Network’s channels - WIN, Gem and Go!.

WIN Network Television Operations General Manager Stevan Djokic said “the move to this new technology is being made to enhance the overall viewing experience. HD provides clear, crisp pictures adding extra life to programs.” “The Free To Air broadcast industry is changing and the WIN Network is changing with it to ensure more choice for our viewers across regional Australia.” “The MPEG 4 technology allows the WIN Network to broadcast more channels and for the first time, the opportunity to watch their favourite WIN programs, movies and sport in high definition across regional Australia. WINHD will carry the same programs as the main WIN channel, but with all the advantages of high definition.” “The lifestyle channel, 9Life, will also make its debut on the WIN Network bringing viewers free to air firsts from around the world such as House Hunters and The Real Housewives.” “The technology is new and we’re positive that regional viewers will embrace it. Some televisions will automatically pick up the new channels while others will require a channel rescan. Viewers should refer to their TV manual for rescan instructions.” More information is available at wintv.com.au .

Unfortunately, some older TVs may not receive the new channels but WIN, Gem and Go! will still be available. Note: WINHD and 9Life will not be available until Tuesday March 1st .

The launch means some channel numbers will change and viewers may need to rescan their televisions on Tuesday the 1st March, but no viewers will lose access to the current WIN, Gem or Go! channels. “The industry’s move to MPEG 4 may seem inconvenient for some viewers, however this new technology allows the WIN Network to offer more channel choices such as WINHD and 9Life.”

So, finally it's happening. And WIN has beaten both Prime and SC10 to the punch. Unbelievable.

D.

[pc9]

Thanks for the update - good news for us in Rockhampton. Looks like Southern Cross 10 will be the odd man out (offering no main channel HD) when the FTA upgrades are completed in Regional areas later this year.

[gordon_s1942]

Many thanks hidefdave for the update.
As I said elesewhere, at least the WIN network released information (unlike SEVEN/PRIME) on both the new channels and the use of MPEG-4 but I they could have gone a bit further in advertising on one of the SD channels for viewers to go to their website to see what is coming and how to receive these channels.

[SpankedHam]

Unfortunately, some older TVs may not receive the new channels but WIN, Gem and Go! will still be available.

Seems that not only Nine but WIN too thinks that cutting off access to existing channels isn't a good idea.

[gordon_s1942]

Could it be that maybe some pressure has come from the advertisers unless someone at the Channel woke up and realised that how can you sell advertising time on a specific channel if the Viewers cant see it???

I would have thought that would be head of the list in Advertising 101 that to sell something, you need the targeted audience to be able to see it but the Channels dont seem to have read that.

[Escape_from_Oz]

Which is why Seven might go down the MPEG2 HD road for 7HD that way they can kill off 7Digital and put 7Mate to SD, it will then open up a potential 5Mbits where they can split that into 2 further MPEG4 channels, remember the more channels you offer the more you air time you have to sell ad spots, since they are allowed 17 minutes per 60 minutes (and up to 25 minutes for live sport) the addition of 48 worth of air time for 2 extra channels means more ad revenue for them.

It also means each channel gets a fair share of bandwidth, we have seen both Nine and now Ten be forced to not only strip bitrate but also pixel width or at worst drop scan lines from 576i to 244i because they cant effect effectively operate 1 MPEG4 HD and up to 5 MPEG2 SD channels on there mux.

Which is why it would of better if Yen for example to have there MPEG4 HD channel as a 1280x720p format, but nope they went with FHD 1980x1080i which still needs high bitrate and also forces them to also continue to waste 5Mbits on a simulcast that had to be broadcast because of the low % of MPEG4 equipment in the operational market.

Remember I said Seven normally do the right thing but are always late to the party to do it.

[gordon_s1942]

17 minutes per Hour, I didnt realise it was that much.

Just think 17 minutes per hour over 5 'channels' gives them 85 minutes of Advertising time per Hour !!!

[gordon_s1942]

I noticed the Logos on both channels have been altered to read they will be available from Tuesday 1st of March........

Now to get 7flix added as I simply cant wait to see the wonderful offerings advertised in the TV guide........

[Windy]

WIN HD sucks! it pixelates every 5 seconds and can be unwatchable on late model TVs. Even TV dongles for PCs can't display WIN HD without it freezing-up

8 WIN [location]
80 WIN [location] HD
81 WIN [location]
82 GEM [location]
83 GO! [location]
84 LIFE
85 Extra
86 GOLD
88 GO! [location]

[OSIRUS]

In Newcastle & Northern NSW,

NBN HD & NBN received new NINE branding to 9HD NBN & 9 NBN (watermarks & some station promo advertisements ..... although a few old NBN logos still being used occasionally)

Personally I like the New NINE branding of NBN .....

9HD NBN appears to have no pixelating problems on my particular TV as yet

9life has been added at channel 84

and we only have one shopping channel "extra" at this stage

I get:

8 NBN [location]
80 9HD [location]
81 NBN [location]
82 9GEM [location]
83 9GO! [location]
84 9Life [location]
85 extra
88 9GO! [location]

[SpankedHam]

WIN HD sucks! it pixelates every 5 seconds and can be unwatchable on late model TVs. Even TV dongles for PCs can't display WIN HD without it freezing-up

Normally I don't even have anything plugged into the antenna these days, but a bit of fiddling and a recording of WIN HD (using tv scheduler pro, capture type = ts-mux) later, there's no breakup in Mackay QLD. The picture quality overall was quite good. No pixelation, no horrible edge sharpening, basically none of the crap that goes on (or at least used to) with WIN's SD channels. Audio is AC3, 2.0 (might change format dfepending on the program but I didn't look that far) 448k. Video seems to average 4.5Mbit/sec over 5 mins. On the surface of it, WIN HD may be a global program, ie no localised promos etc.

[Antennaman]

Meanwhile:

In Northern Tassie:

The sound of crickets chirping..........

[Escape_from_Oz]

For Tasmania you will have to wait till around 7pm today, there is a small technical hitch called the Sun which is causing issues in that part of the world

No seriously the talk is around 4pm the signal switch should be taking place, so be patient it's on the way.

Looks like Imparga won't be makingthe switch just yet.

[Guiseppe]

Meanwhile:

In Northern Tassie:

The sound of crickets chirping..........

Not even that in the bondoo of NSW!