I just recently got hooked up to digital TV here in Australia, and it’s not too bad. Some of it is pretty cool, but most of it is nothing too special. There’s a rare instance of surround sound, a reasonable amount of widescreen shows, both local and international, and they also claim some movies are in HD, but my TV can’t tell the difference between SD and HD anyways…
Is it popular in other countries? Is it expanding? Is it cool? Am I missing out on something new and funky that’s launched in your country? Do people like it?
It’s been in the UK for a few years, and eventually found it’s way into Ireland. You get how many?!? channels, interactive stuff (which is quite good when Wimbledon’s on) erm … well that’s about it really. I think. <shuffles off>
Not really happening in the US yet. It figures. Philo Farnsworth invents the boob tobe a couple miles from where I’m sitting, and we’re the last to get the good stuff.
We have a lot of digital transmission going on - both in cable TV and small-dish satellite, but both of those are simply taking analog broadcasts and squishing them into MPEG data streams. More stuff fits into the pipe, and it’s somewhat harder to steal.
The big networks are producing most of their prime time shows in high-def. If you’re within something like 50 miles of a major city, and have a HD tuner, you can pick up the HD signals. Congress and/or the FCC has mandated digital transmission for all TV stations to happen by 2006 or so, and I believe some time this year, (July?) digital tuners will be required in all new TV sets, possibly only those 25" or bigger.