★★★★★ 0/5

Rumblings as ABC viewers lose HD shows

The loss of high definition shows on ABC HD in readiness for ABC News 24 is beginning to be felt.

47
Leave a comment

The loss of high definition shows on ABC HD in readiness for ABC News 24 is beginning to be felt.

The Northern Territory News reports some viewers are unhappy about losing favourite shows in high definition to make way for the News channel.

Alice Springs ABC viewer Tim Kendrick, 49, said he went away for a week, set his hard drive to record his favourite programs, but got home to find hours of the looped ad recorded.

“It’s now been more than a week of broadcasts of this infernal loop,” he said.

“They’ve cut corners and done the public out of ABC HD.”

ABC1 output had been upconverted to HD for the HD channel, but this is no longer available.

It was the same result when TEN HD made way for ONE HD -drama, entertainment and other programming in HD fell victim to high definition sport.

ABC News 24 will be available on digital Channel 24 and is an HD only service. Viewers will need an HD-compatible set-top box or an HD-compatible digital television in order to access the service.

“A drama program like Spooks sounds much better in HD,” Mr. Kendrick said.

Source: NT News

47 Responses

  2. Most shows are not true HD (or so it seems).
    Eventually all channels were intended to be HD (pseudo- or otherwise).
    SD seems to be the default & most readily available.
    That all said, what is the point in an HD 24 News channel? Why couldn’t
    the ABC just make SD channel 24 be the 24 hour News station, at least
    until everybody else goes (pseudo-) HD, & let us have ch 20 as almost HD?
    That would have been the most pragmatic thing to do for now, I think.
    I have no desire to see a series of newsreaders in HD just for the sake of it.
    That;s just silly, IMHO.

  5. I would take an extra channel over HD because there is more choice on the air.

    However the government should relax the restrictions a little allow all networks to have 2 HD channels and 2 SD channels that way Ten can still keep Ten / One then have TEN HD / ONE HD

  6. Most ‘HD’ content on any of the ‘HD’ Channels is only up-converted SD and on a good plasma or LCD it’s virtually unwatchable so it’s actually all a bit of a con.

    I have a Pioneer plasma in one room but rarely use it for any TV watching as 98% looks like blocky, pixelated mush – looks great on the old Loewe CRT in the other room though. I thought the Plasma was faulty till I put a blu-ray on and was blown away – it’s the Channel’s transmissions that are rubbish.

    The only things I have seen on an HD channel so far that looked any good was some of the new studio stuff on ONEHD and the Formula 1 – and a couple of HD David Attenboroughs . Even the “Tour de France’ on SBSHD has me wondering if it’s upconverted – as it looks like blocky crap!

    None of the commercial Network’s News are in HD yet as they’re all too cheap to upgrade infrastructure. Hopefully the new ABC Newsdesk will be the first. Though they’d better have good lighting and makeup!!!

  7. I agree, I can’t believe ABC did not inform viewers that they were changing the channel, I too ended up with recorded adverts last Wed when I was out. Grr!!

  8. So many of us have gone out an bought Full HD TV’s, but there is only one channel broadcasting in this format. I would have thought by now all the major commercial stations would at least have a Full HD version of their main channel.

  10. There was too little true HD programming on ABC HD to be noticed – or at least to notice the loss. What ABC should do is give us full 5.1 surround sound on ABC1. That would be worth the effort.

  11. Pi**es me off so much. No-one seems to care. What gets me most is Foxtel also refusing to broadcast the FTA HD channels like Nine and 7. Surely its so easy for them to do so. I upgraded to a IQ2 box and yet I cant record the FTA HD shows with it. Grrrrrrrr.

  13. Who are the clowns who thought up this idea do they know a lot of people
    have brought SD set boxes to run digital channels on analog tv’s.
    Also do they realise that nobody really does not want to watch news 24 hours

  14. Rick, in the 2 years
    Rain Shadow
    The Magic Roundabout
    2008 Paralympics
    Planet Earth
    Art Museums of the World
    Dorothy The Dinosaur
    The Cut
    Very Small Business
    Wild China
    Galapagos
    Bed of Roses
    Erky Perky
    Robin Hood
    Wiggle and Learn
    Captain Cook: Obsession And Discovery
    The Librarians

    and quite a few once off programs and specials

  16. ABC2 has turned from a great channel to a sub-ABC3 channel between 9am-6pm, and all weekend.
    ABC2 used to have *great content*. The music on weekends was fantastic/amazing/incredible/etc. now it is endless runs of TV shows my 2 year old daughter can’t get enough of..
    Its sad, because she cracks the s*** when we turn it off to tell her to go and play outside/play. When it was music, we’d have that on and go outside and listen in..
    it’s a whinge, but why have that content on ABC2 when ABC3 is a kids channel?
    Out of 3 ABC channels now, 2 of them are highly under-10 focused from 6am-6pm 7 days a week. What about the 10-50 year old group that like something (boring) non-ABC1 in this weekend timeslot?? ABC2 used to fill that gap nicely.

  17. It’s only going to get worse when (if) Seven and Nine launch their third channels. The law that prevented ABC from broadcasting ABC1 in HD (only) will also affect them, won’t it?

  20. ABC2 should have been HD, and News 24 in SD.

    Or… The Government should have stepped in earlier. The moment HD was available, it should have been a minimum requirement in all new TVs and STB’s. There should have been no product available for the last 5-8 years with only an SD tuner. That way all the primary channels could have been HD only, and all secondaries in SD with eventual move to HD when bandwith is made available.

    … But that is common sense, we dont get a lot of that when it somes to the television these days.

Leave a Reply