HDTV

It’s been a while since I last wrote about the HDTV channels I had. I recently changed subscription at Get, from Family to Family HD. The change of channel package only costed 10 NOK extra per month and gave me the following HD channels: MTV HD, SVT HD and Eurosport HD. Recently also BBC HD got added. I am also paying a bit extra for getting Discovery HD. In an earlier article written a few months ago, I criticized Get for their lack of HDTV channels compared to Canal Digital. Canal Digital still has more channels to provide to their customers, but, and there is a really big but here, after having had an HDTV receiver for a few months I realize that there is no content available for these channels and Canal Digital still has exclusive rights to TVN HD.

I almost don’t watch MTV as I find them to send more reality shows then music! SVT HD is doing the right thing, sending one or two programmes each night in HD (High Definition), the rest in SD (Standard Definition). The shows in HD are brilliant an often their own productions. Eurosport HD is also more or less only sending in SD and I thought that I really missed not having BBC HD. For me BBC HD has been the biggest disappointment so far. The disappointment is perhaps personal, as except for the three channels from NRK and the main channel from TV2, BBC Entertainment, World and Lifestyle are the channels I view most. It turns out that BBC has two HD channels, one for Great Britain with excellent shows and one for the rest of us. The one for the rest of us, is the one we get in Norway on cable TV. I know that there often are limitations on what shows can be broadcasted outside a country. Such limitations are attached to more or less on all shows the broadcaster hasn’t produced themselves. BBC for instance doesn’t have the rights to broadcast Heroes in Norway.

Don’t believe me? Here is what the two BBC HD channels are sending today (Sunday 8 March 2009):

00:00 U2 at the BBC
00:40 Live at the Apollo
17:00 Jam and Jerusalem
17:30 Last of the Summer Wine
18:00 Nature’s Great Events
18:50 Coast
19:00 Antiques Roadshow
20:00 Lark Rise to Candleford
21:00 The Victorians
22:00 Glastonbury
22:20 Damages
23:05 Live at the Apollo
23:50 Heroes
00:30 Glastonbury

And here is what is getting sent on Canal Digital and Get:

10:00 Imagine: Fantastic Mr Dahl
11:05 Planet Earth
11:55 Planet Earth
12:45 Imagine: Fantastic Mr Dahl
13:50 Planet Earth
14:40 Planet Earth
15:30 Imagine: Fantastic Mr Dahl
16:35 Planet Earth
17:25 Planet Earth
18:15 Imagine: Fantastic Mr Dahl
19:20 Planet Earth
20:10 Planet Earth
21:00 Imagine: Fantastic Mr Dahl
22:05 Planet Earth
22:55 Planet Earth
23:45 Imagine: Fantastic Mr Dahl
00:50 Planet Earth
01:40 Planet Earth
02:30 Imagine: Fantastic Mr Dahl
03:35 Planet Earth
04:35 Channel Highlights

I am happy to see that NRK is getting closer and closer to start their first HD channel. NRK has not rushed in to broadcasting in HD, but has over the last few year’s been doing HD productions. On eirikso.com you can read that NRK got their first HD bus back in 2006. Eirik Solheim (eirikso) is one of the writers on NRK’s technology blog NRKbeta. The popular TV series Hunter and HimmelblÃ¥ are for instance both produced in HD. From what I can see from the HD channels I have today, NRK has done the only right thing, focusing on getting enough own produced material, before going live with HD. Of course, they could have done the same as TVN and broadcasted american TV productions in HD. But NRK should aim higher then TVN. So when will NRK start broadcasting in HD? According to a recently published article in Teknofil.no, this will happen some time in 2010. NRK also realizes that they don’t have the economy to produce all their productions in HD before earliest 2015! As they need these years to change out all their production equipment. NRK’s HD productions will be made available in MPEG-4.

Update March 10: TVN is announcing that they are starting to broadcast own productions in HD. First show out is Ungkaren (The bachelor). Also 71 grader nord (71 degrees north) will be sent in HD.