> > Is that HD-capable? HDTV seems quite common in NA, but currently in the > UK there are very few HD channels, only available through overpriced > subscriptions. It looks unlikely that there'll be any FTA/FTV HD until > at least after the analogue terrestrial switch-off in 2012. HDTV is not as common here as the advertising would make you believe. HDTV programming is very limited here also. The famous "shut off" of analog signals in NA is honestly much ado about nothing (interesting choice in year 2012 by the way). It concerns only OTA HDTV terrestrial reception, and in America, the vast majority of households (90%+) subscribe to cable or satellite. The remaining 10% are the homes that are too poor to afford an HDTV, and therefore won't care about OTA HDTV signals. Unfortunately, there is no FTA satellite HDTV to speak of, and I doubt we will get any anytime soon. The business model in America for most services is proprietary, closed systems sold through monthly fees, whether we are talking about radio, television, software, health care, or what have you. I would venture a guess that over 99% of the population doesn't even know what dvb-s is, or that there is any "FTA" available other than the local terrestrial 4 or 5 networks (ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX) with their ever-shinking market share. And the vast majority of the FTA here is ethnic or religious programming. Nevertheless, MPEG4/H.263 is the future if only for bandwidth reasons, and HDTV is the future, if only for aspect ratio uniformity through the market. Again, sorry for straying off topic.
