Incorrect EPG data and unreliable schedule information is making life difficult for viewers on the UK’s terrestrial HDTV experiment, as these quotes from the HD Trial forums reveal:
“I keep missing programmes because the schedule is either wrong or out of date.Three suggestions to get people viewing more:
1) Get the schedules correct as well as up to date
2) Get the full schedules on the EPG
3) Show repeats rather than a preview on BBC HD during the day. You know it makes sense.”
“Please get ride of the previews from all channels and repeat the same programmes all day, with the same movie 2 or 3 times after nine o’clock. That way we can watch the content whenever we like. The preview stuff has done it’s job now, what is the point of still running it? “
“Arrrgghhh, I was looking forward to watching Summer of Love last night (Wed 26th July), a movie that received great reviews at the cinema, and was
SCHEDULED according to both this site and the BBC site and… depress-fest Sylvia was on instead. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THESE
SCHEDULES? It’s gotten really annoying, SORT IT OUT. How difficult can it be? Answer: not very!!!!!!!!”
“This is sooo annoying at the moment. The PDF that says what is on said Billy Elliot was going to be on yesterday (22/7) which i was looking for. Plus, the EPG said that Man in The Iron Mask was going to be on ITV HD… But neither things where on…”
“This is getting very irritating.”
“Does anyone know if Five will be increasing there air time? The y have IMO a great list of shows planned with various CSI and House M.D. plus plans to show some proper movies. They seem only to have Thursdays allocated and I am missing this due to a regular commitment. More days needed urgently so that I can give honest answers in the questionaires.”
“ It is a problem when the epg dos not function accurately and this discourages use of the HD channels. Please make the epg more reliable this will improve our chances of choosing to use HD more regularly and will result in better feedback for your data collection.” (more…)
Following negative feedback, ITV has reduced the density of its ITV HD logo, used on its contributions to the UK’s experimental terrestrial HD service. “We’ve done this in response to trialist feedback,” says the broadcaster, adding that the move should ease fears of plasma burn.
Although the terrestrial HDTV trial service is currently transmitting MPEG stereo audio, ITV says that it will be experimenting with encoding further into the trial.
The BBC has responded to criticisms of the onscreen logo (pictured above) used on its trial HD services on the Sky HD platform and Freeview. Like all criticisms of onscreen graphics, the broadcaster dodges the complaints of its users and adopts a dismissive tone about the irritation they cause:
“The BBC, in common with other broadcasters, inserts Channel Identifiers (also known as DOG for Digital On-screen Graphic) in the top left-hand corner of the screen on its dedicated digital channels. In the competitive multi-channel environment we feel that such identifiers are an aid to viewer navigation and it is important to ensure that viewers can quickly identify they are watching BBC services.
This policy has evolved over the last few years and is applied in a flexible manner which we believe best reflects the needs of the majority of our audience (more…)
Arch rivals LG and Samsung are locked in a fascinating battle to monopolize the high-end hotel and leisure industry TV markets. LG is currently ahead of on prestige points, having recently signed a deal to supply 424 LCD TV and plasma TVs to the Ritz Carlton in Moscow. When the hotel opens in Red Square, two LG 60 inch screens will also dominate the foyer. The brand has also sold an additional 180 LCD TVs to the Dubia hotel Burj Al Arab, with 700 more to ship. Samsung is retaliating by cornering the luxury cruise market. In May the Corporation installed 2,000 LCD TVs on the gigantic new Freedom of the Seas liner. It has also inked a deal to supply an additional 5,000 LCD TV to Freedom’s two sister ships when they enter service over the next two years. The Korean giants are now squaring up to compete for the contract to supply the Burj Dubai skyscraper. At 150 stories this hotel contract is both lucrative and prestigious. The bidding begins in earnest in 2007.
The latest specification for CE Linux is expected to be announced in July by the steering committee of the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum.
The CELF was created to establish a common standard of Linux requirements for CE devices and boasts considerable support from the likes of Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung and Hitachi.
Once published this should open the floodgates for a new generation of CE devices built around the code. A formative 1.0 specification was first issued in 2004.
Despite the best efforts of Microsoft, Linux is rapidly becoming the operating system of choice for major consumer electronics brands, primarily because of cost and development savings. The TiVo PVR was the first widely successful device to use Linux. The OS can also be found in Philips iPronto control system and media centre products from Samsung and Sharp.
