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74% of homes make digital switch

Three in four Australian households now have digital television, with the most significant increases in Melbourne and Sydney.

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Digital switchover in Australian homes has now reached 74%, an increase of 6% from the last data released in March.

The Summary Report for Quarter 2, April to June 2010, showed some three in four Australian households now have digital television, with the most significant increases in Melbourne (13%) and Sydney (10%). Melbourne is now at 77% penetration and Sydney 71%.

Freeview CEO Robin Parkes said, “It is a real milestone for Freeview that now three-quarters of Australian households are able to receive digital TV, but what is particularly pleasing for us is that the two biggest TV markets of Sydney and Melbourne are leading the growth.”

Mildura switched off its analogue signal on June 30 with 99% of households having converted to digital by early July.

The next regions to make the switch will be Broken Hill, Riverland, Renmark and Loxton, Mt Gambier / South East South Australia, Spencer Gulf on December 15th.

18 Responses

  1. Yes an external antenna’s is recommended, even with a booster most internal ones just don’t cut it. I wouldn’t say it’s been forced on us without notice. People have had plenty of time to upgrade, get permission to install external antenna’s if they are renting and save up to get the work done.

    Oh and if you’re getting a set top box go for the HD ones, they don’t cost much more and you may not get a true HD picture on an old TV but it will give you access to the likes of ABC News 24 which unlike ONE HD doesn’t have an SD simulcast.

  2. Forget about digital TV with an indoor aerial, I’ve had problems with it all year now. Most channels just keep chopping and cutting out, except for 9 and 99, at least with analogue I could actually watch what was being broadcast now it’s virtually impossible. To make things worse the room doesn’t allow for an outdoor antenna to be put in place. Digital should never have been forced onto us until these problems were fixed.

  3. Craig, all good advice but I neither watch Blu-Ray nor pay for TV. Also, I do watch HD channels, just down converted to SD. It gives a very good picture – the diff between watching, say, the F1 on One versus 12 is very noticeable. For me, it’s not worth it to upgrade at this stage.

    40 inches would be my minimum as that gives the same height picture as my current 32 inch 4:3 screen. IMO, prices for mid-size LCDs have pretty much plateaued and are unlikely to fall much more now that LCD manufacture has matured. More likely is the inclusion of additional features and connectivity (wifi, 3G?) for about the same price.

    @Harvey: While you can use a decent indoor aerial to watch digital, an external one is recommended. If you’re stuck with using an indoor, mounting it higher can make quite a difference, and only use a single cable from antenna to TV as each junction reduces the signal to noise ratio of the transmission.

  5. IMO if you can afford it you’d be mad not to get a screen in Full HD 1920×1080 with HD tuner, yes right now there is limited content on FTA but think of BluRay and PayTV plus the future and possible re-sale value at Full HD screen makes more sense than a cheaper one and it makes a difference. Anyone who has watched say the F1 on ONE then switched to the TEN coverage can see the picture difference right away. Same goes for 7 or 9 when something airs in 1080 HD and you switch from 70 to 7.

    ITA Plasmas while cheaper are bigger (thicker) heavier and run hotter, great in winter to keep the room warm but more expensive to run and right now most won’t see the picture quality difference with LCD when it comes to blacks.

    My advice anyone after a decent size for the average house get a 40 inch LCD (in reality it’s not much smaller than the 42 and you won’t see the difference.) Don’t be turned off by cheap brands, they normally have the same screens as the more expensive ones but at a lower price. See if the retailer can tell you who makes the screen. And make sure it’s 1080 HD with all the HDMI connections and stuff. The good thing with some of the lesser brands is they often come with a 3 year warranty. Replace it in 3 years time if you have to, just look at how prices have dropped in the last 3 years.

    So the key points are 1080HD, HDMI and 3 year warranty. And ask to see it running next to other brands.

  6. I wouldn’t touch plasma with a barge pole and I won’t be forking out cash for an HD TV of any type while the majority of broadcast content is not actually HD (upscaled doesn’t count).

    Craig, I hope your right about the additional bandwidth being used to provide a better source signal but somehow I just think the stations will want to add another channel so that we can all watch reruns of Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond to go with Seinfeld and 2.5 Men. It’ll make little diff either way if they continue to buy SD versions of programs.

  7. “Strange as it might seem but not everyone has the need for TV!” That’s blaspheme talk on this blog LOL

    As for the quality, you are joking right? If you have seen Full HD on a Full HD TV then you can clearly see the quality difference, most of the crappy picture is not the LCD or plasma screen but the quality of the transmission breaking up and causing blocks, especially on fast moving action. This will only be fixed when analogue is switched off, freeing up bandwidth for digital. Or maybe you need a better antenna?

    As for the cost, most retailer now have 42 inch plasmas starting from less than $1000 and Full HD models around $1500 when on sale. You can get many 32 inch LCDs for around $500 with HD tuner built in, a far cry from when plasmas where around as much as a new small car in cost to buy.

  9. @Bazza & effdee: I have to agree. I refused to be sucked in by the hype about plasma/LCD because I knew it was bull. My 15 year-old CRT still has a better picture than all but the most ridiculously expensive LCD TVs. I did end up getting an HD set-top box because of SBS’s low bandwidth SD channel and for the F1 on One. It’s the best $85 I’ve spent for a while.

  10. @Bazza: The ABC interviewed one Mildura family who resisted the change to digital and quite happily watched as the analogue signals were shut off. They’re quite happy to live without TV for the time being but might get around to switching on to digital in the future. Plus they had dvds to watch. So there is no guarantee that 100% of Mildura households made the switch by 30 June and some probably still haven’t. Possibly with some people using pay-TV they may not feel the need for FTA at all anyway.

    Strange as it might seem but not everyone has the need for TV!

  12. @effdee

    I wish I’d kept my Panasonic 32″ widescreen CRT, the picture on it was far and away better than our new 46″ Panasonic plasma or our 12 month old 40″ Samsung LCD. It could take up to 720p component input from a HD PVR, which was just fine to my eyes.

  14. “Mildura switched off its analogue signal on June 30 with 99% of households having converted to digital by early July.”

    Umm… Given that the analogue signal was turned off in June, they had little choice other than be 100% digital by early July. I’m curious about the quoted figure of 99% however, what are the 1%? Are they watching snow on their old sets?

  15. I still have my old CRT WS TV, because it’s good enough for my SD STB
    No way will I bother with a HD STB while the only point is to watch News or Sport!!

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