ON YOUR MARKS… GET SET… GO! Introducing IAAF World Athletics Championship in HD on Freesat      Reach for your running shoes and sprint to the sofa, because this year’s World Championships in Athletics is coming to Freesat in high definition and subscription free. From Saturday 15th to Sunday 23rd August, the 12th IAAF World [...]]]> Press release from freesat 27/07/09:

ON YOUR MARKS… GET SET… GO!
Introducing IAAF World Athletics Championship in HD on Freesat
    
Reach for your running shoes and sprint to the sofa, because this year’s World Championships in Athletics is coming to Freesat in high definition and subscription free. From Saturday 15th to Sunday 23rd August, the 12th IAAF World Athletics Championship airs on the BBC HD channel.

Olympic Champion Michael Johnson will join the BBC commentary team to report on the nine days of athletics action – disciplines ranging from Relay to Triple Jump and Javelin Throw to 5,000 Metres. Some of this year’s hopefuls include British runner Christine Ohuruogu, as well as American-born Allyson Felix and LaShawn Merritt.

Berlin Olympic Stadium is the host of these prestigious games and for the first time in its history the marathon and walking competitions will take place in Berlin’s city centre – all in brilliant high definition.

HD is perfect for watching all the high-speed athletic action, with a picture that is five times the quality of normal digital TV. This amazing event in pin-sharp HD has a staggering 1,800 athletes, 47 competitions and 24 disciplines, there should be no need for photo finishes. Freesat + also enables you to record, fast forward and rewind live TV, in case you want to re-live any of the best moments.

Other BBC HD highlights include chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, and dramas such as Torchwood and Gavin and Stacey.

The new DRM which is encoded with the programme will now allow consumers to make one personal copy of a HD programme (after recording [...]]]> With the forthcoming release of the new Panasonic PVR’s with additional Blu-ray drives the BBC has made changes to the way it enforces DRM (Digital Rights Management) on its High Definition broadcasts.

The new DRM which is encoded with the programme will now allow consumers to make one personal copy of a HD programme (after recording to the PVR hard disc) to a Blu-ray disc, but the DRM will prevent copies of that Blu-ray disc.

Danielle Nagler, head of BBC HD said:

“It will now be possible to make a single HD Blu-ray copy of one of our programmes, although not copies of copies. An HD connection to a protected home network will also be possible, although an HD connection to the Internet or portable devices will not work”

Copies of SD (Standard Definition) is not affected and you can make copies of copies if you so desire, Digital Rights Management is enforced on High Definition programmes as the rights holders (ie film makers) do not want HD copies of their materiel freely available on the internet, if DRM was not enforced by the broadcasters they would not be allowed to broadcast HD content from the rights owner and would only be allowed to broadcast the Standard Definition version.

The BBC says in the future it will be possible to make a copy onto any portable device that supports the relevant copy protection protocol – but this support will be up to the individual manufacturers.

The BBC went on to say:

“Copy protection is a big issue. The BBC has not restricted the copying of any of it’s own programmes in SD and we do not want to do it in HD however some rights owners do want high quality versions of their material protected from multiple copying and from being distributed on the internet and we have to comply.”

“The level of protection on the BBC HD Channel has been reduced to allow the new Blu-ray recorders to make single copies and (subject to the manufacturers) home network distribution to IP TVs etc.”

 

The full article can be seen on the BBC HD Blog

Danielle Nagler, the head of BBC HDTV, says: ‘Getting to nine hours is quite a milestone in the life of BBC HD.’ But what [...]]]> BBC HD is now broadcasting up to nine hours a day, the maximum permitted by the BBC Trust. The challenge now, it says, is to balance its schedule and develop an identity.

Danielle Nagler, the head of BBC HDTV, says: ‘Getting to nine hours is quite a milestone in the life of BBC HD.’ But what exactly will viewers want from BBC HD going forward? In her BBC blog, Nagler confirms the station is looking for ways to balance high-definition material from other BBC channels, and that new schedules are currently under development.

The BBC HD channel begins at 16:00 and runs through to 00:30 or 01:30 seven nights a week, they do have permission to extend the channel hours when there are sporting or other events that fall outside those hours.

The development follows a software release in October for Humax’s Foxsat-HD receiver that added support for DDS – display definition segment – a technology that allows the box to scale subtitles for display on high definition broadcasts.

This is a welcome addition for the many users with [...]]]> Subtitles are now available when viewing BBC HD on Freesat.

The development follows a software release in October for Humax’s Foxsat-HD receiver that added support for DDS – display definition segment – a technology that allows the box to scale subtitles for display on high definition broadcasts.

This is a welcome addition for the many users with a hearing impairment or the many other users who find subtitles useful.

Commenting on the Olympics being broadcast in [...]]]> With the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China starting Friday 8th August it will be the first to be produced and broadcast entirely in HD (High Definition). The BBC are planning on broadcasting over 300 hours of HD content on their dedicated HD channel over the 16 day sporting extravaganza.

Commenting on the Olympics being broadcast in high definition on BBC HD channel, Emma Scott, MD of Freesat said;

“The Olympics is the ultimate global sporting event, and viewers will be astounded by the quality of the BBC’s HD footage; every drop of water falling off the oars of a rower to the sand erupting from the long jump pit will be beautifully clear.

At Freesat, we’re committed to bringing brilliant HD programming to as many UK viewers as possible, for free. The scope of BBC’s HD coverage of the Beijing Olympics is testament to the exciting future of HD broadcasting in this country.”

According to the industry analysts Screen Digest, 41 per cent of households in the UK own a HD Ready television, but only 10 per cent of these homes are connected to a High Definition television service such as freesat, it seems a bit of waste as you could be taking advantage of the High Definition content on your new shiny HD Ready TV which you might have paid a lot of money for and watching all the action from the Olympics in High Definition, sweat and polution included at five times the detail!

Obviously to receive the HD broadcast you will need a HD receiver and satellite dish and a HD ready TV or the new all singing dancing Panasonic Plasma TV with freesat built in, now is the ideal opportunity to purchase a HD freesat set top box as on line retailer Dixons are offering 10% off all freesat receivers until the 29th August click here for more details.

For more details on receiving freesat see our “What is Needed” section.

The [...]]]> With only 11 days to go until the start of Wimbledon and eight weeks until the start of the Beijing Olympics in China, now is the time to get a HD (High Definition) set top box to enjoy these sporting showcases in stunning HD as long as you have a HD ready TV, subscription free!

The broadcasts in HD from Euro 2008 have received rave reviews despite the initial sound problems which have seemed to resolve themselves. Also ITV HD will be broadcasting Champions League games in HD later in the year.

It will be interesting to see if ITV HD (which has not officially launched yet [...]]]> With the 2008 Football European Championship nearly on us, early listings for BBC HD have allocated the same time frames as the SD (Standard Definition) broadcast on BBC HD channel (108) we will update when we get the full schedule released.

It will be interesting to see if ITV HD (which has not officially launched yet but was visible by a key sequence on the Humax Foxsat-HD when the European Cup was broadcast) will be showing Euro 2008 as all broadcasts feeds are provided by the host broadcaster which will be using HD cameras.

This should be a really good showcase for live HD content, just a shame no British side qualified for Euro 2008 which would have really helped to push freesat sales through the roof (if the supply could cope!)