Hands on with Freeview HD

If you were listening to Radio New Zealand's This Way Up
show over the weekend you'll have heard host Simon Morton and I attempt rather unsuccessfully to fire up Freeview's new high-definition TV service.
It's not that there was anything wrong with the Zinwell set-top box we were using, which I see Dick Smith is now selling for $399 re-branded under its DSE brand, a hundred dollars less than was originally planned. It's not that the transmission was on the blink. We had the right high-definition TV set and HDMI cable (bought for $100, ouch!).
Please note Dick Smith pricing update at bottom of page
It's just that we were trying to access the service using an internal UHF aerial and in central Wellington, that doesn't work very well. By balancing the $40 Digitor UHF antenna on top of the TV we were able to get channels 1, 2, 6, 7 and Sports Extra fine, but 3, 4 and the high-definition test channel scrolling all those lush pictures of tropical beaches and funky architecture came and went in blocky squalls of pixelation. I tried the service at three locations around Wellington and got similar results in each case.
The lesson then is to approach internal UHF aerials for Freeview with caution. If you're in Auckland, where the Waiatarua broadcast tower sits high above the city with good line of sight with many homes, an internal antenna may be all that you need. The advantage of an internal antenna is that you don't have to go through the hassle and expense of having an external antenna fitted to the roof of your house. Check the Freeview coverage maps before you do anything and if you buy and internal antenna keep the packaging and receipt, it may have to go back to where you bought it.
While 75 per cent coverage of the New Zealand population sounds extensive, we've learnt from mobile phone coverage in this country that even coverage in the 90 per cent range still leaves plenty of pockets of patchy coverage in central areas.
Anyway, I had no complaints about the technical aspects of the service when I was getting a good signal. The up converted content (standard TV broadcasts with slightly improved resolution) looks good and the HD test channel is a pleasure to look at.
The software user-interface is fairly basic but functional - I like the progress bar which shows you how far through a programme you are. Set-up was a breeze, automatic scanning for channels is easy and quick.
A disconcerting feature has the box showing a red light when it is on standby and no light when it is actually on. I though it would be the other way around which made for some initial confusion. The box comes with composite and component connectors for standard definition but you'll have to splash out on an HDMI cable to get the 720p and 1080i high-definition feeds.
The USB port on the back of the Zinwell opens up the tantalising prospect of you being able to plug in an external hard drive to turn the Zinwell box into a makeshift PVR. But it doesn't look like that will be possible unless someone in the hacker community gets very resourceful - the user's manual says the port is for "firmware upgrade only".
The same goes for the Ethernet port on the rear of the box, which ideally would allow you to send a digital TV signal to other devices over a home network, including to a digital recorder on your PC and even to receive content from the internet, maybe for interactive TV.
A couple of users posting on the new NZ Digital Television forum have tried activating both ports without success. But where there's a port there's a way.
The set-up costs to go high-definition from scratch are considerable - around $600 - $700 for set-top box, HDMI cable, UHF antenna and installation. As for the content that will be available, you may appreciate the prime-time TV3 shows in HD, but the Olympics will probably be the first big showcase of HD broadcasting.
My advice is to hold off for a few months to see how the hardware options open up. By that stage aerial installers will have gotten over the launch rush too.
Those holding out in the hope that Freeview's exclusive channels will end up being shown on Sky anyway, should listen to this Mediawatch interview with Eric Kearley, TVNZ's general manager of digital services.
He said that free-to-air broadcasters around the world were realising that allowing their channels to be broadcast on pay TV platforms was the equivalent of committing "commercial suicide". According to Kearley, doing so would only strengthen Sky's offering, increase its subscription revenue and therefore give it more revenue to buy content to make Sky more alluring. In other words, Freeview on Sky isn't going to happen.
UPDATE: Dick Smith has today pulled off its website the DSE-620 Freeview receiver priced at $399. Instead the price is now advertised as $549. Other's also saw the $399 price tag yesterday, though the links now default to the Dick Smith homepage. It seems Dick Smith was planning on launching its Freeview DTT set-top box at $399 but has for some reason changed its mind. Noel Leeming is offering the Zinwell box for $449 as an introductory offer.
UPDATE #2: Dick Smith has been in touch to clarify its pricing decision for the Freeview digital terrestrial set-top box. It turns out the retailer will offer the receiver for $399 as I originally reported, rather than the $549 price that was shown on the website and noticed by several Herald readers.
"Regrettably there was a process glitch when the product was booked in which resulted in the retail price being automatically adjusted to $549," said Dick Smith merchandise manager James Cunnold.
I'd link to the new pricing but the Dick Smith website has been unaccessible due to "heavy traffic". Check dse.co.nz later today. The good news is that Dick Smith is also including an HDMI cable with the receiver so no need to go to the extra expense of buying one.
"We saw no point in selling a High Definition receiver that wouldn't display a High Definition picture out of the box," said Cunnold.