Fifth HD Channel on DTT

Free to View.

Nope, it's one of the free HD channels along with BBC HD, BBC One HD, ITV1 HD and Channel 4 HD.

And Luxe or whatever it's called.

And of course the biggest barrier with Freeview is that "HD Ready" TVs with Freeview can't actually receive it - and with most people either having an integrated TV or bought a PVR over the last few years they'll only look towards HD when it's time to replace it. That's what I did this year - and I was rather underwhelmed by it really.

Really? And yet you seem so easy to please.

What makes you think an "HD ready" set won't be blown up every now and then?

http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/photos/images/original/000/000/681/what-you-did-there-i-see-it.thumbnail.jpg

My anecdotal experience is that people fall who've purchased LCDs fall in to 2 camps:

1) People who are mad on HD
2) People who just appreciate the space they save/the look in general

The first lot are typically already Sky/Virgin customers - particularly Sports subscribers. If they don't subscribe, they're probably willing to at least invest in a Freesat setup to make the most of their investment.

The second lot really don't care about the picture on their screen, and will happily have their DVD player/PVR hooked up via SCART.

My personal position is that Freeview is the wrong platform for carriage of HD services. The inherently limited amount of suitable spectrum prevents it from ever carrying anything like a comprehensive range of stations, and leaving it open to all would probably result in a few more big Pay TV names moving over, and as a result a greater choice of content for all.

The second lot will also probably have their Sky box set for 4:3 CCO (the default shipping setting, still, after all these years !!!) so just about everything will be in stretchy vision.

I was in a small pub in deepest Wales last month. There was a brand new Sky box in the bar, feeding via Scart into a nice 40 inch glass fronted flat screen. It was tuned to a radio station when we entered the place, and I could see nasty PAL strobing on the menu banner. (Of course, that's the other default setting Sky boxes still have, Composite rather than RGB interface).

However, the true horror of the set up became apparent when the landlord picked up the remote, and selected BBC 2 Wales for a rugby match. Yep, 4:3 CCO, stretched to fill the screen.

I was tempted to grab the remote, and with just half a dozen key presses put things right, but Mrs Markymark told me not to worry, turn round so my back was facing the screen, and get on with my pint. Sound advice from her I think, given the rather parochial nature of the pub, and us being 'the only tourists in the village'

Luxe closed down a few months ago. NHK World HD on the other hand is readily available free to air.

Presumably Sky Engineers fit the majority of new boxes (rather than the 'self set-up' option), so why don't they do it properly to provide the best picture possible for the customer?

Even if you're connecting a new TV to an existing box at home, why don't people think something is wrong when they realise they are watching stretchy-vision?

Surely all the rugby fans in that pub in deepest Wales can't have believed that all the players were really that short and fat.

Presumably, either they do indeed believe widescreen must equate to stretchy fat people or they don't know/have no interest in finding out how to navigate their digibox menus. Which is fine but not when broadcasters are pandering to their display habits as opposed to people who are set up correctly.

Its all in the educasion, innit.