Australia TV goes all digital

[wa2ise]

Heard on the stream of station 4KQ a news blurb that the last analog over the air TV to be switched off today. No mention of any LPTV, they may not have any such.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Heard on the stream of station 4KQ a news blurb that the last analog over the air TV to be switched off today. No mention of any LPTV, they may not have any such.

It's a sign of the times. The US, of course, went digital in June 2009. Canada followed suit a couple years ago. Now Australia will likely have the same problems with DTV we here in North America have been wrestling with the last four years (reception diificulties, converter boxes for older analog NTSC TVs, et al).

It won't be long, IMO, before the entire world is watching digital TV, with no more analog stations to be found. NTSC was a wonderful system for US and Canadian TV while it lasted, but the FCC (and soon after, the Canadian broadcasting authority--CRTC, I think) decided it was time for a change, so in June 2009 (for American TV) and some two years ago for Canadian television, out went analog and in came DTV.

BTW, speaking of digital, I wonder how long it will be before analog FM radio in this country is shut down in favor of digital, as was television. I hate to think of it, as digital FM would render very large numbers of existing analog receivers instantly obsolete--again, as did DTV for analog TVs.

I think what's happening is the FCC is going along with the rest of the world in converting TV (and perhaps FM radio) to 100-percent digital signals. The agency is also unwittingly trying to get analog television receivers out of American homes, to be replaced by cheap offshore-made flat panel sets with former American manufacturers' names (except Zenith) on the display bezels.

[Dude111]

Yes its quite sad....... ANALOGUE IS MUCH NICER IN EVERY WAY!!

[Username1]

The only thing to do, is to develop time travel as quickly as we can, and then retreat to a better time.....

[zenith2134]

It seems to me that Australia has done a better job of attempting to recycle the old analog TVs than the U.S. did in '08-'09 after our switchover.
Realizing that the recycling of 'e-waste' often damages the environment despite good intentions, it is IMO preferable than just dumping all of those CRT sets in a landfill.
Better yet, hopefully some collectors in Aussieland will preserve the old tv's.
What analog system did Australia switch from? Was it NTSC? I could look it up, but I figured it would stimulate conversation on the forums if we discussed the standards used over there .

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by Username1

The only thing to do, is to develop time travel as quickly as we can, and then retreat to a better time.....

Ya a grand idea!!

[dr.ido]

Australia was PAL B/G, until the 13th of December when the last (as far as I know) analog transmitters switched off in Melbourne (and possibly other places I'm not aware of). Other areas switched off earlier. Now we are DVB-T with unencrypted MPEG2, though there are already plans to change this to encrypted MPEG4.

Here the low power community station (RMITV on channel 31) actually went digital only before the commercial and national stations.

I had planned to put up a video, but others on youtube did a far better job than I could have. I had been too busy at work to get other sets out of storage so I had to make do with what I had on hand.

The (bad) picture attached shows a few of the sets I had on hand tuned to 4 of the 5 analog broadcasts remaining on air a few hours before the switch off. I had expected the switch off to take place at midnight, but it was at 9 am the following morning. I watched it live on the the sets pictured, but didn't have time to set up the camera.

It probably isn't readable in the picture, but channels 7 and 10 were running text on the bottom of the screen warning of the impending switch off permanently in the week prior.

Channels 9 (on the AWA B&W set) and 10 (on the Toshiba 14") switched off 1st in the middle of a commercial, channel 7 (on the 10" Thorn AWA) played a collection of vintage clips before switching off. Channels 2 and 28 (one of which was on the 10" NEC LCD) lingered on a little longer, but did nothing to signify the switch off.

[dr.ido]

As a side note: One of the sites I work out of happens to be next door be the official "e-waste recycler" for the state of Victoria. They simply crush everything up and put it in containers that are sent overseas (probably to China, but I haven't checked) for processing away from costly environmental regulations.

I would sooner put my sets in landfill than send them there.

I understand that those of us interested in vintage TVs/computers/electronics are in the minority and most of it will be scrapped. I can accept seeing old analog CRT sets and whitebox computers going into the crusher.

When I see <3 year old laptops/imacs/flat panel sets that could be reused (some that have been packed carefully packed by the previous owner who believed the council propaganda stating they would be reused) going into the crusher they can get fucked.

I have scavenged some gear from there in the past, but I guess they saw the footprints leading up the bins and now that keep it all locked up.

[boora2]

Yes happened in Sydney a few days ago,we were fist city in aus with AM,fm,stereo,TV,colour,everything,years ago,used to work at channel 9 then 1000kW transmitter power,a bat flew into the bow ties,we had a 30.06 rifle for these bludgers,we showing off to my gf by bypassing the kirk key interlocks,we took power at 132kV and making coffee by putting the cup near the final rf stage,cranked the finals up to 4000kw,bat just exploded.

[Retspin]

Lol!

[W3XWT]

At least DVB-T usually works... unlike A Thoroughly Screwed-up Contraption, AKA Very Seriously Butchered-8!

[boora2]

Originally Posted by Retspin

Lol!

RIP Mr Flying Fox.

[Captainclock]

I agree, DTV is just a bunch of BS and it never works like you want it to, even the slightest gust of wind can knock out a DTV Signal for several minutes on end. At least with the old Analog system if you had poor reception you could still get a picture and sound whereas with DTV if there's bad reception you have no picture, no sound, just a blank screen saying "weak or no signal".

I think that the "going all digital" is just one of the few steps that the government is taking to try and get the "one world power" going like what's discussed in the Bible in the Book of Revelation concerning the end times...

[bandersen]

Dave (EEVblog) is going to do a teardown of some transmitter gear from channel 7 in Sydney.

http://youtu.be/sEOxix7-kXk