Australia is an interesting market for DTT, having introduced high def broadcasts (using MPEG-2 video coding) on DVB-T more than five years ago. I believe they are beginning to think about a move to MPEG-4 in the coming years there, but for the moment the receiver market is entirely MPEG-2....and there are some very cheap boxes available.
This standard definition box from Ultraview is available at AUS $ 50, which is about 30 €UR or US$40. That beats any price I've been able to find online for the UK or elsewhere (although I'll keep searching). By the way, this box can output both PAL and NTSC signals - this is a key point for the markets in Latin America.
Arguably, what's really impressive about the market in Oz is just how low the prices for HD receivers have fallen. For example, the Legend box pictured here is available for AUS $ 130 - that's just over 80 €UR for a box that can do SD and HD, with DVI video output and SPDIF for the audio. That's pretty inexpensive HDTV by any standard! (Again, it can output both PAL and NTSC.)
There's a long list of receivers available for the Australian market on the DBA website, although the recommended retail prices listed there seem a little high when you search some of the online retailers.
No comments:
Post a Comment