DTT growing in the UK

Figures released yesterday by Ofcom, the UK media regulator, indicate that the incredible growth of the DVB-T based Freeview platform shows no sign of slowing. Since the platform was launched in October 2002, over 27 million DVB-T receivers have been sold. The bulk of these, 17.5 million, are set-top boxes, but the number of IDTVs (TVs with an integrated DVB-T tuner) is growing. In the last quarter of 2007, for example, 2.3 million IDTVs were sold, as against 1.8 million set-top boxes.

In a market where 87% of homes now receive digital television, the terrestrial platform is the most popular with 37% of all homes watching DTT. Digital satellite commands 36% of the market (of which 4% watch free-to-air services), and digital cable has a 14% share.

Digital TV has been a real success in the UK and many other countries (e.g. New Zealand, Indonesia, etc...) are now looking to mirror that success by making a similar range of services available under similar circumstances.

Slow take-up for DTT in Brazil

As predicted here and elsewhere, it looks like expensive receivers are ensuring that the launch of DTT services in Brazil are to blame for a very slow take-up of the new services. A report on Advanced-Television.com last week that only 10,000 households have made the switch to digital since the launch of services in Sao Paulo at the beginning of December. At this rate the analogue switch-off target date of 2016 looks amibitious.

Meanwhile, DVB-T receivers continue to fly off the shelves in Spain, France, the UK and elsewhere... Cheap receivers are a necessary pre-requisite for quick take-up of newly launched DTT services - ISDB-T (the Japanese system adopted by the Brazilians) is not synonymous with cheap set-top boxes. An average DVB-T zapper box is now selling for less than USD $40 in many markets across the world.

UK retailers boost for DVB-T sales

A report on the BBC website indicates that electrical retailers Currys, Dixons and PC World are to stop selling analogue TV sets and will stock only models with built-in digital receivers from now on. Such products are known as IDTVs, or Integrated Digital TVs. Already, they say, more than 90% of the sets they sell are "digital". This is sure to provide a boost to Freeview with purchasers of a new TV set having immediate access to more than 40 channels, with no further payment due (other than the TV license!).

Why Taiwan is important for Chile?

Despite the fact that an announcement was expected last Friday on which DTT system the Chileans would choose, it seems that decision has been postponed (again) and the political maneuvering is set to continue.

Proponents of the Japanese system (as chosen by Brazil) are said to have been claiming that DVB isn't used anywhere else that uses 6MHz channel bandwidths and the NTSC system for analogue TV. This has sparked a flurry of activity amongst DVB supporters pointing to the example of Taiwan. The DVB website reports (with a Spanish translation, leaving no doubt as to who the story is aimed at) that Taiwan now has more than 2 million DVB-T receivers, the majority of which are set-top boxes.

Limiting access to new technologies...

Starting from January, US consumers who rely on over-the-air signals for the TV service will be able to apply for up to two US$ 40 coupons that can be used to off-set the cost of digital-to-analogue converter boxes (or set-top boxes, as they're known elsewhere). These will allow consumers to continue using their old TV sets after analogue switch-off, which is due to happen in February 2009.

I've been reading through some of the information about the coupon program on the NTIA website, and I can't helping finding the whole philosophy behind the scheme to be somewhat twisted. There's a section of the site aimed at manufacturers who want to produce boxes that can be certified as qualifying under the coupon program, including a set of criteria (PDF) that can disqualify a box from being eligible. The general message seems to be that the coupons can only be used against the most basic of boxes - in other words, if you can't afford to equip yourself for the digital TV revolution, you're not entitled to have the latest technology. Features that disqualify a set-top box from the coupon program include not just high value-added things like a DVD drive, a hard disc or even a VCR, but also such basic features as VGA output, DVI output, YPbPr component video output, or HDMI. (One wonders what was the thinking behind putting in place these criteria?)

Contrast this to the equivalent programs in Italy and Austria where the respective governments, when DTT services were launched, used the subsidies to ensure that consumers could benefit from a more highly specified box, specifically a box with MHP middleware along with smartcard slots (and, as far as I'm aware, no limit on what outputs the box offered). If consumers wanted to go out and buy a simple "zapper" box, with only the very basic specs, they pay for it themselves...

I wonder whether this is related to the differing DTT standards used in the USA and these two European countries. DVB-T has been so successful worldwide that basic receivers are so cheap as to not require a subsidy. (e.g. more than 8 million receivers sold in France since launch in 2005). In the USA, where ATSC holds sway, the majority of receivers sold can be accounted for by the mandate that requires all new TVs to have an integrated tuner (which many or most people don't even use) - there isn't really a market for converter boxes, or set-top boxes. (I've been unable to come by any real information about what the price point will be for these boxes yet.)

The moral of the story: if you have a big population of analogue TV sets and you want your citizens to have the best technology at the cheapest price, you're probably better off with DVB-T.

Who's using what?

I thought it might be worth taking a quick snapshot of those countries that have actually launched DTT services and those that have adopted a DTT standard.

ISDB-T - On Air
Japan
Brazil (variant system - SBTVD)

ATSC - On Air
Canada
USA
South Korea

ATSC - Adopted
Mexico
Honduras

DVB-T - On Air
Albania
Andorra
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Mauritius
Namibia
Netherlands
Norway
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom
Total = 31

DVB-T - Adopted
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brunei
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Cape Verde
Cyprus
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Laos
Latvia
Macedonia
Malaysia
Montenegro
Myanmar
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
Uruguay
Vietnam
Total = 31

It should also be kept in mind that all of the countries that are signatories of the Geneva '06 Agreement governing radio frequency allocations will, by definition, also use DVB-T. That's every country in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. One could place all of these countries in the DVB Adopted list, bringing the total of DVB-T countries to well over 100.

These figures are as good a reason as any for the fact that DVB-T receivers are cheaper than ATSC, ISDB-T and SBTVD receivers.

[Edited 11/12/2007 - the Brazilian system is now on air... - thanks for the comments!]

Good year for DTT in Spain

DTT has continued to grow in popularity in Spain - they're now predicting that there'll be a total of 7 million DVB-T receivers deployed by the end of the year. This isn't all that surprising when you look at the prices of receivers there. For example, this TDT Promaster NM220TNT box is selling online for €UR 26.

A quick search for this model shows that it's also on sale in Italy and France (and probably elsewhere), which is a good indication of how European viewers are benefiting from the economies of scale that come when the industry gets its act together and agrees on what standards to use. Long may it continue!

High Def kicking off on terrestrial in Singapore

MediaCorp has launched its well-flagged HD5 service on the DVB-T network in Singapore. The service, which has been in trial for about a year, is a simulcast of Channel 5, the main English language channel that carries major drama series, movies and sports events. The service uses MPEG-4 video coding. Not much word yet on STB availability. One model that's getting a lot of mention on discussion boards is the Draco HDTV 3900...seemingly it's available for about Sing$ 300 - that's just over €140.

The MediaCorp site suggests that the main retails are selling receivers, bundled with an indoor antenna for about Sing$560 - about €265. That price seems a little steep compared to prices reported previously in Estonia and Norway. Presumably prices will fall as more HD content (rather than upconverted SD stuff) is added to the service.

ALDI selling cheap HD STBs in Oz

Budget retailer ALDI is currently selling an HDTV (DVB-T, MPEG-2 video) set-top box, with HDMI output, for AUS$ 119. That's about €75... It's a Tevion box - the black and pink boxes in the middle of the photo above.

Norway is up and running

This is the Grundig DTR8720, one of three boxes consumers in Norway can now choose from following the launch of DVB-T services on September 1st. The Norwegians have taken advantage of the fact that they're coming a little later to the party by diving straight in with MPEG-4 video coding and AAC+ for audio.

Interestingly, given all the doom and gloom over the last year, they've also decided to go with MHP as the interactive middleware for the platform. Currently only one of the two Grundig receivers that are available is MHP-enabled. The Sagem receiver is not. A visitor to the IBC show in Amsterdam last week told me that they're expecting more MHP receivers to become available on the market there in the next few months.

The cheaper of the two Grundig models (i.e. the one without MHP) is retailing for around € 150 - the MHP box is about €50 more at the moment.

It'll be interesting to see how prices go in the coming months.

There are a number of blog posts in English about the launch here. And the official site for the service provider (in Norwegian) is here.

The Ten Pound DTT Receiver!

According to Broadband TV News, UK supermarket giant Tesco are now selling a DVB-T receiver for the retail price of £10 - at today's exchange rates that's just under EUR 15 or just over US$ 20 - surely now the cheapest DTT receiver in the world?

The receiver in question is made by Techwood.

First DVB-T adoption in Latin America...

I spotted on the newswires this morning that the Uruguayan president has signed a decree that adopts DVB-T and DVB-H for terrestrial DTV in that country. This is rather significant because Latin America, a potentially huge market for DTT, is still something of a virgin territory. The Brazilians have (rather bizarrely) thrown their lot in with the Japanese by deciding to implement a local variation of the ISDB-T system. None of the other countries, however, have yet made a decision on which DTT standard to use. The Americans have been pushing ATSC in the region of course, but it's a system that's seen as being not as technologically advanced as either DVB-T or ISDB-T....

It'll be interesting to see whether this decision in Uruguay pushes the issue up the agenda in Argentina and Chile, which will probably be the next countries to make decisions. Should one or other of those opt also for DVB-T, it's fair to say that the system could spread to the rest of Latin America. Which will mean more good news for receiver prices.

PlayTV on the Sony PSP

Further to an earlier post, this video from GC07 courtesy of the people at Gizmodo, gives us a walkthrough of a very nice thing called PlayTV from Sony. Basically, it turns your Playstation into a fully functional DVB-T receiver and PVR, with full EPG support... But wait, there's more.... It also allows seamless transfer of content onto your PSP, with the possibility of watching live content on there too.

If this all seems too cool to be true, just watch the video!

Freeview STB Advice

I came across an interesting article on the London Times website. It's a review of six different Freeview set-top boxes that are currently on the market in the UK - three PVRs and three receiver-only boxes. Interestingly, it includes a Setanta branded box (actually made by Sagem). Freeview viewers now have the option of seeing live Premier League football at home, since the new sports channel, Setanta, managed to win part of the rights package. The service costs £10 per month, and does requrie a box with a card slot, but it does mean you can avoid signing up for the more expensive satellite or cable packages.

The full article is here:
http://tinyurl.com/yr9cjz

Small Screen, Small Price

I found an even cheaper portable DVB-T receiver/screen. Similar to the one mentioned in an earlier post, this has a 3.5" LCD and is fully specced for DVB-T reception.

This one is available for about €80 direct from the manufacturer in China.

Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/2xjm83

DVB-T for the PS3

Interesting news from New Zealand where a Sony exec has been quoted as saying that they hope to be able to provide a DVB-T tuner for use with Playstation 3 consoles by the time the terrestrial Freeview service launches there. That service is due to launch early in 2008, so this is something that could become available quite soon. The PS3 is already USB enabled, so one can presume that it wouldn't be so difficult to add the necessary software to the box. The question is, how long before we see this in Europe too?

(It's worth noting that DVB-T in New Zealand will be launched using MPEG-4 video coding from the start.)

Low cost mobile DVB-T - the DigitMobile 3

3" LCD, DVB-T tuner for 6, 7 or 8MHz channels, up to four hours viewing using the battery. Nice! And Amazon.de are selling it for 130 €UR.

ATSC prices falling - but DVB-T still cheaper

If this post from dtvfacts.com is anything to go by, the newest low-end ATSC set-top boxes (or converter boxes, the term that's used in the US) will be priced at US $60-70. This is indeed quite cheap, but it's still 30% more expensive than the cheapest DVB-T boxes.

It seems the US government will try to push take-up of DTT through the use of a coupon scheme, whereby all consumers will be able to apply for a US$ 40 voucher that they can redeem against an approved list of products sold at an approved list of retailers. The same website includes a detailed explanation of how that scheme will work.

DVB-T STB prices in Australia

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.

MPEG-4 receivers in Estonia

People are starting to talk about MPEG-4 video coding as a real option for launching DVB-T services now. The headend equipment is certainly available and getting better all the time. The Estonians have launched DVB-T services this year and are using MPEG-4 right from the off. The big question is will the receivers be affordable. Everyone knows that standard MPEG-2 DVB-T boxes are as cheap as chips (literally, if you get my meaning!), but there isn't yet a mass market for these new-fangled MPEG-4 boxes. So, what's happening in Estonia....?

Well it seems that one manufacturer at least has put a line in the sand in terms of a price point. This box from Kaon is, I am reliably informed, retailing at 109 €UR, plus sales tax (which is a not insignificant 18% in Estonia). The box, which is not a bad looking piece of kit, can handle MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, both SD and HD, and has HDMI output. You'll find the full spec here. (Takes a while to load for some reason.)