Quite; it will be interesting to see the results of the latest consultation round - at least the BBC is being quite explicit with people, warning them that if a service were launched next year, they'd probably have to buy a new box not too long afterwards. I suspect a lot of people will be quite happy to wait an extra year or so (depending on when their area has DSO) rather than buying another piece of kit to be obsoleted.
And I bet if Topfield created a box for the interim service, someone would be along to complain that they were misleading people, by creating an HD box that wouldn't work on the eventual standard.
It seems now that what we have is actually a great deal of uncertainty about HD on Freeview, far more than anything else.
We have to wait for Ofcom's Digital Dividend Review, to see if they're going to push through a change to DVB-T2, or if they'll give in to the HD4All arguments, and gift some space for terrestrial HD.
If they go for the former option - which seems to be what the BBC Trust is expecting - then we have to wait and see how far off DVB-T2 actually looks, since it's not a finalised standard yet. If the BBC Trust thinks it will be a viable option by 2009, then we probably won't get anything until then, and that seems to be region by region, at DSO.
If they think it will take longer, they will consider launching the service using DVB-T, and any box will have to be replaced at DSO when DVB-T2 comes in.
I can't honestly see any other than the keen early adopters going for that. And as CJL points out, it's a pretty small market. All we're likely to see is imports of boxes for other European markets, I suspect.
And I bet if Topfield created a box for the interim service, someone would be along to complain that they were misleading people, by creating an HD box that wouldn't work on the eventual standard.
It seems now that what we have is actually a great deal of uncertainty about HD on Freeview, far more than anything else.
We have to wait for Ofcom's Digital Dividend Review, to see if they're going to push through a change to DVB-T2, or if they'll give in to the HD4All arguments, and gift some space for terrestrial HD.
If they go for the former option - which seems to be what the BBC Trust is expecting - then we have to wait and see how far off DVB-T2 actually looks, since it's not a finalised standard yet. If the BBC Trust thinks it will be a viable option by 2009, then we probably won't get anything until then, and that seems to be region by region, at DSO.
If they think it will take longer, they will consider launching the service using DVB-T, and any box will have to be replaced at DSO when DVB-T2 comes in.
I can't honestly see any other than the keen early adopters going for that. And as CJL points out, it's a pretty small market. All we're likely to see is imports of boxes for other European markets, I suspect.
