The BBC has announced its HDTV trial plans, with highlights of the main channel’s output available on satellite and cable. This’ll mean the timing should conincide quite nicely with Sky’s expected HDTV push around the same time.
Interestingly the Beeb are also going to trial HDTV via Freeview in London where there are seemingly unused frequencies. This will require new boxes so will only be for triallists.
I suspect that HDTV isn’t going to take off quite as fast here as it has in America. The cumulative gain isn’t as good, and you can only really tell the difference when you have a really big TV. Most Brits don’t have really big TVs. The other problem is that we’ve already had the widescreen revolution to some extent. If you’ve bought a widescreen telly in the last two or three years, you probably don’t see the need to get another one.
I also have problems with LCD TVs which I still don’t think look as good as CRTs – particularly if there’s movement, in action films for example. Plasmas are better, but then they’re more expensive. For all their thinness, these TV sets don’t actually offer as good a picture as CRTs. And until they do, why should I upgrade.
Of course, my CRT computer monitor has better resolution than any HDTV, and when you download HDTV such as via the BBC’s iMP (or less legal mechanisms) you’re already seeing and perhaps hearing video at the highest quality.