Another impression of Foxtel

[lummie]

Well now having a look through Foxtel's new "Revolutionary" digital format, here were a few thoughts on the good and bad things of it.

--=POSITIVES=--
*Finally I can watch Super 12 rugby and other sports events in widescreen on my widescreen tv. The widescreen feature of digital is a huge improvement

*The info bar is nothing new to me but its nice to get it again and be able to see whats on without referring to my printed foxtel guide. The planner guide is very nice withit now in a one screen instead of flicking screens to see whats booked

*Extra channels arent all great but the timeshift channels are quite nice, certainly as an avid law and order fan I sometimes miss it in the day, so having it 2 hours later is better than waiting till the next morning at I think 2:30am

*Sky News active seems quite good, I dont always want to turn my comp on again to get sports results so its nice to get them instantly

--=NEGATIVES=--
*The widescreen feature is very nice but I sometimes enjoy watching 4:3 tv in wide zoom and with the settings in 16:9 it makes the screen normal and it is annoying to get into the other screen to change it.

*As many have mentioned it is ashame the back button wont switch to the previous channel

*The interface for the TV guide I find quite ugly and I think too narrow and thin to read properly.

*While the auto switch feature and planner is more advanced than the analogue version, there is nothing to switch over to seven and ten at particular times now that the timer feature is gone. Poor planning foxtel.

*The telephone feature I had to provide a line filter for my adsl line and wont be reimbursed. Bit of a nuisance. As the tech told me and I recommened to anyone getting digital with an ADSL line, make sure to pick one up at a cheaper price.

*Picture quality is marginally better but I wouldnt say anything to be amazed about, certainly using composite cables wont get the greatest quality but nothing as foxtel says as "Revolutionary"

*What happened to favourites? This was a brilllant feature and made it a lot easier to go through channels I watch. Now I have to go through the hundreds of useless channels to find my channels if I am just scrolling through.

*Im sure the sports active feature is nice but one game per week with AFL and NRL makes it hard to really say how nice it is. Would have been nice if they just made certain features available with foxtel covered games, mainly the commentary feature. I really just want to be able to listen to the crowd instead of the crappy commentators Foxtel has.

*No programme light on front of box? What channel am I watching will only be answered if watching tv.

*And last but not least what ashame Foxtel couldnt get seven and ten to retransmit the digital signal.

So there ya go, I feel Foxtel digital unfortunatly has more negatives than positives and certainly had a chance to make it more user friendly had they kept some of its previous features.

WHAT SHOULD CHANGE
-Button on remote to auto change from 16:9 to 4:3 to fill out screen
-Previous button to change to previously watched channel
-Seven and Ten in digital
-Timer feature for while seven and ten
-Revamped EPG to make listings more readable and less narrow
-Display on digital box of current channel.
-When available HD and component video cable inputs

Hope this was interesting

[Chris Runner]

> --=NEGATIVES=--
> *The widescreen feature is very nice but I sometimes enjoy watching 4:3
> tv in wide zoom and with the settings in 16:9 it makes the screen
> normal and it is annoying to get into the other screen to change it.
>

I assume the box is capable of "on the fly" aspect switching if the programs
are correctly flagged. Ie. The simpsons needs to be flagged "4:3" instead of
programming the entire channel as 16:9.

This way both widescreen sets and standard 4:3 sets can have programs
presented in the format best suited to the shape and user preferences (as a
DVD player does with content of different aspect ratios.)

Also as 4:3 programs are presented in a 16:9 frame, by enabling "centre cut"
etc you do not get the full 720X576 resolution you would expect, rather a
reduced resolution zoom in of a 720X576 frame.

[lummie]

I assume the box is capable of "on the fly" aspect switching if the programs
are correctly flagged. Ie. The simpsons needs to be flagged "4:3" instead of
programming the entire channel as 16:9.

This way both widescreen sets and standard 4:3 sets can have programs
presented in the format best suited to the shape and user preferences (as a
DVD player does with content of different aspect ratios.)

Also as 4:3 programs are presented in a 16:9 frame, by enabling "centre cut"
etc you do not get the full 720X576 resolution you would expect, rather a
reduced resolution zoom in of a 720X576 frame.

Not exactly, you can get centre cut if you put that your tv is 4:3 and will do that with 16:9 programming but foxtels widescreen channels seem to broadcast 4:3 programmes in their 4:3 ratio on your tv. So if you want to stretch it you have to change the aspect ratio. 9 and ABC digital on foxtel does the same thing. Its probably so people dont have to keep changing the zoom feature.