Media centres: what you need to know

You have a gleaming new flat screen and a sound system to die for - the only problem is that all your music, photos and home videos are being held captive in the computer on the other side of the house. Could a media centre help to bridge your technological divide?

1. What is a media centre PC?

A media centre is a computer-like device that will let you record and replay television programs, surf the internet, and play digital music, games, video and slide shows - all using your television set as the display. The devices are designed to connect to other lounge room media devices and are operated by wireless keyboard or remote control. They are also sometimes called home theatre PCs.

2. What will my media centre do for me?

The most popular uses of a media centre are to aggregate and play digital files such as music, video and photos from a central location, and to access internet and email services in the lounge room.

Other popular features include the ability to watch and record digital TV programs and to pause and rewind current live television broadcasts. Advanced features in some units might also allow you to scale up your existing DVDs to a higher resolution (obviously dependent on the high-definition display capabilities of your TV set).

3. Are they available off the shelf?

Although you can build your own media centre, unless you are a real technology buff, you are best advised to buy an out-of-the-box system or get an expert to pull the bits and pieces together for you.

Some computers are billed as media centre compatible, but a true out-of-the-box solution should include a TV tuner, a preinstalled media centre operating system and a subscription to an electronic program guide such as IceTV.

4. Is it easy to set up?

Assuming you are buying an off-the-shelf solution, set-up time will depend largely on the loftiness of your ambitions, the user friendliness of your hardware and the quality of the user manual. If your new home theatre already incorporates all of the necessary preconfigured components to get things started, the first task is to set up the TV tuner, which could take anything from 20 minutes. After that, the set-up time depends on how much media content you wish to transfer onto the unit, or whether you opt to set up a network that can directly access content stored on your computer. Alternatively your retailer might be able to advise you on specialists who can mesh all the bits and pieces together for you.

5. Will it be easy to use?

Screen menus have been designed for easy navigation using a remote control for most commands and a wireless keyboard for more complex tasks such as internet or email. But be warned that the same sort of things that can play havoc with your computer (such as crashes and malware attacks) can also afflict your media centre.

If you found recording on a VHS machine infuriatingly cumbersome then you will be pleased to know that electronic program guides have turned this chore into a routine flick of the remote. Many devices can also provide similar functionality to a personal video recorder, giving you the choice of recording two things at one time and letting you pause and rewind a TV program showing in real time to fit with your schedule.

6. What other equipment do I need to make it work?

Some entry level media centre systems might not include a TV tuner or EPG subscription, but higher-end off-the-shelf systems should do so.

Display and audio equipment are not generally part of the package so if you want to link up with an existing TV or sound system you must check for the appropriate video and audio inputs.

To extend your media centre functionality to other areas in the house, a media centre extender will let you stream content wirelessly to a number of other display or storage devices (which can run simultaneously and independently). It will also allow you to pipe content stored in your PC directly to your lounge room.

7. Will it look odd in my lounge room?

Media centres might share much of their internal architecture with the classic PC, but most manufacturers have gone to great pains to package them up in a box that would not look out place in your entertainment centre. Many are not much larger than a DVD player and have an external LED display to give you an alternative to navigating via remote control.

Excessive noise can be an issue with some units, however, so check how quietly the machine runs in the showroom to ensure it won't disrupt your viewing experience.

Likewise take measurements of the space it is intended to fill to ensure your new unit has adequate space and ventilation.

8. What extras should I consider?

- If not already included, subscription to an electronic program guide will make it easier to manage television viewing.

- A removable hard disk drive could prove handy for moving media around.

- An ergonomic wireless keyboard will ease hand strain when accessing the internet.

- A universal remote control that works across the media centre and the TV set will help keep clutter from your coffee table.

- A dual high-definition tuner will enable you to record two shows at the same time.

9. How much will it cost?

An out-of-the-box media centre can cost from about $2500 to $6000, depending on the power, ease of use, features, design and brand name. There are more cost-effective solutions available but these involve more customisation and integration, which might require some technological expertise or the help of a specialist.

10. What are those cheaper alternatives?

A media centre needs a lot of hard disk space, processing power and memory. If you have a PC that satisfies those criteria and enjoy tinkering with technology, then you can feasibly create your own home theatre PC for much less than $2500 with the addition of appropriate media centre software, a TV tuner card, and a media extender or game console such as Xbox 360 or Sony's PS3. There are numerous websites that provide instructions on how to connect all of these bits of technology together but such a project is not recommended for the tech-shy.

Original Story by Louisa Hearn, The Age, June 3, 2008

Ratings move to boost HDTV

Free-to-air television stations will finally have some incentive to invest in their high-definition digital channels after a move to include them in official ratings.

Seven, Nine and Ten all offer some unique content on their HD channels - programs that differ from what's being shown on their main analog and standard-defintion channels - but there has been no way of measuring how many people are watching the new channels. That made it very difficult to convince companies to advertise on the channels.

TV ratings company OzTAM today announced that, from November, it would measure ratings for the HD channels whenever they broadcast programs not shown on the main channels.

OzTAM will also begin to measure ratings for ABC2, the ABC's second television channel which is only available to viewers with digital television sets or set-top boxes.

Original story by Jesse Hogan, The Age, May 7, 2008

Channel surfing in a digital-content graveyard

Australian television, running several years behind the rest of the developed world, stands on the precipice of a multichannel frontier.

But should we embark on launching free-to-air channels when the art of programming the ones we already have eludes us still? Free-to-air digital TV is almost a decade old and to describe it as steaming pile of nothing is an understatement.

The only success story is the ABC's stepchild, ABC2. Its commercial counterparts, hamstrung by years of self-inflicted legislative paralysis, are a waste of spectrum.

The hyped high-definition (HD) channels are bare bones and after eight years that's not good enough.

For those few who have installed consumer-unfriendly HD equipment and then bought the antenna they didn't realise they needed, these channels provide a service that amounts to a graveyard for repeats.

Even in the realm of pay TV, where a channel is often not much more than six or eight hours of programming, turned over three or four times in a day, there's enough fresh programming to please most.

The effort is worthy of applause, even if some programs aren't.

The commercial networks pack their schedules with infomercials and too often pepper their prime-time programming with repeats.

In the case of CSI, it is not uncommon for Channel Nine to omit the "R" tag denoting the show is a repeat.

At the ABC, its package of late-night movies has been replayed so often the tapes must be almost worn out.

The mediocre service provided by the networks does not inspire consumers with the kind of confidence free-to-air digital television needs to flourish.

Perhaps the market needs smarter, better operators? Better yet, a reader suggests networks should be obliged to identify the number of times they repeat a program. "R" might be annoying but "R23" is much more honest.

Original story by Michael Idato, The Age, May 8, 2008

High-rise digital set for snowy reception

BRENDAN Foley should be gleefully looking towards the December 2013 end for analog television broadcasting. As the head of contracting services for BSA, owner of Mr Antenna, his division should benefit from the rush of people looking to upgrade to digital.

His dreading the deadline is telling. Foley warns that television viewers must be prodded to make the switch faster because, if they do not, installers will be unable to cope.

"If you're talking to somebody about their TV upgrade in 2008 and they know that the broadcast close date is 2013, (there isn't) a sense of urgency," he said. "You talk to those in the industry and they will tell you, they firmly believe there will be a lot of consumers caught short and lose their TV pictures in 2013."

Since digital television broadcasts began in 2001, one of its biggest selling points has been the ability to get better pictures and sound by connecting a set-top box to the TV. An added lure is being able to watch ABC2 and three additional high-definition channels, with Seven, Nine and Ten to each launch another standard-definition channel in the new year.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority's latest annual report on digital TV found that at the end of last year 41.2% of premises received digital TV broadcasts. When additional TVs were counted, such as in bedrooms, digital's reach was only 25.7% of receivers.

Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy has acknowledged that the switchover "could well be the largest change on a national scale since the introduction of decimal currency in 1966". But while most viewers will be able to upgrade by buying a new TV or a set-top box, those living in apartment buildings could face hefty costs.

"The multi-unit dwelling is actually the toughest of all the issues," Conroy said this week. What makes it difficult is that in most apartments, the TV signal travels from two antennas atop the building to a device that splits the signals into individual channels. Each channel is then fed into an amplifier that boosts the signal so all residents can receive it. That is fine for analog but not for digital.

The best-case scenario is that buildings can be upgraded by installing master antennas designed for digital signals. The signal is fed into a digital distribution amplifier, with repeaters every four or five floors. Upgrading an apartment building of 12 to 20 units using that method, according to Foley, would cost about $300 to $400 a unit — as long as the cabling used could carry the signal.

"Television systems installed prior to 2000 … you're pretty much looking at replacing the lot," he said. That is, new cables throughout the building.

While it is in Foley's interests to talk up the switchover problems, his pricing estimates are backed by the Owners Corporation of Victoria, which represents bodies corporate.

Rob Beck, OCV's general manager, says the cost of $300 to $400 a unit is "realistic, and could be much higher … depending on the situation".

"The costs will be directly passed on to the owner-occupier because that's the (type of) levies they would be paying, but indirectly, certainly all these things have an effect on your rental rate," he said.

While all analog TV signals must cease by the end of 2013 — the Government reiterated the December 31 deadline in March — the switch-off date for metropolitan areas is, formally, December next year. But Conroy insisted that "no one should work on the basis that that will be the actual cut-off date … The next time I have to make the adjustment, towards the end of this year, we'll actually move it (the metropolitan deadline) out to the end of that timetable," he said.

Beck highlighted two factors that could slow the digital upgrade in apartments. Firstly, that many owners' corporations would "wait until the death knock before deciding to do anything", in the hope of getting upgrade subsidies from the Government, and, secondly, because of problems in getting all apartment owners to agree to pay for digital upgrades.

"The very nature of an owners' corporation is that there's a very lengthy approval process as well (from the individual owners)," Beck said.

"If people don't, on an orderly scale, start to convert (now), then the technicians aren't going to be able to cope at the point of time when it comes closer and people all of a sudden want to switch over … they're going to have difficulty coping with the demand."

Opposition communications spokesman Bruce Billson predicted that delays in making digital TV accessible in high-rise apartments would prompt some disgruntled residents to attempt their own, crude solutions.

"You can imagine in these higher-storey buildings and office complexes seeing people sticking aerials out their windows," Billson said. "That's hardly the aesthetics people would be looking for after putting such effort into areas around Southbank and the like, to start seeing all sorts of technology out the sides of buildings."

The Federal Government has allocated $1 million to finding ways to solve reception problems in apartment buildings, and the problems are the focus of one of four committees within the Government-appointed Digital TV Industry Advisory Group.

While digital signals do not suffer the same "ghosting" problems of weak analog signals, Billson said one of the few problems with the new technology was that "unlike analog television, where you might get varying degrees of picture quality, with digital you either get all or nothing".

Julie Flynn, chief executive of the Free TV group, which represents the commercial free-to-air networks, said it was important to note the sustained, intense criticism of Telstra by rural residents in the lead-up to the closure of the CDMA mobile phone network.

"If you think that was a problem, you try taking away their free-to-air television," Flynn told an ACMA summit on Wednesday.

"We all need to get our skates on to make sure we can deliver the same coverage to all Australians in that time frame."

In confirming the switch-off date last month, the Government committed $37.9 million to help its Digital Switchover Taskforce promote the change (albeit as part of a plan similar to the former government's Digital Australia scheme that Labor scrapped, and headed by the same person, Andy Townend).

This will include the development of a logo to be put on new televisions and recording equipment to indicate digital compatibility.

But this may be usurped by the free-to-air networks' recent collaboration to develop a digital set-top box under the Freeview brand to promote the switchover, mimicking the approach of British broadcasters.

Conroy was this week given a demonstration of Freeview by the networks and described it as "a pretty significant development".

"The free-to-airs have dragged their feet for most of the past 10 years — they're really behind it now," he said.

The day after the Government confirmed the deadline in March, Ten chief executive Grant Blackley insisted that it had caused "no trepidation from this camp".

"We see it as a target that the industry should aim towards, and I say 'the industry' on behalf of government, (television) manufacturers, broadcasters, the retail sector and other interested stakeholders as well," Blackley said.

But did he think the December 31 target for the end of analog television broadcasting would be achieved? "I think that's a very good question (to ask) in December 2013."

Original Story by Jesse Hogan, The Age, 3rd May 2008

Conroy attuned to new digital TV network

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy has maintained the momentum for a fourth free-to-air television channel, saying that spectrum freed up by the switch to digital television could be set aside for a new commercial network.

Senator Conroy also revealed that the Rudd Government had estimated the unused spectrum could be worth up to $1 billion.

"In terms of the spectrum and what we could do with it, we've said all along that we are prepared to consider any of the options, including a fourth free-to-air network for the use of the spectrum when we switch it off," Senator Conroy told the ABN Amro Communications Conference in Sydney yesterday.

"We've said that should be on the table for all parties to discuss ... so we're working our way forward on those issues."

The Government aims to have the switch-over to digital television completed by the end of 2013, but Senator Conroy conceded there was "still much work to be done to convert the nearly 60 per cent of Australians who currently do not receive digital free-to-air broadcasts".

"This could well be the most wide-ranging format change on a national scale since we introduced decimal currency," hesaid.

The shift to digital television will free up scarce spectrum that could be used for "new and improved communications services, potentially including wireless internet, mobile telephony and broadcasting".

"The exact value of this spectrum is uncertain, but some estimates say it could be worth up to $1 billion," he said.

"Regardless of its exact worth, the digital dividend is clearly a major benefit of digital switch-over."

Auctions of spectrum licences by the Howard government in 2001 yielded a $1 billion-plus windfall for the commonwealth.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority, which is reviewing spectrum allocations, has recently released several discussion papers about spectrum use in Australia.

Original Story by Kath Hart, The Australian, 30th April '08

Darwin Digital Television

The Sunday Territorian reported yesterday that Darwin Digital Television is set to commence test transmissions next week, in preparation for the station’s full launch at the end of the month.

The station, a joint venture between the incumbent broadcasters Nine Darwin (formerly known as Channel Eight, owned by PBL Media) and Southern Cross Television (owned by Macquarie Southern Cross Media), will carry the Ten Network via a digital signal on UHF channel 33, using call sign DTD.

The station is another in a series of digital joint ventures, with similar Ten affiliated stations operating in Tasmania and Mildura. A similar set-up is expected for regional Western Australia when digital transmissions commence in that state.

Free-to-air ad blitz aims to stall pay TV growth

Free-to-air broadcasters are set to launch a $40 million advertising blitz to whack pay television and attract customers to digital terrestrial TV.

The campaign, to go to air in six weeks, is backed by the three commercial broadcasters, the ABC and SBS, and will have more air time than the former Coalition government's advertising splurge for the GST, which was the single biggest television campaign seen in Australia. Unlike the paid GST ads, the digital TV ads will be run free.

So confident are some of the free-to-air broadcasters about the damage they can inflict on pay TV's - the ad blitz will bundle a line-up of 15 free digital channels available from next year - they say pay TV subscriptions might stall.

In pay TV homes, 40 per cent of viewing is on free-to-air channels. The mid-term goal for the pay TV industry is household penetration of 50 per cent, up from 30 per cent.

"There's no doubt when the consumer has more choice that is free and it is compelling content it's going to hurt pay in some capacity," one TV network executive said this week. "It will slow the rate of growth for pay to a point it may become stagnant in time."

Another TV network executive says the collaboration by broadcasters on the bundle of channels to be called FreeView is unprecedented. It has already resulted in the Seven Network freezing launch plans for its TiVo digital recorder service until at least the middle of this month while it decides whether to proceed, delay or bin the project.

"Free-to-air to this point has sat back and pretended pay TV didn't exist, and now it's in 30 per cent of homes," the broadcast executive says. "Pay TV spends 60 per cent of its marketing funds on [free-to-air] TV. It's their marketing platform. We're going to use it ourselves."

Earlier this week the commercial and public free-to-air broadcasters met to complete a branding joint venture borrowed from Britain also called FreeView. All the free-to-air networks are expected to sign off on a heads of agreement by tomorrow, with one of the sticky issues being board representation - at present each broadcaster is understood to have a seat.

But amid the free-to-air exuberance, the pay TV sector this week produced statistics from Britain it says show Australian broadcasters are deluded in their expectations for curbing pay TV's growth here.

"The arrival of FreeView in the UK did not curb pay TV's growth," says Ian Garland, the commercial director for the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association.

"Pay TV has continued at the same growth rate. Without a doubt FreeView has grown faster than pay TV since 2002 but even with that growth, cable and satellite pay TV continue to grow at the same pace.

"Pay's [British home penetration] is growing at roughly about 2 percentage points a year, which equates to about 500,000 homes. Pay TV in the UK is not growing as fast as FreeView, but that's not the point. By definition FreeView has to be available to everyone by 2012 because that's when the analogue signal switches off," says Garland.
Like others in the pay TV sector, Garland argues FreeView was launched in Britain with a more compelling offer of 30 channels compared with what will be Australia's initial line-up of 15. "Let's not forget, in the end it's all about content, and people will pay to watch diversified and meaningful content. FreeView won't stop pay's growth. People want multiple choice."There have been question marks over the programming the free-to-air broadcasters here will use across their additional channels but one television network executive said that Foxtel and Austar's content partners had already started discussions with terrestrial networks. "We are about to engage with operators who currently provide to Foxtel who want to move exclusively or simultaneously back to a free-to-air environment," the executive says. "We're going to take Foxtel's content."

Original Story by Paul McIntyre SMH Business Day - 3rd April 08