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MultiChoice goes HD

Jul 25 2008 08:21 Ben Kelly

Johannesburg - SA officially joined the high-definition (HD) TV club this week with the launch of MultiChoice's HD personal video recorder (PVR).

The device, which is being pushed out the door in time to launch a HD channel for the Beijing Olympics, will go on sale from August 4, it said.

The single HD channel will go live with promotional material from August 1, but will switch over to the Olympics when it starts on August 8.

MultiChoice CEO, Nolo Lethele, said that after the conclusion of the games, the broadcaster would be launching a new M-HD channel which would broadcast a selection of HD content from across the MNet channels. Additional channels will be added over time.

The new PVR, which will retail for R2 499 (the same as the existing PVR) replaces the standard PVR and marks the first time that MultiChoice will not be offering a high-end decoder that offers the ability to watch two channels from the same decoder.

Instead subscribers will have to use the recently launched XtraView service that uses a second decoder to enable viewing on a second TV. The new PVR does, however, allow subscribers to watch one channel while recording on two channels.

There is no difference in the price of the subscription from that paid by current PVR and Dual View subscribers.

The company will not be offering trade-ins on the old PVRs but these can, according to Lethele, be used to enable a dual-view environment.

The recording features of the standard definition PVR are not disabled when it is being used in this configuration. 

The new PVR will allow subscribers to record 150 hours of video in standard definition or 50 hours of HD content (the current PVR has a limit of 80 hours of standard definition content). 

In order to watch the HD channel in high-definition subscriber will have to have a TV that is HD-ready such as a plasma or LCD flat panel TV.

- Fin24.com

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Jack
Jul 25 2008 19:20 Report this comment

You people whining about DStv bore me. If its so easy to do what you want, where's the competition? "Why they don’t let you as a viewer select the channels you would like to see and subscribe only to those - technology certainly allows for that already" says aptly named Rabbit. I'll tell you, bunny! Its because Multichoice doesnt have total freedom of choice in the channels they show! Some suppliers insist on bundling groups of channels, popular ones with less popular. So Multichoice has no alternative but to bundle them also. It can't allow viewers unlimited flexibility in choice, without losing money. You should have known that. On the new HD PVR and impact on present PVR, there is a point. I chose not to exercise the special offer from DStv to get a PVR at under R2k, because I did the homework and realised HD would make the present one obsolescent. However, this only applies if you want to get HD TV early in the cycle. Not everyone would want to do that. For starters, you'll also need a new digital TV capable of showing HD. If you look at costs, thats a lot of cash. Specially since there will be limited stuff broadcast for HD initially! I'm happy to wait for HD to mature, before committing to it. As for real alternatives to DStv, I haven't seen one yet. I'm also not interested in watching TV on a cell!

One man
Jul 25 2008 14:28 Report this comment

Nochoice :)

Leon
Jul 25 2008 10:12 Report this comment

Just another money making scam by Multi"no"choice.... I still can't believe that in this day and age they still expect people to pay for the equipment to watch DSTV when with cellphones you get a phone free.... and then people complain about the cellphone companies.... I've been waiting for years for some competition but it looks unlikely at the moment

turbo_superboss
Jul 25 2008 09:20 Report this comment

if you have an existing decoder then you can still view two channels, a bottom of the range decoder costs R450 if not less, so if you want to still have dual view capabilities just buy another one.

Rabbit
Jul 25 2008 09:19 Report this comment

Agree with GCR - they should call themselves Singlechoice. Why they don’t let you as a viewer select the channels you would like to see and subscribe only to those - technology certainly allows for that already. As for HD yippee finally

Cire
Jul 25 2008 08:58 Report this comment

Just screws everyone who bought PVR in the last 18mths. And it does seem a bit backwards to have only one channel! Anyway I suppose its the technology we been waiting for and now its finally here.

gcr
Jul 25 2008 08:34 Report this comment

Should change their name to single choice, less features on HD same price but pre conditions for usage. Seems very much like the tail wagging the dog


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