BBC One HD launch date revealed

The BBC will begin simulcasting BBC One in HD on 3 November, the Corporation has revealed. No formal announcement has been made, but the BBC's technical website shows the channel will begin transmitting on that date on the free-to-air satellite service, Freesat. Last May, the BBC said the channel would debut in the autumn, on …

[Xpositor]

EPG

Great - can we now be given the option to update our EPG's so that where a channel simulcasts, we can see the HD channel by default (e.g. I want to see ITV HD listed where ITV SD currently is within the EPG), rather than having to skip about the EPG finding the HD channels.

[Anonymous Coward]

That annoyed me too...

...until I just pin-blocked ITV SD, C4, Sky One, et. al. and favouritised the HD versions or just remembered the alternative channel number in some cases.

C4 HD - 140

Sky One HD - 170

ITV1 HD - 178

[Mike Brown]

agreed

ive no idea what channel number ITVHD is, and id be really chuffed if it was 103, like the normal scabby ITV.

[samwisethecat]

EPG

I'm surprised sky haven't already done it. There are probably a few like me who have the HD box but only get the free HD channels - I don't think its worth paying extra for. But even I might get fed up and cough up if i got the "upgrade your subscription" every time I went to 106 as they'd swapped HD & SD over.

[GrahamT]

Not the BBC's problem

I think that is an issue with your STB or TV. My Humax lets me set up a group of favourite channels and I can then order them as I wish. They then appear in that order on the EPG. Pressing P+ on the remote takes me from BBC2 to ITV1 HD; P- from Channel 4 to ITV1 HD, as well as showing them in that order on the EPG, which, I think, is what you want.

[Paul M 1]

Re.

If you're referring to Sky+ boxes, why on earth would Sky be interested in making updates like this? That costs money and it's not like there's any competition amongst box manufacturers.

Personally I'd be happy if they could manage to get a 4:3 picture displayed in the correct format when using HDMI upscaling or stop showing channels in the EPG that I haven't subscribed to...

[irrelevant]

title

They will never stop showing non-subscribed channels in the guide, as it's a way of encouraging you to subscribe to them - "look what you're missing" ...

But I've never understood why Sky don't have the HD versions of a channel on the same number - it would certainly be less confusing - I've only just got to the point where my elderly in-laws will actually use their Sky box for BBC & ITV ! They used to always watch the analogue terrestrial broadcasts, on a widescreen TV, in glorious stretchy-vision! Even now they are equipped for HD, I don't think they ever use it: they just pick the first channel out of the guide that has what they want to watch showing, and the HD versions always seem to be several pages further on!

[thesykes]

At last, no more...

... switching from BBC1 to HD to watch something in HD, only to find that Dragon's Den is on instead and what I want to watch is on HD in three days time!

[Citizen Kaned]

+1

yup. or that it was on last week like they did with heroes!

match of the day in HD - sweet!

[Anonymous Coward]

Bah humbug

Just in time for the millions (including us IT workers!) who will be left unemployed as a result of the banks recklessness to watch "bargain hunt car booty cash in the attic" viewing Royal Doulton porcelain figures and Tim Wonnacott's face in 1080p high definition on LCD TVs on the verge of repossession, all the while cutting their serious drama and news budget because the licence fee has been "frozen".

</cynical>

[Paul M 1]

I wonder

Does this mean the BBC Trust has dropped the requirement that only HD-originated material can be shown on this new channel?

[Nigel Whitfield.]

No such requirement

There was no such requirement for BBC One HD. There is one for BBC HD, however, which specifies a maximum percentage of non-HD material, to allow for archive content in some shows, for example.

[AlistairJ]

History Direct

So, we can catch up with history in HD. Marvellous.

[Anonymous Coward]

Freesat HD favours London over the Sticks

I assume that BBC1 HD will be the same as ITV1 HD in that it is set to London region. For those of us who live out in the sticks who do occasionally like to watch our regional versions of these channels, then the SD version is all that's available (unlike my children, I do not channel hop every 30 seconds, so I don't want to keep switching). I am not holding out much hope for Freeview HD, if the quality of Freeview SD around here is anything to go by. That's the only reason for sticking with Freesat.

[Anonymous Coward]

Content?

If only the beeb (and to be fair every other channel) would put as much effort and expenditure into content as they do into HD hardware maybe it would be worth watching.

It reminds me of something I'm always trying to explain to my users. For some reason they seem to think that the solution to all their PC problems is a faster network connection. I explain that they are not using more than 20% of their available bandwidth and that their applications are slow because the servers are slow or the application is crap. They remain convinced, however, that a faster WAN connection will improve matters. The same problems only faster.

In the case of HD what we have is the same crap only sharper.