Digital Tv In Thailand

[Khun Bob]

Does anyone know if there are any Digital terrestrial TV transmissions in Bangkok ?

I have just got a DVB-t us stick working and will be in Thailand shortly. I know I asked this quesition about a year ago and the answer was firmly no. However I wonder if things have changed or I was just not given the right info before. The USB stick is very smal so may be worthwhile brnging it along to see for my self. But as always having a big aerial well positioned can make a big difference !

[quiksilva]

Last Friday night there was an advert on UBC that claimed that the country's first HD broadcasts are due later this month. They specifically mentioned Discovery HD, NGC HD, Premier League Football and a few more.

I didnt catch the date though.

[Plus]

Nothing on their website.

Don't raise your hopes, even if it does come, it will be encrypted for all but True subscribers.

[quiksilva]

No I was trying to find it on their website too but without joy, however I definitely saw this ad on Friday night about 9ish.

[Firefoxx]

Digital terrestrial broadcasts, meaning actual TV signals coming from TV towers in digital format (whether it's HD or SD), is not available in Thailand. There are no plans for it, either. It would be difficult to implement, since no TVs (be it CRT, LCD, or Plasma) sold in Thailand have digital receivers, unlike the US, where it's mandatory to sell TVs (over a certain size) with digital receivers.

As for UBC's cable/satellite service being in HD, first they'd have to have their customers have HD-capable receivers. There are probably a few in a test group that have these, but everyone else is still stuck with plain-vanilla SD signals, so don't get too excited about it. When they actually start offering upgrades to HD-capable receivers, then get excited.

I see no mention of HD broadcasts on the UBC website (www.ubctv.com), and the only pilot program right now is the PVR (the TIVO-like thing). What you might have seen was the advertisement for HD broadcasts in other countries, as these adverts have been shown on UBC several times.

[Lordfoul]

I just saw the advert, It looks like this first ever showing of HD in Thailand will be at some expo in Bangkok this week. The whole advert was in Thai .. I don't think there was any mention of consumers getting this, It's only a matter of time though.

The Channels mentioned are

Discovery HD

NGC HD

History Channel HD

EDIT: It's the ICT Expo Nov 16-20

Last Friday night there was an advert on UBC that claimed that the country's first HD broadcasts are due later this month. They specifically mentioned Discovery HD, NGC HD, Premier League Football and a few more.

I didnt catch the date though.

Edited November 12, 2007 by Lordfoul

[Firefoxx]

First ever showing of HD? That would be pretty misleading, since HD content has been shown at TV dealers for years now, and HD-DVDs have been available for purchase for quite some time.

[Lordfoul]

I would imagine they are referring to broadcast HD

First ever showing of HD? That would be pretty misleading, since HD content has been shown at TV dealers for years now, and HD-DVDs have been available for purchase for quite some time.

[quiksilva]

Correct, see the response I received to an email inquiry on this topic from True Visions Care, as follows:-

Please be advised that: TrueVisions is trying to transmit the HD Broadcast from Tipco Tower to the HDTV, Sony Bravia at the ICT Expo 2007 at Muangthong Thani. Technically, we expect that the content to be available by the middle of next year. Please see the information below. If you are interested in this content, do not miss the ICT Expo during November 16-20 for more information.

They go on to say in their email that this will include Discovery HD, NGC HD and History Channel HD, and that this broadcast will be in 1080 x 1920.

[quiksilva]

[Firefoxx]

Technically, yes, it's the first ever Truevisions HD broadcast. Thing is, with no one able to actually receive the broadcast, it's not going to be worth much. Sort of like "the first ever broadcast from an alien race!", and no one is able to actually witness it. Also, there have been trials of limited HD broadcasts in Thailand since a few years ago, but of course they've covered that by saying "Truevisions HD". It won't change the way we watch TV, since we can only watch it at the show.

That's marketing for you, since technically, it means very little to the general public. They could do the same thing as TV dealerships and put on recorded HD content with the same effect.

I also hate it when the marketing people get their tech terms jumbled, like putting resolution as HxW instead of the normal WxH.

Until they actually start offering a HD cable service, it's just for show.

[quiksilva]

Now now, no need to be all pessimistic, I personally think that this is an encouraging step towards receiving this service here in Thailand.

Don't you think its good to hear that "technically speaking" they will be in a position to provide HD Broadcasts by the middle of next year?

Of course we'll have to wait to see if this actually materializes into a service we can all subscribe to, but at least something is actually happening and in Thailand that alone should be reason enough for a celebration!

Edited November 13, 2007 by quiksilva

[sahprite]

It sure has to be a good sign of things to come. What I would be really happy with is if they could simply upgrade the quality of picture they broadcast right now. The new Disney channels are like watching a VCD and the Discovery channels sound like my speakers are broken. I discovered that you have to turn over to the Thai sound broadcast to get a decent sound. AXN is still the worst for picture quality if there is any sort of movement.

I got an email from Truevisions saying that there would be 50 customers selected for Beta testing of the PVR (Tivo, Sky+) this month in preperation for its launch next year. No mention of HD.

Sahprite

[mackayae]

There's something happening here

What it is ain't exactly clear

[Firefoxx]

Yes, it's encouraging to see that something is being done, but it was already evident that something was happening when we got news that UBC was buying HD programming several months ago. But with Thailand, things often don't go as planned, and trail other countries by a *lot*. Witness the PVR, which is pretty much a household name (TIVO, anyone?) in the western world, yet it's only getting tests now, and actual implementation next year. That leaves HD programming to arrive, say, sometime in the next decade. It's long overdue, since purchasing a HDTV's is quite possible for the average middle-class person right now, and frankly everyone who buys a HDTV in Thailand now goes home only to say "my HDTV can manage only THIS?". The fact that the Thai government isn't actually doing anything for the promotion of HDTV broadcasts (and hence no standard for HD-ready receivers to be included in HDTVs, and so only SD analog receivers are included) doesn't help.

With the ever-present reports of UBC's financial troubles, I somehow can't gather much enthusiasm for such a early due date as "next year", especially when it's not officially announced and just something written in an e-mail. UBC's (or rather, True's) reps have said many, many falsehoods in the past (I have personal experience) through the phone or mail, and they certainly don't have to stick to their word.

Don't get me started with UBC's quality and technical issues. I have cable, so it's not affected by weather (thank god... or else I wouldn't be able to watch it at all a lot of the time), but the quality is still lacking. There is no consistency in the quality of the channels... the best is probably the free TV channels, the worst AXN. The sound is also inconsistent, and nigh impossible to get working correctly with an AVR. For some inane reason, although nearly every channel has Thai as the "main" and English as the "secondary" sound, the Series channel is the opposite (I've complained about this for years, with no answer). For some channels (History channel) the English soundtrack is screwed up for some programming. The digital systems (sat and cable) suffer from extreme channel lag... channel surfing is pretty much an exercise in patience.

But since it's pretty much the only deal in town (let's not include the regional cable, shall we? or the weird sat stuff), we don't have much choice.

[konangrit]

There's some kind of promo running on channel 118 (cable) for Discovery HD, albeit with no sound. Incidentally, several other "Future Channels" actually have broadcasts on them. 29, 30: Live Serie A Football. 119: Recorded Premiership. 117 Recorded Premiership (audio only). 67: Had unscrambled rerun of PPV boxing the other day.

Edited November 17, 2007 by konangrit

[Khun Bob]

But nothing much happening on DVB-T then ? I can get the frequency range my USB DVB-T stick receives and posts here... All the talk about HD seems to be cable or sat, right ?

[Firefoxx]

Nothing at all happening on digital terrestrial broadcasts in Thailand. None, nada.

I spoke with a producer for the local Thai channels. He said that the local channels have no (zero) plans for switching to digital or HD broadcasts.

[rixalex]

I have cable, so it's not affected by weather (thank god... or else I wouldn't be able to watch it at all a lot of the time), but the quality is still lacking. There is no consistency in the quality of the channels... the best is probably the free TV channels, the worst AXN. The sound is also inconsistent, and nigh impossible to get working correctly with an AVR. For some inane reason, although nearly every channel has Thai as the "main" and English as the "secondary" sound, the Series channel is the opposite (I've complained about this for years, with no answer). For some channels (History channel) the English soundtrack is screwed up for some programming. The digital systems (sat and cable) suffer from extreme channel lag... channel surfing is pretty much an exercise in patience.

I have UBC with the dish and am able to change such things as the main and secondary soundtrack. Do i take it with cable this is not possible? I'm interested to know as i'm thinking of switching from the dish to cable to avoid the weather "black outs". My concern though is that the quality isn't as good (somebody on this forum once said about True over-subscribing and this is affecting quality). I also like being able to re-arrange the channel numbering and am not sure if this is possible with cable.

[lopburi3]

True Visions (UBC) uses both analog and digital cable systems. Believe the digital has tuner switching of soundtrack but the analog must have special TV to make the switch (can't remember but believe it is called the German stereo system) and relatively few TV's have it. UBC should have converted users to digital but have never offered any incentive and want the customer to pay for everything - and then charge high rental fees for the new equipment.

[Shah Jahan]

For over 2 years TV stations have been planning for DVB t/H transmission - They have done coverage studies, cost analysis etc...

Everything except purchase the equipment and begin broadcasting. This is because in order to begin DVB t/h broadcasting they will require new UHF frequencies. In order to get new frequencies a special FCC type commission must meet, but they haven't met for over 10 years and if they were to meet, then the new members of such must be appointed.

all in all this means that there is no committee, hence no channels and hence no DVB

HOWEVER

last month or so there was a press conference

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/10/26...ss_30053765.php

That announced a signing of a trial contract between SK TELECOM of Korea and MCOT for Channel 9. SK agreed to provide equipment for a DVB test in BKK and MCOT agreed to let them use Channel 58 which has previously been assigned as an emergency backup channel.

Nobody is sure if it will actually get to broadcast or not as there are many other factors involved in this dance, however if you are around the Ratchada area after December 5th with a Samsung DVB enabled phone - tell us what you see.

regardless if this succeeds or not - most people except that after the elections, there will be heavy political pressure upon the 'new' government to get the commission to meet and proper frequencies assigned.

[Firefoxx]

Actually pretty much all modern TVs have the bilingual/stereo thing (except of course for things like 14" mono-aural CRTs).

I don't recall being able to re-arrange channels with the analog cable system. Digital, yes, but not analog. I have no idea how good the digital cable is, but I am pretty certain that my analog cable (on LCD TV) looks better than the digital satellite (again, on LCD TV) my friend has.

Sounds interesting that there is actually some action concerning DVB. Thing is, pretty much no TVs are being sold in Thailand that have DVB receivers (or any type of digital or HD receiver for that matter). Will probably have to depend on mobile devices, like the PSP, phones, gadgets, and such to watch it if it ever actually gets implemented. With basically nobody able to actually view the content, there won't be much scrambling to get it in the air.

[marcus]

Does anyone know if there are any Digital terrestrial TV transmissions in Bangkok ?

I have just got a DVB-t us stick working and will be in Thailand shortly.

Even if there was a DVB-T signal over here, I'm afraid your USB stick would be useless anyway As far as I know, all these sticks work only for free channels, and the chance that there will be ever free international channels over here looks 0.0 % to me. Maybe in 10 years some Thai channels, but HBO for free ???? Very unlikely.... "Sniff !"