Here’s the next new thing from Western Digital, the WD TV Live Hub. We reviewed the WD TV Live last year and we gave it a 7.5 out of 10. Now, the WD TV Live Hub includes a 1TB hard drive to store your movies, pictures and movies on, so you can move it from room to room or even to your mates house and you don’t need to rely on external media or a network connection.
Looks like those problems seems to be fixed as the ABC has now announced a launch date for its new 24-hour news channel dubbed ABC News 24.
It will launch on digital boxes on July 22 on 7:30pm, with a simulcast on ABC1 – taking over from The 7:30 Report.
The year 2009 has been an interesting year for Australians. Not only we remember the political scandals like Utegate and the Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O’s controversial lie detector stunt on radio; but we also remember how Australians got together and showed solidarity amongst one another via charity work after the Bushfires caused havoc to many Australians living in the countryside in Victoria.
Turns out, your PlayStation 3 might actually be a better solution to Freeview’s own version of Foxtel’s iQ2 PVR, the TiVo.
Sony Australia has announced that it will be bringing the PlayTV to Australia. The device, already launched in some European countries including the United Kingdom and France, allows the PlayStation 3 to record, watch and pause live free-to-air TV.
Seven Network has today announced that it will be naming its second channel, on channel 72, 7TWO and will be launching the channel on November 1 at noon. The channel will join ABC3, SBS TWO, GO! and ONE as the new channels that will join the Freeview platform.
Digital television uptake has increased, according to Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy; as new figures show that 54 percent of all Australian households are now using digital television, up from 47 percent from last year.
Tonight at 6:30PM saw the launch of Nine’s new general entertainment channel, GO!, on channel 99 on the digital television platform, which will complement the already existing ABC2, the upcoming ABC3 and SBS Two; along with One HD, the networks HD channels and their main channels, on the Freeview platform.
BUDGET 2009 : The digital switchover in Australia has been given a boost by the budget, with the Government announcing that it will provide $183.7 million of taxpayers dollars over three years to help the switchover from analogue to digital television in regional areas.
The House has voted in favour of pushing back the digital television transition, originally pencilled in on February 17, to now happen during June 12 when all stations must broadcast in digital, ditching analogue television in the country, and giving the free airwaves to other companies.
In a surprising move, the House of Representatives have not passed the bill that would see the digital television transition from February 17 to June 12 after worries that the poor, elderly and rural households were not ready with the transition.
The United States Senate has voted unanimously to delay the digital television transition, which was supposed to happen on February 17, for four months to June 12. The vote, which came after the NTIA’s coupon program announced that it ran out of money, is seen as a huge victory to the Obama administration.
When the clock struck midnight on New Years Day, it didn’t mean the start of a brand new year, but the start of Australia’s own digital television revolution where the commercial channels were permitted to broadcast a single, standard definition multichannel; to complement the main feed and their own high definition feed.
Four of France’s terrestrial broadcasters have announced that they will be using Dolby’s new Digital Plus and Dolby Digital on their new high-def channels. In fact, France will be the first country that will be using the new audio technology. The channels will include TF1 HD, France 2 HD, ARTE HD, Canal + HD and M6 HD. All these channels also form the new HD service from Television Numerique Terrestre.
Stephen Conroy announced on Sunday that the Digital Television Transition will begin in 2010, after releasing the timetable for which broadcast areas will be shutting off their analogue systems and switching over to the new Digital stations. The broadcast area of Mildura will lead the pack switching off their signal in the first half of 2010, or between the 1st of January and the 30th of June 2010.
SBS will ask the Federal Government for a 37 percent increase in funding for its three-funding deal, with the extra $70 million a year going to increase the network’s offering in digital radio and television.