Done: DVB-T2 is complete, all four multiplexes have switched to H.265 and Prima is increasing the resolution

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The transition to DVB-T2 is complete. At midnight, České Radiokomunikace switched off the last transmitter in the DVB-T standard (Ploštiny) and launched multiplex 23 broadcasting in the morning.

Czech Television, whose multiplex 21 has completed the transition to DVB-T2 earlier, has already completed it for a month. The released 700 MHz band, together with 3400 MHz, will now be auctioned for 5G mobile networks. According to the CTU, the DVB-T2 standard should last at least 10 years until 2030. And of course, no one knows yet whether there will be any DVB-T3 or completely different technologies.

The first test broadcast of DVB-T2 took place in 2010 from the Žižkov transmitter and was not public. The transition and switch-off of DVB-T lasted 11 months and proceeded from the west of the country to the east, from Prague to the Zlín Region.

DVB-T2 now broadcasts four multiplexes. To receive all of them, you will automatically tune to four channels on the TV, each with a bandwidth of 8 MHz or 33.3 Mbps. Which is about a third more than in the old standard, which was also encoded in the less economical MPEG2 / 4.

Even in the DVB-T2 multiplex, with H.265 / HEVC encoding and a picture frequency of 50 Hz, only a limited number of TV stations can still fit. And multiplex operators are still betting on quantity.

In Full HD only CT, but Prima also increases the quality

Currently, 39 nationwide stations and ten radios can be tuned. Only Czech Television broadcasts really high quality images in Full HD, TV Seznam and Barrandov in an anamorphic resolution of 1440 × 1080 px (the TV stretches it to a 16: 9 aspect ratio). At the same time, Prima switched to the anamorphic “SD +” today, so far only at its main station.

It can also be broadcast in 4K, which is being tested by multiplex 23 with a free NASA TV station. However, due to the required bandwidth, currently one multiplex could handle only three to four stations in 4K resolution.

The rest of the commercial stations in the new DVB-T2 also broadcast in low-quality SD (respectively 960 × 540 px, ie qHD), which is unseen on TVs with a larger diagonal. The reason is the finances, because the multiplex operator asks the TV station for more money for a larger bit rate. They keep HD or Full HD only for pay TV. Whether satellite, cable, internet or newly trial paid DVB-T2 which broadcasts on the regional network 7.

During the transition to the new standard, advertising campaigns of other operators also ran. Internet television and the satellite operator Skylink tried to attract viewers to each other.

source: own