Seven appeases AFL fans by quietly launching HD simulcast channel 7HD
Network Seven has quietly launched a high definition simulcast channel on Freeview and Foxtel.
The move will finally placate AFL fans in the southern states who have griped they have not been able to watch their sport in high definition as it is shown on the main channel, while viewers in other states have had HD coverage as matches were shown on the secondary 7Mate channel.
The new channel will broadcast 7Mate in HD in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, and the main channel content in the southern states.
The move mirrors Nine’s launch of its own HD simulcast channel at the end of last year.
Seven launched a new movie and reality oriented channel called 7Flix early in the year, which many had thought would be the HD simulcast channel.
On Freeview the channel will be available on Channel 70.
AFL coverage starts on Friday with a simulcast of the main channel clash between Adelaide Crows and Geelong.
The move means Seven boss Tim Worner can also keep his promise to broadcast the AFL Grand Final in HD from this season.
will perth be getting a simulcast of 7 main channel on 7HD during the week or will it be a simulcast of 7mate for ever on 7HD? because currently 7HD is a 7mate
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The move means Seven boss Time Worner
I’m sure Tim Worner and Time Warner Cable’s love child is happy to be mentioned 😛
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Seven boss Time Worner? New nickname?
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You mean Tim Worner, not to be confused with Time Warner.
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7HD will be the same as 9HD and 10HD. You will need to have a HDTV that can decode the signal. Not all HDTV’s are capable of receiving the HD signal used by 7, 9 and 10.
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Melbourne, Adelaide – primary channel in HD on Ch 70.
Sydney, Brisbane, Perth – 7mate on Channel 70
Perth viewers will see Friday Night and Saturday Night matches in HD. Afternoon matches will be on the primary channel in reduced SD.
Shoudy Chen
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I guess we who live in regional areas will miss out although NBN TV brought us the 9HD and 9 LIFE which was great.Willl PRIME 7 be bringing us HD and also 7FLIX .Suppose we will have to wait some time before we receive these channels.
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Note that while Sydney, Brisbane have had AFL broadcast on 7Mate for a while – much of it actually hasn’t been in HD.
All of the games filmed by Fox (rather than Seven) which have included most Swans games and almost all GWS games have been broadcast in SD..
I sure hope this is merely a transition for Sydney, Brisbane and Perth and 7HD (70) will ultimately show mostly 7Main in HD, but flip to 7Mate for the AFL…
Alternatively Seven should just bit the bullet and switch everything to MPEG4 apart from a single simulcast of the main channel on MPEG2SD – should give them sufficent bandwidth for 2 MPEG4HD channels
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Kinda BS that Sydney lose out on a 7HD stream for the few AFL fans in NSW who watch it on 7mate… I mean a whole channel’s HD content lost because of a few games per week.
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I would be very surprised if all football games are in HD I bet there are still games on the standed def channel I bet nothing changes for Perth. The only game granted to be in HD will be Friday nite they have just changed the name of 7mate to 7HD that’s all .watching football on channel 7 they have not changed its like watching football from 1989 when nine and ten had it you could tell they spent money to improve our viewing pleasure
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Tad annoying that we in NSW lose a whole primary station’s worth of HD programming so that the few who watch AFL get HD on 7mate.
Here’s hoping the HD coverage reverts back to 7HD as normal for the upcoming Olympics…
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So still no Eagles or Dockers matches in HD in Perth. Do we really need SD channels at all now with the use of mpeg4 technology?
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Noticed 7HD here in Adelaide on Tuesday night… whilst some TV’s can auto update the Newer Mpeg4 Channels characteristics, PVR’s on some Smart TVs still will require a full digital re-tune if Channel 70 has been previously excluded (manually) by the end user.
The main noticeable difference amongst these Simulcasts is:
7HD Mpeg 4, Dolby Digital AC3 – 2 Audio channels (Stereo) Not 5.1
9HD Mpeg 4, Dolby Digital AC3 – Always in 5.1 (6 Audio Channels)
10HD Mpeg 4, Dolby Digital AC3 – Always in 5.1 (6 Audio Channels)
But will Channel 70 (7HD) will be migrated to 5.1 AC3 Audio???
Other New(ish) Channels
7flix (SD) Mpeg 4, Dolby Digital AC3 – 2 Audio channels (Stereo)
9Life (SD) Mpeg 2, PCM – 2 Audio Channel Stereo (No AC3 Dolby)
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If they’re not broadcasting the main 7 channel in HD on 70 then it’s not 7HD, it’s 7mateHD. Channel 70 used to be the main channel in HD a while ago, and was called 7HD then too, but it suddenly reverted to SD and now it’s 7mate.
I had my hard drive recorder set to record from channel 70. Luckily I noticed what 7 had done and changed my recorder settings before I missed anything.
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I agree. It’s total BS.
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So the AFL doesn’t allow you to watch free to air games on the freeview app, so you have to use the AFL app. Fine. But at least let people stream from the AFL to their TV’s / Chromecasts!!!!!
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