Aug 16, 2006 08:10
15 years to roll out DVB-T in Malaysia?
Posted by Oo Gin Lee
A friend of mine alerted me to this article on The Star Online that is really funny. It's about a new DVB-T trial in 2,000 households in Kuala Lumpur. The trials is expected to last for six months and the Ministry of Information will use this trial period to test the quality of transmission and to identify any problems.
Here's the funny part.
If the test is successful, the entire nation would enjoy terrestrial digital transmission for free in about 15 years, said Chia Kwang Chye, Deputy Minister of Information.
15 years??? I think DVB-T would have been superseded by a more compelling technology by then!
Here's the funny part.
If the test is successful, the entire nation would enjoy terrestrial digital transmission for free in about 15 years, said Chia Kwang Chye, Deputy Minister of Information.
15 years??? I think DVB-T would have been superseded by a more compelling technology by then!
- Talkback
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geraldb3 says...
Perhaps you have written for many IT publications, but clearly your absurd comment shows your limited knowledge of the subject.
Many countries worldwide are in the process of converting to digital TV broadcasting. Malaysia is no exception nor is Singapore.
Conversion from analog to digital is dependent however on social and economic consequences, as Australia has recently found out in having to delay its ending of analog transmissions and fulla doption of digital TV.
The International Telecommunications Union is setting forth a timeframe for conversion.
The technonology specs being set up for DTV will be in place for many years to come.
Perhaps it is appropriate for you to go back to video games that you enjoy so much!
Gerald Brown
www.e-broadcastnewsasia.com
Aug 17, 2006 04:14
Perhaps you have written for many IT publications, but clearly your absurd comment shows your limited knowledge of the subject.
Many countries worldwide are in the process of converting to digital TV broadcasting. Malaysia is no exception nor is Singapore.
Conversion from analog to digital is dependent however on social and economic consequences, as Australia has recently found out in having to delay its ending of analog transmissions and fulla doption of digital TV.
The International Telecommunications Union is setting forth a timeframe for conversion.
The technonology specs being set up for DTV will be in place for many years to come.
Perhaps it is appropriate for you to go back to video games that you enjoy so much!
Gerald Brown
www.e-broadcastnewsasia.com
Aug 17, 2006 04:14
michaeltan says...
Mr. Brown, a little condescending, aren't we? This is a blog, it has commentary, unlike your own efforts at a `blog' which seems to emulate an RSS reader by rehashing press releases. If I have to give a comment on that, then I'll say that your blog is filling up google with duplicate information. Except for little snippets like `Digital Broadcasters Vendor News Asia just hopes the new location will be far easier to reach that Caldecott Hill has been all these years' and racist stuff like 'Perhaps the vibrant UK Urdu speakers could lend a hand in programming? Then perhaps allegiances might be elsewhere!'
In any case, I think gin's comment is FAIR comment, in the light of the implementation times of other countries, 15 years is excessive. I guess it lends credence to the oft cited inefficacy of the Malaysian government and its agencies. And in the light that Malaysia has the chance to get mature equipment and standards now compared to the early adopters, its even more embarassing to quote a 15 year time period.
The basis of my comments, admittedly flimsy, is based on a quick search on the estimated time taken to implement Digital Television on terresterial, from public trials to full coverage:
Australia: 9 years, 2003 trials to 2012 full coverage
Czech Republic: 10 years, 2000 trials to 2010 full coverage.
Denmark: 9 yers, 2000(trials) to 2009(analog turnoff)
Finland: 6 years, 2000 trials to 2006 full coverage.
Ireland - 6 years - 2006 trials to 2012 turnoff.
Singapore - 3 years - 1998 trials, 2001 full coverage (TV mobile)
And, didn't you consider the US$19.8 million a little stupidly low for the entire transition? Were you a consultant for this project, hence the sore spot?
Aug 17, 2006 12:50
Mr. Brown, a little condescending, aren't we? This is a blog, it has commentary, unlike your own efforts at a `blog' which seems to emulate an RSS reader by rehashing press releases. If I have to give a comment on that, then I'll say that your blog is filling up google with duplicate information. Except for little snippets like `Digital Broadcasters Vendor News Asia just hopes the new location will be far easier to reach that Caldecott Hill has been all these years' and racist stuff like 'Perhaps the vibrant UK Urdu speakers could lend a hand in programming? Then perhaps allegiances might be elsewhere!'
In any case, I think gin's comment is FAIR comment, in the light of the implementation times of other countries, 15 years is excessive. I guess it lends credence to the oft cited inefficacy of the Malaysian government and its agencies. And in the light that Malaysia has the chance to get mature equipment and standards now compared to the early adopters, its even more embarassing to quote a 15 year time period.
The basis of my comments, admittedly flimsy, is based on a quick search on the estimated time taken to implement Digital Television on terresterial, from public trials to full coverage:
Australia: 9 years, 2003 trials to 2012 full coverage
Czech Republic: 10 years, 2000 trials to 2010 full coverage.
Denmark: 9 yers, 2000(trials) to 2009(analog turnoff)
Finland: 6 years, 2000 trials to 2006 full coverage.
Ireland - 6 years - 2006 trials to 2012 turnoff.
Singapore - 3 years - 1998 trials, 2001 full coverage (TV mobile)
And, didn't you consider the US$19.8 million a little stupidly low for the entire transition? Were you a consultant for this project, hence the sore spot?
Aug 17, 2006 12:50
ooginlee says...
Hi Gerald, you don't have to get personal. 15 years is like a millenium in today's information age. If you think back to 1990, that's 15 years ago, the Internet was not even mainstream, mobile phones were still analog and I think it was like 386 machines then. If you have to wait 15 years to roll out DVB-T the tech would have become obsolete. I don't want to comment about Australia and other countries in the world, but in Singapore, we already have live DVB-T applications over the last few years. There is Mobile TV on buses and StarHub also uses DVB-T to stream cable channels to businesses. Many users here are also watching TV channels on their PC by getting a USB DVB-T receiver. So really, DVB-T is not new.
On digital TV, StarHub has been successfully migrating its analog TV set-top boxes to digital ones and is even increasing its ARPU at the same time.
BTW, I visited your website. You have some good content, but the writing is terribly dry. Maybe you should go back to your day job and stop leaving nasty comments on other people's blogs. Cheers
Aug 17, 2006 12:51
Hi Gerald, you don't have to get personal. 15 years is like a millenium in today's information age. If you think back to 1990, that's 15 years ago, the Internet was not even mainstream, mobile phones were still analog and I think it was like 386 machines then. If you have to wait 15 years to roll out DVB-T the tech would have become obsolete. I don't want to comment about Australia and other countries in the world, but in Singapore, we already have live DVB-T applications over the last few years. There is Mobile TV on buses and StarHub also uses DVB-T to stream cable channels to businesses. Many users here are also watching TV channels on their PC by getting a USB DVB-T receiver. So really, DVB-T is not new.
On digital TV, StarHub has been successfully migrating its analog TV set-top boxes to digital ones and is even increasing its ARPU at the same time.
BTW, I visited your website. You have some good content, but the writing is terribly dry. Maybe you should go back to your day job and stop leaving nasty comments on other people's blogs. Cheers
Aug 17, 2006 12:51
NilEinne says...
This is a little silly. The simple reality is Malaysia is NOT Singapore. Singapore is a tiny island and comparing Malaysia to Singapore is a bit stupid. Anyone can easily roll out DVB-T in a tiny island with a high population in no time.
MichaelTan's post is slightly better but he's also fails to realise all the country's he's talking about are developed ones. Malaysia is still a developing country and there are still quite a lot of rural areas. Some don't even have electricity yet! Try comparing to Brazil or the Phillipines or something like that rather then comparing Malaysia to developed countries.
In any case, all this appears to have been based of an inaccurate media report. According to this page star-techcentral.com... 2015 is the planned shut off date. Of course, this could easily change depending on circumstances. As gerald quite rightly points out, it depends significantly on economical and social circumstances. I'm sure it'll be good if all Malaysians are using DVB-T by 2015 but frankly speaking there are more pressing concerns so if Malaysia can't achieve this goal it's not the biggest loss.
BTW, all Malaysia's pay TV providers operate with digital. They have never used analog (I believe the first one which died a long time ago used analog but I'm not sure). Of course, this is not surprising since Malaysia only got pay TV in 1996 IIRC but talking about pay TV here is a little silly.
15 years is indeed a very long time. It's more then half my age. However the reality is it's not really as long as it seems especially when it comes to consumer electronics which is rather different from the computing area. For example, DVDs first came out in 1997. BluRay and HD-DVD are starting to come out now, 9 years later but most analysts expect it'll be 3-5 years before they're mainstream in developed countries and even longer before they're mainstream in developing countries. DVB-T similarly is only really starting to become mainstream. Even in countries with nationwide implementations like Australia and the UK market penetration is still fairly low. Here in NZ, sadly enough we don't even have DVB-T (other then limited trials yet). It's expect in 2007 or 2008 and I believe turnoff date is 2015 as is Malaysia.
So all in all, it appears that most people here have little idea what they're talking about and don't really appear to understand the complexities of implementing new standards...
Oct 22, 2006 21:19
This is a little silly. The simple reality is Malaysia is NOT Singapore. Singapore is a tiny island and comparing Malaysia to Singapore is a bit stupid. Anyone can easily roll out DVB-T in a tiny island with a high population in no time.
MichaelTan's post is slightly better but he's also fails to realise all the country's he's talking about are developed ones. Malaysia is still a developing country and there are still quite a lot of rural areas. Some don't even have electricity yet! Try comparing to Brazil or the Phillipines or something like that rather then comparing Malaysia to developed countries.
In any case, all this appears to have been based of an inaccurate media report. According to this page star-techcentral.com... 2015 is the planned shut off date. Of course, this could easily change depending on circumstances. As gerald quite rightly points out, it depends significantly on economical and social circumstances. I'm sure it'll be good if all Malaysians are using DVB-T by 2015 but frankly speaking there are more pressing concerns so if Malaysia can't achieve this goal it's not the biggest loss.
BTW, all Malaysia's pay TV providers operate with digital. They have never used analog (I believe the first one which died a long time ago used analog but I'm not sure). Of course, this is not surprising since Malaysia only got pay TV in 1996 IIRC but talking about pay TV here is a little silly.
15 years is indeed a very long time. It's more then half my age. However the reality is it's not really as long as it seems especially when it comes to consumer electronics which is rather different from the computing area. For example, DVDs first came out in 1997. BluRay and HD-DVD are starting to come out now, 9 years later but most analysts expect it'll be 3-5 years before they're mainstream in developed countries and even longer before they're mainstream in developing countries. DVB-T similarly is only really starting to become mainstream. Even in countries with nationwide implementations like Australia and the UK market penetration is still fairly low. Here in NZ, sadly enough we don't even have DVB-T (other then limited trials yet). It's expect in 2007 or 2008 and I believe turnoff date is 2015 as is Malaysia.
So all in all, it appears that most people here have little idea what they're talking about and don't really appear to understand the complexities of implementing new standards...
Oct 22, 2006 21:19
woofwoof75 says...
Come on, laugh at Singapore before you comment on SLOW implmentation of DVB-T in Malaysia... Malaysia has been using DVB-S on satellite broadcasting since a decade ago (I think it was 1996)... where Singapore's Starhub only introduce Digital Cable TV "islandwide"... bet you remember that 'little BLACK box' (with red colour LCDs and a remote control which only has few buttons) you get to watch your favourite HBO movies or ESPN? Malaysian have been enjoying Mosaic of tv programmes on Astro since 1996 and on screen info of what's showing on TV. try www.astro.com.my
If you do not have enough knowledge to comment on this matter better don't make yourself as a fool... By the way, do not simply quote yourself as "an experienced freelance IT journalist", my advice is try Wikipedia, maybe you can gain enough knowledge, if you're too cheap to afford Britanica.
Feb 04, 2007 22:17
Come on, laugh at Singapore before you comment on SLOW implmentation of DVB-T in Malaysia... Malaysia has been using DVB-S on satellite broadcasting since a decade ago (I think it was 1996)... where Singapore's Starhub only introduce Digital Cable TV "islandwide"... bet you remember that 'little BLACK box' (with red colour LCDs and a remote control which only has few buttons) you get to watch your favourite HBO movies or ESPN? Malaysian have been enjoying Mosaic of tv programmes on Astro since 1996 and on screen info of what's showing on TV. try www.astro.com.my
If you do not have enough knowledge to comment on this matter better don't make yourself as a fool... By the way, do not simply quote yourself as "an experienced freelance IT journalist", my advice is try Wikipedia, maybe you can gain enough knowledge, if you're too cheap to afford Britanica.
Feb 04, 2007 22:17
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