Probably few people in Ukraine have not heard of the new T2 television broadcasting format, which, according to the government’s plans, the country will fully switch to the beginning of 2015. An advertising campaign for the introduction of this innovation unfolded just an epic scale, here and an infinite number of commercials about the “digital television of the new generation” arrived in time, and the “free” government tuners for the beneficiaries added oil to the PR company - in general, the author of this text could not resist and purchased a listing device for decoding a T2 format signal. In the continuation of the article we will talk about the quality of these “digital channels” and, of course, about the ingenious actions of the state.

Let's start with the state

According to the approved Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of November 26, 2008 No. 1085: “On Approval of the State Program for the Implementation of Digital TV and Radio Broadcasting”. After the onset of 2015, all Ukrainian TV channels will broadcast in digital format (DVB-T2) and, most importantly, support for analog television broadcasting will cease. That is, after the 15th year no good old box-shaped Panasonic will be able to catch a single channel, after 2015 there might be a lot of unusable TVs in Ukraine.

Further more. All current LCD / plasma TVs, combine them with the name "widescreen", from its very appearance support digital TV. That is, in a widescreen TV sample, for example, in 2007, there is a digital tuner DVB-T. And, as it may seem at first glance, turning off the reception of an analog signal for more or less wealthy citizens who have such a TV at home does not threaten. However, the brilliant Ukrainian government, namely the contractor, Zeonbud, in November 2011, launched the latest generation of digital broadcasting , DVB-T2, which is incompatible with all the “old” widescreen TVs.
')
That is, for the reception of the Ukrainian TV, one of the new TVs is required, at least 2012 of release (most models of the year 12 still came with DVB-T tuners, specify). And what sounds even more mocking - all 32 TV channels are encoded and to decrypt the signal you need to purchase a “decoder” , which at the time of writing the review cost 400 UAH ($ 50). Why the contractor company chose a very unpredictable broadcasting format for broadcasting and, moreover, encoded the signal, for me personally it does not remain a mystery - $$$.


Card-decoder or CAM-module for Ukrainian DVB-T2

It turns out that digital television in Ukraine obliges every citizen of the country (who wants to watch the zomboyaschik) to buy by 2015: first, a new TV, necessarily with DVB-T2 support, and second, a signal descrambler card kindly presented for purchase on official program website.

There is also the option of buying a special TV tuner , which looks like an ordinary satellite receiver, by the way, these are the “boxes” that were distributed to beneficiaries, veterans, etc. at one time. The cost of the tuner averages 400 UAH, which corresponds to the decoder card and the function of this device performs the same. By the way, this device can be connected to any TV, it may be relevant for villas or country houses.


One of the proposed DVB-T2 tuners will be useful for residents of rural areas or cottages, for example.

So, for a normal reception of a signal, a widescreen TV of a new generation and a card are necessary. For those who are not confused by the use of another player, plugging another AV output and adding to the collection of remotes, you can purchase a DVB-T2 receiver. Personally, I did not accept the last option.

For the test, I chose the cheapest TV that supports T2 - this is LG 32LS340T. The model has a 32-inch display, there is support for USB, as well as DLNA through a network connector, cost 3000 UAH ($ 370). I also had to buy a card, as I said, for 400 UAH ($ 50). As a result, taking into account the delivery, 3500 UAH ($ 450) were released.

About broadcast quality

After connecting a conventional antenna and a card to a PCI connector on the TV, some software was installed, and a list of 32 tuned channels instantly appeared. In the map settings there are a large number of different settings, frequencies and codes. An interesting point is the "software update" card, at the time of writing a review of new firmware for the DVB-T2 decoder signal was not.

The first impression of the quality of the TV was positive, because this antenna used to catch about 15 channels in a “watchable” form, now it shows all 32 digital, plus four more analog ones from local radio companies.

Unfortunately, after thoroughly studying the TV menu and broadcast settings, it turned out that not a single “digital” channel had yet switched to a widescreen format. That is, all 32 channels, at the time of writing the review, were broadcast in a 3: 2 ratio . Neither of which 720p-quality and speech can not go. Moreover, all that digital TV functionality, such as: the program schedule for each channel, video annotations, the choice of a different voice acting for the programs, is all absent. You can count the channels on your fingers, where there is at least a scant program. There is no normal description for any TV show or show.

Why do you need to introduce the latest technology with almost interactive television, if none of the innovations nobody uses? The new format of broadcasting in Ukraine is already a year, and this year not a single channel has switched to the fact that it doesn’t deign to broadcast 720p in a wide format. That such inept use of DVB-T2 reminds me of a joke about Ferrari on a rural road.

If we evaluate the purity of the picture purely subjectively with the “what was”, then for most popular channels the difference is not noticeable. Maybe in some remote areas, where previously barely showed 4 channels, the new format is an innovation, but for urban viewers the difference will not be noticeable.

It is worth noting that sometimes noticeable artifacts and freezes appear on the air. Moreover, if the artifacts appear due to heavy rain, the "jerking" and "freezing" does not depend on the weather. At one of the forums dedicated to this TV model, someone called LG and asked why the picture periodically experiences “convulsions”, however, the support explained that the problem is massive and the cause is not the TV, but the transmitting organization. The answer to the question why sometimes the smoothness of the “newest digital image of the innovative DVB-T2 format” begins to look like a slide show I have never found.

findings

At the beginning of 2013, buying a new widescreen TV and a decoder card to it for viewing T2 is a waste of money. No channel currently uses the potential of both digital TV and the broadcast format itself. The resolution of the picture on the TV is VGA; Some channels broadcast in mono! sound; 4: 3 aspect ratio; for more or less comfortable viewing, the picture should be stretched or scaled, which, in my opinion, is a very dubious occupation.

The only actual purchase for today is the acquisition of a DVB-T2 tuner for residents of rural areas. One small box will provide the best reception quality possible for analog broadcasting. And they will show all 32 channels. Why analog? I think no explanation. A full list of recommended receivers is on the EfirT2.tv website .

PS I do not claim that domestic TV channels will continue to use Ferarri ineptly, most likely after they turn off analog broadcasting, they will switch to wide format and 720p or even 1080p. But I want to remind you that according to the state plan, this day will come on January 1, 2015.