ABS-CBN gives name to DTV Digibox called TV+, gives each studio audience a try

Last March 22, ABS-CBN via its morning show Umagang Kay Ganda launched its digital terrestrial TV set-top box called the TV+. The TV+ is the network’s official market name of their DTV Digibox, which will be commercially available as soon as the government, particularly the NTC, gives its go signal to formally commence the digital terrestrial television in the country.

We regret to have a record out of it, but thanks to our avid follower TheSandies through his Daily Motion, he shared with us among the DTV Pilipinas followers a short clip of Umagang Kay Ganda discussing the TV+.

On the video, TV show host Andrei Felix introduced Miguel Mercado, head of ABS-CBN Digital Terrestrial TV Marketing, to compare the differences between the analog and digital TV signals. Two TV sets were tuned to same feed from Studio 23, one receiving directly from the antenna (a rabbit-ear antenna, which is common indoor antenna mostly on the urban areas) and the other is receiving from the TV+ box connected to the TV. As for analog, some interferences were visibly seen, like the snowy images and moving lines, due to high interferences of TV signals degraded by billboards and tall buildings. But for digital TV, the feed from Studio 23 looks like a feed from a DVD video, without the snowy images and lines.

    

What defines the TV+ box is it has additional premium channels coming from the ABS-CBN digital TV channel, which was officially shown last year with our article (Read it here). The TV+ is bought for a one-time fee of approximately P 2,500. As of now, ABS-CBN is under test transmission of their DTV service.

    

The TV+ package includes the TV+ box itself, an RCA audio-video connector that will be connected to the TV set, a small indoor antenna that can be magnet-ed on top of the box, and a remote control. Definitely, this TV+ will be available in the retail stores soon, once ABS-CBN has given the signal by the governing body to sell those boxes to households. Currently, the TV+ can receive available digital TV channels free-to-air like ABS-CBN, Studio 23, GEM HD and PTV. Once other TV networks go digital, they can also be received through the TV+.

After the discussion, Felix surprised their studio audience from Brgy. Socorro who each gladly receive a TV+ box to try their own of having a clear and crisp TV signal available in the future.

(To understand more about ABS-CBN’s digital terrestrial TV service, read our previous article here)

Watch the video here:

Free DTV Digibox Giveaway by DZMM made this morning

ABS-CBN Digital TV Team via DZMM gave away a free DTV Digibox on the segment of "Failon Ngayon sa DZMM", more to come this week. It is part of the network's test broadcast for digital terrestrial television.

It was part of the program’s Mahiwagang Backpack. One was asked about the impeachment trial and then he got his own DTV Digibox from DZMM. The box was given will be the actual commercial product of ABS-CBN’s 5 years of extensive research for digital TV. It will be released once the NTC gives the go signal for them to market the Digibox commercially.

ABS-CBN Digital TV is broadcasting live on UHF TV-43 in Mega Manila, in simulcast with the ABS-CBN Channel 2, Studio 23, and 5 other free TV channels packed in the spectrum.

More info to come by the end of the week.

Business World: ASEAN affirms 2015 switch to digital broadcasts

A 2015 SWITCH to digital from analog broadcasting has been affirmed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in line with the bloc’s economic integration schedule.

Ministers who met last week in Kuala Lumpur "endorsed the ‘Guidelines for ASEAN Digital Switch-Over’ which will serve as a shared blueprint to aid all Member States in their transition towards digital broadcasting," the organization said in a statement.

The Philippines, which has yet to decide on which digital standard to adopt, will host a technical working group meeting in the next three months, a Malacañang official said.

The meeting, said Sec. Hermino B. Coloma, Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, will "flesh out a more comprehensive communication plan for the ASEAN Economic Community."

The communication plan, which will touch digital television broadcasting and social media, aims to establish a strategy for increasing public awareness on efforts to unify the culturally diverse region.

Locally, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is said to be planning a second quarter release of implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on the digital shift.

A final choice has not been made between Japan’s integrated services digital broadcast-terrestrial (ISDB-T) and Europe’s digital video broadcasting-terrestrial 2 (DVB-T2) standards. The NTC announced that it had picked ISDB-T but Malacañang subsequently ordered a review.

Mr. Coloma said, "The President [Benigno S. C. Aquino III] directed the NTC and the Information and Communications Technology Office under the DoST (Department of Science and Technology) to formulate a migration plan from analogue to digital regardless of what standard may be adopted".

"The member countries [of ASEAN] are free to adopt the standard that is in accordance to their requirements," Mr. Coloma claimed.

The ASEAN statement, however, noted that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had described DVB-T2 as a "more advanced technology ... and acknowledge[d] the benefits of migrating directly to DVB-T2".

"The ministers also noted that the ADB will be developing common specifications for DVB-T2 receivers to enjoy economies of scale," it said. – EJD, dated 04 March 2012, 10:49 PM

Source: Business World