France not exactly rushing to adopt HD
By Darren Murph 
posted May 27th 2008 10:12PM
posted May 27th 2008 10:12PM
Talk about a let down. According to a new report from Variety, Daniel Bilalian -- France Televisions' director of sports programming -- has announced that "HD transmissions would not be available for this summer's Olympic Games on any of the pubcaster's channels." The article also notes that French networks in general have been slow to move towards high-definition, with only Canal Plus putting forth a proposal for premium HD transmissions (from pay-TV providers). Still, it's noted that private networks TF1 and M6 have "committed to airing at least 80-percent of their content in HD by the end of 2012," but it's not like we're really down with twiddling our thumbs for four more years waiting for it to happen.
In general, Europe has been slow to adopt HD. It's one area where the US is currently far ahead, if the 40+ HD channels I currently have are any indication.
that's because we've had widescreen since 1998 and our PAL broadcasts are 567
if we'd only had 4:3 and 480 like you guys then we'd see a bigger difference in the step up. Plus your stations make a LOT more money that ours from advertising, ours make a loss with an HD channel
Wasn't HDTV invented in France...?
IMO, winter Olympics would be much better suited for HD viewing.
Yes, HDTV was invented in France, but only technically: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_high-definition_television_system#French_819-line_.28755i.29_system
France was slow with the internet, too, with the state telecom pushing the modem-based Minitel.
Your comment is completely outdated, as what you state is plainly wrong in 2008 (was true a decade ago though).
France is one of the leading countries for broadband, and has the largest number of IPTV subscribers in the world. FTTH is rolling out in many cities, with 4 different providers rushing to connect paris...
IPTV has HD, but it's not what the article is about.. The article was about HD DTT, which is not big in France. The reference to 2012 is theswitch off date for analog terrestrial.
Some references in this blog (which points to different articles from the WSJ or other sources) http://gigaom.com/2006/03/27/frances-broadband-miracle/
Maybe but now in France we have Free with the Freebox HD:
-28 mb/sec , unlimited downloads rate, TV with 100 free channels and Hd channels, free phone in 50 countries. Hard drive 40 Go, wifi 802.11n, router, etc.
And all this only for 29,99€ / months.
The young American game console fanboy posters flatter themselves & imagine they are always at the cutting edge of everything.
In TV terms they are certainly not and haven't been for decades.
America's NTSC TV broadcasts are a (rather laughable) 480 visible lines and world renouned as pi$$-poor
(NTSC being nick-named outside of the US as 'never the same colour').
Europe's PAL TV broadcasts are 576 visible lines; a marked increase in resolution.
That's one reason why in Europe our upscaled SD DVD looks so much better and high def has much less impact here leaving many distinctly underwhelmed.
It comes down to 'is it worth it', nobody is saying there is no difference.
Frankly at the prices Blu-ray wants the answer to that question is a resounding 'no, it's not worth it'.
......and before any US posters throw the usual hissy-fit at this truth it's worth remembering that we in the EU are an almost 500-million strong single market now.
The USA is around 300 million.
If Europe continues to refuse to bite it's just another bit reason to expect Blu-ray to stutter and die on it's feet.
IIRC the US has around 30% total TV market penetration for high def sets, in the UK it's just under 20% and on continental Europe it's just over 10%.
They are not exactly good reasons to expect Blu-ray to be taking off any time soon and the longer it's stalled the more likely it is that a more easy & consumer friendly format will establish itself.
Apparently French folks don't undertsnd English so well, or they'd note my use of "WAS" -- as in the past tense.
France WAS slow with the Internet. Sure, they've moved on from Minitel, but only lately.
As for the SECAM/PAL resolution, sure. They started 10 years and more after the USA and had the benefit of our experience and advancing (American) technology. As usual.
The real problem with market adoption in Europe is that Europe's prices are locked rather high by severe state controls and a frequent lack of retail price competition.
Lastly, 4:3 576p does NOT look anything like 1080p 16:9. If it does then you have a crap HDTV.
I see Truth Teller has moved onto something else other than the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray battle...
Still the same old trolling...
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kcmurphy88
They started 10 years and more after the USA and had the benefit of our experience and advancing (American) technology. As usual.
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LMAO
Very funny.
The truth is that it was Europe & Europeans that have invented almost anything techy of worth from radar to jets to atomic bombs to the internet to yes even TV and colour TV.
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kcmurphy88
The real problem with market adoption in Europe is that Europe's prices are locked rather high by severe state controls and a frequent lack of retail price competition.
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Nonsense.
Do you know the level of import duty the EU puts on goods from outside the EU (which btw therefore ignores those good produced wqithin the 27 nations of the EU)?
It ranges from 2% to 12%.
In otherwords completely in line with international import tarrifs (which even the USA imposes).
.....and we'll happily pay a little extra for free healthcare etc etc (which you only have to pay yourselves anyways).
Thanks.
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*quote
kcmurphy88
Lastly, 4:3 576p does NOT look anything like 1080p 16:9. If it does then you have a crap HDTV.
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Er, who said anything about 576p @ 4:3?
We've had widescreen 16:9 for at least a decade.
I'll bet the house that not only does our PAL 16:9 576p looks a sh!tload better than your NTSC 480p (or is it usually 'i') @ 16:9 or 4:3 but that our 576p upscaled to 720p/1080i/1080p looks a zillion miles better than your upscaled 480p/i any day of the week.
(and if US customers say they don't think the difference between upscaled 480p/i is 'worth' the premium Blu-ray demands how much more resistant do you imagine European customers are, hmmmmm? )
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zargon, go dry your eyes.
Got it!