Things I am interested in…

Me, Dilmah & Rollo

Jen took this rather nice picture of me and our two cats - (little black) Rollo, and (larger ginger) Dilmah. It is on the web album too…

In NZ the government has decided that our television transmission standard has to be changed from analogue to digital over the next few years.  This process has already started, and from the middle of last year a geostationary satellite (currently the Optus 4) has been beaming TVNZ signals down to earth, and all who can receive it.  This is called FreeView.

 The advantages of FreeView over other satellite broadcast systems (like Sky) are:

1. It’s FREE!  Once you have purchased and installed the satellite dish and the decoder there are no more bills… ever.
2. It’s government sponsored, so it is very unlikely to go out of business.
3. The number of channels is being expanded all the time - at the moment there are seven (TVNZ One, 2, The Maori Channel, Bloomberg, Deutsche World TV, CCTV-9 (Chinese), and TVNZ widescreen).  Next month TV3 and Prime are coming online, and by the end of the year there are expected to be about 18 channels available.
4. Did I mention - it’s FREE!

The previous owners of our house had Sky, so a satellite receiver dish and cabling were already in place.  Our friendly neighbourhood aerial guy installed a set-top box, and instantly we had the best reception I’ve experienced in years.  Our previous flat was in the reception shadow of a local mountain, and had shoddy television and cellphone reception.

 I must admit, I’m sold on digital satellite television, and even Jen, who is a bit of a sceptic about these sorts of things thinks that the ability to watch Antiques Roadshow in perfect reception is great.

And best of all… it’s FREE!

A Topfield PVR

Jen & I have just bought a new house. It is groovy.