Countdown to a double shutdown, which will force millions of Europeans to change their television or mount a special decoder. In fact, the first (small) television revolution is eight months away: as of January 1, digital terrestrial broadcasts will use only Mpeg-4 encoding, abandoning the now-old Mpeg-2.
As of July 2022 the second (major) revolution: all transmissions will go in Dvb-t2 (the second digital terrestrial transmission standard), with Hevc encoding (which allows greater compression than simple Mpeg-4 and therefore more channels and / or better quality). A double revolution made necessary by the arrival of 5G, which from 2022 will also use the 700 Mhz frequencies that televisions now use.
It is good to arrive prepared for these dates, taking into account everything that is at stake. On the one hand, the risk not only of not being able to see terrestrial digital but also of not being able to enjoy the advantages of Hevc, soon adopted by other platforms (such as Netflix, which has already announced it).
On the other hand, the possibility of being able to have state incentives for switching to a suitable television or decoder: 25 euros per hour provided only for a small audience of users (over 75, exempt from the Rai rate and with a maximum income of 8 thousand euros per year), but in the future perhaps extendable by means of new decrees to a greater number of users. The earliest deadline: January 2020 Mpeg-4 Mpeg-4 is the normal encoding that we are used to having on internet videos since the early days of broadband, while Mpeg-2 dates back to the days of DVD. AND
He first manages to bring more content in the same space (disk or radio) and therefore even thanks to this step it will be possible to start releasing some frequencies for 5G of the 700 MHz band. The good news is that for more than one Europeans of the decade have MPEG-4, but according to Mise’s estimates there are around 10 million still stationary on MPEG-2.
Please note that the change in frequencies will be gradual, from January 2020 to December 2021, in the various regions of Italy (according to a roadmap defined by the Government). Two years in which it could also happen that, apart from the Mpeg-4 issue, due to this move it will be necessary to intervene in the condominium system for a readjustment. To understand if our TV (now prehistoric) fits into these, simply connect to the HD channels of digital terrestrial (from 501 onwards): if an error message appears and we cannot see the signal, it means that we do not have the MPEG-4.
They are high definition channels precisely because the best compression allows you to increase the amount of usable data for the same amount of space. Or to occupy less while maintaining the same amount of data (that is, the same number of channels with standard quality), which is precisely the advantage of being able to release frequencies of 700 MHz for 5G. It is enough to take a very cheap “zapper” decoder to adapt TV to MPEG-4, but perhaps it could be an opportunity for a more substantial upgrade, which looks to the future.
Second deadline: July 2022 After just over two years, in fact, we will already need support for DVBT-2 and Hevc codecs, which make signal transmission and compression even more efficient. Which means the possibility both of saving other frequencies and, above all, of changing many of the current channels to 4K. Since January 2017, all televisions integrate the two technologies by law. If we have a TV released before this date, it will be good to do an internet search to read if its specs include Dvbt-2 and Hevc.
However, if not, it may be helpful to wait a little longer before switching to a new model. Until July 2020 we do not need those two technologies for digital terrestrial; If we still do not perceive our TV as obsolete, for our uses, we must wait. If nothing else, in this way we can save money by buying a television that by then will not be so recent but will already be equipped with DVBT-2 and Hevc. It is also possible that the Government will slightly expand the audience of the beneficiaries of the television bonus . if we find, on a deadline, with several families that are not yet equipped with compatible devices. One reason to accelerate the switch to Hevc could be the adoption of Netflix. That thanks to the new codec it will be possible to give 4K even to those who have a line that is not really ultra-broadband and offer 8K content to a wider audience of people.
