Brazil begins HDTV transmissions with Japanese standard

First, "GDP/capita" has nothing to do with the story, as in Brazil around 10% of the people holds more than 70% of the cash. So there is arount 18 million people around with somewhat deeper pokets. Some well developed contries don´t have this much people. Second, HD is a feature, but won´t be really used fo a long time since there is no interest in broadcast expensive HD content to a handfull of enthusiasts. Maybe soccer games, but that's it. And brazillian system is not better than Japanese. It´s specs are bloated by the government to make it look better, but none of the so called advances are ready to be deployed, such as interactivity. Judging by the development of "ginga" software, japanese will come up with newer system before brazillians get their interactivity software working. So, what brazillians are getting now is a better transmission signal in selected places, mostly in SD with high cost set top boxes (there is none costing R$200,00/US$112,00, price without HD starts at around R$600,00/US$334,00). And that's it.

I am all for technological development and all that, although I have to admit I am at a loss as to why Brazil installs a HD service. People were threatening with a riot in their favellas if they did not get soccer in HD? I kinda doubt that. I mean I live in a country that's supposed to boast a higher GDP / capita than Brazil, yet there is not even talk of HD service. Yes, I envy those HD enabled Brazilians, I have to admit. :)

The brazilian standard is based on the japanase. In fact, its a brazilian standard thats better than american, european and japanese. Thats why we cant use the STB of japanese and others. They cost now 500 local money, and 700 with hdmi.

I live in Brazil, and I would like to correct some of the info... it is the Japanese standard but with some nacional modifications with focus on interaction on the tv, for example: US HDTV implemtation focused more on hi-def transmission. European HDTV implemtation focused more on having a lot of channels. Japanese HDTV implemtation focused more on mobile transmission. And as said most os the normal programs will be transmited in SD. It's about time it got here, because the new consumer dream is big plasmas TVs and there seling like craise, and with normal analogic transmission, the image sucked! Sorry if the english is rong...

Brazilian standards are slowly growing. The poster above is being very selfish saying that a country "like" Brazil can't have digital broadcast yet (YES, WE HAVE COMPUTERS HERE). If the marketing is good and the price drops, it can be very successful. Look at the mobile service, it has over 100million lines and it's growing and growing each year. So a so called "poor" country can't have access to quality and new stuff just because a portion of people isn't able to afford it? I hate the way Brazil is growing, but at least isn't stuck in same place. Only with laws and constitution being reformulated, the country can grow and I didn't forget about the politicions that are standing in the way from that happening.

HTB needed to convert Digital Signals of HDTV to ordinary TV sets started prices on 600 Brazilian Reais (about USD350,00) and not 200 Reais as announced (USD170,00) as announced. This market game is to push consumers to buy the new system instead of adapt ordinary tv sets to receive HDTV. Investors are pushing consumers to buy these costly HDTV sets. The country's reality does not permit people get into this new technology, because the STB's cost is enough to buy a new 29" TV set in up to 24 payments. Wrong marketing strategy? Possible.

I am live in Brasil, São Paulo I help to make the research and make some lab tests in Brazilian system, they really is best then Japanese, American and European, we tested all of them. Yes we make that based on the Japanese system and the main improvement is use the H.264 (same of Bluray and HD-DVD) in place of MPEG2. With the H.264 in tests, using 3 mb/s of bandwidth we see the same quality of MPEG2 with 6 mb/s. So we can put the double of programs in the same channel (in same bandwidth) then the Japanese, or we can increase the quality, and our system offer that flexibly to TV stations up to 13 different programs with the same hardware an in the same channel (bandwidth). for more information and technical analysis has our research http://www4.mackenzie.br/1752.html (in Portuguese)

I live in Brasil and let me tell you that the guy back there that says that he doesn't know why Brazil is getting digital signal. Here in Brazil, whe have SOME Favelas, and almost all of then in Rio de Janeiro, that is a CITY, for your sake. We have the most advanced bank system in the World. We have the most advanced way to vote in elections. We are not stupid people that dont know where are we going, despite some of our goverment thinks that way. If your economy is so good, ask you goverment why you dont have HD! (not that I think this is so important, knowing that there are more needs that come first here than broadcasting HD signal)

If Brazil's neighbours do decide to adopt a different system, it won't be the first time Brazil has gone it alone! Their current analogue system is a hybrid - 525 lines as in US and Japan, but PAL colour, as in Europe. Back in the 70's and 80's. the company I worked for was the only one capable of converting Brazilian tapes for broadcast elsewhere! Actually, Brazilian TV has a lot going for it. The Music and Rio Carnival specials were spectacular and colourful. Their "Soap Operas" didn't run for years like ours - they'd take a book, serialise it over however many episodes it took (be it 10 or 100), then start again with a new book, using the same actors! It got very confusing to non-Portuguese speakers, as the hero in one series would be the villain in the next. But they were never boring! Would that British TV were that imaginative these days!

Every city in Brazil has favellas, dont try to put the blame in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is a country with a great economy and leading tech in some areas, but still a developing country that has many poor people. And poor people are spread in the country, not just Rio, the 2nd richest city in the country.

I was part of the community that developed MPEG-2 and H.264. I am happy to see that the Brazilians chose the best technology available at the time they made their choices and integrated it in their standard. That is good and common sense. The US ATSC standar also used the best technology available at the time it was set ( more than 5 years ago), and so did the European DVB-T standard. Maybe Brazil got lucky by waiting, but don't be so proud about the "Brazilian standard"; I never saw Brazil represented during my participation in the development of the core technology in the "Brazilian standard"

Poverty is a problem that every single country in the world shares and has, just with a different 'face'. So don't tell me that you don't have homeless people in developed countries because it's a big fat lie. The thing is that Brazilian media (including cinema) seems to be fond of selling that as the main feature of Brazil which leads to distorted impressions of the country. But at the same time it's honest and wide open with it. While Developed countries love to cover it and neglect to talk about it. In Rio the so famous "favelas" are only famous and well known because Rio is a city where since it's begining grows from the beach coast line. The mountains were Quilombos where the slaves use to escape from his masters and after the abolition of the slavery (thank you Princess Isabel) they've started to live there since the rich people had no interest on living up in the mountains. So the current status is just a progression of that. Rio at some point had the biggest number of slaves in world. So it's easy to imagine why this has happened especially if you take into account the very bumpy political road here. But yes... we have bananas, cell phones, top notch technology, houses, buildings with elevators on them, rich people, poor people, middle class people among many other things and now HDTV. Is it perfect? Certainly not but at least we still have green areas, people that have borned here are Brazilians independent from their skin colour (No need to create a second race called Afro-Brazilian) and we don't do wars just to keep the economy up and working and to open new capitalist franchises which if you stop to think can be a real plus. Besides Brazil is really big and geographically hard to manage from a administration p.o.v. It's bigger then most european developed countries, Japan and so on. São Paulo alone is reaching 40 million people. So it's not a easy task. I'm from São Paulo and I'm now living in Rio and I never been robbed in Brazil but I was in plain 5th Avenue in NY, how funny that can be? I've seen the poor side of NY, Miami, LA, Dallas, Las Vegas, London, Paris just to mention a few. It indeed looked different but poverty just the same. If everyone shared your view MG we would all be living in caves and sharing potatos and raw beef around a fire place and I mean on the entire globe. So thank you America, thanks to all developed countries, thanks development and the human desire to keeps pushing forward. Even it's a mere illusion I'm really happy with my 1080 LCD display and Blue Disc player. Cheers!

Just to correct the commenter above: Brazilians added H.264 compression to the spec, and the Japanese will market it as "ISDB-T International". The Japanese will add this option too, so both will be compatible going forward.

MG is GAY. What he said in his comment is the same thing as me opening up mine calling him gay. It has no basis. It is a very wrong thing to associate money, wealth and hapiness. Why are americans and europeans so COLD. Most dont know their own neighbors. Brazilians on the other hand, have heart. Are mostly happy, even sometimes with no money, because they live in a FREE COUNTRY. When a country invades another saying that the puspose is to make the people "free", what does that really mean? As in reference to what happened recently in Afgan or Iraq. The expression free, or democratic, means the people that used to live their lifes one way, will now have to change their way of living. Now they have to be searched when they pass by the military barricades, live daily with soldiers and guns. Many become rape survivors, because a soldier with a gun, has no limits. Now tell me. Do you think a country can be considered a FREE country when you have your phone conversations listended to? When you cant drink a beer in public? When you DONT vote for your own president, but a college does so. So how would you American feel if another country invaded the US because simply, Americans have no freedom. They dont make their own choices. The bottom line is that no country wants to free another. What they really look for is the benefits. How can they get richer with the invasion. Be it the money they will have to pay later to rebuild a country that got distryed, be it the Oil. So when you say that you live in a richer country, it doesnt make you a better person, or a hapier person, or even a smarter person. Many times, it makes you the exact oposite.