Nothing to do with geocaching.

[on4bam]

Hi,

We're counting the hours until we leave home for down under. As a Formula1 fan I'd like to know if F1 can be seen live on any tv station . Of course we will be limited to broadcasts available in our hotel/B&B... For Sunday's race we'll be in Melbourne and since the race is in the US it should be on early Monday morning (7:00??). Won't be sleeping anyway probably as we arrive Saturday night from 9 hours away.
Next best thing would be a program with highlights.

Thanks.
Maurice

[Richary]

Yes the F1 is available on free to air television here, on the Ten network.

[on4bam]

Yes the F1 is available on free to air television here, on the Ten network.

Good to know.. Sunday we'll be in Melbourne (next to Albert park ).... TV no problem. Next one in Strahan Taz.. hopefully, next one in Portland, Vic .. probably. If I remember correctly Ten is one of the "basic" tv stations (as is "7").
I found that Fox was covering F1 in Australia too but they don't seem FTA.

[Richary]

Yes Ten is one of the standard free to air stations that will be available everywhere. Fox is a pay TV service and most hotels/motels (unless you are going really cheap) will have a selection of channels available from it usually including the sports ones though not the full range. Not having bothered paying I have no idea which of their sports channels they show the F1 on.

Actually I can't see the F1 listed on 10 for Monday morning, usually it happens overnight here so maybe they won't be showing it but 7am would clash with their morning prime time programs though I am surprised they haven't listed it on one of the extra digital channels (well it's all digital now anyway), but in a hotel you should be right with Foxtel I expect.

[on4bam]

Found it. Fox sports5 6:00-8:00 am
At least the timeframe is OK but can't find any info if the hotel offers it.. Oh well.. we'll see I don't think I ever missed a GP since the late 1970's, live or recorded. If all else fails I'll have to watch it when we get back home.

Look forward to GC5B7W0 just around the corner....

[Laighside Legends]

Actually I can't see the F1 listed on 10 for Monday morning, usually it happens overnight here so maybe they won't be showing it but 7am would clash with their morning prime time programs though I am surprised they haven't listed it on one of the extra digital channels (well it's all digital now anyway), but in a hotel you should be right with Foxtel I expect.

I suspect the reason for that is that there are laws that require major sporting events to be aired on the primary channel. A bit strange, but I believe it is an old law that still exists from the analogue era - so that people without a digital TV could still watch sport.

[Richary]

Actually I can't see the F1 listed on 10 for Monday morning, usually it happens overnight here so maybe they won't be showing it but 7am would clash with their morning prime time programs though I am surprised they haven't listed it on one of the extra digital channels (well it's all digital now anyway), but in a hotel you should be right with Foxtel I expect.

I suspect the reason for that is that there are laws that require major sporting events to be aired on the primary channel. A bit strange, but I believe it is an old law that still exists from the analogue era - so that people without a digital TV could still watch sport.

So instead they don't show it at all? Always seemed silly to me that they don't tend to run these sort of things on the HD channel either, instead reserving it for replays of old analog shows that were never made in more than 525 or 625 lines anyway. There can't be that many people left with only an SD-capable TV or STB, I could always watch the HD channels on my STB even if it downscaled it to the analog TV (these days I have a SmartTv in the main room and a Conia cheapie in the computer room, both of which are HD capable).

[LouiseAnn]

channel 10 has the V8 super cars on all tomorrow afternoon.

[Laighside Legends]

Always seemed silly to me that they don't tend to run these sort of things on the HD channel either, instead reserving it for replays of old analog shows that were never made in more than 525 or 625 lines anyway. There can't be that many people left with only an SD-capable TV or STB, I could always watch the HD channels on my STB even if it downscaled it to the analog TV (these days I have a SmartTv in the main room and a Conia cheapie in the computer room, both of which are HD capable).

There are also laws that state some things (sport is one of them) must be broadcast in SD (the TV stations can choose to have both HD and SD coverage of a sporting event but this is inefficient use of bandwidth so isn't often done). Apparently there are still people out there using analogue TVs with SD only set top boxes and if they are unable to watch the footy, it is somehow the government's fault.

Meanwhile, Europe is rolling out DVB-T2 (MPEG-4) and the rest of the world can't understand why we are persisting with TVs that are twice as old as I am...

[Papa Bear_Left]

Couldn't you just bring along a recording of some previous race? I mean, they're all just cars going round and round in circles and they all look the same, right?

[Richary]

Meanwhile, Europe is rolling out DVB-T2 (MPEG-4) and the rest of the world can't understand why we are persisting with TVs that are twice as old as I am...

We are starting to roll it out in Sydney, if you are in a capital city try channel 78 (racing). The old Conia says invalid format but I can still hear the sound, and the newer Samsung will decode the picture. Prime Wollongong seems to have gone the same with their channels 64, 65, 68. (Shopping plus racing). Though the equivalent 74 and 75 from Sydney are still MPEG-2 - not that I have any interest in the shopping channels. But I guess if they mandate MPEG-4 then people will have to update their TVs again, unless a software upgrade is available and try explaining that to most consumers.

I've set up dual antennas here for both Sydney and Wollongong given problems at times with the local channels due to noise and passing trains, often Wollongong works better for ABC & SBS for some reason.

[on4bam]

Couldn't you just bring along a recording of some previous race? I mean, they're all just cars going round and round in circles and they all look the same, right?

That`s what I think about football, 22 guys running behind a ball and in the end the Germans win.


At least we`re here now.... time for breakfast soon and a walk through Melbourne seeing the sights and picking up the occasional cache. Weather seems nice today.

[ziggiau]

channel 10 has the V8 super cars on all tomorrow afternoon.

But only for a couple of races in the season. The rest are on Fox only with 10 showing a highlights package later in the evening. They're hemorrhaging viewership based on the recent ratings.