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TV3 will usher in high-definition broadcasting on Freeview with prime-time show Boston Legal on April 1 as importers rush to secure supplies of the TV set-top boxes that will be needed to view the high-quality broadcasts.
The TV3 high-definition line-up will extend to other popular shows including CSI, CSI: New York, Prison Break, My Name Is Earl, NCIS and Bones.
Australian TV shows Home and Away, So You Think You Can Dance Australia, Rove and the new crime drama Underbelly will also get the high-definition treatment, bolstering a schedule that was left looking very lo-fi after TVNZ revealed its only high-definition debut this year is likely to be the Beijing Olympic Games broadcasts in August and September.
John Allen, director of technology at TV3 owner MediaWorks and the man who brought the first high-definition equipment to New Zealand in 1992 when he worked for Panasonic, said most United States television shows were now being shot using high-definition cameras so cost nothing extra to buy in the HD format.
Benefits of broadcasting shows in so-called "native 1080i" format include better picture quality for owners of flat-panel, high-definition screens and Dolby 5.1 surround sound.
Mr Allen said surround sound would be introduced in a few months. "On day one we'll still be in stereo sound. Audio is one of the more difficult things to master."
Viewers will need a high-definition Freeview set-top box and UHF antenna to view the high-quality broadcasts on their HD-capable flat-screen TVs, of which there are an estimated 300,000 already in homes.
Only one Freeview-approved set-top box will be available at the launch of Freeview HD, priced at around $500.
"I think it's massively overpriced," said Queensland-based set-top box distributor Andrew Reeves of the Freeview receiver, which is made by Taiwanese manufacturer Zinwell.
Mr Reeves, who supplies digital TV receivers to the Australian market through his company Sommet Digital, hopes to have a Sommet-branded device selling in New Zealand by the end of April, priced at between $299 and $349.
"We believe take-up of terrestrial TV will be much larger than satellite, so we're putting our eggs in that basket," he said.
Auckland set-top box importer Peter Escher said devices matching exactly the technical specifications of the Zinwell receiver sold in New Zealand were advertised in Asian countries for as little as $250.
Mr Allen said all TV3 standard-definition broadcasts on the Freeview terrestrial platform would be upgraded to high-definition to improve their quality.
