SEPTEMBER 26 — With the looming first series of analogue switch-off (ASO) around the corner, households that consume analogue terrestrial television will need to be mindful of the impending ASO.
Come Monday (September 30), states in the central and southern region of Malaysia will see off the use of analogue terrestrial entirely and pave way for better quality TV content over terrestrial television.
In brief, with the cessation of the analogue transmission, older TVs without digital tuner will not be able to receive any more content over-the-air due to the analogue transmitters going silent.
For older TVs to overcome this issue, it requires an additional appliance to receive digital terrestrial transmission to continue to view free-to-air (FTA) content either from RTM, Media Prima or TV Alhijrah. But if the household owns a flat screen TV manufactured circa 2015 onwards, it may have a chance that the digital tuner is integrated into the unit.
The caveat for an Integrated Digital Television (Idiv) to work in Malaysia, it must come with a Digital Video Broadcasting — Second Generation Terrestrial or simply DVB-T2 integrated into the TV circuitry to receive digital terrestrial signal.
On July 21, a pilot test was conducted by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on Langkawi where the analogue transmitter over at Gunung Raya was turned off at 2am. The team manning the war room at Gunung Raya witnessed a smooth transition, as widely reported in the news. They reported to receive mainly enquiries on how to obtain the set top boxes offered by MYTV.
Coincidently, the pilot analogue switch-off (ASO) perfectly coincided with the Malaysia FA Cup Finals where Kedah overcame Perak to lift the FA Cup. The following day, I came across “Tech Oh Beng,” an up-and-coming YouTube channel cleverly captured the two events together with a video entitled Punca Utama Kedah Menang Piala FA which incorporates the FA Cup Finals and Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV) in Kedah then.
If one still wonders how DTTV compares to analogue terrestrial, a retired gentleman Ahdenan Tasman from Ulu Kinta shared his experience with me regarding the use of DTTV at home. Ahdenan has been a user of myFreeview for about a year now and when MYTV came to his neighbourhood, he was quite curious what MYTV was.
After listening to the explanation about the need and benefits of the MYTV box, he signed-up and waited the installers to come. Upon installation, setting-up and turning on the TV, he was able to receive the channels listed by myFreeview and the quality is comparable to the offerings made by another local paid TV service provider.
He was happy that not only the service offered regular TV channels, it also has radio stations to boot and making it convenient for him to listen in to radio at home.
When asked about his favourite channel, he stated he usually channel surfs TV2, TV3, TV9 and TV Alhijrah. With the addition of myFreeview at home, he is now able to watch what he likes in peace and giving way to his grandchildren to use the other TV at home for cartoons.
Another digital TV convert, Zarah Hussein a retiree from Ipoh, shared her experience using DTTV. For Zarah, who apparently owns two MYTV boxes; one unit was given to her through being a recipient of “Bantuan Sara Hidup” and the other box she won at an event in Ipoh.
At home she uses an old CRT TV box, which means she definitely needs the set top box to get TV signal when the ASO kicks in. For Zarah, installation was done by people from MYTV and the TV is strategically placed in her kitchen where she spends most of her time.
When asked about the benefits of her MYTV boxes, she quipped that “when it rains, I’m still able to watch TV unlike before” said Zarah and the other benefit is that the set top box is small and portable enough for her to take it to her daughter’s home.
When asked of her favourite channel, she regularly watches TV3 for dramas and TV Alhijrah for spiritual content.
Both Ahdenan and Zarah are living in the suburbs. With enough promotion and managing expectations, MCMC should be able to make the ASO transition easy. Once Malaysia completes the transition by this October, myFreeview announced that it will add a few new free-to-air channels and will be enabling the interactive features of DTTV to the masses.
Personally, I am looking forward to it. It means Malaysia is moving in the right direction to become a smart and digital-based nation.
Please do not wait until the very last moment to act. Please check whether you or your parents’ TVs are ready for ASO. You can visit MYTV’s website or enquire at 1800-18-1088.
As a fellow Malaysian, I honestly hope this article can be useful during the transition to DTTV and wish people to stay calm when they see static on TV in the next few weeks.
* Zanisa S is a tech enthusiast and an industry observer.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
