La Free TV as we know it is about to change dramatically. The DTT - from 2020 - will change according to the new standard Dvb-T2 and many of the televisions in Italian homes are not compatible with this new standard. But how to find out if your TV needs to be changed or not? And what only the timing of the infamous switch-off transition to the TV 4.0 as established by the Ministry of Economic Development?
Digital terrestrial 2020: what you need to know
Starting from June 30 2022, all televisions installed in Italian homes must necessarily be compatible with the new standard of DTT. This standard - as we anticipated - is called Dvb-T2, and will replace the one currently in use (the Dvb-T). However, it is a pity that not all consumers are informed of this imminent change; a change that has caused quite a bit of controversy, especially if you consider that even fairly recent televisions are not equipped with the DVB-T2 standard. But how to check if your TV is compatible?
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How to check if your TV is compatible with the new digital terrestrial
To find out if your current TV is compatible with the new standard of digital terrestrial DVB-T2 two test channels have been created:
- 100 (Rai test channel)
- 200 (Mediaset test channel)
First of all, make sure you have retuned the decoder so that you can be sure that channels 100 and 200 are occupied by the test channels and not by other broadcasters.
Once you have "visited" channels 100 or 200, if on the screen you will read "HEVC Main10 test“, It means that the TV is ready for the new standard, so there is no need to buy a new one (or buy a new decoder).
If, on the other hand, the TV fails to lock onto either of these two channels (stay on the current channel or a black screen is displayed), it only means one thing: not compatibility.
New digital terrestrial switch-off: times
In fact, the release of television frequencies occupied in some territories by local televisions. During the first phase, between 13 January and 30 May 2020, the replacement of frequencies will affect some of the provinces of Sardinia, Liguria, Tuscany and Lazio as indicated in the table:
| Province | Date |
|---|---|
| Oristano, Sassari | from 13 January 2020 to 30 January 2020 |
| Imperia, Savona, Genoa, La Spezia | from 03 February 2020 to 8 May 2020 |
| Massa Carrara, Lucca, Pisa, Livorno, Grosseto | from the 20 April 2020 to the 30 May 2020 |
| Viterbo, Rome, Latina | from 4 May 2020 to 30 May 2020 |
Il actual transition will begin in one year and nine months, starting September 1, 2021, when MPEG-2 will definitely give way to MPEG-4, which is now used on high definition channels. Therefore, starting from September 2021, non-compatible decoders and televisions, which today are not able to receive HD (high definition), will no longer be able to tune the channels.
However, the change will not take place throughout Italy with the same timing. In fact, the boot has been divided into 4 different areas to make everything more gradual:
- from 1 September to 31 December 2021: Area 2 and Area 3 (Valle d'Aosta, Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna and the provinces of Trento and Bolzano);
- from 1 January to 31 March 2022: Area 1 (Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Campania, Sardinia);
- from 1 April to 31 June 2022: Area 4 (Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise, Marche).
In short, the switch-off will not happen tomorrow, you still have more than a year to adapt but who starts well ...
