TVNZ DUKE (Freeview channel 13) is upgrading its DTT (or UHF) broadcast to HD from 11am on Thursday 11 January 2018.

Following this upgrade, selected programmes will be available in 1080i to viewers who use UHF aerial to receive TV signal.

What do I need to do?

Viewers shouldn't need to do anything to receive the HD broadcast.  For any viewer using a UHF aerial to receive TV signal, the update will happen automatically. 

If you do see a prompt on your TV to update channels or services, please select to proceed with the update. 

If you have any trouble with reception, try a cold retune first.  See here for some troubleshooting tips.

Will I get DUKE in HD if I'm using satellite dish?

No, the HD broadcast will only be available via UHF.  There isn't as much satellite transmission capacity compared with UHF or Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT).  The scarcity of satellite capacity limits the picture and sound quality broadcasters are able to deliver via satellite.  

What programmes will be shown in HD?

The broadcaster will be showing promos on air for programmes that will be available to view in HD.  And once the go-live has taken place, we expect to see "HD" indicators in the Freeview TV Guide for programmes that are shown in HD.  You can view the Freeview TV Guide online here.

Technical information for installers

The changes to the service should not detrimentally impact any receivers and no retuning should be required.

The video component will become an HD video and should be dynamically handled by the receiver as the video resolution is contained within the video component data packets.

The only thing that may not update is the “service_type” of the service, currently it’s 0x16 (advanced codec SD digital television service) and TVNZ will be changing it to 0x19 (advanced codec HD digital television service).  The receiver uses this information to categorise the service for the user but if a receiver does not update this value, it should not affect the receivers ability to decode the service.