BSkyB will start it's HDTV package mid of this month, and the BBC will also start via Astra 2 28.2 degrees east at the end of this month with their HDTV transmissions.

The BBC ones will be FTA, so even citizens in Germany could watch them if they have a suitable antenna (in the east you'd need more than 1.5m dish).


So, I'm still waiting for a suitable receiver. Nothing seen from the announced dvb-s2 card from TechnoTrend.... only €120 this time. Nothin seen, argh.
The card from KNC ONE is not freely available, if you have really luck you can catch and buy one for approx €200.
Humax, Pace and Philips htdv mpeg4 receivers are PITA so far, I'll wait for the KATHREIN 901!

Thanks _chef_ ; actually BBC are having test transmissions now in the London (Crystal Palace) area and I'm thinking to sit down with a wet towel around my head and receive it.

If you have a BDA-compatible PC DVB-T card (Nebula, Hauppauge or even Medion hybrid), you can pick up data on UK channel 31 (non-sat).

Currently the best H.264 decoder is supposed to be Elecard (although still not great), but many others like Cyberlink are expected to become improved.

The H.264 kit from DBV Viewer can also work well with their superb software. If I understand correctly from the DVB Viewer site, it's possible to get test transmissions via satellite too, at least as far as the Netherlands...

Yup, they will transmit via FreeView (dvb-t IIRC) and sat 28.2/28.5 degrees east via dvb-s2/mpeg4/H.264.
Test transmissions running since 1 week, hard to catch, even more because they change the SR constantly and don't send within the standards yet.