DTTV from Three Rock now?

rlogue

I've seen a post on alt.satellite.tv.europe that says DTTV trials have started again from Three Rock. Can anyone confirm this and what is being broadcast?

PK - the king

All 4 Irish TV stations (RTE 1 & 2, TV 3, TG4). They are broadcasting these fully now, and have done so for quite some time now, but they haven't developed or marketed any set top boxes to support the service. Apparently, they are to hand out 1000 free set top boxes to people who already have digital, so they can see how rte digital compares to digital services such as ntl, sky or chorus.

Hopefully, rte digital will mean more channels, more services and WIDESCREEN! :mad:

DMC

/me heads to Newry....

PK - the king

DMC

Still need some more robust confirmation, from RTÉ etc.

Any more info, Richie? PK?

rlogue

Well Watty was the one who posted the original message - maybe he knows?

Would it be worthwhile buying a UK FTA DTTV reciever?

PK - the king

The chances are it won't work properly (or may not work at all). The system used in Britain is slightly different to the one being proposed here In Ireland. The software is also different which will cause incapabilities with the broadcast. Anyway, I think you need to produce a UK television licence to be able to buy one. I'm not too sure on when the Irish models are being marketed. I just read in a newspapers report that the government are to give away 10,000 free STBs for people living in the vicinity of Three Rock (ie. Dublin) to test the systems. I know nothing further, unfortunately - sorry!!! But I'll have it posted here as soon as I get any more news on it.

EDIT: The figure 10,000 is incorrect. The gov are giving away 1,000 free set top boxes, and are giving away 10,000 heavily subsidised set top boxes to viewers who already have RTE aerials, (NOT indoor set top aerials) and are living in the Three Rock service area.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by PK - the king
10,000 free STBs for people living in the vicinity of Three Rock (ie. Dublin) to test the systems

they are giving away 10,000 just to test it :eek:

please tell me that was a typo. it's just that 10,000 seems to be a bit extreme

DMC

Well, the one thing going if they used the UK boxes, is that there are manufactured already.

Interesting.....

PK - the king

Crap, sorry Mossy!!! It was a typo! They are giving 1000 boxes away free, and selling off another 10,000 subsidised boxes.

Sorry to get your hopes up...

I will edit the above post in due course...

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by PK - the king
Sorry to get your hopes up...

wouldnt make a difference to me unless Three Rock reached Waterford

PK - the king

Ah, sorry 'bout that, Mossy. But they are meant to be launching it nationwide by the end of 2004! (in terms of RTE, and the Irish gov, that should be, lets see, 2015).

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by PK - the king
:they are meant to be launching it nationwide by the end of 2004!

where did you hear that?

i'd be more inclined to believe 2015

mickeyboymel

Originally posted by PK - the king
, I think you need to produce a UK television licence to be able to buy one.

Not true, anyone can buy one, I got mine mail order from the sisters Kays Catalog.


Would it be worth swinging the aerial towards Three Rock, from Westmeath, and chance picking it up on a UK box, what frequencies are they using?

bkehoe

Some rte sites are already partially set up for DTT - i.e. antennas up, space and required cabling, etc, ready for installation of the transmitters/encoders/etc, so its not really too much work for them to finish the job.

PK - the king

mickeyboymel - you can but try.

rlogue

I know West Briton has an aerial pointing at Three Rock at his mansion...top reception of analogue too.

West Briton

All I need is the DTT box!

byte

Seems very stupid not using the same DTT standard as UK's Freeview. Is there any sensible reason for this? Maybe its different so that overspills from NI or Wales don't conflict with Irish DTT transmissions?

And I'm still very annoyed that Dublin (who already have access to Digital tv) get to trial DTT. One of the other Transmitters around the country should've been used

PK - the king

1) dublin has a lot of schools
2) dublin has a huge population
3) dublin has the biggest subscribers to digital cable & sat

Why do a test in some pokey transmitter area in Galway with 700 people? It's better to do it where the transmitter has the potential of reaching 1m+ people.

Mike 1972

Seems very stupid not using the same DTT standard as UK's Freeview. Is there any sensible reason for this? Maybe its different so that overspills from NI or Wales don't conflict with Irish DTT transmissions?

Most UK DTT boxes will have no problem recieving Irish DTT its just a few older ones that dont support 8K COFDM

8K (6817 subcarriers) CODFM is considered a better system than 2K (1705 subcarriers) COFDM so Ireland should adopt it.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:g3G_JLGcbAIJ:www.tml.hut.fi/Studies/T-111.550/2003/Presentations/DVB-H.ppt+8K+COFDM+number+of+carriers&hl=en

gorm

Been reading this post with interest so I emailed RTE for information, this was the reply I got.

Quote"

The media recently reported on a pilot DTTV transmission from Three Rock
Mountain. This has to be approved by the Department of Communications,
Marine and Natural Resources, and also the Regulator, ComReg, before it can
commence, assuming that funding was available.

We do not envisage this project commencing until mid 2005 at the earliest,
as many regulatory, commercial and technical issues have to be explored.

As the technical parameters of the DTTV system to be adopted for Ireland has
yet to be finalised, we cannot predict whether any, or all, of the Freeview
receivers currently on the market in the UK would be compatible with our
future transmission system. Because of this, we would not advise our viewers
to purchase a DTT receiver at this stage.

Regards,
Colin Kennedy

Coverage Planning Section
RTÉ

Unquote"

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by gorm
We do not envisage this project commencing until mid 2005 at the earliest,

so 2015 is looking likely then

PK - the king

more like 2020 :rolleyes:

Mike 1972

probably will be adopted around 2025 just before DTT becomes obsolecent and the rest of Europe moves towards digital 3D holographic HDTV with 14.1 surround sound :rolleyes:

West Briton

As I'm heading off to the UK shortly, I've got hold of a cheapy DTT box: a Matsui freeview box, for £47 in Newry.

DMC and I tried it last night in Celbridge; I have an aerial on the roof for Three Rock. We had no joy whatsoever. No active DTT channels from Three Rock were broadcasting last night.

gorm

Are you going to continue to check for signal?

ballooba

Originally posted by mickeyboymel
Not true, anyone can buy one, I got mine mail order from the sisters Kays Catalog.

Oh... Yeah.... your sister's

I believe you!!!

Pal

If i get a FREEVIEW box, do i need an aerial too ?

Will a rabbits ears do ?


I am in West Dublin.

Originally posted by West Briton
DMC and I tried it last night in Celbridge; I have an aerial on the roof for Three Rock. We had no joy whatsoever. No active DTT channels from Three Rock were broadcasting last night.

Rofl...
Tiz a sure sign that I'm getting tired/drunk/both as I read that to say that you had an aerial on the roof of your car for 3 rock and I had images of ye driving around with a freeview receiver and TV on the Dash

In answer to Pal...
The last tests that RTÉ did from three Rock were receivable in Donnybrook with just an indoor aerial.
Bear in mind that, that is in a built up area albe it with a line of sight to three Rock with no obstructions bar the buildings.

PK - the king

They switch on and off the pilot test signals, but mostly they are off :rolleyes:

PK - the king

Are RTÉ still doing test digital broadcasts?

rcunning03

Does anybody know what channels will be on dttv, besides the obvious ones ?

PK - the king

There was talk of adding the UK Terrestrial (BBC, UTV, Ch4, Ch5) channels as part of a pay extra channel package, costing about €80 a year to subscribe. I wouldn't imagine there'd be much else, if anything.

(I wonder how TV3 would react :rolleyes: )

Smeagol

I wonder who whould splash out 80€ for such a pay-tv pack?

byte

Originally posted by Smeagol
I wonder who whould splash out 80€ for such a pay-tv pack?

My mum probably would if it meant the channesl in clear digital quality. It would need to include the others too, like BBC Three, ITV2, five, etc to warrant the expense though.

rcunning03

I'd defo pay if you got bbc3 etc, but I was reading an article somewhere else and dttv was originally planned for 2002, so by the time RTE introduce it (In fairness to RTE, it seems to be the government dragging it's feet) we'll probably have discovered a way to get images from the past transmitted directly into our brains, and be able to experience the big bang and other such events.

To summarise I'm not going to hold my breath.

PK - the king

if you had sky, it would be well worth paying out the €80 odd a year for UTV, Ch4 and BBC 3 & BBC 4 with an EPG listing.