DVB - T STB Usable in Cork ??

Glos

Hi,
In my local B&Q today in Cork i noticed a pallet of these DVB - T tuner's for sale at ~ 24 euro.
Fortec Star FS-3100

From looking through these forums i'v gathered that this STB would be suitable for the new DTT signal which is currently being tested.
However, it is also my understanding that it would not be any good for HD TV as its Mpeg -2.

Can anybody confirm that the above is correct and more importantly confirm if the DTT signal is actually being tested yet in the Cork area ?

It seems strange that these boxes are openly for sale in Cork (Yah i know its B&Q :rolleyes:) when they are in fact useless at this time.But i stand to be corrected.

Thanks in advance
gLo.

That's weird, I'm not aware of any DVB-T testing in Cork, RTÉ only recently did a survey on the Spur Hill mast so it might be a while.

I saw a TV in Tesco in Abbeyfeale yesterday with a large Freeview sticker on it, promoting the channels you can supposedly pick up on it. I wonder how many didn't realise the system is UK only?

watty

The UK chains (Maplin, PC World/Currys/Dixons, B&Q, Homebase, ex Virgin Music etc) regularly sell items unsuitable for Ireland. Tesco and Argos try a little harder.

These sets will be obsolete in 2 years in UK and are obsolete in Ireland now.

I don't think DTT testing has started on Spur Hill and these set-boxes don't meet the Irish specs. It's likley that most or all channels after public launch won't work on them.

radiospan

I saw a DVB-T PCI card in Maplin in Blackpool a few weeks ago too.

I just hope that there's someone on here who can let us know when tests do start at Spur Hill!

syboit

plazzTT wrote: »

I saw a DVB-T PCI card in Maplin in Blackpool a few weeks ago too.

I just hope that there's someone on here who can let us know when tests do start at Spur Hill!

well will this dvb-t card be suitable aswell ? komplett also has a few in and around the 30yoyo mark (ex. shipping)

ShaneOC

I have a TV with a digital tuner and I get my analog tv from Spur hill so I'll be able to let you know if there's any test activity there. Did a scan last week and found 0 services...

Mossy Monk

plazzTT wrote: »

I saw a DVB-T PCI card in Maplin in Blackpool a few weeks ago too.

I just hope that there's someone on here who can let us know when tests do start at Spur Hill!

Who is to say that tests will not be MPEG4 when they do start?

watty

There may be short lived MPEG2 tests. But the service will be MPEG4.

These boxes should be almost illegal to sell retail in Ireland.


PCs are basically 60Hz or higher progressive. All Irish / European broadcasts are 25 fps interlaced. Even a cheap TV and set box will give better TV broadcast pictures than ANY PC, unless it has HDMI or SCART/Composite/Component/S-Video properly designed for 576 line 25i, and 1080i on HDMI

parasite

http://www.rte.ie/aertel/169-02.html

Spur Hilll outage for electrical work for DTT ...Take from that what you will

pa990

more testing/ fiddling going on today.. The analogue RTE2 had echoing sound and the tech's were talking over the programmes on rte1.. talking about running tests/ test cards

(approx 4pm today)

radiospan

Good stuff, must get a DVB-T USB dongle. Has anyone done a frequency scan for DTT?

Any predicitions if this will be MPEG-2 or MPEG-4?

watty

Wait and get a proper set box.

USB dongles similar or higher price and generally much poorer quality. Your Laptop/PC screen is wrong refresh rate and resolution The Dongle may not do MPEG4 and and may lack compatible MHEG5 for EPG etc.

Wait till it's 100% clear what is needed and closer to service launch or you likely wasting money.

zilog_jones

watty wrote: »

PCs are basically 60Hz or higher progressive. All Irish / European broadcasts are 25 fps interlaced. Even a cheap TV and set box will give better TV broadcast pictures than ANY PC, unless it has HDMI or SCART/Composite/Component/S-Video properly designed for 576 line 25i, and 1080i on HDMI

As no one makes any good CRT TVs any more this isn't really true. Any "cheap" LCD TV will be useless at displaying 576i by halving the vertical resolution or doing godknows what else to it - may be running at 60Hz too depending on how awful it is.

Stuff like DScaler has good if not better deinterlacers than most <€800 TVs, any half decent CRT monitor can do 576p @ 100Hz and if you try hard enough you can get somewhat suitable 25p or 50p (depending on source) outputs.

watty

Even cheap 32" WS LCDs do much better than computer/laptop screens because at least the refresh is 25fps, not 60,85 etc..

Setting PC to 75Hz or better 100Hz improves a lot if the screen supports it, but many laptop screens only do fixed 60Hz.

DScaler is hugely better also than almost all vendor supplied viewing SW for PC/Laptop but may not work with many receivers.

A cheap "HD Ready" TV not good enough for actual HD is much better for ordinary TV than non-HD LCD/Plasma TVs.

Only the <10" LCDs tend to have 272 or less lines and be really rubbish. A 10" or 12" laptop is hugely better than 10" and less cheap LCDs. Even my Archos 4.3" 800x400 is better than any 4" to 10" LCD TV or portable DVD player I've seen as these are all only 272 lines approx.

zilog_jones

watty wrote: »

Even cheap 32" WS LCDs do much better than computer/laptop screens because at least the refresh is 25fps, not 60,85 etc..

OK, with the internal displays of laptops you're usually stuck with 60Hz, but you can make custom resolutions for whatever you want with a variety of software (RivaTuner, PowerStrip etc.). Windows doesn't like registering anything lower than 60Hz but if you try hard enough you can get it working - 100Hz is usually the easiest option though, and isn't any worse than 50Hz if you have vsync and stuff on. And when you're using HD resolutions, most modern stuff should be capable of 25p, 50p etc.

A cheap "HD Ready" TV not good enough for actual HD is much better for ordinary TV than non-HD LCD/Plasma TVs.

IIRC there were some that were designed for the PAL market so actually had 576 lines (or somewhere around there), but yeah most of the stuff around was/is 480 line junk. And I still do not agree with you regarding the merits of full 1080 at 32" and smaller TVs.

watty

I'd be suspicious if you agreed with everything I write. I'd think "Sycophant" (psycho fan?)

JHMEG

JHMEG

The RTENL website is correct, the current MPEG2 trial will finish in
August and a new DTT service will start sometime after that in MPEG4
only.

MPEG4 will offer a large increase in the number of channels that can be
offered to the viewer and will also allow for the introduction of HD
(High Definition) television.

The UK uses the MPEG2 system, but are looking at introducing MPEG4 in
several years time. MPEG4 is the latest standard and is being introduced
in most European countries. The UK was one of the first to offer DTT,
but at that time only MPEG2 was available.

MPEG4 STBs will initially be more expensive than the MPEG2 versions, but
the price will come down very quickly. France is making it mandatory in
2009 that all STBs and integrated televisions have MPEG4 built in. This
will ensure that there is a large market for MPEG4 technology.

Regards

Roger Woods
Senior Executive Engineer