THREE ROCK - RTENL NOW TESTING MPEG4

a bientot

Yesterday at about 16h my Humax became active again as the clock (62 minutes ahead of time) came back on.....
This morning the old MPEG2 positions for RTE 1, 2, TV3 and TG4 had audio only. The four RTE radio stations were back on also as during the test.
I did a search and found that all four tv stations were now in MPEG4 with a stronger (deeper?) picture than I'd seen during the test in MPEG2. I took out the card as I presumed correctly they were in the clear.

Effectively anyone with an MPEG4 tv set /MPEG4 set top decoder plus tv will be able to watch these test transmissions......emphasise - tests.

Search 'televiseur MPEG4' on google.fr in French for latest list of this ever increasing breed of REAL genuine HD ready tv sets suitable for the 24% of tv viewers who are expected to avail of DTT, the target customers of Boxer/Denis O Brien. I saw one MPEG4 set in the Sony shop in Dundrum ten days ago with the HD Ireland channel on view.

MPEG2 is now dead and buried as far as Ireland is concerned. The funeral took place on 31 July at 23h57.

thomasking22008

thank for inforation about back signal

stanley1

Just retuned trial box, all stations coming in strong, clock and date are correct.

Myxomatosis

Is there an EPG on Three Rock?

No EPG on Mt Leinster.

slegs

Was hoping that the no EPG thing on MT Leinster was a temporary thing. Would also be interested to hear if there is an EPG on Three Rock.

stanley1

no, not even now and next

a bientot

Myxomatosis wrote: »

Is there an EPG on Three Rock?

No EPG on Mt Leinster.

No nor should one expect to see such until near the launch date. This is after all a broadcasting test.............

slegs

Would have been nice though

Myxomatosis

a bientot wrote: »

No nor should one expect to see such until near the launch date. This is after all a broadcasting test.............

As far as I understand Mt Leinster has always been a broadcasting / engineering test and was not part of the actual trails.

Yet there was an EPG with MPEG2

pipkato

Since today (Wednesday) I can receive Three Rock fine on a USB TV stick, but my Humax trial box is audio only, even after a factory reset.

Anyone know what that might be? Tried removing the cam card - no difference.

thanks.

cormacl

any chance someone can post frequency details?

I've just rescanned my dreambox 7025 remotely from work and it found nothing.. but the frequency lists it scans are pre-plumbed and its possible that I just need to update these for modulation changes etc.

Unfortunately it doesn't do a blind scan and needs to know where to scan.

Dr.Mark

the frequency on 3Rock hasn't changed: it's still 738.

I am picking up the four SD channels but no Ireland HD.

cormacl

any chance the modulation and related details are available?

Alun

I'm having a bit of trouble getting a strong enough signal from 3Rock on my DVB-T stick. Before, I could get a good signal just on the silly little stick antenna they delivered with the stick, but not any more. Could they have reduced the transmitter power as well?

pipkato

Alun, I"m using the same tiny stick antenna as before and not having any problems with Three Rock. I'm in the Dublin 6 area.

scath

I tuned at 6am (interview later) and not signal today, but I tuned at at 10am and there it was, as predicted by one of those in the know here. Must have went up at 8am I suppose. No mention of OTV yet, even a test screen. I assume it'll just be added, but they'll have to tell people to rescan or else us guys rescan when there's mention of it. Else it'll be testing and we won't know lol.

Didn't try the USB yet. DVB Viewer should allow it work. Am also in D6 so I assume I should pick it up on the stick. Any way to get MHEG engine put into my trial box? Cost to do? I'd like to keep the trial box for posterity but for it to have all functionality.

BTW guys. A lassie that commented on my weblog was wondering: she's getting sound but no picture.Obviously MPEG2 problem she has.

The guy that installed the fTA system advised:
There are two leads on the back of the box. One is for the satellite and the other is a push in lead for rte etc. He says if I take out the push in lead and plug it into the television we can then tune rte back in. ( My problem is the lead is too short! ) You would then have to use two controls - one for the television for rte etc and the other for the box which covers the satellite viewing. He also said they can get very little information from rte at the moment so they are just waiting it out.

Any advice lads for her.Cam? Or new TV? Or a combo box? Have been looking, only see MPEG2 DTT-Sat combos. I think there may be a UK site but can't find that sells combo boxes... I shall email her back the solution if ye have one.

pipkato wrote: »

Alun, I"m using the same tiny stick antenna as before and not having any problems with Three Rock. I'm in the Dublin 6 area.

thomasking22008

what type you use set top box

scath

I'll have to find out from the lassie that asked me. But its MPEG2 so no good.

Alun

Alun wrote: »

I'm having a bit of trouble getting a strong enough signal from 3Rock on my DVB-T stick. Before, I could get a good signal just on the silly little stick antenna they delivered with the stick, but not any more. Could they have reduced the transmitter power as well?

I believe they're using 64QAM, the MPEG-2 trial was using 16QAM. Less error correction is available so a better quality signal is required.

watty

Strictly speaking the error correction (FEC) is separate to QAM.

16 QAM means 16 symbols or variations of phase and amplititude. 64QAM means the amount noise or distortion needs to move the phase or amplititude is approximately 1/4 as big. Thus either you need about 4 times the power (a bit more actually) or 6dB more aerial gain or 1/2 the distance to have the same signal quality...

A bit simplistic...

Alun

Ok lads, that would explain it then.

STB

scath wrote: »

I tuned at 6am (interview later) and not signal today, but I tuned at at 10am and there it was, as predicted by one of those in the know here. Must have went up at 8am I suppose. No mention of OTV yet, even a test screen. I assume it'll just be added, but they'll have to tell people to rescan or else us guys rescan when there's mention of it. Else it'll be testing and we won't know lol.

Scath, Oireachtas television will not come on air until the Broadcasting Bill goes through (maybe end of 2008). It was only on as part of the trial. The stations back on at the mo will remain as is for the forseeable future (til the end of the year anyhow). When the Bill goes through there will a statutory basis for having the Oireachtas Channel and Irish Film Channel etc.

scath wrote: »

Any way to get MHEG engine put into my trial box? Cost to do? I'd like to keep the trial box for posterity but for it to have all functionality.

No middleware doesnt work like that. You cant just add it. There are about 3/4 boxes that can be bought at mo that have MHEG5 and the spec for Ireland ( Zintec, Draco, Olevia and maybe the Magic as used in N Zealand and Malaysia). They are however quite expensive for a single tuner receiver at €200. No doubt they will be cheaper when bought in from certain manufacturers in china and korea and rebadged.

As far as I am aware RTE are developing there own EPG that will use the MHEG5 middleware.

scath wrote: »

The guy that installed the fTA system advised:
There are two leads on the back of the box. One is for the satellite and the other is a push in lead for rte etc. He says if I take out the push in lead and plug it into the television we can then tune rte back in. ( My problem is the lead is too short! ) You would then have to use two controls - one for the television for rte etc and the other for the box which covers the satellite viewing. He also said they can get very little information from rte at the moment so they are just waiting it out.

??

scath wrote: »

Any advice lads for her.Cam? Or new TV? Or a combo box? Have been looking, only see MPEG2 DTT-Sat combos. I think there may be a UK site but can't find that sells combo boxes... I shall email her back the solution if ye have one.

Yes. The neotion cam. I am thinking that the VIACCESS NP4 EXTRA CAM one would be the best as it is likely to be boxers encryption method. It also transcodes MPEG4 to MPEG2. It might be an idea to check that it is compatible with the TV though as it doesnt support them all afaik.


Combo boxes.

There are several combo boxes out there that do MPEG4 terrestrial and free satelite.

They are :

Technomate TM-6900 Combo HD
Clarketech 5000 HD Combo
MVision HD200
Vantage HD 7100TS Combo

They vary in price between €200 and €400. The technomate is a very nice does loads of wonderful things and has PVR & media centre functionality as well. Zintec distribute them in Dublin but they may be slightly cheaper on some of the sat sites.

scath

Thanks for the answer there STB. BTW she has a opticum 4000TS Digital Sattellite and Terrestrial Receiver. SEG 32" Black HD-Ready LCD TV. She should ask the company to replace the box with one of these. Problem solved then. She only bought recently so, co should have known since February last via CEDA. Isn't this probably a better option than getting the cam where there would be picture degradation. What's your final word? Probably box exchange and might have to pay the difference as new equipment

STB

I dont sell boxes myself scath. But consumers being sold packages that are labelled as FTA TV Sat and Aerial from unscrupulous retailers need to contact the consumers association if they get no joy.

The spec for DTT in Ireland has been out there a long time and there is no reason why any retailer should be selling gear with MPEG 2 chips for the Irish Terrestrial market either way. That doesn’t even have an analogue tuner either - no excuse! That is for the British market.

Dont have to be a genius to work out where it came from. Online shop ?

a bientot

The tests would appear to be on an on/off basis as they are off from Three Rock since yesterday (Thursday) at 16h with TG4 being the first to go as the channel broadcast a colour test card before going blank with the other three.
The date has returned to 01-01-1970......

Are they also gone elsewhere?

watty

STB wrote: »

I dont sell boxes myself scath. But consumers being sold packages that are labelled as FTA TV Sat and Aerial from unscrupulous retailers need to contact the consumers association if they get no joy.

The spec for DTT in Ireland has been out there a long time and there is no reason why any retailer should be selling gear with MPEG 2 chips for the Irish Terrestrial market either way. That doesn’t even have an analogue tuner either - no excuse! That is for the British market.

Dont have to be a genius to work out where it came from. Online shop ?

Plenty of stuff that only works properly in UK, (or in a few cases is even illegal in UK and Ireland) has been sold in PCWorld/Dixons/Currys, Maplin, Homebase, B&Q, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and others... Argos used to be careful to extremes.

Not just online.

scath

UPC to take an apparent swipe at Sky regarding its Digital Value offering and anyone for the BCI Conference? http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=THE+INSIDE+TRACK-qqqs=mediaandmarketing-qqqid=35012-qqqx=1.asp

Probably a closed conference just for media only?

danIrl

Three Rock seems fine at the moment. What time did they go off on thursday. Pretty sure I was watching it on thursday evening?

STB

watty wrote: »

Plenty of stuff that only works properly in UK, (or in a few cases is even illegal in UK and Ireland) has been sold in PCWorld/Dixons/Currys, Maplin, Homebase, B&Q, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and others... Argos used to be careful to extremes.

Not just online.

I am aware of that Watty and its something for CEDA to have a look at. That these retailers are still selling this gear is a disgrace.

The particular model of TV that Scath mentioned comes froms an online shop..... thats what I was getting at.

a bientot

IS THREE ROCK DTT OFF?

Can anyone confirm if my Humax (test) is faulty because the 4 plus 4 have been off since last Thursday (as per my previous post) even though they are still registering as being "live"?

STB

a bientot wrote: »

IS THREE ROCK DTT OFF?

Can anyone confirm if my Humax (test) is faulty because the 4 plus 4 have been off since last Thursday (as per my previous post) even though they are still registering as being "live"?

No. Go to Restore default setting on menu (password is 0000), it will reboot and ask your language and country and then choose rescan. For those with the trial boxes this should solve the problem everytime as RTE continue their engineering tests.

Alun

I can still pick them up here in Bray at the moment.

Krusty_Clown

Tried that (Shankill). It's picking up all 8 channels (4 TV, 4 Radio), with a strength/quality of 54% / 100%, but still no picture.
Looks like I'll need to pick up a null-model cable and flash the firmware. Had you previously upgraded your firmware Alun?

STB

The restore default settings should sort it out for you. Simple rescanning will not work unless you reset the deafult settings first. Note I have noticed that the stations are slower to display since RTE went to 64QAM, so patience.

I have a Humax stb. There has only ever been one firmware upgrade and that was rolled out by the PR company during the trials. It was a fix for MPEG4. If you received the HD Ireland during the trials and setanta sport with no picture problems then you shouldnt have to update the firmware.

2 questions,

Were you receiving the stations at any stage since RTE came back on in August ? Are you using a HDMI cable ?

I only uploaded the firmware as it sometimes solves ghosts in the machine scenarios!

Krusty_Clown

STB wrote: »

The restore default settings should sort it out for you.
2 questions,
Were you receiving the stations at any stage since RTE came back on in August ? Are you using a HDMI cable ?
I only uploaded the firmware as it sometimes solves ghosts in the machine scenarios!

Did the 'restore default settings' and then scan. Didn't work.
No, I'm using a scart cable. No, haven't received any channels since RTE started broadcasting in August.

I didn't do the firmware update during the trial. Have waited patiently for 20 minutes.. Don't have any more patience.

*Edit*: Actually, there is sound and no picture, so looks like it's the standard issue. Will locate a null-modem cable (why did I throw all of these aawy years ago?!) and upgrade the firmware.

a bientot

STB wrote: »

Were you receiving the stations at any stage since RTE came back on in August ? Are you using a HDMI cable ?

As the starter of this thread I was receiving the RTE test but wanted to keep the rpg for the original test package on my Humax and so did an add on 800 - 807 for RTE..... In this way I had audio only on my original package 100-103 and full service with picture on 800 - 803
If I do this rescan (obviously will have to) and it works will I lose all my original list?

STB

Krusty, I meant 2 seconds not 20 minutes between channel flick.


Krusty, I am guessing you didnt receive the channel "HD Ireland" during the trial ? Did you have issues with Setanta Sports Channel not dsiplaying ?

Then the firmware will sort it for you.

STB

a bientot wrote: »

As the starter of this thread I was receiving the RTE test but wanted to keep the rpg for the original test package on my Humax and so did an add on 800 - 807 for RTE..... In this way I had audio only on my original package 100-103 and full service with picture on 800 - 803
If I do this rescan (obviously will have to) and it works will I lose all my original list?

You cant do that mate.

Yes you will loose everything 100-103 do not exist anymore!

Just restore the default settings as I described above or you will receive nothing. The channels are now labelled 800+ at the moment.

As RTE are doing engineering tweaks from time to time you must "restore default settings" on the box when you get error messages like no or bad channel. Changes are being made and the box gets confused without this reset.

Krusty_Clown

STB wrote: »

Then the firmware will sort it for you.

Thanks. Will do it when I find a cable.

a bientot

STB wrote: »

You cant do that mate.

Yes you will loose everything 100-103 do not exist anymore!

Just restore the default settings as I described above or you will receive nothing. The channels are now labelled 800+ at the moment.

As RTE are doing engineering tweaks from time to time you must "restore default settings" on the box when you get error messages like no or bad channel. Changes are being made and the box gets confused without this reset.

Thanks very much for your help and hope it is equally helpful to others.

By the way the 100-103 were working last week (Wednesday-Thursday) probably in MPEG2 so no picture - sound only. Also I noted that TG4 went into Colour bars test mode before the whole system went.
I will now tape (remember the twentieth century!) the original EPG and move with modern Ireland's MPEG4........

edited: And yes everything is perfect now........(at 22h Monday)

It is also about time that we knowledgable people informed the staff of the major tv retailers of the facts relevant to about 24% of their customers and others who may be planning to buy new sets in the mistaken belief that they will NOT need a DTT decoder should they ever decide to drop cable or satellite....or should we leave it to Boxer, RTE and the Department?

a bientot

slegs wrote: »

Was hoping that the no EPG thing on MT Leinster was a temporary thing. Would also be interested to hear if there is an EPG on Three Rock.

RTE must have seen my dismissive comment and reacted because since Tuesday morning (12 August) we have an EPG for the eight (tv and radio) automatically generated from where......?
Should we expect to see a teletext service next week?

By the way setting the clock is interesting because one has to trick- advance the clock by one hour to get the time we are using at present -Dublin summer time-...and since this evening the minutes are correct.
Thus it can be used to give anyone who asks you for the Irish 'right time, please'!

goingnowhere

Got the EPG last night, nice and colour coded and much more detail on the content.

peneau

Guys, does receiving the EPG involve a rescan? I'm receiving an empty EPG at present. (using DVB Viewer Pro)











P4 3.0ghz, 2.5 Ram, ATI Raedeon x1950pro, Hauppauge HVR-3000

BigMoose

Have the 3Rock transmissions stopped this evening or have I spannered up my PVR?!

a bientot

no......Three Rock ok with the EPG tonight.

Krusty_Clown

My EPG is coming in loud and clear...
So is the audio...
Just the picture to sort out now.. :rolleyes:

Where can I get a null-model cable for less than Maplins is looking for? (~13 euro).

watty

13 Euro isn't bad actually.

Obviously not Monster Brand Then it would be 49.95 for same quality.

Krusty_Clown

I was hoping to pick up something with gold leaf hieroglyph inscriptions along the length of the housing, which wards off evil radio waves.

TVDX

13 Euro is typical Maplin extortion pricing.
You can get a null modem cable for 4 euro delivered on Ebay.

Krusty_Clown

TVDX wrote: »

13 Euro is typical Maplin extortion pricing.
You can get a null modem cable for 4 euro delivered on Ebay.

3 euro 12 cent, inc. next day delivery.
Screw Maplins (pardon my French).

watty

But not picked up today.. or quickly returned if wrong sex or wriring. PCWorld is dearer.

4 Euro inc delivery from which country? No doubt the same quality though.