Receiving Irish channels through digital, but can't decode.

BoozyBabe

Hi there,
Wondering if anyone can shed any light.

I've a samsung lcd TV, & it has a built in digital receiver.
We also have a philips lcd with inbuilt digital receiver.

Last weekend we rescanned them for digital channels as we heard you were now able to pick up the 4 Irish channels through the digital receiver.

As we're close to the NI border, I believe my digital tv is picking up the channels from the NI network. (If there's such a thing, I think I seen it while I was searching through all the settings)

I think we're now picking up the 4 Irish channels from Longford (somewhere. Only what I've been told)

Anyway, the digital receiver did pick up the 4 channels. We can hear the sound no problem, but it seems it cannot decode the picture. We're just left with the black screen, while the sound plays in the background.

Do any of ye know why this is? Is there anything we can do to fix it? Someone said they thought that the English digi channels were coming in as mpeg2 while the Irish were mpeg4, & that perhaps this was something to do with it.

As you can gather from the above post, I'm completely clueless, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
BB

byte

BoozyBabe wrote: »

Someone said they thought that the English digi channels were coming in as mpeg2 while the Irish were mpeg4, & that perhaps this was something to do with it.

That pretty much sums up what is wrong. You'll need an MPEG4 set top box. Your TV is MPEG2 only, cannot handle MPEG4 video.

Otherwise, maybe a Neotion MPEG4 CAM will work, but check sticky thread on this first.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055384875

Might be worth having a nosy at the other sticky threads also.

Pat Gleeson

BoozyBabe wrote: »

Do any of ye know why this is? Is there anything we can do to fix it? Someone said they thought that the English digi channels were coming in as mpeg2 while the Irish were mpeg4, & that perhaps this was something to do with it.

You hit the nail on the head. The UK DTT (Digital Terrestrial) channels are MPEG-2 and the Irish are MPEG-4. Your TV has only an MPEG-2 decoder, so sound is all you will get. To get the Irish channels you will need a set top box, which nearer the official start up of Irish DTT will become more easily available.

BoozyBabe

But why the hell do RTE do this when all the English ones are mpeg2?
Am I missing something or are RTE just being completely awkward & stupid as usual?

Or will the english also be moving the mpeg4 & therefore all our new tvs will be defunct in no time?

Thanks for your help

Pat Gleeson

BoozyBabe wrote: »

Or will the english also be moving the mpeg4 & therefore all our new tvs will be defunct in now time?

Thanks for your help

The English will indeed be moving to MPEG-4

BoozyBabe

Ah Jeez!!!!!
Thanks Pat.

That's a joke!!! Is that common knowledge for the average Joe soap going into buy their brand new LCD TV at the mo? Or is everyone in for a bad shock in the near future?

Thanks for clearing it up for me anyway.
Even if it is bad news!!

Pat Gleeson

No problem. As yet there's difficulty for UK consumers, not until the migration of DTT from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 - then the fun begins.

Irish DTT is not officially on air and is only available certain areas - I can't get it yet here in Limerick as Woodcock Hill isn't testing yet. Most TV's sold in Ireland don't have MPEG-4 tuners, and most stores dont know or care about compatibility with Irish DTT.
Unless the customer is clued up about DTT, their TV may not be Irish DTT ready out of the box.

slegs

Pat Gleeson wrote: »

No problem. As yet there's difficulty for UK consumers, not until the migration of DTT from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 - then the fun begins.

Irish DTT is not officially on air and is only available certain areas - I can't get it yet here in Limerick as Woodcock Hill isn't testing yet. Most TV's sold in Ireland don't have MPEG-4 tuners, and most stores dont know or care about compatibility with Irish DTT.
Unless the customer is clued up about DTT, their TV may not be Irish DTT ready out of the box.

Woodcock Hill is active and testing DTT

GerardKeating

BoozyBabe wrote: »

But why the hell do RTE do this when all the English ones are mpeg2?
Am I missing something or are RTE just being completely awkward & stupid as usual?

Or will the english also be moving the mpeg4 & therefore all our new tvs will be defunct in no time?

Thanks for your help

Cause the english system is 10 years old and technology has moved on a bit...

sesswhat

BoozyBabe wrote: »

the digital receiver did pick up the 4 channels. We can hear the sound no problem, but it seems it cannot decode the picture. We're just left with the black screen, while the sound plays in the background.

When Holywell Hill starts broadcasting Irish DTT to 100,000 Derry people there might be quite a few more in the same boat.

Pat Gleeson

slegs wrote: »

Woodcock Hill is active and testing DTT

Jaysus ! Since when ?

lawhec

All countries now launching or planning a DTT service using DVB-T (which is pretty much everywhere outside the Americas, Japan and China) are now using MPEG4 for broadcasting video, this includes New Zealand, Portugal, Norway and several eastern European countries.

Had this been say three or four years ago there might have been a good case for at least the Free-to-air channels to maintain broadcasting in MPEG2 but time has now moved on and MPEG4 chipsets have been coming down in price, not quite the same levels yet as MPEG2 but is getting there.

MPEG2 is now a compression technology that was developed in the mid-90's, nearly 15 years ago. That's quite an age in the computer world especially when you consider what would have counted as a high-end PC around that time.

The debate on DAB radio rollout is one thing especially considering the technology it is using and the lack of DAB+ receivers being pushed, but MPEG4 for DTT is IMHO the right way to go about it, otherwise had it been stuck with an MPEG2 system in a few years time there would be howls of complaints about RTÉ/Irish Government/BCI/Comreg (delete as appropirate) adopting a less efficient system and holding back progress of say HD Television.

On a footnote, the UK is planning on adopting MPEG4 but only for HD broadcasting on a single multiplex using the DVB-T2 standard, where such receiver are not on commercial sale yet. SD channels on MPEG2 are to continue for the foreseeable future, though I'm sure that at some point once most people in the UK that will receive DTT have MPEG4 receivers they will begin a process of moving over to it away from MPEG2.

Pat Gleeson

Just read the Woodcock Hill Thread - dunno how I missed that

STB

Pat nothing personal but there are glaring inaccuracies in your post.

Regardless of whether the UK moves to MPEG4 soon (which they are not) the op will still require a new set top box. The UK are not moving all their channels to MPEG4. They "intend" on using MPEG4 for their HD channels using DVB-T2. NOT ALL the Freeview channels. That still means that anyone wishing to watch HD channels on Freeview will require a new box. This will not be happening tomorrow either. This new UK spec box might be compatible with Irish DTT but it is not the responsibility of the either country to ensure this!

Retailers in Republic of Ireland are aware of the spec for Irish DTT and have a responsibility to stock suitable products.

Woodcock Hill is active on DTT.

To answer the original question and as byte has indicated some IDTVs can be enabled to show the picture as well as sound with a CAM that slots into the side of your TV.

Post your model numbers Boozy.

BoozyBabe

Oh, thanks for that everyone, & STB, I'll see if I can find it now online, otherwise I'll get you them when I go home.
Thanks,
BB

EDIT:-
Mine is a 32" Samsung LE32R73BD LCD TV
That any good?

Pat Gleeson

AFAIK that Model would appear to have an MPEG-2 DTV tuner - I'm open to correction on that, though