BT Vision Boxes in NI and the Tests...

SRB

Noticed a few comments from people on another forum that they are watching the tests in NI on a BT Vision Box, they mention the fact that RTE1 and 2 are "in a box" - and have been pointed to this forum for an answer... I'm not a member of the other forum so can't post there...but if you've arrived here....

Press the "text" button, wait for it to load, then press Red "Exit Aertel". That will give you full screen RTE1 and 2.

watty

There potentially two BT vision boxes, The phillips one and the newer Motorola one,

They are IPTV (via DSL) and DTT hybrid boxes. Which is probably why they can do MPEG4.

I did some testing on the cableTV + IPTV version of the Motorola box and the MPEG4 was superior to Neotion Pocket Duo "CAM". Same quality as Lyngsat combo DTT/Satellite box.

Neither Philips nor Motorola sell these "hybrid" IPTV/DVB boxes to the public, only to operators. They have to be "provisioned". The Motorola one can be "provisioned" from and stream from a home Linux box on your own lan.

STB

Whats a bit annoying is that you MUST be a BT customer and you MUST be connected to BT Broadband in order for the DTT tuner to work!

Which is a pity as they are available from 0.99c on ebay.

SRB

Hi Watty, I wasn't suggesting people try and buy the Vision box, as you say not much use to them without the vision/cable service, but if they have one and are watching the tests, that's a cure for the postage stamp RTE1 and 2.

For some reason the Irish EPG (when it's there) crashes the Lyngbox if you try and scroll though it. Can't really add it to the list of bugs though as it is only a test....

Sponge Bob

Strictly speaking the provisioning is a T R 069 or T R 064 standard command that comes in over/with the DSL layer as an instruction to the BT Vision box.

You could conceivably emulate these commands yourself across the DSL port after which the BT Vision box would be provisionable by yourself . It uses a DS2 chipset

Here is an architechural overview for those who may be interested



More here

http://www.lightbulb-communications.com/Gomez%20DS2.pdf

SRB

Interestingly, both RTE1 and 2 are suddenly displaying correctly on the Vision box - so, em, no need for the above fix.....

KeRbDoG

SRB wrote: »

Interestingly, both RTE1 and 2 are suddenly displaying correctly on the Vision box - so, em, no need for the above fix.....

Hey, is it a Philips box your using? Whats it model number?

SRB

Yup it's a Philips Box - it's not me using it, it's the in-laws box, will check model number for you at the weekend.

STB

kerbdog wrote: »

Hey, is it a Philips box your using? Whats it model number?

Important you need to be subscribed to BT Broadband. Heres the model details etc

http://www-srv-4.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=59208891&postcount=25

watty

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Strictly speaking the provisioning is a T R 069 or T R 064 standard command that comes in over/with the DSL layer as an instruction to the BT Vision box.

You could conceivably emulate these commands yourself across the DSL port after which the BT Vision box would be provisionable by yourself . It uses a DS2 chipset
----

The Motorola box has ethernet and either a DTT (DVB-t) or DVB-c (cable) tuner depending on who it is for. It can't change channel or display the TV channels except in the Scan/Setup menu, without an IPTV server!. The IPTV server is communicated with to change channel and for broadcast gives a kind of faked UDP VOD stream which is really the appropriate TV channel.

It also has USB to play back your own content and there is a HDD/PVR version. oddly it's an IPTV/VOD box with a tuner added to design (runs Linux) rather than a Tuner box with added streaming.

I think the Philips box is WinCE/Mo OS based. But I could be wrong.

SRB

watty wrote: »

I think the Philips box is WinCE/Mo OS based. But I could be wrong.

Yup it is - it's also worth pointing out it won't record the channels, they aren't listed in the BT Vision Guide and it does need connected to the BT Vision service obviously.

watty

With MS IPTV if everyone makes a selection at the same time (end of news etc...) Then the MS server falls over.

I wonder if this is why BT is considering the Motorola box?

SRB

In Laws had lost UK Chs 1-5 to the RTE tests for about a week, (BBC1- CH5 had movd to the 800's in their Vision channel list) yesterday the box asked for a re-scan and the UK channels are back in postion at 1-5, though TG4 appears for a few seconds then freezes. Anyone spot a change in the TS again ?