STB for DTT and MPEG4?

BostonB

Are their any STB that can decode the Irish DTT MPEG4? For older TV's.

Kensington

This decodes the free stations. No guarantee it will be compatible with the pay-TV DTT service when it launches though...

STB

Do not pay €140 for a set top box.

If you are going that far you might as well buy a combo box and get the free to air satelitte stations with it. By old TV you mean a CRT with a Scart Socket ? All combo boxes/ Cheap TNT HD boxes will have scarts.

BostonB

You're right that makes no sense. Be better to get a new TV that supports FreeView/Dtt etc.

muchos04

What T.V. can you recommend that supports DTT and DVB-S/ DVB-S2?

slegs

muchos04 wrote: »

What T.V. can you recommend that supports DTT and DVB-S/ DVB-S2?

The new Freesat TVs from LG and Sony will do this - you will get online in UK or from NI. Probably best to stay away from the Panasonic freesat tVs as people have had mixed results with these due to the Panasonic implementation of the DVB standard.

muchos04

Thanks for that but i was under the impression that DTT and DVB-S (DVB-S2) was not available with anything to do with freesat, only free to air combo boxes? So there is tvs that are built to receive a 7day EPG and also capable of handling Irish DTT seamlessly?

slegs

All TVs these days come with a DVb-T tuner. Freesat TVs also have a DVB-S2 HD satellite tuner with freesat 7 day EPG. As freesat HD requires MPEG4 this usually has the nice side effect of making the DVB-T DTT reception IRish DTT compatible. Note though that even within the TV EPG guides the DVb-T and freesat tuners are considered separate and you do not get a single integrated guide like you do with a combo box i.e. there is still an element of flicking between inputs on the TV to view the channels on Irish DTT and freesat. This is much the same limitation as if the freesat was a separate set top box. The advantage is that you dont actualyl need a set top box and the original TV remote handles everything.

BostonB

My mum will never work it all out.

slegs

Combo box is the best compromise in my opinion in this scenario. The perfect solution for Ireland (freesat with Irsih DTT combined) just does not exist yet in FTA and the lack of a 7 day guide for UK FTA is sometimes not as big of a deal for older folk who had only just got used to it on Sky and Chorus anyway. Most people find the MVision Combo and similar boxes (like the Ferguson Ariva, Metabox CXCI) very easy to use no matter their background.

BostonB

Can you get a combo box that has a PVR and EPG (DTT/FreeView) and that allows you to watch one channel while recording another.

slegs

Most will allow you to do this on the same transponder but not on different tuners

In practicality this means
- you can record one terrestrial channel and watch another terrestrial channel as they are on the same DVB-T mux
- you can record one satellite channel and watch another satellite channel from the same transponder (usually about 5 related channels per transponder). Example would be E4 UK and More4 UK

This is as far as it goes. There are more expenzive receivers that will allow full record one channel and watch another but most of the average priced combos have the above restriction.

muchos04

Thanks for the useful information guys. I will go away and think about which product i'm going to get for my dad but from what Slegs says there is a big argument to go for a Combo box. It seems its the way forward.

muchos04

Hi Guys,

What combo box is MHEG5 compliant?

slegs

None that I am aware of

muchos04

I have been reading these threads and the thing that seems to be coming up alot at the moment is the DVB-T/DVB-T2 debate. Is there a combo box out there that can handle DVB-T2 and can also handle DVB-T?

slegs

muchos04 wrote: »

I have been reading these threads and the thing that seems to be coming up alot at the moment is the DVB-T/DVB-T2 debate. Is there a combo box out there that can handle DVB-T2 and can also handle DVB-T?

Its a non debate. The Irish standard is DVB-T/MPEG4. Unless you can receive overspill Freeview HD from the UK then it will be of little consequence to you. Also, if you are gettign a combo then you will have HD sat which already carries the 2 FTA HD channels that Freeview HD will carry.

There are one or 2 DVB-T2 boxes appearing soon but no combos yet as far as I can see and they will be very expensive initially in comparison to DVB-T boxes.

BostonB

Is there much overspill of Freeview into the ROI?

Satdog

BostonB wrote: »

Is there much overspill of Freeview into the ROI?

East Coast and the Border Counties. UK DTT may penetrate deeper than UK analogue did.

BostonB

Excuse the noob ques but any advantage of FreeView over FreeStat? Nicer EPG and easier set up or is there more to it than that?

slegs

BostonB wrote: »

Excuse the noob ques but any advantage of FreeView over FreeStat? Nicer EPG and easier set up or is there more to it than that?

One is not necessarily better than the other. They are supposed to be complimentary as in the UK not everyone can receive Freeview so Freesat is the alternative.

EPG look and feel is set top box dependent not service dependent and generally the same type of info is carried on all EPGs. They have slightly different channel sets (Freesat has more but Freeview has a couple of more desirable channels that arent FTA on satellite)

See

http://www.freesat.co.uk
http://www.freeview.co.uk

BostonB

Ok thanks for the info!

mrdtv2010

http://www.richersounds.com/product/freeview-freesat-pvr/humax/hd-fox-t2/huma-hd-fox-t2

One important point to bear in mind: Freeview HD will carry BBC HD, ITV1HD, 4HD and FiveHD. It is very unlikely that 4 and 5HD will be available on Freesat for a while, if ever, for rights reasons, or until the new tighter footprint Astra satellite is launched in 2012.

slegs

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

http://www.richersounds.com/product/freeview-freesat-pvr/humax/hd-fox-t2/huma-hd-fox-t2

One important point to bear in mind: Freeview HD will carry BBC HD, ITV1HD, 4HD and FiveHD. It is very unlikely that 4 and 5HD will be available on Freesat for a while, if ever, for rights reasons, or until the new tighter footprint Astra satellite is launched in 2012.

Have you got a link on 4HD and FiveHD on Freeview HD...hadnt seen that announcement. Service is only partially rolling out from March I had heard with most of UK to have by end of 2010.

mrdtv2010

Ofcom licences have already been issued to Four and Five for Freeview HD services. It is expected that 4HD will launch at Easter on Freeview HD and the S4C HD service is also launching at Easter. 5HD is expected later in 2010. I will shortly post the details about Blaen-Plwyf. The reason 4HD is not on Freesat is because it is not on Astra 2D which has a tighter spotbeam than the other birds at 28.2 and is therefore NDS encrypted. FreeviewHD will be more attractive than Freesat HD because it will have all UK PSB HD channels.

muchos04

When you mention tighter footprint for the Astra satellite, do you mean that potentially some FTA channels might not be receivable?

STB

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

http://www.richersounds.com/product/freeview-freesat-pvr/humax/hd-fox-t2/huma-hd-fox-t2

One important point to bear in mind: Freeview HD will carry BBC HD, ITV1HD, 4HD and FiveHD. It is very unlikely that 4 and 5HD will be available on Freesat for a while, if ever, for rights reasons, or until the new tighter footprint Astra satellite is launched in 2012.

Just in case you hadnt noticed the original poster asked about a suitable STB for Irish DTT.

I know you are very excited about the UK adopting MPEG4 for a few HD terrestrial services on the UKs DVB-T2 system but this is a discussion about Irish DTT not UK Freeview.

Freeview products dropped into Irish DTT discussions is irrelevant and is causing confusion for the less technical folk who drop in here.

All Freeview services and anything Freeview such as those you listed that WONT be available in the Rep of Ireland. However, the same in stations (in the main) are freely available to a HIGH percentage of this country on satellite.

Any "tightening" to the elliptical footprint wont affect Ireland, regardless.

We have a multitude of HD products that do HD DVB-S2 (from the astra footprint) and MPEG4 SD for our DVB-T terrestrial in one box. Its a win win situation with these boxes being both freely and economicly available through the majority of Europe chooosing the same technology as our own.

And the quality of our Standard definition DTT channels via MPEG4 is quite impressive.

BostonB

In fairness your original reply, which makes perfect sense, kinda broadens the original scope of the thread.

STB wrote: »

Do not pay €140 for a set top box.

If you are going that far you might as well buy a combo box and get the free to air satelitte stations with it. By old TV you mean a CRT with a Scart Socket ? All combo boxes/ Cheap TNT HD boxes will have scarts.

If you are buying a combo box, you have to think Freesat/Freeview which leads to Freesat/FreeViewHD box. Etc.