Euronics TVs all showing "Irish Digital TV Ready"

philahern

Got a flyer in the post yesterday and for this crowd and noticed that they have a logo on all their tvs showing "Irish Digital TV Ready". I wonder if they really are? Some say mpeg4 alright.

One page of tvs (there are about 3 pages all with the logo)
http://imgur.com/2lil0

The logo:
http://imgur.com/XJ5rX

I might pop in to them at lunch.

Sponge Bob

Irish digital TV ready, or indeed the Irish flag sticker used in Expert Electrical stores is a euphemism for

Have Mpeg4 and MHEG5 but did not bother getting them saorview certified.

As long as they tune the muxes after the 0x1 flag was taken away and then display a SD Picture and the HD test channel picture if claimed to be HD and MHEG5 I am happy enough with this avertising phrase "Irish Digital TV Ready" ...which is not a trademark or copyright.

There are lots of retailers, Aldi Tesco and Argos being the worst offenders, who will happily sell you a so called telly that will do none of those things.

watty

If they are not (including MHEG5) they will be in trouble.

The ONLY logo that counts is the Saorview one.
http://www.saortv.info/terrestrial-saorview/saorview-reception/

philahern

Yeah obviously not certified but would be great if they were only selling compatible tvs now and also good that they seem to be raising awareness of the new DTT service by advertising it. I'll try to pop in at some stage and check a few out, making sure to ask about mheg5.

watty

It should get test card or video on the RTE NL test

TV should be 1 to 7 with TV3's 3e on 6
Radio should be 200 to 209

Just get them to press Text on remote

It should give the MHEG5 text with channel in window and advert under it, instead of Teletext.

Sponge Bob

Unfortunately I suspect that Euronics stores have LOTS of incompatible gear for sale but they are only ADVERTISING the compatible gear.

In particular you should watch out for DVD Combi units under €200 and for 19-22 Inch TV Units.

They, along with other retailers, have until about christmas to get rid of ALL of these incompatible 'freeview/analogue' or 'analogue only' boxes without being fully liable for refund/replacement because they did not work 'as described' for two whole years.

IE they will be able to tune nothing by Christmas 2012 and therefore are no longer a telly but a monitor. You are fully entitled to a refund if you buy such a unit after 1 January 2011 if it was described as a Television.

One may of course sell them strictly as a Monitor ( with analogue tuner) or as a SKY Box output because they have a SCART input.

philahern

Oh God, I forgot how much of a nightmare real life shopping was. Waited for 40 mins to be served and eventually gave up. The shop I went to (in Limerick) didn't seem to have all the stock listed on the leaflet and also none of them had any stickers or anything referring to Irish compatible. Only a couple of tvs were on and with Sky Sports so wasn't able to test dtt signal.

Sponge Bob

Had they any evidently incompatible Freeview badged noname rubbish Phil ??

philahern

To be honest I just got frustrated there and left. Most of the tvs were off and couldn't see much of the stock mentioned in the leaflet. There were a few "Managers Specials" alright but can't remember what they were. When I get some patience back again I'll pop in at a quieter time and quiz them.

One thing I saw there was a hannspree freeview+ tv. I presume that means it would have some sort of recording built in to the tv? Can't find anything about it online.

Mike 1972

watty wrote: »

If they are not (including MHEG5) they will be in trouble.

How so ? MPEG4 is required to decode video while MHEG5 is needed to support EPG and teletext functionality. Desirable but not strictly essential ?

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They, along with other retailers, have until about christmas to get rid of ALL of these incompatible 'freeview/analogue' or 'analogue only' boxes without being fully liable for refund/replacement because they did not work 'as described' for two whole years.

Surely this is only the case if the retailer states (or implies) that the set is suitable for viewing RTE. If they flog a TV without stating/being asked this surely the customer is no more entitled to a refund than anyone purchasing a MW radio ?

Johnmb

Mike 1972 wrote: »

How so ? MPEG4 is required to decode video while MHEG5 is needed to support EPG and teletext functionality. Desirable but not strictly essential ?

The EPG and text service are part of the Irish Digital TV package. If they are advertising TVs as being "Irish Digital TV Ready" then they would have to be capable of showing/using the full package otherwise it is false advertising, which could lead to fines, and certainly would entitle everyone who purchased the falsely advertised products to a full refund.

watty

MHEG5 is in Minimum Mandatory requirements. They can sell a TV without Saorview Certification. But they can't claim "Irish digital TV ready" if it's actually missing a Minimum Mandatory requirement. They would have to qualify it further and only claim MPEG4 HD ready.

Sponge Bob

watty wrote: »

They would have to qualify it further and only claim MPEG4 HD ready.

Yes well that means it can handle the picture element which is the biggest problem at present with 10's of 1000's of mpeg2 freeview sets around.

Another "minimum mandatory" requirement is DVB-SI which will give you 7 day EPG data and Old School 'text' based teletext but not the funky MHEG5 teletext features.

I am disinclined to force the issue on MHEG5 until maybe 3-6 months after we clear the mpeg2 crap out of the system.

One way to clarify issues maybe would be for the denizens of this forum to hound all the retain names, eg Currys, Power City, Lidl, Tesco, Aldi , Argos, Euronics DID Harvey Norman and Expert Electical Peats Elara Komplett and Dabs ( by all means add more) with the same menu of questions

I would not ask them the evidently missing fifth question containing the 'S' word, it is a farce at this time.

---

1. By which date will you withdraw all MPEG2 (UK "Freeview" or "Freeview+" Type NOT UK "Freeview HD" Type) televisions from sale in all your shops.

2. By which date will you guarantee that nothing but Mpeg4 televisions will be sold in all your shops.

3. By which date will you guarantee all sets sold in your stores will be in compliance with the Full Saorview MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS excepting conditional access support if different to the date provided in question 2.

4. By which date will you guarantee all sets sold in your stores will be in compliance with the Full Saorview MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS including conditional access support if different to the date provided in question 3.

Post the answers and the retailers name in a special thread and then we know who to send the punters to so they won't get swizzled.

watty

MHEG5 is free.

The only place that really WANTS the MHP (which costs money) is Italy. Though other places in theory use it.

IF it only does sound & Video they should say so (HE-AAC aka AAC+ is a minumum)