TG4 HD

Pangea

mcwhirter wrote: »

Stating jewish was an example of a minority language group here, could be arabic, polish( probably more polish speakers here than irish), spanish etc, even dare I say it, greek

If you don't like the Irish language then tough its apart of Ireland's culture, no ones forcing you to watch TG4.

mcwhirter

Pangea wrote: »

If you don't like the Irish language then tough its apart of Ireland's culture, no ones forcing you to watch TG4.

I don't see how it should use up bandwidth on the DTT transmitters so it can be HD for the few hundred who watch it daily.
Can RTE1 not be HD or is that in the pipeline. Tv3 probably could not afford it, but somehow TG4 can, how is that possible, government intervention thats why.

byte

TV3 will have a HD channel, AFAIK. Not much else to use DTT bandwidth anyway.

Minstrel27

mcwhirter wrote: »

I don't see how it should use up bandwidth on the DTT transmitters so it can be HD for the few hundred who watch it daily.
Can RTE1 not be HD or is that in the pipeline. Tv3 probably could not afford it, but somehow TG4 can, how is that possible, government intervention thats why.

They will all be HD. Government intervention or not.

mjsmyth

mcwhirter wrote: »

Can RTE1 not be HD or is that in the pipeline. Tv3 probably could not afford it, but somehow TG4 can, how is that possible, government intervention thats why.

It's up to RTE as to whether RTE1 goes HD or not. Ideally all channels on Saorview would be HD, but that's obviously not going to happen any time soon.

As for TV3 and 3E... Well I would imagine they will only go HD when they positively have to.. In other words, when they are losing viewers because people can't/won't put up with their picture quality.

Personally, as you might have guessed, I am a fan of TG4 and feel that it serves it's purpose well. It's target market may not be all that big, but that has not stopped them producing some quality programming over the years. I don't speak Irish fluently, in fact I don't have great Irish at all, but I blame the way it was taught in school for that.

Pangea

mcwhirter wrote: »

I don't see how it should use up bandwidth on the DTT transmitters so it can be HD for the few hundred who watch it daily.
Can RTE1 not be HD or is that in the pipeline. Tv3 probably could not afford it, but somehow TG4 can, how is that possible, government intervention thats why.

It has a daily viewership of 800/900,000. Hardly a few hundred now. :rolleyes:
Government intervention, so what? TG4 is public service broadcaster. TV3 is a commercial broadcaster and its programming hasn't got a patch on TG4.

ardmacha

I don't why a technical forum has been derailed by Mac an Chruiteir rattling on about the unfairness of TG4 funding.

Saorview has all of its channels in HD and probably provides superior subtitling facilities so from a technical perspective this is all good.

Pangea

Is there a rough estimate as to when TG4 HD is coming out?

Cú Giobach

People moaning about what is a good TV station, wow!
I wonder how they would feel if they were stuck with what passes for telly in The States or just the likes of TV3/ITV, do you understand the meaning of the words, choice, variety etc....
Between us and Britain there are 4 languages native to these islands and TV stations in each of these languages, if you don't like that, tough, get over yourselves. :rolleyes:

PogMoThoin

Tg4, the conveyor belt of fine women, and now in HD, nice!!

NewHillel

lawhec wrote: »

As an Anglophone myself, I agree that TG4 is a very good channel. If RTÉ had the same efficiency and drive as those in TG4 have with the much bigger budget that they have, you would have one of the best PSBs in Europe at Donnybrook. Irish language commentary for sports broadcasts doesn't bother me - an English option would be nice, but it's not essential as I'm more concerned with what is on the screen and that the channel is doing what it says on the tin, it has no obligation (nor should it) to accommodate non-Irish speakers any more than what it does at present.

It shows what can be done with a limited budget, with the right leadership and commitment. As you say, RTE could learn a lot from it.

NewHillel

mjsmyth wrote: »

With regards to TG4 on Saorview, rather than TG4 reinventing the wheel and broadcasting an English soundtrack of their own, would it be possible for them to broadcast the radio soundtrack? Could they come to an agreement with RTE perhaps?

Thats an excellent suggestion, that deserves a far wider audience. There is no technical reason why, if TG4 had a suitable playout system, that this couldn't be done for matches, and such like. If they are upgrading their technology for HD, this would be the perfect opportunity.

icdg

ardmacha wrote: »

I don't why a technical forum has been derailed by Mac an Chruiteir rattling on about the unfairness of TG4 funding.

These forums were never meant to be "technical" forums as such, or to be the preserve of techies. Originally they were to discuss issues covered by the Irish Cable and Digital Guide site which I ran at the time (2001 or so) and which was more focussed on Cable/Digital TV products and services rather than how the technology worked. Later we ended up in the Tech section of Boards.

Anyway, yes this thread is about TG4 and its possible future provision of a HD service. I'd rather a debate on the bigger issues surrounding the channel take place over in Broadcasting. If ye want to the debtate the Irish langauge in general take it somewhere else.

mcwhirter

Pangea wrote: »

It has a daily viewership of 800/900,000. Hardly a few hundred now. :rolleyes:
Government intervention, so what? TG4 is public service broadcaster. TV3 is a commercial broadcaster and its programming hasn't got a patch on TG4.

TG4 generally gets just under 2% of viewers on a daily basis, not sure where you get that figure from. It's not a fully public service broadcaster now though and with that many viewers can it be explained how it is being funded?
It doesn't make any commercial sense and as for choice and variety on irish tv, you can probably thank the brits for that and not by an irrelevant tv channel such as TG4

Hotblack Desiato

mcwhirter wrote: »

TG4 generally gets just under 2% of viewers on a daily basis, not sure where you get that figure from. It's not a fully public service broadcaster now though and with that many viewers can it be explained how it is being funded?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TG4#Budget

I have been known to give out about the poor value we get from other taxpayer-funded supports for the Irish language, but TG4 is excellent value for money, even if most people only watch the English language content, programmes subtitled in English, and sport.

It doesn't make any commercial sense

BBC Alba doesn't, S4C probably doesn't either, but then again the whole idea of public service broadcasting is to cater for needs which purely commercial channels can't / don't meet. Even TV3 gets some small PSB funding - but if we had no licence fee, no direct govt. funding, and purely commercial TV it would be wall-to-wall lowest common deniminator pap.

and as for choice and variety on irish tv, you can probably thank the brits for that and not by an irrelevant tv channel such as TG4

On Irish TV, not all imported programming is British, if that's what you mean. I would imagine UK and US imports would be about the same.
If you mean that we are lucky to get Freeview/Freesat overspill, then yes we are lucky, but most people who have the option subscribe to pay-TV anyway.

Hotblack Desiato

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Tg4, the conveyor belt of fine women, and now in HD, nice!!

They also gave us Hector :eek: :pac:

Hotblack Desiato

Is it really going to cost them much to go to HD? Playing out films, I would imagine not. Similarly with sports OBs, RTE have shown it can be done without having all the HD studios etc. back at Montrose. Everything else could be upscaled for a few years until equipment is replaced on a phased basis. They will require a bigger slice of RTENL's bandwidth, but do they actually pay transmission costs anyway? If they do it's just one part of government writing another one a cheque.

watty

TG4 is part licence fee, part government and part commercial funded.

They pay RTE NL (not RTE) for Transmission. RTENL gets no government funding. Not even for DTT roll out. RTE NL had to borrow the money for DTT.

Capt'n Midnight

GBCULLEN wrote: »

put this link in your faourites and enjoy

http://www.tg4.ie/en/tv-listings/tv-listings.html

gbc-

fyp (again)

Capt'n Midnight

Apogee wrote: »

I heard that the turf-fired crematoria are running 24 hours a day in Baile na hAbhainn. You can see the smoke for miles!

I'll see you burn for that.

Antenna

Once again this talk of TG4 HD is ironic, considering much of the current output picture quality is well below what SD (Standard Definition) is capable of.

Anyone see the particularly appaling picture quailty of the 'Hector San Oz' series for instance?
Weird colour/ bad motion blur etc
This production could surely have done better, picture quality wise, even with portable gear.

Sam Russell

Antenna wrote: »

Once again this talk of TG4 HD is ironic, considering much of the current output picture quality is well below what SD (Standard Definition) is capable of.

Anyone see the particularly appaling picture quailty of the 'Hector San Oz' series for instance?
Weird colour/ bad motion blur etc
This production could surely have done better, picture quality wise, even with portable gear.

It is hard to get good picture quality on a mobile phone.

Minstrel27

Antenna wrote: »

Once again this talk of TG4 HD is ironic, considering much of the current output picture quality is well below what SD (Standard Definition) is capable of.

Anyone see the particularly appaling picture quailty of the 'Hector San Oz' series for instance?
Weird colour/ bad motion blur etc
This production could surely have done better, picture quality wise, even with portable gear.

I didn't realise that TG4 had no programming in their schedules made for High Definition. Thanks for sharing this.

Elmo

mcwhirter wrote: »

TG4 generally gets just under 2% of viewers on a daily basis, not sure where you get that figure from. It's not a fully public service broadcaster now though and with that many viewers can it be explained how it is being funded?
It doesn't make any commercial sense and as for choice and variety on irish tv, you can probably thank the brits for that and not by an irrelevant tv channel such as TG4

TG4 get 2.2% of the audience it is the 8th most watched TV channel, just below both BBC 2 and Channel 4 (both around 2.4% - 2.8% share). That is last year, on several occasions TG4 have reached an average of 5% particularly during holidays such as Xmas, St. Paddy's and Easter.

Public Service Broadcasting cannot be defined by audience alone. TG4 does allot of good work, and much of it is bi-lingual. It provides some US and UK programming outside its Irish Language remit, this is used to attract audiences to other TG4 programmes. RTÉ and TV3 both do this and to an even larger extent. Imagine if TG4 bought Coro St??? But then you would be giving out that they need an English Language programme to bring the audience share.

IMO it is the laziness of both TV3 and RTÉ to rely so heavily on imports.

TG4 does provide Irish Choice, outside the ordinary imports and the "brits" who don't often to provide Irish Cultural choices. I think Irish TV would be all the lesser without TG4, in terms of production and experience that it has provided and also some choice that some may not choose.

BBC is hugely commercial (but as usual I am going to be told they are not!) and there are many PSB that get funding through advertising and public funding. (and other means but sure I will have an opportunity to get to that)

watty

Sky 1 gets less viewers.

It's ironic that TG4 made a big deal of commissioning everything in WS before WS was launched,

Especially since with SD, WS is LOWER quality than 4:3 as both can be 720 horizontal pixels

Elmo

watty wrote: »

Sky 1 gets less viewers

But people pay for Sky 1!

watty

Amazing isn't it!

channnels

TG4 and indeed the rest of the SD channels on Saorview and Sky aren't even 720x567 - they are 544x567.

SD BBC channels on satellite are 720x567 and the difference in picture quality is obvious.

At least RTE 2 looks ok in upscaled SD on Saorview but just as muddy as the others on it's Sky feed :-/

Tony

desaparecidos wrote: »

I wish TG4 would stop using Government grants to outbid RTE on match rights.

What leads you to believe this is the case ?

mike65

Could they do it any other way?

Tony

mike65 wrote: »

Could they do it any other way?

Quite possibly since Irish language sports rights are treated differently to English and there may well be separate deals.

mike65

Hmm fancy that! TG4 have it pretty cushy, top level tennis as Gaeilge at a knockdown rate while RTE would have to pay more. Doesn't sound like a level playing field, baring in mind TG4 can be seen in as many homes as RTE and TV3.

Pity they don't make a bid for some cricket

watty

Why should TG4 pay more than Welsh, Bulgarian, Estonian, Flemish?

mcwhirter

Elmo wrote: »

TG4 get 2.2% of the audience it is the 8th most watched TV channel, just below both BBC 2 and Channel 4 (both around 2.4% - 2.8% share). That is last year, on several occasions TG4 have reached an average of 5% particularly during holidays such as Xmas, St. Paddy's and Easter.

Public Service Broadcasting cannot be defined by audience alone. TG4 does allot of good work, and much of it is bi-lingual. It provides some US and UK programming outside its Irish Language remit, this is used to attract audiences to other TG4 programmes. RTÉ and TV3 both do this and to an even larger extent. Imagine if TG4 bought Coro St??? But then you would be giving out that they need an English Language programme to bring the audience share.

IMO it is the laziness of both TV3 and RTÉ to rely so heavily on imports.

TG4 does provide Irish Choice, outside the ordinary imports and the "brits" who don't often to provide Irish Cultural choices. I think Irish TV would be all the lesser without TG4, in terms of production and experience that it has provided and also some choice that some may not choose.

BBC is hugely commercial (but as usual I am going to be told they are not!) and there are many PSB that get funding through advertising and public funding. (and other means but sure I will have an opportunity to get to that)

Tg4 should only be compared with TV3 and RTE, and not uk channels for viewership percentages.
Compare and weep, TG4 ratings are extremely low, due to lack of irish speaking natives.

Cú Giobach

mcwhirter wrote: »

Compare and weep, TG4 ratings are extremely low, due to lack of irish speaking natives.

Would you like some salt and vinegar to go with that chip of yours? :rolleyes:

watty

mcwhirter wrote: »

Tg4 should only be compared with TV3 and RTE, and not uk channels for viewership percentages.
Compare and weep, TG4 ratings are extremely low, due to lack of irish speaking natives.

82% of people have Pay TV, yet TG4 beats Sky1

What would TV3's figures be if they had never forced ITV channels of Sky and partially off Cable in Ireland? Even before Digital TV about 75% of households had HTV or UTV.

TV3 and 3e are the nearly pointless "Irish" channels, not TG4, and I don't speak a word of Gaelic. Well not a sentence anyhow.

liamtech

My Irish Starts and stops with "An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas"! (I had to look up the spelling, i assure you!)

That being said they do have fantastic irish history documentaries. My Missus is doing a PHD in Irish History and she often watches them as they can be quite specific in their topics. One a while ago on Parnell was of specific interest to her, and i admit that with subtitles i genuinely enjoyed it too. TG4 do decent work, but i will admit that without the subtitles i would be lost! (My Missus is practically fluent so perhaps she could record a dubbing track for me lol)

watty wrote: »

TV3 and 3e are the nearly pointless "Irish" channels.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS FORUM AND TV3! lol:D:rolleyes:

Yee really cant stand them! Classic!

il admit much of what they broadcast is not the may west and the picture quality is dreadful, but just like TG4 they do have their charms... I for one love Vincent Brown (platonically i assure you). Monday nights for me are my Two Hours of Power - Frontline followed swiftly by my Time delayed Vincent Brown (Thank you Humax!).

But genuinely TV3 isnt that bad, aside from Vinnie B they do have some documentaries (not as much as TG4 fair enough), and i for one would welcome a TV3 HD if we are presented with one in the near future.

watty

You've watched ITV?

copacetic

Tony wrote: »

Quite possibly since Irish language sports rights are treated differently to English and there may well be separate deals.

There aren't any Irish language rights to the Heineken cup, there are just the Irish highlights rights which TG4 bid the most for. They could broadcast them in English if they wanted to.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/tg4-trump-rte-for-euro-rights-2671102.html

liamtech

watty wrote: »

You've watched ITV?

if what your saying is that TV3 and 3e just show ITV prgramming then i agree but they do show 'some' home grown documentaries, i quite like there news, and Vinnie B is always amusing - especially around election time. lol

There not the best channels and you could argue that in terms of choice they are the weakest of the Saorview line-up for those who also have Freesat - but for those who dont and, who want to watch X Factor etc (i dont PLEASE believe me) then they are a decent addition to the line-up - saorview would be a weaker service without them - two RTE stations and TG4 is hardly a sufficiant line-up - RTE+1 RTE-JR, and RTE NEWS NOW, surely these are more pointless -

mcwhirter

The truth hurts, sadly.

TG4 is here only for political reasons.

Elmo

liamtech wrote: »

if what your saying is that TV3 and 3e just show ITV prgramming then i agree but they do show 'some' home grown documentaries, i quite like there news, and Vinnie B is always amusing - especially around election time. lol

There not the best channels and you could argue that in terms of choice they are the weakest of the Saorview line-up for those who also have Freesat - but for those who dont and, who want to watch X Factor etc (i dont PLEASE believe me) then they are a decent addition to the line-up - saorview would be a weaker service without them - two RTE stations and TG4 is hardly a sufficiant line-up - RTE+1 RTE-JR, and RTE NEWS NOW, surely these are more pointless -

Much the same difference Soarview would be the lesser without RTÉ 1, 2 and TG4.

You could also Say that 3e is not only purely ITV2esq but also ITV1+1esq.

Tg4 should only be compared with TV3 and RTE, and not uk channels for viewership percentages.
Compare and weep, TG4 ratings are extremely low, due to lack of irish speaking natives.

Okay 3e has 1.3%, Setanta has 0.4 while RTÉ Two is shedding viewers at an enormous rate currently at 6% (average of 8%) lucky for them this year they have Euro 2012, GAA and Olympics (Should bring them up to 12% for 2012 if they don't loose any more audience between now and then).

Why not compare Irish Audience of UK channels with Irish Channels? But would you prefer that TG4 is the 4th most popular channel so? :rolleyes:

mcwhirter

When everyone has their saorview boxes and have 3e available for 'free' then I can forsee the channel having a larger percentage than TG4. Not saying that I enjoy the programs on it anymore than TG4 but the basic fact is that it is in english.

Elmo

mcwhirter wrote: »

When everyone has their saorview boxes and have 3e available for 'free' then I can forsee the channel having a larger percentage than TG4. Not saying that I enjoy the programs on it anymore than TG4 but the basic fact is that it is in english.

Indeed no one here is denying the fact that people like yourself have issue with the Irish language and TG4, even though TG4 has subtitles and many international programming in English.

It is also true to point out that unlike on cable and Satellite 3e practically have a monopoly on the type of programming it provides, it does not have to compete with a similar TV station, such as RTÉ Plus/RTÉ Three, on saorview.

We will just have to wait an see how TG4 and 3e and indeed Irish audiences react to Saorview but with the lack of other channels available it is a disappointment.

It is a basic fact that TG4 if it produced its programmes in English would gain a large audience, perhaps both TV3 and RTÉ Two might take a leaf out of the Irish Language service and provide the strong type of programming that TG4 provides but in English, I have no doubt that both would see an increase in their audience share and both have the money to do it. It is also a fact that TG4 could buy X-factor and retain its audience share.

Tony

mcwhirter wrote: »

The truth hurts, sadly.

TG4 is here only for political reasons.

Then might I suggest you take your views to a political forum, they have no place here.

liamtech

Elmo wrote: »

Much the same difference Soarview would be the lesser without RTÉ 1, 2 and TG4.

You could also Say that 3e is not only purely ITV2esq but also ITV1+1esq.



Okay 3e has 1.3%, Setanta has 0.4 while RTÉ Two is shedding viewers at an enormous rate currently at 6% (average of 8%) lucky for them this year they have Euro 2012, GAA and Olympics (Should bring them up to 12% for 2012 if they don't loose any more audience between now and then).

Why not compare Irish Audience of UK channels with Irish Channels? But would you prefer that TG4 is the 4th most popular channel so? :rolleyes:

Obviously Saorview wouldn't survive/exist without RTE, and TG4 is a valuable component too - if i had to list the stations in terms of importance to me as a viewer, it would obviously be: RTE1, RTE2, TV3, TG4, 3e etc...

I was only commenting on the fact that TV3 and 3e seem to get bashed quite a lot.. but they are a welcome addition to the saorview line-up in my opinion - the more stations the merrier! The current line-up is decent with the RTE stations, TV3's offerings and TG4 - it will be BRILLIANT with the addition of TG4HD, TV3HD, and a number of other stations from both broadcasters which are listed as possibilities:

Cúla 4
TG4+1
3KIDS
3CLASSICS
TV3+1
Irish Film Channel
Houses of the Oireachtas Channel
Irish TV

I would also like to see the addition of NON RTE radio stations such as newstalk etc

mcwhirter wrote: »

The truth hurts, sadly.

TG4 is here only for political reasons.

That is absolutely absurd.. in all honesty what are you basing that statement on... please explain if you can -

Irish is the national language of Ireland, and those that speak it deserve to be able to watch a station that is broadcast in said language - And even saying that TG4 show tonnes of stuff in English - not like BBC alba or S4C that are entirely (correct me if im wrong) in Scottish and Welsh respectively -

Genuinely, Please explain this 'truth' of which you speak?

NewHillel

liamtech wrote: »

Irish is the national language of Ireland, and those that speak it deserve to be able to watch a station that is broadcast in said language - And even saying that TG4 show tonnes of stuff in English - not like BBC alba or S4C that are entirely (correct me if im wrong) in Scottish and Welsh...

TG4 would be in the top five of most watched stations in our house, with Alba in the top ten. Both stations feature more of our Irish culture, than any of the 'main' Irish stations. As a result, my Irish is now pretty good and one of my children is a fluent speaker.

liamtech wrote: »

Genuinely, Please explain this 'truth' of which you speak?

Or don't, at least not in this forum.

mcwhirter

Surely TG4 should be in the Irish language for all its programming, if it is to be acknowledged as an Irish language channel which it was originally supposed to be.

And that is the 'truth'

Elmo

mcwhirter wrote: »

Surely TG4 should be in the Irish language for all its programming, if it is to be acknowledged as an Irish language channel which it was originally supposed to be.

And that is the 'truth'

Surely RTÉ One, RTÉ Two and TV3 should all provide 100% Irish programming after all aren't they Irish television stations. Not that you could provided 24hour stations with purely Ireland AM (sorry more of the TV3 bashing )

Cúla 4
TG4+1
3KIDS
3CLASSICS
TV3+1
Irish Film Channel
Houses of the Oireachtas Channel
Irish TV

They problem is when will they happen?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=76760775&postcount=428
from http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056194520&page=29

I would also like to see the addition of NON RTE radio stations such as newstalk etc

They would need to take an interest but Raidio RíRá, Easy FM and an Classic 1980s radio station might happen.

NewHillel

mcwhirter wrote: »

...And that is the 'truth'

“You can’t handle the truth!” Col. Jessep - A Few Good Men 1992