Broadcasting 2012

Richard

Elmo wrote: »

Did they not provide live coverage of the Irish matches?

Yes, but in the past they used local commentators/analysis for Irsland's matches - now it's just ITV's programme rebroadcast.

I seem to remember that they also covered some Scotland matches which were on ITV2 in England and Wales.

Richard

watty wrote: »

Really the only "Real" Saorview channels are RTE1, RTE2, TG4, TV3 and 3e. The others are only repeat/space-fillers at present.

UTV has been growing Internet & Radio in preparation to Exiting TV. The Analogue Franchise ends this year Oct 2012. It's not clear what the UK Government is going to do. ITV PLC is pushing for a single Digital TV licence for ITV. Only UTV and STV are left.

Although Analogue TV ends this years, the actual franchise for Channel 3 on Freeview and prominent positions on Sky etc ends in 2014.

Markdub2000

Elmo wrote: »

So will 2012 begin as 2011 ended?

Predictions: -
2. The Minister will Switch off Analogue, in October but may change his mind for Southern and Western Areas. Which will be extended until 31/12/2012.

What!! they're gonna switch off the telly on new years day 2013!! - sure where can I buy a saor view box on new years day morning????


RTE 19:00 31/12/1961 - 18:59 31/12/2012 R.I.P. - I'll set the date in me calender - what a new years eve it will be - One can only guess that the celbrations that marked its opening will be surpassed by the celbrations marking its closure!!

Do you think they will stop their analogue FM broadcasts as well??

watty

ASO (Analogue Switch Off) is Terrestrial Analogue PAL TV ONLY. Nothing do do with FM Radio.

24th October 2012 is the Terrestrial Analogue PAL TV close down in ALL of N.I. and Ireland. There can't be any area delayed. It will all go.

No one has even a plan to turn off FM Radio*. The Spectrum is of no value for anything else.



[*Labour in the UK had an embryonic aspiration, not a detail plan and that has been scrapped]

Antenna

watty wrote: »

ASO (Analogue Switch Off) is Terrestrial Analogue PAL TV ONLY. Nothing do do with FM Radio.

24th October 2012 is the Terrestrial Analogue PAL TV close down in ALL of N.I. and Ireland. There can't be any area delayed. It will all go.

Do you not agree that it might be too soon in the areas of the south and the west of the republic that will have to change over to Saorsat for a free to air reception.
Receiving it so far has only been done by a few experimenters on these boards - and expensive.
How much will it cost to convert a house with perhaps 3 or 4 TVs to Saorsat ?

Its a huge contrast to NI/UK where SD Freeview can be got very cheaply, likewise for satellite (FTA/Freesat) the installation costs are relatively very low.

watty

You mean how much MORE than with Saorview?

Note that actually MORE people already get a good Saorview signal than Analogue

Perfect picture via Saorview now = 97%, after ASO 98%

Compare Existing Analogue
Simply reception of RTE, TG4 and TV3:
96% 95% and 80%
Decent quality RTE, TG4 and TV3 via aerial, less than 80%

The cost is same as Freesat HD + about €20 extra.

For more than 1 TV add extra HD Sat boxes (about €10 to €30 more expensive than Saorview box).
For more than 2 TVs add a Multiswitch. From about €60 to €200 (8 to 16 outlets).

So it's more expensive than Saorview, but not hugely more expensive than Freesat HD.

You can get Freesat HD at same time and same Setbox will do both.

There is no need for any delays.

There MAY be a need for grants for those with no signal (for extra cost vs Saorview box and new aerial) and their is supposed to be a grant for disadvantaged folk.

There is time for the Government to do their "bit". Any delay makes no real difference to costs.

People with Saorview are not going to "convert" 3 or 4 sets generally, but one or two.

I know people in Limerick with NO RTE but only FTA UK TV via generic sat boxes. They can't be bothered getting an aerial on a pole for RTE.

Some people with Freesat/FTA may decide to upgrade to dual feed and "Freesat HD" PVR as there is unlikely to be ever a true (2 x DTT + 2 x Sat) PVR for Freesat + Saorview.

marno21

One difference between the UK and Ireland is that from what I see, almost all relays in the UK are being upgraded, and the ones that aren't likely had analog problems that will be solved by DSO (eg multipath which isn't too serious to destroy DTT). Even some self help relays are being upgraded.

It's a little under 8 months to DSO and RTE have yet to make any announcement regarding Saorsat (it's not even finished testing yet), and neither have they announced anything for the people in satellite shadow. Only 51 TXs is a disgrace, and additionally is upgrading 10W relays in Gorey cause they like jamming British signals, and closing down a 1kW relay on Mount Gabriel. There will be several towns along the coast where there will be logistical problems installing so many satellite dishes in such a short period of time and there will also be a lot of people with perfect analogue going out buying Saorview boxes only to find out they made a useless purchase.

I can see Saorsat bringing on a whole lot of cowboys clueless about how Ka Sat works in comparison to Ku. They make a bad enough job of FTA @ 28E, with a whole new system at 9E I can see a large amount of horrible installs being done

The Cush

Markdub2000 wrote: »

What!! they're gonna switch off the telly on new years day 2013!! - sure where can I buy a saor view box on new years day morning????


RTE 19:00 31/12/1961 - 18:59 31/12/2012 R.I.P. - I'll set the date in me calender - what a new years eve it will be - One can only guess that the celbrations that marked its opening will be surpassed by the celbrations marking its closure!!

Straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak), Brian Geraghty, Digital Reception Manager, SAORVIEW

Saorview: Brian wrote: »

I don't normally post outside of the "Queries for SAORVIEW" sticky thread, but I would like to comment on this discussion. I can say with 100% certainty that all analogue terrestrial television in the Republic of Ireland, VHF and UHF, will switch off on October 24th this year. There is no consideration being given in RTÉ or RTÉ NL, to any extension on that date, for any reason.

Regards,

SAORVIEW Brian.

watty

Expect a Saorsat announcement in the next week or so.

more at http://www.saortv.info/satellite-saorsat/saorsat-reception/ and http://www.saortv.info/news/ than on www.saorview.ie (Type Saorsat into search on that one) as I write.

Markdub2000

Hmmm, are the 97 and 98% figures referencing coverage of populated areas -> similar to cellular phone operators or are they island of Ireland figures - as I find they can mean different things - approx 120,000 people...

I have a lovely box I bought on adverts that puts 16 sat channels on the UHF band so I don't have to have 8 different boxes in each room of the house - its handy with a spare input for an antenna, it adds the terrestrial stations, before boosting all signals as well - it's a bit of a nuisance now that I'll have to add 3 additional boxes just for doom and gloom 1,2 and tv crap - don't think ill bother in the end...actually -good question -which saor view boxes give an rf out and which if any feature a stereo rf out?

I reckon, that it will mean the end of stereo sound on the nationals for folks with distribution systems...

watty

Whatever way it's measured even today Saorview is MUCH better coverage than Analogue

Note that actually MORE people already get a good Saorview signal than Analogue

Perfect picture via Saorview now = 97%, after ASO 98%

Compare Existing Analogue
Simply reception of RTE, TG4 and TV3:
96% 95% and 80%
Decent quality RTE, TG4 and TV3 via aerial, less than 80%

watty

Nothing ever gave stereo on an RF Modulator. Stereo was only via Scart, RCA connectors or live signal if you have a Nicam Decoder.

No set-box, VHS, game console or DVD player ever had a Nicam encoder. The Modulator only gives mono FM sound.

Germany had "Zwei", two FM carriers. UK/Ireland TVs only ever did stereo on RF via Nicam digital carrier.

Elmo

watty wrote: »

Whatever way it's measured even today Saorview is MUCH better coverage than Analogue

I don't know even with a rabbits ears you'd get good reception (with an hour of moving your rabbits ears around ) don't think you'd get a reception downstairs in digital with just a rabbits ears.

watty

There is TINY "Rabbits" ears coverage on Analogue and even less with a good picture. A few places may have better Analogue than Digital reception but overall it's the other way round.

Most places with "snowy" Rabbits Ears or outdoor Analogue get a perfect picture on Digital.

However neither Analogue or Digital network in Ireland is designed for Indoor or Mobile coverage. Both networks were planned assuming an outdoor roof aerial. This of course means that some people can use loft aerials or set-top aerials.

(Only VHF are "Rabbits ears". UHF aerials are loops, panels or small yagi)

Markdub2000

The astro headend I have does deliver all 16 rf channels in stereo - I can get 2 dvb S2 cards for it which will give the 3 Irish channels in stereo - but I have to take out 2 standard cards which pushes the system down to just 16 channels including Irish whereas before I had 16 sat + 3 Irish...

Markdub2000

watty wrote: »

Germany had "Zwei", two FM carriers. UK/Ireland TVs only ever did stereo on RF via Nicam digital carrier.

That's very interesting - the dual speaker stereo indicator comes up - indicating left and right stereo channels - nicam indicator doesn't appear - I also noticed that u have to change the region of the channel when tuning to get sound.
Does broadcasting two separate channels achieve a better sound over nicam?

Markdub2000

marno21 wrote: »

...... and additionally is upgrading 10W relays in Gorey cause they like jamming British signals, and closing down a 1kW relay on Mount Gabriel. There will be several towns along the coast where there will be logistical problems installing so many satellite dishes in such a short period of time and there will also be a lot of people with perfect analogue going out buying Saorview boxes only to find out they made a useless purchase.

I can see Saorsat bringing on a whole lot of cowboys clueless about how Ka Sat works in comparison to Ku. They make a bad enough job of FTA @ 28E, with a whole new system at 9E I can see a large amount of horrible installs being done

I wouldn't worry to much about the Coastal towns - I had alook around courtown during that long hot summer we just had and I saw lots of lovely configurations of shiny new aerials pointing out to sea - some had as many as 4 52 element arrays with phase shift devices to stop cross signal cancellation effects all on lovely new shiny galvanised poles with new shiny stays ready to resist the tough Irish sea air....drooolll

I don't think many of these will be too interested in saorsat or saorview - they're already well connected to what they want.

I guess by the cowboys remark ur not interested in one of my best crudely constructed powercity indoor rabbit ears selotaped to a 15ft piece of 2x4 connected to ur new receiver via the best in unscreened, pre-war era 50 ohm coax cable on top of ur roof?

Markdub2000

Markdub2000 wrote: »

I wouldn't worry to much about the Coastal towns - I had alook around courtown during that long hot summer we just had and I saw lots of lovely configurations of shiny new aerials pointing out to sea - some had as many as 4 52 element arrays with phase shift devices to stop cross signal cancellation effects all on lovely new shiny galvanised poles with new shiny stays ready to resist the tough Irish sea air....drooolll

I don't think many of these will be too interested in saorsat or saorview - they're already well connected to what they want.

I guess by the cowboys remark ur not interested in one of my best crudely constructed powercity indoor rabbit ears selotaped to a 15ft piece of 2x4 connected to ur new receiver via the best in unscreened, pre-war era 50 ohm coax cable on top of ur roof?

I could also spend 3 hours at ur property trying to get a saorsat signal with a sky minidish - inform u that u can't get it cause of deatmospherics in ur sky and charge u 100 yoyo for the pleasure....