Sky ROI variants (HD)

jimbo2007

Hi.

You will know we already have Sky Sports 1 Ireland in HD but there aren't currently any more HD versions of Sky channels with Irish adverts.

A few weeks ago, Sky announced they had launched a new HD version of Sky 1 and Sky Living for Ireland and said it had Irish adverts on both.

In fact they had not! What actually happened was that ROI Sky boxes versions of Sky 1 and Sky Living in HD were pointed to a new SID and viewers were advised that Irish adverts were available on the HD versions.

However, the SID used, 3851 (Sky 1) and 3852 (Sky Living) were actually the same channel you were already getting - with UK adverts. There is also a 3854 (Sky News) which is also pointed to the UK version. EPG data is present on SID 3854 for Sky News Ireland (HD) from 6am on 29 September. Don't know how that is going to turn out.

Now for the good news

12.460 H SR 29500 FEC 3/4 DVB-S2 QPSK

Tune in label "3951". This is a 5th actual channel on this mux and it appears to be carrying Sky 1. Given there are only two versions that exist of Sky 1, this is highly likely to be your version with Irish adverts.

I would expect a similar move for Sky Living and Sky News in the coming weeks - but can't be sure until it actually happens.

"3951" lmay not currently be watchable at present but maybe very soon.

Hope that is good news to people.

twinklerunner

Thanks Jimbo - great work from you as always, not forgetting your weekly thread on Digital Spy too ..
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2107781

ThisRegard

How is this good news ? Manually tune in a channel, which can't be recorded, in order to watch some Irish ads ? Do a lot (most?) people skip ads anyway ?

jimbo2007

The channel is not yet visiblel. When it goes live properly (ie when the service label changes, you will get it on 106 instead of the current one you already get.

After that you will see Irish ads on that feed.

(and btw thanks for the kind words

lertsnim

How is this good news? All that will happen is they will see different ads.

blue_blue

ThisRegard wrote: »

How is this good news ? Manually tune in a channel, which can't be recorded, in order to watch some Irish ads ? Do a lot (most?) people skip ads anyway ?

In English, there's no space preceding a question mark.

"What's your question ?" is incorrect whereas "What's your question?" is correct.

I imagine you've annoyed many people from this simple faux pas.

twinklerunner

blue_blue wrote: »

In English, there's no space preceding a question mark.

"What's your question ?" is incorrect whereas "What's your question?" is correct.

I imagine you've annoyed many people from this simple faux pas.

Sky1 HD will be higher up the epg for UPC Horizon users .. though this is a satellite forum

mackersdublin

Sky Sports News HQ has Irish Ads on the HD version - on my UPC HD box anyway

jimbo2007

mackersdublin wrote: »

Sky Sports News HQ has Irish Ads on the HD version - on my UPC HD box anyway

Yes there is that one as well. Sorry I forgot about that one.

Currently, Sky has the following of their own channels in HD:

Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports News HQ
Sky 1 (testing now)

PSBs:

RTE2
TV3

I willo keep an eye on things and let you know when more appear

Zardoz

lertsnim wrote: »

How is this good news? All that will happen is they will see different ads.

I cant see the point either.

I'd prefer to watch UK ads anyway,the Irish ones on Sky are appalling.

I've also read that the Irish variation channels have a lower bitrate resulting in an inferior picture.

blueser

I was actually wondering if there's any official way you can opt out of the Irish variants of the various Sky Sports channels in favour of the UK versions? Most of the Irish ads drive me around the bend!

galtee boy

Hi jimbo2007, any sign of RTE1 HD testing, in all that scanning of the transponders ?

muffler

Im lost wrt the basis of this thread. Someone's complaining that they cant see any Irish ads?

As stated earlier in the thread most people would prefer not to watch ads if at all possible.

jimbo2007

No sign of RTE1 HD testing yet sorry. You can't see Irish adds yet in HD - the channel is still not watchable.

I started this thread for the specific purpose of putting all info about HD channels specifically for Ireland as an info thread and discussion.

Will check the bitrates as well.

jimbo2007

10.876 V
SS1 Ireland 16 MBps
SS News HQ Ireland 9.8 MBps

11.798 H
SS1 UK 10 MBps
SS News HQ UK 9.5 MBps
Sky Living UK 10.5 MBps

10.744 H
RTE2 12 MBps (SD: 2.4 MBps)

11.758 H
TV3 9 MBps

12.012 V
UTV Ireland 9.5 MBps

12.344 H
Sky 1 UK 7.2 MBps

12.460 H
Sky 1 Ireland 6.5 MBps

(all audio is 384 kBps AC3 and 192 kbps (MPEG). MPEG used only when Narrative audio is available).

Average bitrates quoted here. They vary depending on what is actully on each channel.

I would not complain if I were you. In general you have higher bitrates than we do!

twinklerunner

muffler wrote: »

Im lost wrt the basis of this thread. Someone's complaining that they cant see any Irish ads?

As stated earlier in the thread most people would prefer not to watch ads if at all possible.

It's more relevant to UPC Horizon users as the SD versions of these channels will be removed from the epg when these HD versions are launched.

jimbo2007

Just a q7uick update

The label "3854" which was on 12.460 H linking to the same stream of Sky News UK in HD has been moved to 12.363 V SR 29500 FEC 3/4 DVB-S2 QPSK and has a testcard.

I would imagine that Sky News Ireland appears here soon.

galtee boy

jimbo2007 wrote: »

Just a q7uick update

The label "3854" which was on 12.460 H linking to the same stream of Sky News UK in HD has been moved to 12.363 V SR 29500 FEC 3/4 DVB-S2 QPSK and has a testcard.

I would imagine that Sky News Ireland appears here soon.

Any hope it would be for RTE1 HD ?

galtee boy

galtee boy wrote: »

Any hope it would be for RTE1 HD ?

Jimbo was spot on ( unfortunately ! ), that test is now showing EPG info for Sky News. Looks like it could be a long wait for RTE1 HD etc.

jimbo2007

A quick update veryone

"Sky1 HD" on 106 on HD boxes in Ireland and on 217 on SD subscriptions in Ireland is now Sky 1 Ireland and not Sky 1 UK any more.

The change took place this morning.

mackersdublin

On Virgin Media/UPC the UK version of Sky 1 HD hasn't been replaced yet

Gonzo

really dislike the Irish adverts on Sky Channels, much prefer to have the normal versions of Sky's channels.

UrbanFret

Is there anywhere were you can just watch the adds without the program content?

mackersdublin

mackersdublin wrote: »

On Virgin Media/UPC the UK version of Sky 1 HD hasn't been replaced yet

Irish version is now on UPC/VM

jimbo2007

Hi everyone

At 10:04 this morning the label "3854" was relabelled "Sky News HD"

It has not yet been added to EPG but is imminent

muffler

jimbo2007 wrote: »

Hi everyone

At 10:04 this morning the label "3854" was relabelled "Sky News HD"

It has not yet been added to EPG but is imminent

Sky News HD has been on the EPG for a while now.

twinklerunner

muffler wrote: »

Sky News HD has been on the EPG for a while now.

jimbo2007 is referring to a new version that is carrying Irish ads

jimbo2007

A quick update

12.324 V SR 29500 FEC 3/4 DVB-S2 QPSK

3855 - which appeared on Monday - as I expected is Sky Living Ireland in HD.

This was the third channel that Sky announced on their own forum that had launched in October but hadn't!

This new version of Sky Living does have Irish adverts so this will be replacing your current version soon.

Tarabuses

twinklerunner wrote: »

jimbo2007 is referring to a new version that is carrying Irish ads

What's all this about Irish ads? I'd prefer some Irish news content from what is meant to be Sky Ireland!