CNN HD testing on Astra 2

steveon

Good news for News fans

Cnn has finally begun testing in HD on Astra 2. It can be found by using the same freq as CNN SD

Frequency: 11112
Symbol Rate: 22000
FEC 5/6
Pol H
Service ID 50290
Standard: DVB-S, QPSK

dublinman1990

Great stuff. I heard the news about it after looking on DS earlier in the day.

I had the channel tuned in a short time ago. There is a big difference in picture quality when looking between the two versions.

There is also a time delay of a few seconds between the SD & HD channel to note.

12Phase

Now if they would just fix the sound quality on the talkshows on CNBC Europe at the weekends. They sound like they were recorded via a bucket.

steveon

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Great stuff. I heard the news about it after looking on DS earlier in the day.

I had the channel tuned in a short time ago. There is a big difference in picture quality when looking between the two versions.

There is also a time delay of a few seconds between the SD & HD channel to note.

Huge difference between the two I have the lined up side by side on my triax combo just to compare ....unreal change, I wouldnt care about the delay between the two as once off test I will never watch the sd version again and hopefully it will remain at the same freq as the regular sd version...

joe_99

12Phase wrote: »

Now if they would just fix the sound quality on the talkshows on CNBC Europe at the weekends. They sound like my they were recorded via a bucket.

CNN is not CNBC

12Phase

joe_99 wrote: »

CNN is not CNBC

I'm just saying in general it's good to see news channels investing in HD and proper production standards.

It's just a shame that other major brands like CNBC don't.

icdg

Alas CNBC Europe has died death by. 1,000 cuts, and has been reduced to a neglected affiliate of the US service with only the breakfast show surviving.

12Phase

What exactly funds Fox News in this market? I notice that it's running no ads again.

FRIENDO

12Phase wrote:

What exactly funds Fox News in this market? I notice that it's running no ads again.

It's a pity Fox News is not Free to air, I actually liked the channel

PacMan

FRIENDO wrote: »

It's a pity Fox News is not Free to air, I actually liked the channel

Now thats a first.
I am a bit of a news watcher myself, and regard Al jazeera / CNN/ Sky and BBC news way ahead. FoX is not an impartial news station, its a station full of opinions.

Back on topic, I am glad CNN is now in HD.
Would love if MSNBC was added to the Sky Platform, another news station with opinions.

steveon

PacMan wrote: »

Now thats a first.
I am a bit of a news watcher myself, and regard Al jazeera / CNN/ Sky and BBC news way ahead. FoX is not an impartial news station, its a station full of opinions.

Back on topic, I am glad CNN is now in HD.
Would love if MSNBC was added to the Sky Platform, another news station with opinions.

Foxnews is quite popular here, i am often asked about it by customers on Free to air or from their visiting American Relatives...I cannot understand why its still not fta or why Sky News Hd is locked into subscription only.

12Phase

Fox and RT are infotainment.

Although I have to say Trump is making Fox News seem like an bunch of centrist sensible types lol

dublinman1990

CNN HD has lost it's signal on FTA Satellite & Freesat.

How does it look on Sky HD? Has it gone FTV or encrypted?

steveon

dublinman1990 wrote: »

CNN HD has lost it's signal on FTA Satellite & Freesat.

How does it look on Sky HD? Has it gone FTV or encrypted?

Still on test so may come and go...hopefully will stay fta...

PacMan

I know I was critical of FoX news in an earlier post, but sometimes CNN at the weekends has too many re-run of "Best of " shows.
Certainly not as good or up to date as in times past.

But I agree, in that I hope it stays FTA in HD.

Anderson Cooper, Wolf, are pretty good shows to be fair,which are from CNN domestic, its the CNN international shows from Hong Kong, that do my head in.

FRIENDO

PacMan wrote:

Now thats a first. I am a bit of a news watcher myself, and regard Al jazeera / CNN/ Sky and BBC news way ahead. FoX is not an impartial news station, its a station full of opinions.

Most news stations are of opinion, Press tv was another interesting news station, however it's no longer on 28e.

PacMan

FRIENDO wrote: »

Most news stations are of opinion, Press tv was another interesting news station, however it's no longer on 28e.

George Galloway had/has a rather strange show on Press TV.
The station was banned by the UK regulator , I think,.

mrtom

FRIENDO wrote: »

Most news stations are of opinion, Press tv was another interesting news station, however it's no longer on 28e.

In HD :
http://www.presstv.com/Default/Live/

FRIENDO

PacMan wrote:

George Galloway had/has a rather strange show on Press TV. The station was banned by the UK regulator , I think,.

Also removed from 19e, can still be got on 13e

Pete2k

MSNBC Intl. is still FTA on Telstar 12 if you've a dish to pick it up.
I've got CNN US and Fox News in HD thru UstvNow iptv. Even at only what I would say is 720p there is such a massive difference when you compare to the 28e broadcasts.

AwaitYourReply

PacMan wrote: »

I know I was critical of FoX news in an earlier post, but sometimes CNN at the weekends has too many re-run of "Best of " shows.
Certainly not as good or up to date as in times past.

But I agree, in that I hope it stays FTA in HD.

Anderson Cooper, Wolf, are pretty good shows to be fair,which are from CNN domestic, its the CNN international shows from Hong Kong, that do my head in.

Well that's funny, yeah we are getting Wake Up to Breakfast courtesy of Asia Pacific regions like Singapore, Hong Kong and so on from around 12Midnight on weeknights (Sun-Thurs) as some of these global news channels are making huge cut-backs in production.

CNN International was a lot better in early '90s with Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs on Money, Wolf Blitzer at The White House, Jim Clancy, ex RTÉ news presenter Fionnuala Sweeney. Remember shows like Crossfire and Moneywatch etc;

Sky News was also much better from it's inception in 1989 up to around 2008 then it started to face cutback after cutback. Sky News Ireland which aired 2 evening news bulletins on weekdays from around 2005-2008 approx was probably the start of the series of cutbacks. Then they axed the entire weather forecasting team led by Francis Wilson. In the early days shows like Reporters with the late Bob Friend, Target with Norman Tebbit & Austin Mitchell, Fashion TV even used have 30min segment on Sky News in early days. Other shows included Sunrise, Live at 5, Richard Littlejohn, Newsline, Sky News at Ten, Sky World News Tonight, Newswatch. Only a few presenters such as Kay Burley, Adam Boulton (former Political Editor) have remained at Sky News since the channel first launched back around February, 1989.

Japan based broadcaster NHK decided to shut down SD format of digital satellite tv version so; in recent years you need HD digital receiver to pick it up via satellite tv.

Press TV was removed on digital satellite in the UK for a breach of some Ofcom guidelines as far as I recall but I am open to correction on this.

eNCA was a South African news channel that also broadcast on Sky Digital satellite platform but later disappeared some time ago although; I often noticed the reception on that channel to be quite unreliable or maybe it used low power bitrate perhaps. I'm not sure if low viewership was the main reason for it's removal from Sky digital platform in the end?

Aljazeera are closing their America channel

ITV News channel was short-lived and was previously called the ITN News channel but it never took off and closed in 2005 after only 5 years in total. Viewers were encouraged to continue watching itv News & Current Affairs programming via news bulletins on itv1 at the time (or UTV (NI) in Northern Ireland, STV in Scotland, itv Wales in Cymru)

If you want to see some former BBC/Sky News/ITN news presenters, just tune to Aljazeera English or ARISE News channels. Darren Jordan and Peter Dobbie from BBC News/BBC World News presenting on Aljazeera post BBC days. David Glencorse, John Cookson and Michael Wilson (all ex-Sky News) on ARISE News. It's a miracle ARISE News has managed to keep coming back from the dead after coming and going so frequently in the last 6 months or so.

BBC News channel (formerly BBC News24) is also facing massive cutbacks to it's own output with more & more of the programming coming directly from it's global sister channel namely, BBC World News. At 9pm Outside Source with Ros Atkins which was initially intended for a global audience on BBC World News now also goes out live on BBC News channel in the UK. There is only one evening newspaper preview at 10:30pm and then one final 15 minutes of live UK news because at 11:15pm the BBC News channel now repeats NewsNight shown earlier in the evening on BBC Two and then from 12midnight it's over to NewsDay with Rico Hizon in Singapore and Babita Sharma/Kasia Madera in London in a simulcast with BBC World News. From 12:00am until 05:59am it is global news programming coming directly from BBC World News on the BBC News channel and then at 06:00am it's over to BBC Breakfast in the UK. As a result of the latest cutbacks at the BBC there is currently no exclusively live UK news programming going out these days from 11:15pm until 06:00am on the BBC News channel although; I imagine if a major world news event happened in UK they would have to rapidly change format at short notice. If they need to make further cutbacks, one would wonder where they will cut then.

And then you have RTÉ News Now...best part was the picture gallery and the music playing in the background. It just never got the funding to become a credible news service even during daytime hours! It badly needs an advertising revenue stream and more live output rather than endless simulcasts of RTÉ One tv main news & current affairs programmes.

JamesyBelfast

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Well that's funny, yeah we are getting Wake Up to Breakfast courtesy of Asia Pacific regions like Singapore, Hong Kong and so on from around 12Midnight on weeknights (Sun-Thurs) as some of these global news channels are making huge cut-backs in production.

CNN International was a lot better in early '90s with Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs on Money, Wolf Blitzer at The White House, Jim Clancy, ex RTÉ news presenter Fionnuala Sweeney. Remember shows like Crossfire and Moneywatch etc;

Sky News was also much better from it's inception in 1989 up to around 2008 then it started to face cutback after cutback. Sky News Ireland which aired 2 evening news bulletins on weekdays from around 2005-2008 approx was probably the start of the series of cutbacks. Then they axed the entire weather forecasting team led by Francis Wilson. In the early days shows like Reporters with the late Bob Friend, Target with Norman Tebbit & Austin Mitchell, Fashion TV even used have 30min segment on Sky News in early days. Other shows included Sunrise, Live at 5, Richard Littlejohn, Newsline, Sky News at Ten, Sky World News Tonight, Newswatch. Only a few presenters such as Kay Burley, Adam Boulton (former Political Editor) have remained at Sky News since the channel first launched back around February, 1989.

Japan based broadcaster NHK decided to shut down SD format of digital satellite tv version so; in recent years you need HD digital receiver to pick it up via satellite tv.

Press TV was removed on digital satellite in the UK for a breach of some Ofcom guidelines as far as I recall but I am open to correction on this.

eNCA was a South African news channel that also broadcast on Sky Digital satellite platform but later disappeared some time ago although; I often noticed the reception on that channel to be quite unreliable or maybe it used low power bitrate perhaps. I'm not sure if low viewership was the main reason for it's removal from Sky digital platform in the end?

Aljazeera are closing their America channel

ITV News channel was short-lived and was previously called the ITN News channel but it never took off and closed in 2005 after only 5 years in total. Viewers were encouraged to continue watching itv News & Current Affairs programming via news bulletins on itv1 at the time (or UTV (NI) in Northern Ireland, STV in Scotland, itv Wales in Cymru)

If you want to see some former BBC/Sky News/ITN news presenters, just tune to Aljazeera English or ARISE News channels. Darren Jordan and Peter Dobbie from BBC News/BBC World News presenting on Aljazeera post BBC days. David Glencorse, John Cookson and Michael Wilson (all ex-Sky News) on ARISE News. It's a miracle ARISE News has managed to keep coming back from the dead after coming and going so frequently in the last 6 months or so.

BBC News channel (formerly BBC News24) is also facing massive cutbacks to it's own output with more & more of the programming coming directly from it's global sister channel namely, BBC World News. At 9pm Outside Source with Ros Atkins which was initially intended for a global audience on BBC World News now also goes out live on BBC News channel in the UK. There is only one evening newspaper preview at 10:30pm and then one final 15 minutes of live UK news because at 11:15pm the BBC News channel now repeats NewsNight shown earlier in the evening on BBC Two and then from 12midnight it's over to NewsDay with Rico Hizon in Singapore and Babita Sharma/Kasia Madera in London in a simulcast with BBC World News. From 12:00am until 05:59am it is global news programming coming directly from BBC World News on the BBC News channel and then at 06:00am it's over to BBC Breakfast in the UK. As a result of the latest cutbacks at the BBC there is currently no exclusively live UK news programming going out these days from 11:15pm until 06:00am on the BBC News channel although; I imagine if a major world news event happened in UK they would have to rapidly change format at short notice. If they need to make further cutbacks, one would wonder where they will cut then.

And then you have RTÉ News Now...best part was the picture gallery and the music playing in the background. It just never got the funding to become a credible news service even during daytime hours! It badly needs an advertising revenue stream and more live output rather than endless simulcasts of RTÉ One tv main news & current affairs programmes.

Great post!

I actually like RTE News Now for what it is - especially over "holiday" periods where they sometimes show wall to wall archive RTE news stuff like all the annual reports about the 30-year-old government papers being revealed. I'd love it if they did more of that kind of thing - like maybe showing archive editions of Prime Time or other RTE news shows on a regular basis.

I just WISH they had schedules SOMEWHERE. WTF?!?!?
Never heard of any TV channel without schedules published at least somewhere.

PacMan

enjoy RTE news now, but would enjoy it a lot better if they stopping rolling repeats.
Maybe, showing old election broadcasts and/or politics shows from the video vaults. A bit like BBC Parliament does.

CNN is not the station it once was. Yes I watch it, and news channels like BBC World is a favorite, as is Sky news.
BBC News, is now mostly showing the same news shows as BBC World.

One poster mentioned the late, great, Bob Friend.
What a talented broadcaster he was. Serious and funny when he needed to be.

I occasionally watch MSNBC at Telstar 15 degrees west. The odd occasion CNN US and HLN were fta for a few weeks, but are now back scrambled on this satellite.

ITN News channel which became ITV News channel was a complete disappointment. News headlines on a loop, especially what they could have broadcast, when you consider what ITN represents, what access it has to its vast library,

AwaitYourReply

PacMan wrote: »

enjoy RTE news now, but would enjoy it a lot better if they stopping rolling repeats.
Maybe, showing old election broadcasts and/or politics shows from the video vaults. A bit like BBC Parliament does.

CNN is not the station it once was. Yes I watch it, and news channels like BBC World is a favorite, as is Sky news.
BBC News, is now mostly showing the same news shows as BBC World.

One poster mentioned the late, great, Bob Friend.
What a talented broadcaster he was. Serious and funny when he needed to be.

I occasionally watch MSNBC at Telstar 15 degrees west. The odd occasion CNN US and HLN were fta for a few weeks, but are now back scrambled on this satellite.

ITN News channel which became ITV News channel was a complete disappointment. News headlines on a loop, especially what they could have broadcast, when you consider what ITN represents, what access it has to its vast library,

It was myself who referenced Bob Friend ...My earliest memories of him on Sky News was as a lead anchor first in early afternoons with the likes of Kay Burley/Vivien Creegor/Christopher Morris...Sportnews on Sky News with the likes of former British athlete Tessa Sanderson, Matthew Lorenzo, Paul Dempsey, Steve Bottomley. In 1989 until early '90s, Sky did not yet have any Sky Sports channels in place and they used jointly operate the sports channel Eurosport with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) if I'm not mistaken. I also recall that Bob Friend also presented a Sky News programme called either "Reporters" or "The Reporters" from it's news correspondents but this is not to be confused with a similar titled show from BBC News channel in later years. Bob Friend would also be to the forefront of Sky News along with Mark Longhurst when they decided to launch Sky News at Ten after ITN News at Ten was axed by ITV as they were anxious to hoover up some of those ITV viewers who would not have chosen BBC's new main evening news at 10 O'Clock. Bob Friend gave Sky News a credible authority and respect in his delivery of serious stories and he also knew how and when to inject good humour when it was needed. Sky News is not as good these days and I reckon a lot of the cutbacks at Sky News are also due to the massive money Sky TV forks out for it's sports rights across a large network of sports channels with fierce competition from BT Sport/ESPN/Discovery-Eurosport and to a lesser extent BBC/itv/Channel 4/Channel 5. If I was to admire any news anchor on Sky News in today's schedule it would probably be Jeremy Thompson (i think ex-BBC?).

ITN/itv News Channel was so disappointing alright - I still often watch some itv News programmes on itv London as you can grow tired of the same loops of coverage if you watch any of the 24/7 rolling news channels like BBC News, Sky News, CNN International etc;

From what I can gather RTÉ News Now largely only simulcasts the live news & current affairs programmes from RTÉ One TV apart from one bulletin (i.e.) 11:00pm bulletin on weeknights (prob Mon-Thurs) as RTÉ One still has Late News Extra after The Late Late Show on Friday nights! This is very disappointing but understandable as RTÉ are not permitted to carry commercial breaks on many of it's newer channels such as: RTÉ News Now, RTÉ junior on TV platforms and it's digital only/dab radio stations such as RTÉ Radio1 Extra, RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ PULSE, RTÉ Gold, RTÉ Junior/Chill.

Meanwhile, Oireachtas TV channel may be the eventual home of old historic election coverage from the archives - unlike across the water where you have BBC Parliament, Oireachtas TV seems to be outside the RTÉ family.

AwaitYourReply

JamesyBelfast wrote: »

Great post!

I actually like RTE News Now for what it is - especially over "holiday" periods where they sometimes show wall to wall archive RTE news stuff like all the annual reports about the 30-year-old government papers being revealed. I'd love it if they did more of that kind of thing - like maybe showing archive editions of Prime Time or other RTE news shows on a regular basis.

I just WISH they had schedules SOMEWHERE. WTF?!?!?
Never heard of any TV channel without schedules published at least somewhere.

Oh cheers for the complement!

I've always found the epg programme guides containing INFO for Irish based channels is pretty bad and it's not just one platform like Saorview - I've noticed that Irish based channels have lousy programme info if I press the i button on a Sky Digital remote too in previous years. All too often there is little or no specifics. Tonight my mother was looking forward to watching "Long Lost Family" on TV3 as it was billed on Saorview to commence on TV3 from 22:00-23:00hrs but Tonight with Vincent Browne was extended and started one hour earlier than usual to cover upcoming Seanad Éireann issues. If you were to look at many programme INFO for radio shows, it's is also very sparse on detail - very generalised and usually says nothing different from one edition to the next. I find the UK channels are not as bad and providing more detail and not afraid to disclose what is happening on a specific episode/edition.

AwaitYourReply

Getting back to CNN itself, I forgot about Larry King Live who nearly always had some wonderful guests to interview which would have gone out late at night on this side of the atlantic. Then when Larry retired from the Larry King Live, Piers Morgan got the same time slot with his own new talk show but after only a few years CNN and Morgan parted company. Morgan if I'm not mistaken challenged the US Gun Lobby in light of some high profile mass shootings in the US and abroad. The stance taken by Morgan probably caused him major problems in many parts of the United States which would have impacted on his popularity in the tv ratings and would have had a negative effect among their commercial advertisers. Other CNN shows i recall was a programme entitled: The World Today with male+female presenters like Catherine Crier asking questions from a US political perspective. MoneyLine with Lou Dobbs who used have enlightening discussions with regular analyst, CNN Financial Editor, Myron Kandel in the early '90s. I think it was great in those days due to it's high standards of journalism, often going where nobody else was on the spot, personality driven shows that all had a different look and emphasis. My most memorable moment of CNN coverage was putting on my headphones late one night in January, 1991 as I used listen to late night music before sleep but normal programming was interrupted either on RTÉ Radio 1 or 2FM at the time when the US & it's Allies went into Iraq after President Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait a few months beforehand in the 1991 Gulf War operation "Desert Storm" during US President George H Bush Senior occupied The White House for his only term as US President.

Listening to CNN reporters: Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett and John Holliman radio commentary broadcasts was riveting stuff from CNN. At the time, there were only some picture stills coming thru but the radio commentary hearing their frightened voices in the Baghdad hotel and how vulnerable they most have been there in Iraq as all other PRESS had been strongly advised to leave. CNN was there and those reporters were extremely brave, risky and courageous in bearing witness to the rest of the world. This was important as Saddam Hussein was well able to record film footage and take innocent or defenceless pawns and use them to fuel his own propaganda. Needless to say I had a restless night after I switched off my headphones that night!

PacMan

thanks so much for the memories of early news channels.
I too remember Bernie shaw reporting live from inside the hotel in Baghdad during the first "Bush" invasion.

Judy Woodruff (I think) a former CNN anchor, now presents on PBS newshour.
I often watch it on the net, and its very informative and unlike other US News where it reports facts and not reporters opinions.

Bob Friend, both he and Anna Botting used to crack me up, when they presented late nights.
He always had poor Anna in stitches.
I find Jeremy Thompson boring to be honest, and prefer his stand in Andrew Wilson.
Also sad to see that after 25 years at Sky News Martin Stanford has left.
Very professional he was.

Cant beat the Sky News press preview on a monday Night with Anna Botting, Andrew Pierce and Kevin Maguire. Interesting and on occasions very funny.

icdg

Okay look, all this reminiscing is very nice (and interesting) but not really much to do with CNN HD.

Omar C

icdg wrote: »

Okay look, all this reminiscing is very nice (and interesting) but not really much to do with CNN HD.

according to peeps on digital spy cnn HD is back testing now, with sharper picture..

lertsnim

So it is. It is a huge improvement over the SD version, not that that would be hard.

Johnboy1951

Omar C wrote: »

according to peeps on digital spy cnn HD is back testing now, with sharper picture..

is there ...... viewing it in 1080

steveon

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

is there ...... viewing it in 1080

Looks so much better than in sd!

AwaitYourReply

PacMan wrote: »

thanks so much for the memories of early news channels. I too remember Bernie shaw reporting live from inside the hotel in Baghdad during the first "Bush" invasion. Judy Woodruff (I think) a former CNN anchor, now presents on PBS newshour.
I often watch it on the net, and its very informative and unlike other US News where it reports facts and not reporters opinions.

You are welcome PacMan

AwaitYourReply

I gotta scan in CNN testing in Hi Def 1080 on my receiver now