Saorview Updates - 2024

and all of them 544x576 ……. looks like just checking to see all is working.

rté2 has lost ~40% of its bitrate today, like how rté1 is now 1/3 of the bitrate it once was

gotta make room for more channels of 'the chase' I guess

If any new testcards are coming onto Saorview and reducing bitrate for channels that are already provided on the EPG; is this a permanent decision by 2RN to somehow make the viewing experience worse for anyone watches channels on the platform?

Also; how did RTÉ2 lose 40% of it's bitrate today? Did people retune their equipment to see that picture become worse?

I'm currently watching The Loudest Voice on RTÉ2 at the moment. I did watch it during the late afternoon and early evening. It doesn't appear to make the experience worse on my own setup. The picture seems fine as I have them on the highest settings on my box and TV that they can put out at the moment. Both of them are showing really good 1080p pictures.

If 2RN are currently spreading the spectrum too thinly for people who watch the channels on Saorview. It is not a very efficient way to spread spectrum resources properly as Saorview currently operates as a DVB-T platform. It does make a very good case that Saorview should eventually convert to T2 broadcasting in the Republic of Ireland in the near future.

Finland are currently making plans to convert their DTT channels to DVB-T2 broadcasting by Spring 2025.

Do you think people living here in the Republic of Ireland would understand that this would be a good thing to reduce emissions on the environment?

They should consider opening a third MUX and bring more of the channels up to HD, not the trashy ones that carry the Chase and that kind of rubbish.

There is no currently EPG data present on LCN 9, 10, 28 & 31. There is EPG data present on LCN 32.

Is that an HbbTV test transmission? HbbTV indicator present on the info panel.

HD 1920x1080p25 resolution, don't remember seeing this on Saorview previously.

Don't see the any matching broadcast info on the bitrate monitoring site for that frequency.

Also, I see they've rearranged the radio channels on the EPG.

I felt RTÉ One has looked somewhat bitrate starved at times, it's certainly more prone to pixelation on busier scenes than RTÉ 2 or TG4.

Will be interesting to see how the GAA and basketball looks at the weekend on RTÉ2 and TG4 with similarly reduced bitrates in place.

Dare I say it but I wonder is this laying the groundwork for HD to be the standard on SaorView in the near future?

Hot take - it looks like they're reducing the bitrate on the HD channels on Saorview to rival that of RTÉ 1 & 2 on Saorsat.

So now 2rn can add virgin media one in HD and virgin media one +1 so now there is no need to have all these test card channels on 9 10 28 31 and 32 so 2rn could fill that one up.

they won’t put on virgin media plus one for some reason

Saorsat bitrate on Ka-Sat was reduced due lack of capacity and over-subscription during Covid, mid 2022 iirc, it probably never recovered.

At this point Ka-Sat has about 3 years orbit manoeuvrable life remaining with no in-orbit spare if anything were to happen in the next few years.

This might be a reason RTÉ are testing DVB-I streaming, a possible replacement for Saorsat and as a backup to DTT.

Can't imagine those in the back of beyond who can't get Saorview will be high up the list of the national fibre broadband rollout either!

The bits have to be broadcast anyway so why not have a test card on them?