DVB-I and RTÉ

The Cush · 30-03-2026 11:08AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124350269#Comment_124350269

You don't need an internet connection with a DVB-I TV, DVB-T/S works seamlessly with the DVB-I application offline. In fact DVB-T is the primary source if available.

DVB-T/S will be around for many years to come.

At some point in the distant future Saorview will go IP only. This will be delivered by an internet connection, like fibre/cable but also possible with a 5G/6G wireless connection. This is why 5G Broadcast is being tested.

5G Broadcast can use the existing mast infrastructure.

DVB-I for now is a bridge between DVB-T and IP delivery.

Many households today can't or won't install an aerial to receive Saorview, apartment living or rental properties as examples. In cases like these linear Saorview IP delivered by a DVB-I app or TV is the answer. Same will apply for households with no Saorview coverage today, who rely on Saorsat, a service now in its twilight years.

galtee boy · 30-03-2026 01:30PM

The terrestrial broadcasters in the UK want to go streaming only by 2035, that's only 9 years away. That said, RTE/Saorview will probably be quite a bit after that, they are never first in the queue, only for the EU insisting on the Digital Switchover, we'd be still using analogue.At the consumer side, a tiny little box, with only two cables required, self installed in 10 mins or less, requiring no aerial or a dish, at the broadcasters end, a server in a data centre somewhere instead of maintaining transmitters on remote mountain tops or spending tens of millions on putting and maintaining satellites in the sky, if I was a broadcaster, I know which way I'd be coercing the public to go, just like Sky are currently doing with pushing people away from SkyQ to Sky Stream and as I said earlier, the BBC/ITV etc want to go the same way in the next decade.

Red Silurian · 30-03-2026 04:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124350503#Comment_124350503

So what you're saying is that the future provision of IPTV will not require an internet connection, an aerial or a satellite?

And we will be able to pick up the signal and record from it? A lot like how Terrestrial currently works?

L1011 · 30-03-2026 04:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124351317#Comment_124351317

You will need one of those. You cannot operate with none.

Recording should be possible but I'd expect there'll be a lot more uses of rights flags, e.g. how FreesatHD recorders encrypt BBC movie recordings.

The Cush · 30-03-2026 05:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124351317#Comment_124351317

Not saying that at all. Saorview IP will require an internet connection. Wirelessly this might come via a 5G Broadcast enabled TV if RTÉ decides to go down that route and if such a delivery standard becomes available, but that's years away. No standard finalised yet and RTE have never mentioned it.

NOTHING is going to change for years.

A DVB-I enabled TV will continue to receive Saorview and satellite channels via the aerial and dish while still available via traditional delivery methods.

As for the fta UK satellite channels their future in the hands of the UK broadcasters, nothing to do with Saorview or DVB-I.

Red Silurian · 30-03-2026 05:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124351371#Comment_124351371

I said before DVB-I isn't a suitable replacement for DVB-T/S… Seems you largely agree with me then

The Cush · 30-03-2026 05:49PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124351376#Comment_124351376

I fear you're not understanding DVB-I.

It doesn't replace DVB-T/S.

It adds IP delivery and service discovery to your EPG. The existing delivery methods remain.

Can I suggest you have a look at some of the DVB-I demos from conferences over the last few years.

DuoLey · 30-03-2026 11:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342211#Comment_124342211

Was built into a TV, reminded me of those painful digiboxes in the early says of digital TV.

The picture quality if awful on a 50 inch TV. Sure it says it in HD but it looks rubbish compared to the broadcast version. Picture very soft and things like water and grass terrible. Looks sharp enough if there's just text on the screen. Good for gameshows. Wouldn't recommend it.

DuoLey · 30-03-2026 11:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345546#Comment_124345546

This is reassuring. You would think putting all eggs in one basket (the internet) would seem a really bad way to go what with everything. Makes a lot of sense for there to be a not internet way of delivering TV and radio even if most people use the internet out of convenience. It's important to have in an emergency. Sure even in the last big storm loads of people lost fibre for weeks even after the electricity was back.

Maybe the commercial channels will go internet only but since I don't really like The Chase there's no big loss there.

The Cush · 31-03-2026 12:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124352109#Comment_124352109

I have no knowledge of what will replace terrestrial broadcasting in future but I assume public broadcasters will be reluctant to get rid of OTA broadcasting and the valuable spectrum they occupy and their hi-power hi-tower infrastructure.

Internet is also 5G/6G wireless and this could be a spectrum efficient way to replace traditional DVB-T broadcasting with OTA DTT-like IP linear streaming without the need for SIMs and mobile provider contracts. It could serve both TV and mobile linear viewing.

The transmission stream for all digital broadcasting standards right now is MPEG-TS, a more than 30 years old standard. The DVB are developing a new efficient two-way standard DVB-NIP (native IP) for future delivery of broadcast and data as a replacement for MPEG-TS.

Two-way DTT sparks a memory of the first attempt at Irish DTT (early 2000s) when the only bidder, ITS TV (Peter Brannigan?), proposed a return channel for interactive services, DVB-RCT iirc. Ahead of its time.

Interesting times ahead in broadcasting, lets hope we survive current events.

Johnboy1951 · 31-03-2026 01:55AM

It appears I have been benefiting from a somewhat similar setup at home for the past few years, so DVB-I should be easily manage by SWMBO.

Presently I have DVB-T, DVB-S and IP Camera Streams (used to have some other IP streams also) all in one listing arranged as I wish, available to multiple different devices to view and record channels. Multiple channels viewing and multiple channels recording concurrently.

Hopefully DVB-I will be as accommodating whenever it should arrive.

The Cush · 01-04-2026 03:42PM

... at DVB World 2026, Irish public broadcaster RTÉ announced plans for a closed technical trial of DVB-I for Saorview, the country’s national DTT platform.
Building on lessons from the earlier proof of concept, the trial will involve up to one hundred users and run from June to November 2026
https://dvb.org/news/dvb-i-gathers-momentum-new-zealand-ireland-and-germany-announce-steps-forward/

The closed technical DVB-I trial will involve up to one hundred users.

roadmaster · 01-04-2026 09:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124356166#Comment_124356166

In that article it also says:

Its findings will inform a future decision on whether to proceed with a next-generation hybrid platform based on DVB-I.

If the finding are it does not work as they hoped. Whats the plan then is there another service delivery plan?

The Cush · 01-04-2026 10:05PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124357020#Comment_124357020

Just a caveat in case something goes wrong I'd guess.

In reality the big 4 European terrestrial broadcasting nations are going that direction Germany, Italy, France, Spain, not to mention China, Australia and New Zealand.

It's on its way to becoming a global standard that will come already installed on TVs.

Considering the time and I assume the cash already invested by RTE in the project they will want it to succeed.

What else could bridge the transition between DTT and IP?

butwhynot · 02-04-2026 10:20AM

New channel added to the service list:

13 - Arte on demand (https://smarttv.arte.tv/static/hbbtvv11/current?utm_source=dvbisaorview)

decor58 · 02-04-2026 11:21AM

A good addition, it has been free for sometime, some great documentaries and music on it.

The Cush · 02-04-2026 11:53AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124357855#Comment_124357855

I wonder if we'll any other channels added to the service list during the trial?

Mayo and Louth · 02-04-2026 01:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124356166#Comment_124356166

How are the participants for this being chosen I wonder? I had one of those MPEG4 trial boxes before Saorview was officially launched. Free Sky Sports for quite a while with it. Nice….

The Cush · 02-04-2026 02:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124358348#Comment_124358348

No idea, as it's a small closed technical trial I assume it'll be from within broadcasters, 2rn, CE areas.

Public trial possibly in 2027, more participants then.

DVB-I and RTÉ

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