Is There A DVD Recorder That Can Be Used In Ireland As A TV Receiver, Like In The UK?

Mark#1 · 11-09-2008 01:19PM #1

Hi,

I hope that title conveys what I mean.

As far as my understanding goes, the UK already receives its free terrestrial TV via digital broadcast - it's called "Freeview", and the following channels are available for free on it:

BBC One
BBC Two
ITV1 (and GMTV)
Channel 4
Five
ITV2 (and GMTV2)
BBC Three
BBC Four
ITV3
Sky Three
UKTV History
Channel 4+1
More 4
QVC
UKTV Gold
4Music
Dave
Virgin 1
TMF / Noggin Kids
Ideal World
Bid TV / ScreenShop
Price-drop TV
UKTV Style
ITV4
E4
E4 + 1
ITV2 + 2
Film4
Eurosport UK
Setanta Sports
Five US
Fiver
SmileTV
Nuts TV
Gems TV
Gems TV 1
National Lottery Xtra
CBBC
Cbeebies
CITV
BBC News
BBC Parliament
Sky News
Sky Sports News
Community Channel
Teachers TV (overnight)
Television X / Red Hot
Teletext
Teletext Holidays
Rabbit
Teletext Casino
4 Teletext on 4
BBCi
Sky Text
4TV Interactive
BBC Radio 1
BBC 1 Xtra
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 4
BBC 5 Live
BBC 5 Live Extra
BBC 6
BBC 7
BBC Asian Network
BBC World Service
The Hits
Smash Hits!
Kiss
Heat
Magic
Q
Smooth Radio
Mojo
Kerrang!
TalkSport
Clyde 1
Premier Christian Radio
Virgin Radio
Heart

Freeview is the UK's equivalent of our looming DTT broadcast, which will receive the following channels for free (and possibly a dozen or so more that may be launched early in 2009:

RTE 1
RTE 2
TV3
TG4

So to my query:

DVD recorders sold in the UK have apropriate Freeview tuners built-in: their Freeview aerial can connect directly into their DVD recorder (via coax cable, obviously), and voila! - they have free digital terrestrial TV channels, and can use the DVD recorder's EPG, and avail of its pause live TV & series record functions.

The UK's Freeview broadcast technology is MPEG2 (IIUC), so that's the technology used in DVD recorders for the UK market.

Ireland's DTT technology is MPEG4 (again, IIUC), so UK-market DVD recorders are effectively useless as receivers in Ireland - is this correct?

If that is correct, then aren't advertised features such as pause live TV, series record, etc., moot in Ireland? That's at the very least - perhaps it's actually closer to false advertising?

Is there any DVD recorder on the Irish market that can operate as a receiver for Ireland's MPEG4 DTT technology?

Not to moan (again) about rip-off Ireland, but panasonicshop.ie lists the DMR-EX88 HDD DVD recorder for €700. This product cannot be used as a DTT tuner in Ireland, meaning its pause live TV and series record functions don't apply.

The same product can be shipped from the UK for €620 from superfi.co.uk, or for €570 from 1staudiovisual.co.uk.

When I say "the same product", I mean the exact same product - according to one of Panasonic UK's tech guys I spoke with last week, the EX88 sold in Ireland is the exact same model as sold in the UK.

That's between €80 and €130 more over here for a product that has less functionality here than in the UK - what's going on?

So is there any DVD recorder on sale in Ireland or in the UK that can function as a DTT tuner here in Ireland, allowing the use of the DVD recorder's EPG and pause live TV & series record functions?

Thanks for any replies,

Mark

10000maniacs · 12-09-2008 11:25AM

Unfortunately not.
Boxer/RTE have decided to go with MPEG4, and at the moment this digital format cannot be decoded on any DVD recorders available on the Irish market.
If they had decided to use the UK MPEG2 standard, most new DVD recorders/LCD TVs would be able to decode this stream.

Mark#1 · 12-09-2008 12:37PM

I found some of this interesting:

http://www.dtg.org.uk/dtg/summit/summit08_presentations/DTG%20Summit%20Vincent%20Letang.pdf

Particularly this quote from page 20 (this in relevance to French DTT):

"From December 2008 all TV sets and retail set-top boxes must be
– DVB-T ready
– MPEG-4 ready
– HD ready"

Should we Irish read anything into this? That Ireland will follow similarly? That TVs, set-top boxes, DVD recorders, etc. for the French market will work here?

Hmmm...

I spoke with another Panasonic tech guy this morning who said that they (and probably all manufacturers) will be putting MPEG4 tuners into their relevant products as soon as there's concrete announcements that MPEG4 is the technology of choice.

But then...

Who's going to buy anything now, given that it probably won't work in 6 month's or a year's time?

As someone who's going to be purchasing a new AV setup within the next 6 months, I'm finding all this greyness and uncertainty quite frustrating.

Mark

10000maniacs · 16-09-2008 12:10PM

Mark#1 wrote: »

That TVs, set-top boxes, DVD recorders, etc. for the French market will work here?

In view of the fact that French TVs won't receive PAL broadcasts, only Secam, this could be problematic.

Storm 10 · 16-10-2008 04:45PM

Simple way around this is to go for one of the small satellite dishes that can be got in Maplins or from time to time in Aldi or Lidl, I bought one last year for 70 Euro from Aldi and I have all of the above channels free including all radio channels.
I dont have CH 5 on it.

eddie · 12-05-2010 09:25PM

Storm 10 wrote: »

Simple way around this is to go for one of the small satellite dishes that can be got in Maplins or from time to time in Aldi or Lidl, I bought one last year for 70 Euro from Aldi and I have all of the above channels free including all radio channels.
I dont have CH 5 on it.

How easy are they to set up ( aim at the satellite )? and do you need any special satellite measuring equipment ?

Eddie

bridster007 · 12-06-2010 12:17PM

It's likely that the new Panasonic DMRXW 380 range will do what you need as it has 2 Mpeg 4 Tuners. Launching at end of June but pricey. approx 450 STG. But will let you record 2 programs at once. Also HD if that matters to you if it ever arrives here.

Else get a Irish STB when launched and record on a normal cheaper UK DTT DVD recorder (Mpeg 2 tuner) through the scart input.

Is There A DVD Recorder That Can Be Used In Ireland As A TV Receiver, Like In The UK?

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