Whats involved in UPC offering HD channels.

10000maniacs · 08-04-2009 10:26AM #1

What are the technical issues involved in UPC offering high definition to its customers.
I know that MPEG2 is not good enough. I know that the current boxes are not up to scratch and will have to be changed. Nagra 3 is suitable for HD.
What else?

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 10:29AM

Nagra 3 is irrelevant, it is just encryption.

They need high bandwidth which should be available on most of the network now. They also need newer boxes and HD content. AFAIK, that's it.

10000maniacs · 08-04-2009 10:44AM

I'm seriously considering jumping ship and getting Sky+HD. UPC are 3 years behind current technology and there still doesn't seem to be even a whisper of it happening.
The HD versions of terrestrial/free channels will start to appear on Sky in the near future and by next year there will be a huge amount of HD channels available.

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 11:03AM

Indeed, I've lost all faith in UPC as a television provider. I think they're broadband is great but they're so far behind Sky and seemingly making no effort to keep up.

08-04-2009 11:14AM

There still relatively new on the scene.

and before they can do anything they have to upgrade alot, maybe most of the network infrastructure.

Which they are still doing, the last week they have dug up most all my road and putting down more cabling.

so if there putting that sort of money into it you can only hope they will make the most of it.

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 11:19AM

cisk wrote: »

so if there putting that sort of money into it you can only hope they will make the most of it.

But when? They've give no expected dates of new services, they claim there are new channels coming, so far we've gotten BuzzTV (:rolleyes:), any time they've said new features are coming they've been incredibly late or not happened. If you're bothered going through the history of this board, I had such faith and excitement about UPC. I've just given up now though.

08-04-2009 12:47PM

Im quite aware of the history, they took over a joke of a company are pumping lots of money into the network.

Are putting an end to Dodgy boxes, something Virgin media in the UK havent even managed.

Provide excellent High speed BB which is improving all the time. So i dont think they are doing that bad of a job. Its not as easy to impliment HD over cable as it is via Sat.

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 01:03PM

cisk wrote: »

Im quite aware of the history, they took over a joke of a company are pumping lots of money into the network.

Are putting an end to Dodgy boxes, something Virgin media in the UK havent even managed.

Provide excellent High speed BB which is improving all the time. So i dont think they are doing that bad of a job. Its not as easy to impliment HD over cable as it is via Sat.

I like their broadband, it's the only thing that's really changed since NTL. Yes, they're pumping money into the network, a very welcome gesture but they've done little on the TV front. From what I've seen, none of UPCs operations are up to Sky's standard and their latest dual record / series link update just proves that Sky are far ahead of the game all round. When UPC do something progressive with TV I will happily eat my words but until then, they are an expensive, crap Sky.

08-04-2009 03:40PM

Hopefully when they have finished Securing with N3 they will focus on the quality and features such as HD and Dual recording.

Imo there was no point in introducing HD channels untill the network is secure, or else HD dodgy boxes would be everywere.

Sky has always been secure, now UPC nearly is so i hope they prove themselves now.

10000maniacs · 08-04-2009 04:27PM

cisk wrote: »

Its not as easy to impliment HD over cable as it is via Sat.

They will be writing that on their tombstone.:D

Freddie59 · 08-04-2009 04:48PM

cisk wrote: »

Its not as easy to impliment HD over cable as it is via Sat.

Reason being?

08-04-2009 05:22PM

Erm,

The same sats that beam out SD can churn out HD with not much more development.

A cable network would need to be able to cope with the high band with been used, being a bandwidth system.

It dosnt matter how many dishes are getting a beam of HD, with cable it does matter how many people are watching HD and sucking up bandwith.

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 05:42PM

Cable is a broadcast system, satellite is too IIRC. It takes bandwidth to do a HD broadcast but the amount of people watching doesn't effect it.

08-04-2009 05:48PM

Thats what i was getting at, dont know the in depths of it.

Im sure watty knows the technical terms behind it.

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 05:52PM

cisk wrote: »

Thats what i was getting at, dont know the in depths of it.

Im sure watty knows the technical terms behind it.

I'm fairly certain there's no more complexity to it, once they have the content / equipment it can be broadcast just as easily as one satellite.

BTW, I'm not trying to argue, I agree with your point about N3 and UPC. I'm just curious if that's true. TBH, I think you're mistaken.

youcrazyjesus! · 08-04-2009 05:55PM

Why is anybody even concerned. It's UPC/NTL. Even if they announce it it will take at least 3 to 4 years before we see it. I'm still waiting on series link and dual channel recording on their poxy Digital+ service. Months later.

watty · 08-04-2009 06:17PM

It's no harder at all to HD on Cable than on satellite.

In both cases the MPEG4 HD is about 2.5 times the MPEG2 SD TV, or x5 MPEG4 SD (not much used yet).

New headend and new receiver boxes in both cases.

Content
Headend
Setboxes
Customer Demand.

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 06:32PM

Thanks Watty, that's what I'd thought.

watty wrote: »

New headend and new receiver boxes in both cases.

Would this be cheaper for Sky to roll out seeing as they are satellite they wouldn't need as much equipment?

Rosser · 08-04-2009 06:54PM

Can I ask a stupid question, what exactly is the 'headend' is it a piece of equipment or some type of cable?

paulm17781 · 08-04-2009 06:59PM

Rosser wrote: »

Can I ask a stupid question, what exactly is the 'headend' is it a piece of equipment or some type of cable?

My understanding is that it is similar to a telephone exchange, only for cable TV equipment. Alll "their kit" would be in the headend and that is what our TV, Broadband, telephone all connect to.

DingDong · 08-04-2009 08:05PM

The HD DVR is being put through its paces at the moment, and aiming for a launch date around June(Yes 2009

).

08-04-2009 09:36PM

Secure and Update

Irishdudedave · 08-04-2009 10:06PM

DingDong wrote: »

The HD DVR is being put through its paces at the moment, and aiming for a launch date around June(Yes 2009 ).

With UPC the two most important words there are AIMING and AROUND ... They just love a vague reply to any question.

Until the HD box is installed and Im watching HD channels I wont believe a word they have to say about it.

Rosser · 09-04-2009 08:09AM

DingDong wrote: »

The HD DVR is being put through its paces at the moment, and aiming for a launch date around June(Yes 2009 ).

Will that be with or without series link?

icdg · 09-04-2009 10:58AM

paulm17781 wrote: »

My understanding is that it is similar to a telephone exchange, only for cable TV equipment. Alll "their kit" would be in the headend and that is what our TV, Broadband, telephone all connect to.

Essentially yes. It consists of equipment to pick up the channels that are being provided as part of the service, re-encode them and "broadcast" them on the cable network. Back in the analogue days it would literaly have consisted of satellite dishes and arials and banks of STBs plugged into the cable system. These days its a lot more complicated, but this is the basic concept.

Cupart · 16-04-2009 08:27AM

Had my Thomson DVR installed two weeks ago and I asked the Tech about HD. He laughed and said "Earliest at the end of the year, but we were told the same a year ago". He told me not to get too excited too soon hehehe...

techdiver · 16-04-2009 08:37AM

DingDong wrote: »

The HD DVR is being put through its paces at the moment, and aiming for a launch date around June(Yes 2009 ).

This is exactly the same thing I heard in 2006, 2007 and 2008. So I can add 2009 to the list of years that they were "testing" their HD box and planning a summer roll out of the service.

I'd respect UPC more if they came out and said - "We have no interest or intention of rolling out HD to our customers". That would be better than spinning the same crap year in year out about HD.

paulm17781 · 16-04-2009 11:24AM

techdiver wrote: »

I'd respect UPC more if they came out and said - "We have no interest or intention of rolling out HD to our customers". That would be better than spinning the same crap year in year out about HD.

I'd even prefer to hear 3 years time or something. The 6 months time thing has been going on for years now. That said, DingDong's information is normally reliable.

Nelbert · 16-04-2009 06:43PM

I know it doesn't mean much but a close friend of mine is contracted by UPC the odd time and does subbie work for them, knows a couple of UPC guys and I asked him to ask cause Id be very interested in getting it once it's available and they told him within the next few weeks, take from it what you will.
Flame on!

Cupart · 17-04-2009 06:43AM

Nelbert wrote: »

I know it doesn't mean much but a close friend of mine is contracted by UPC the odd time and does subbie work for them, knows a couple of UPC guys and I asked him to ask cause Id be very interested in getting it once it's available and they told him within the next few weeks, take from it what you will.
Flame on!

Wish it could be believed, but his is also what's known as hearsay.

Haven't seen any HD streams being tested on NTL's net so far so I highly doubt it will be availble within the next few weeks for testing even. More likely 6-8 months at the earliest...

Think of it. There are many areas where you can't even get BB so how on earth would you fit in a couple of HD streams? It looks like the net is full on its capacity as it is and needs physical upgrading. Maybe out in the sticks where new towns are being built but is it worth UPC to launch HD in such areas?

paulm17781 · 17-04-2009 08:49AM

Cupart wrote: »

Think of it. There are many areas where you can't even get BB so how on earth would you fit in a couple of HD streams? It looks like the net is full on its capacity as it is and needs physical upgrading. Maybe out in the sticks where new towns are being built but is it worth UPC to launch HD in such areas?

They've been upgrading for the last 3 years and there's plenty of capacity now.

With Sky HD, you need two cables running to the box. Does anyone know if it'll be the same for cable or will one co-ax connection do it?

Whats involved in UPC offering HD channels.

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