RTÉNL Saorview-DTT Public Information

Extinction wrote: »

This is also from the email from Saorview

There will also be a "bug" on the screen. This will be on screen permanently, except during ad breaks. The bug appears as:

X October 24th

This is to indicate that if you are seeing the bug on your screen, you will lose service on October 24th.

I hope the date is just a reminder of the ASO date.

I hope you're being sarcastic Elmo!

I am but you know how things have gone.

Extinction wrote: »

This is also from the email from Saorview

There will also be a "bug" on the screen. This will be on screen permanently, except during ad breaks. The bug appears as:

X October 24th

This is to indicate that if you are seeing the bug on your screen, you will lose service on October 24th.

X October 24th is now displayed on RTE1 and RTE2 analogue. Not on TV3.

I noticed this "24 October" DOG today, as others said the red 'x' is hard to see depending what's behind it (the DOG is transparent), it all gets squashed even further and pushed further to the middle of the screen on 4:3 programmes, and to someone who isn't fully aware of ASO I don't think it explains things very well...

If I get my capture card working again I'll make some screenshots.

Just got it working in time for this at the start of Nationwide today:



During normal programming:


It's the same on RTÉ Two, and depending on the background picture the 'X' is not very visible:


The DOG is positioned slightly higher on TG4; maybe RTÉ put it lower to avoid problems like this:


Please note due to the deinterlacing used in some of these screenshots, the vertical resolution may have been reduced.

The 'X' and text may not be transparent, but the grey box surrounding it certainly is so the main image affects visibility. The 'X' needs to be much bigger and with a black/white border if they want to keep it red - PAL chroma resolution is not good enough for it to be clearly visible at all times in its current form. Many TV sets will have much worse comb filters than my capture card.

I missed the opportunity to take screenshots of the DOG during Reeling In The Years before Nationwide - as said earlier the DOG is squashed on 4:3 programmes (just like the standard RTÉ DOGs are :rolleyes:) and barely legible on a 14" TV.

It is supposed to be annoying.

zg3409 wrote: »

The Saorview call centre has limited capacity.

I assume that as more calls are made to the call centre that they will increase the numbers on the phones.

I also assume that they choose the position to suit all channels hence why it is not just under the RTÉ One and Two logos. The position also reflects the end of the BUG for RTÉjr and TRTÉ on RTÉ Two, TG4 replace their BUG for Cula4.

Are any Cable TV viewers in the country seeing these with analogue service?
Some cable systems may not have changed over to modulating from a digital source for analogue RTE1/2/TV3/TG4

Would you a say a month before the Saorview switchover is adequate for non pay tv users at home?

I was waiting until the last minute myself. But; I don't think I will now with thanks for the info given from Extinction.

How many registered Saorview approved suppliers are in the Republic right now at this moment?

Also, how often is a software upgrade in the STB or iDTV? How long do the upgrades last?

Macy0161 wrote: »

I accept that, but I still don't think it should be a permenant DOG on the screen to get the message out. Actually, it might be more effective if it came an went.

We had many of these suggestions on this thread a few months back.

One option was a RED DOT with a text page number beside it, the text page would explain what was going on. That Ident's before and after programming had the explanation as provided in the screen shots above (and really only directed people on line and to a text page number), which would be better then at the open sequence of the programmes.

I suppose they will say it is hard to keep everyone happy all of the time, but I would suggest that they just haven't listened.


I suppose they have to take into account viewers that don't have web access or text.

Extinction wrote: »

They are trying to convince people to not wait until the last minute for obvious reasons.

This is a quote from an email from Saorview to retailers
It is vital to persuade consumers to upgrade to Saorview sooner rather than later. If people delay until the last minute to upgrade it is almost certain that product shortages will occur

It was deeply flawed to plan a single date for the whole country.

If it was done by region - as in the UK and other countries - It would be unlikely there would be any serious problems with shortages at supplier level. and there would be 'damage limitation' with any other problems that might arise for all concerned.

They should have planned to initially only switch off areas of the country where Saorsat is a non-issue, and leave areas where Saorsat is significant issue to last.

If a percentage of viewers in Dublin had to get the expensive Saorsat you may be sure it would be handled differently.