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Those Folk With New Non-MPEG4 TVs - What Are You Doing For Irish TV Till DTT Hits?

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  • 02-02-2009 10:08pm
    #1
    Mark#1
    Registered Users Posts: 565 ✭✭✭


    Hi,

    My Panasonic TH-50PZ80 arrives on Thursday. :D

    I have a Lidl free satellite tuner, so that'll cover all we need except for the Irish channels.

    What are those of you (who don't use Sky or NTL) using or planning to use for Irish TV till a proper solution comes out for DTT?

    Is there already a solution for DTT now (I'm in north county Dublin)?

    Can anyone recommend any method to allow us to watch Irish TV - analog or digital - on our new 50PZ80?

    I've had a look at STB's post listing the DTT/sat combos, but they're not really what I'm after - ultimately, I hope to use a PS3 + PlayTV as my Irish DTT tuner/PVR, and a Foxsat HDR as my Freesat HD tuner/PVR, but till the PS3 + PlayTV set-up can receive Irish DTT, I'll be in limbo (along with everyone else, I realise): the TH-50PZ80 can't receive either analog or digital Irish broadcasts.



    Thanks for any replies,

    Mark


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    #2
    Apogee
    Registered Users Posts: 3,770 ✭✭✭Apogee


    Mark#1 wrote: »
    the TH-50PZ80 can't receive either analog or digital Irish broadcasts.

    But analogue RTÉ is transmitted on UHF in Dublin - where's the problem?


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    #3
    Mark#1
    Registered Users Posts: 565 ✭✭✭Mark#1


    Thanks for your reply, Apogee.

    I take your response to imply that the TH-50PZ80 should be able to receive analog Irish broadcasts in Dublin - is that right?

    The 50PZ80 specs on the Panasonic UK site don't mention UHF anywhere that I can see, though the manual does mention, on page 51 (under "Receiving Systems / Band Name"), "UHF E21 - E69" - does that mean the PZ80 should receive Irish channels on analog?

    Anyone else out there with a PZ80 (any size) that can confirm or deny that theirs does receive Irish broadcasts on analog?


    Thanks,

    Mark


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    #4
    kilasser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 307 ✭✭kilasser


    Hi Mark. As you say in your post your new TV will receive UHF channels from 21 to 69. This is the entire UHF band used for Irish and UK TV channels on analogue. So your TV has a UHF analogue tuner that will Receive RTE, TV3 and TG4. Good luck with the new TV and enjoy it.


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    #5
    Mark#1
    Registered Users Posts: 565 ✭✭✭Mark#1


    Good news.

    It'll be interesting to see how the PZ80 copes with analog TV broadcasts - talk about putting its scaler to the test! I'm not expecting much, but the rest of my AV stuff will all be along in due time . . .


    Thanks again,

    Mark


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    #6
    TheDriver
    Registered Users Posts: 12,394 ✭✭✭✭TheDriver


    my z81 has analog input on uhf and rte looks very good on it, not as good as digital signal but still much better than other tvs


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    #7
    Fat_Fingers
    Registered Users Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭Fat_Fingers


    I'm in Dublin north. I use Technomate 6900 Super for Freesat and Irish DTT on my LCD TV, TV doesn't have Mpeg4 tuner.


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    #8
    STB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,178 ✭✭✭STB


    Mark#1 wrote: »
    Hi,

    ultimately, I hope to use a PS3 + PlayTV as my Irish DTT tuner/PVR, and a Foxsat HDR as my Freesat HD tuner/PVR, but till the PS3 + PlayTV set-up can receive Irish DTT, I'll be in limbo (along with everyone else, I realise): the TH-50PZ80 can't receive either analog or digital Irish broadcasts.

    Mark

    Mark you'll be limbo a long time waiting for Sony to release a version of Play TV compatiable with Irish DTT. Play TV isnt aimed at this country. Mainly UK, Spain, Italy and France according to Sony. I have seen posts and counter posts from Kiwis thinking there will be a special "mpeg4" version for them. We'll see. Big problem allowing hardware to record Mpeg4 HD content for Sony I would imagine.


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    #9
    Antenna
    Registered Users Posts: 2,305 ✭✭✭Antenna


    TheDriver wrote: »
    my z81 has analog input on uhf and rte looks very good on it, not as good as digital signal

    I thought (from another post) you cannot get RTE on digital yet where you are?


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    #10
    watty
    Registered Users Posts: 32,417 ✭✭✭✭watty


    STB wrote: »
    Mark you'll be limbo a long time waiting for Sony to release a version of Play TV compatiable with Irish DTT. Play TV isnt aimed at this country. Mainly UK, Spain, Italy and France according to Sony. I have seen posts and counter posts from Kiwis thinking there will be a special "mpeg4" version for them. We'll see. Big problem allowing hardware to record Mpeg4 HD content for Sony I would imagine.

    Recording isn't an issue. The MPEG4 HD is about 2.5 times MPEG2 SD rate and still well within USB 2.0. MPEG4 SD recording is about 0.5 times bitrate.

    Sony do seem to have messed up on this. The actual decoding (not done in USB plug in PlayTV at all) is the issue. The PS3 is well able to to SD MPEG and probably HD 1080i too.

    However as each month passes it looks less likely to be released for the 15 to 18 countries that would use it.


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    #11
    Mark#1
    Registered Users Posts: 565 ✭✭✭Mark#1


    watty wrote: »
    However as each month passes it looks less likely to be released for the 15 to 18 countries that would use it.

    I'm sure there's a paradox or something in there somewhere.

    If there's a potential market of 18 countries, who would decide not to release such an attractive product? :eek: :confused:

    If what you say is true, Watty, I'll be disappointed. Not with you, of course, but with Sony.

    If it is true, it means I'll have to start researching an alternative one-stop DTT PVR solution: any suggestions on where to start?


    Thanks,

    Mark


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