Channel 4HD Free to Air from 10th March

givecredit

As title says Channel 4HD going fta from 10th March.

Retune required. Channel Name 55300. Settings as follows:
(Currently Free to View)

frequency 12607
polarisation V (vertical)
Modulation DVB-S2 QPSK
Symbol rate 27500
FEC 3/4
Rolloff 0.35

Enjoy from 10th!

homer911

And on Freesat from 1/4/11 provisionally

Apogee

On a widebeam transponder? Is this a temporary frequency?

BArra

will it be joining the sky hd irish epg or will we have to get at it through other channels does anyone know?

Rick_

Unknown at present, (at least to the general population) whether it will be remaining on the current transponder or moving at a later date. The symbol rate has at least changed so it is available for Sky+ HD boxes to tune in so ROI customers can watch if it doesn't appear on the EPG.

DigiDec

Is it there at the moment? I'm getting nothing.

Minstrel27

DigiDec wrote: »

Is it there at the moment? I'm getting nothing.

It is there but it's encrypted.

givecredit

Yes, Still there. Are you trying to get it with a SkyHd box. My understanding is that a Sky HD box cannot manually add it as you cannot manually scan S2 on skyhd boxes.

norbert64

givecredit wrote: »

Yes, Still there. Are you trying to get it with a SkyHd box. My understanding is that a Sky HD box cannot manually add it as you cannot manually scan S2 on skyhd boxes.

Indeed.
Tried it on my Thomson HD box, no joy.

Tried on my little FTA HD box though, and it sees it.
Like Minstrel said, she's still encrypted sadly.

Nowso

it will be decrypted and free to air on march 10 as the contract with sky ends and then lauch on freesat with egp on Aug 1st

evilivor

Nowso wrote: »

it will be decrypted and free to air on march 10 as the contract with sky ends and then lauch on freesat with egp on Aug 1st

It's joining Freesat in April.

steveon

Anything FTA thats in HD can only be a good thing...ch4 has always been one of my favourite channels so cant wait for this..

Nowso

evilivor wrote: »

It's joining Freesat in April.

sorry meant April

PressTheButton

C4HD is expected to launch on Freesat on the 1st April 2011. This date isn’t officially confirmed and is subject to change, but NOT an Aprils Fools. If you can't wait till official launch, the channel should be broadcasting ‘in the clear’ (FTA) from 10th March so you can scan non-Freesat mode to access it as per givecredit's settings above. As confirmed by Minstrel27 and norbert64 for now Channel 55300 is an encrypted service.

Minstrel27

I have just noticed that it is FTA now.

Cantona's Collars

Minstrel27 wrote: »

I have just noticed that it is FTA now.

Any joy with getting it on a skybox yet?

Minstrel27

I don't use a Sky box so cannot answer.

Machinehead

Channel 4HD now FTA on 12606V. ID 55300 no EPG.

norbert64

zerks wrote: »

Any joy with getting it on a skybox yet?

Tried again there on my Thomson box, still no luck.:o

Machinehead

Just came across the channel 4HD forum on DS. Some suggest a full rescan might be needed to find the channel.

dunleas

Machinehead wrote: »

Channel 4HD now FTA on 12606V. ID 55300 no EPG.

Is this from Astra 28E?

Machinehead

Yep. No matter now anyway, they've encrypted it again.

So even though the SR is 27500 it still doesn't lock because it's DVB-S2?

Minstrel27

Karsini wrote: »

So even though the SR is 27500 it still doesn't lock because it's DVB-S2?

The good old crippled Sky box. What happens if BBC One HD goes the way of DVB-S2? Can Irish subscribers kiss goodbye to that too?

FREETV

Machinehead wrote: »

Channel 4HD now FTA on 12606V. ID 55300 no EPG.

Excellent, I will scan that in within the next half hour and I will have a look at the picture quality and compare it with the other few FTA HD channels.

Minstrel27

FREETV wrote: »

Excellent, I will scan that in within the next half hour and I will have a look at the picture quality and compare it with the other few FTA HD channels.

It is encrypted again.

Strawberry HillBilly

Any hope of ever getting this on SKY HD box ?

Minstrel27

When Sky deems the Irish viewer to be worthy, then they will do a deal with Channel 4

Machinehead

I understand that at the moment they are broadcasting on DVB-S2 which sky boxes can't see (Open to correction on all this). DS boards say that it's due to go FTA on 10/03/2010 & on freesat EGP in April. Also a new test channel has appeared on the BBC HD transponder @10847V channel ID 6945 with a HD flag but showing encrypted. Speculation is that C4HD may appear there at freesat launch.

watty

Many Sky HD channels are on DVB-S2. All HD boxes including Sky HD boxes do DVB-S2.

The "other channels" settings will be limited.

Machinehead

I stand corrected.

Machinehead

Machinehead wrote: »

I stand corrected.

It's not that the box can't do S2, it's just that the manual tuning doesn't seem to lock on a S2 transponder, even if it is at one of the two supported symbol rates.

liamtech

Moved again:

This time to 12607 - 27500SR - FEC2/3 - very werid that it keeps moving - i mean i know its still testing- but i would have assumed that it would have found its home at this stage

Also worth noting that the signal quality has dropped a bit - i was getting 80% when the SR was 23000, now i get 67% - dish is fairly well aligned, btw

watty

If everything else is equal higher SR = lower SNR = Eb/No = Quality.

denis1501

liamtech wrote: »

Moved again:

This time to 12607 - 27500SR - FEC2/3 - very werid that it keeps moving - i mean i know its still testing- but i would have assumed that it would have found its home at this stage

Also worth noting that the signal quality has dropped a bit - i was getting 80% when the SR was 23000, now i get 67% - dish is fairly well aligned, btw

It's actually FEC 3/4.

liamtech

denis1501 wrote: »

It's actually FEC 3/4.

your right it is 3/4, apologies - cant wait until the thursday when it is actually FTA and presumably not jumping around the transponder at different SR's

Machinehead

If it's to FTA, surely it needs to be Astra 2D, otherwise there will be massive overspill. Will it move to BBC's transponder @10847V, where there's already another channel testing (6942) also with HD flag & encrypted?

liamtech

Machinehead wrote: »

If it's to FTA, surely it needs to be Astra 2D, otherwise there will be massive overspill. Will it move to BBC's transponder @10847V, where there's already another channel testing (6942) also with HD flag & encrypted?

According to a user on digital spy that particular channel (6942) is actually ITV - strange given the other channels are BBC -

Minstrel27

Machinehead wrote: »

If it's to FTA, surely it needs to be Astra 2D, otherwise there will be massive overspill.

ITV HD was on a massive footprint for ages FTA.

Machinehead

Just pulled this from ukfree.tv site. Response following a query to C4 10th Feb.

We do plan to be using the DVB-S2
transmission mode in alignment with the
strategy of our satellite transmission
provider, therefore, I am afraid that PC
cards, or for that matter, any other
receiver that cannot receive DVB-S2, will
suffer as a result. Freesat HD branded
equipment should be OK, however, with DVB-
S2.

Please note that other broadcasters may
adopt DVB-S2 transmission in the future
also, which will present the same problem
again.

Rick_

liamtech wrote: »

According to a user on digital spy that particular channel (6942) is actually ITV - strange given the other channels are BBC -

Just as strange if Channel 4 HD went there, the other channels would still be BBC too... :cool:

Channel 4 HD isn't going on 2D yet, it will be launching on Eurobird and will move when 1N is up and running around the summer and providing lots of extra space tight over the UK like 2D is now. 5★ and 5 USA will hopefully also be launching on 1N this summer and will join Freesat too for anyone using a branded receiver.

scout353

Just tried it through Sky HD box and getting no signal found message!

12.607 V 27500 and tried all the FEC's

scout353

scout353 wrote: »

Just tried it through Sky HD box and getting no signal found message!

12.607 V 27500 and tried all the FEC's

Can't be tuned on a Sky box, the manual tuning doesn't work on S2 transponders.

watty

Sky need to fix that.
They are legally obliged to provide Manual Tuning for FTA channels.

Of course up till now all DVB-S2 on 28.2E has been PayTV?

DigiDec

Isn't there an EU law that says all FTA tv channels have to be able to be tuned (even via other channels on a sky box) on any box?

watty

Not quite, but Premiere in Germany lost a Court case. It was deemed illegal in Europe to lock a Satellite TV box to the Pay provider channels only.

The Sky box was only ever able to tune the two symbol rates used on 28.2E and 28.5E, not the wider range used on some other satellites.

DigiDec

Thanks Watty.

Machinehead

55300 now FTA since 1pm approx. No EPG data or channel name, still with encryption flag.

liamtech

it was FTA but i the last hour has become encrypted again :eek:

Pat Gleeson

When ITV HD launched on Freesat via the red button, it was viewable only after a software change with the new Sky EPG launch. I can see a similar situation happening here.
AFAIK all FTA channels have to be viewable on all receivers. FTA channels are either on a Symbol rate of 22.0 or 27.5 - which can be manually selected on Sky boxes.

liamtech

i have to say i find this quite weird - i know it hasnt gone FTA yet - apparently thats on the 10th of this month -

But the symbol rate fluctuations are odd, wouldn't you say - 22000 to 28250, to 27500, to 23000, to 27500 again etc

I can only assume this is an attempt to limit the footprint as much as possible - i suppose that this may have something to do with the different signal strength and quality if the various rates -

Watty you stated previously that

"If everything else is equal higher SR = lower SNR = Eb/No = Quality"

Could you elaborate this, i presume SNR is signal to noise ratio,