Digital Switchover - UTV Region (DigitalUK)

mrdtv2010

As expected. Explains quite a bit . Started Wednesday 24th October.

http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=NY299425&irt=691505#b691505

Peter Rhea

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

As expected. Explains quite a bit . Started Wednesday 24th October.

Explains quite a bit about what, exactly? IOM is about midway between Divis & Caldbeck. You can't relate it to the situation in Armagh & Louth, from the POV of Caldbeck causing interference, anyway.

Digifriendly

'Home and Away' blocked on RTE2 via NIMM but not 'Neighbours'. Anyone know why this might be?

Our man in Havana

Rights issues.

Mr. Rabbit

watty wrote: »

Death to all DOGS. Esp now there is only Digital. One button press tells you the channel. Sheer mindless egotism by the channels.

Write and complain (more effective than email).

What's really annoying is they disappear when the ads come on.

Interstinly Sky did away with the D.O.G.'s on their main channels quite some time ago.

Mr. Rabbit

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

What's really annoying is they disappear when the ads come on.

Interstinly Sky did away with the D.O.G.'s on their main channels quite some time ago.

Yep. Sky Channel in the pre-Astra days would only show a DOG for a few seconds and then remove it, they seem to have gone back to this now.

Digifriendly

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Rights issues.

Yes but Neighbours and Home and Away are both shown by Channel 5 in UK. Why is one blacked out and the other not on NIMM?

excollier

Neighbours is about a week ahead on RTE Two

WALKINSTOWN76

Can you get text on BBC1 HD UTV HD & CH4 HD

Mr. Rabbit

Digifriendly wrote: »

Yes but Neighbours and Home and Away are both shown by Channel 5 in UK. Why is one blacked out and the other not on NIMM?

I'm pretty sure they hadn't blacked out home and away for quite some time on the Sky service in NI, prior to DSO.

I wonder why they started again last week ??????

Obviously something to do with the NI mux.

Mr. Rabbit

WALKINSTOWN76 wrote: »

Can you get text on BBC1 HD UTV HD & CH4 HD

No.

Digifriendly

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they hadn't blacked out home and away for quite some time on the Sky service in NI, prior to DSO.

I wonder why they started again last week ??????

Obviously something to do with the NI mux.

Interestingly Home and Away on Sky in NI on RTE is not blacked out but on NIMM it is blacked out!

lawhec

I've been trying to look a bit more into the problem with the Metronic T2 HD Zapbox not storing the NIMM channels so I did the following...

* Plug the aerial out of the socket on the STB.

* Implement a "first time install".

* Install the STB to be set up as normal through its menus, then perform an automatic scan. As expected, no services were found.

* Go back through the menus, and this time select manual channel scan

* Select channel 30 (NIMM from Brougher)

* Plug the aerial back into the STB. The signal strength and quality readings fluctuate from 50%/medium to none, but this isn't a major concern itself - press "OK" on the remote to scan for channels on this frequency.

The channels it then finds are not the NIMM services, but those of the Freeview BBC B HD multiplex! These are then stored into the receiver but when you then exit the menu and select 101 for BBC One NI HD, it comes up with a caption "Service is not running". The same caption comes up for all services - BBC HD, UTV HD, 4HD, 303 and The Space.

An educated guess as to what's happening - it seems that the hardware itself is perfectly capable of tuning into the NIMM multiplex and the flickering display stats in manual tuning are not a worry in itself - what appears to be happening in my view is that the STB firmware is for some reason unable to correctly process some level of information in the NIT or SDT in the multiplex, resulting in the services of another multiplex being stored as a result - but when it comes to tuning these services in the receiver thinks that the tuner should be tuned to the frequency used by the NIMM. Hence in my case while the tuner should for BBC One HI HD on LCN 101 tune into E25 (Brougher's BBC B mux), it is tuning into E30 instead - hence the error message appearing that the "Service is not running". It looks like a firmware update would solve the issue, wherever one is released is another question entirely.

Just as a comparison, I've used TSReader Lite with a USB DVB-T tuner to read the NIT tables - as a rule all Freeview Multiplexes in the Northern Ireland network carry a significant amount of the same info to allow network searching, EPG population across all network multiplex services, time and time offsets etc.

The following is the NIT data for the BBC A multiplex - notice that the lead frequency in the table corresponds to that for Divis, the 'lead' transmitter for the region, despite the data being sourced from Brougher Mountain...

Network Name: Northern Ireland
Network ID: 12376 (0x3058)
Transport Stream ID: 4221 (0x107d)
Original Network ID: 9018 (0x233a) Version: 29
Descriptor: Network Name Descriptor
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 0a 47 42 52 65 6e 67 50 4e 6f 72 74 68 65 72 6e  .GBRengPNorthern
 20 49 72 65 6c 61 6e 64 04                        Ireland.       
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 09 47 42 52 f9 04                                .GBR..          
Descriptor: Linkage Descriptor
 Transport Stream ID: 4221 (0x107d) 522.0 MHz
 Original Network ID: 9018 (0x233a)
 Service ID: 4416
 Linkage Type: System Software Update Service
Descriptor: Linkage Descriptor
 Transport Stream ID: 16573 (0x40bd) 
 Original Network ID: 9018 (0x233a)
 Service ID: 17472
 Linkage Type: System Software Update Service
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 07 30 41 20 07 01 db 9f 23 00 00 06 00 00 18 02  .0A ....#.......
 10 7d 23 3a 08 01 db a0 10 00 00 05 00 00 18 02  .}#:............
 10 7d 23 3a 30 42 20 09 01 db 9f 23 00 00 06 00  .}#:0B ....#....
 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a 0a 01 db a0 10 00 00 05 00  ....}#:.........
 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a 30 43 20 0b 01 db 9f 23 00  ....}#:0C ....#.
 00 06 00 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a 0c 01 db a0 10 00  .......}#:......
 00 05 00 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a                    .......}#:      
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 08 02 65 6e 67 49 66 20 79 6f 75 20 66 69 6e 64  ..engIf you find
 20 79 6f 75 20 68 61 76 65 20 6c 6f 73 74 20 79   you have lost y
 6f 75 72 20 63 68 61 6e 6e 65 6c 73 20 61 74 20  our channels at 
 73 77 69 74 63 68 6f 76 65 72 20 70 6c 65 61 73  switchover pleas
 65 20 72 65 2d 74 75 6e 65 20 79 6f 75 72 20 46  e re-tune your F
 72 65 65 76 69 65 77 20 54 56 20 6f 72 20 62 6f  reeview TV or bo
 78 20 74 6f 20 67 65 74 20 74 68 65 6d 20 62 61  x to get them ba
 63 6b 2e                                         ck.             
DVB-T Frequency 522.000 MHz
Bandwidth: 8 MHz Constellation: 64-QAM
Hierarchy: non-hierarchical, native interleaver Guard Interval 1/32
Code Rate: 2/3
Current Network: True
Descriptor: Service List Descriptor
 Service: 4221 (BBC ONE NI) digital television service
 Service: 4285 (BBC TWO NI) digital television service
 Service: 4288 (BBC THREE) digital television service
 Service: 4544 (BBC FOUR) digital television service
 Service: 4608 (CBBC Channel) digital television service
 Service: 4672 (CBeebies) digital television service
 Service: 4352 (BBC NEWS) digital television service
 Service: 4736 (BBC Parliament) digital television service
 Service: 4416 (BBC Red Button) digital television service
 Service: 7168 (301) digital television service
 Service: 7232 (302) digital television service
 Service: 6720 (BBC Radio 1) digital radio sound service
 Service: 5888 (BBC R1X) digital radio sound service
 Service: 6784 (BBC Radio 2) digital radio sound service
 Service: 6848 (BBC Radio 3) digital radio sound service
 Service: 6912 (BBC Radio 4) digital radio sound service
 Service: 5632 (BBC R5L) digital radio sound service
 Service: 5696 (BBC R5SX) digital radio sound service
 Service: 5760 (BBC 6 Music) digital radio sound service
 Service: 5824 (BBC Radio 4 Ex) digital radio sound service
 Service: 5952 (BBC Asian Net.) digital radio sound service
 Service: 6016 (BBC World Sv.) digital radio sound service
 Service: 6333 (BBC Radio Ulster) digital radio sound service
 Service: 6397 (BBC Radio Foyle) digital radio sound service
Descriptor: Private Data Specifier Descriptor
 Private Data Specifier: Independent Television Commission
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x83
 Logical channel 1 = MPEG service 4221 (BBC ONE NI)
 Logical channel 7 = MPEG service 4288 (BBC THREE)
 Logical channel 71 = MPEG service 4672 (CBeebies)
 Logical channel 719 = MPEG service 6333 (BBC Radio Ulster)
 Logical channel 703 = MPEG service 6848 (BBC Radio 3)
 Logical channel 707 = MPEG service 5760 (BBC 6 Music)
 Logical channel 9 = MPEG service 4544 (BBC FOUR)
 Logical channel 81 = MPEG service 4736 (BBC Parliament)
 Logical channel 705 = MPEG service 5632 (BBC R5L)
 Logical channel 701 = MPEG service 5888 (BBC R1X)
 Logical channel 301 = MPEG service 7168 (301)
 Logical channel 709 = MPEG service 5952 (BBC Asian Net.)
 Logical channel 2 = MPEG service 4285 (BBC TWO NI)
 Logical channel 70 = MPEG service 4608 (CBBC Channel)
 Logical channel 710 = MPEG service 6016 (BBC World Sv.)
 Logical channel 702 = MPEG service 6784 (BBC Radio 2)
 Logical channel 302 = MPEG service 7232 (302)
 Logical channel 706 = MPEG service 5696 (BBC R5SX)
 Logical channel 80 = MPEG service 4352 (BBC NEWS)
 Logical channel 200 = MPEG service 4416 (BBC Red Button)
 Logical channel 720 = MPEG service 6397 (BBC Radio Foyle)
 Logical channel 704 = MPEG service 6912 (BBC Radio 4)
 Logical channel 708 = MPEG service 5824 (BBC Radio 4 Ex)
 Logical channel 700 = MPEG service 6720 (BBC Radio 1)

Sourced from the same multiplex is the NIT information for the BBC B DVB-T2 multiplex...

Network Name: Northern Ireland
Network ID: 12376 (0x3058)
Transport Stream ID: 16573 (0x40bd)
Original Network ID: 9018 (0x233a) Version: 29
Descriptor: Network Name Descriptor
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 0a 47 42 52 65 6e 67 50 4e 6f 72 74 68 65 72 6e  .GBRengPNorthern
 20 49 72 65 6c 61 6e 64 04                        Ireland.       
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 09 47 42 52 f9 04                                .GBR..          
Descriptor: Linkage Descriptor
 Transport Stream ID: 4221 (0x107d) 522.0 MHz
 Original Network ID: 9018 (0x233a)
 Service ID: 4416
 Linkage Type: System Software Update Service
Descriptor: Linkage Descriptor
 Transport Stream ID: 16573 (0x40bd) 
 Original Network ID: 9018 (0x233a)
 Service ID: 17472
 Linkage Type: System Software Update Service
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 07 30 41 20 07 01 db 9f 23 00 00 06 00 00 18 02  .0A ....#.......
 10 7d 23 3a 08 01 db a0 10 00 00 05 00 00 18 02  .}#:............
 10 7d 23 3a 30 42 20 09 01 db 9f 23 00 00 06 00  .}#:0B ....#....
 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a 0a 01 db a0 10 00 00 05 00  ....}#:.........
 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a 30 43 20 0b 01 db 9f 23 00  ....}#:0C ....#.
 00 06 00 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a 0c 01 db a0 10 00  .......}#:......
 00 05 00 00 18 02 10 7d 23 3a                    .......}#:      
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 08 02 65 6e 67 49 66 20 79 6f 75 20 66 69 6e 64  ..engIf you find
 20 79 6f 75 20 68 61 76 65 20 6c 6f 73 74 20 79   you have lost y
 6f 75 72 20 63 68 61 6e 6e 65 6c 73 20 61 74 20  our channels at 
 73 77 69 74 63 68 6f 76 65 72 20 70 6c 65 61 73  switchover pleas
 65 20 72 65 2d 74 75 6e 65 20 79 6f 75 72 20 46  e re-tune your F
 72 65 65 76 69 65 77 20 54 56 20 6f 72 20 62 6f  reeview TV or bo
 78 20 74 6f 20 67 65 74 20 74 68 65 6d 20 62 61  x to get them ba
 63 6b 2e                                         ck.             
Current Network: True
Descriptor: Service List Descriptor
 Service: 20096 (UTV HD) advanced codec HD digital television
 Service: 17664 (Channel 4 HD) advanced codec HD digital television
 Service: 17472 (BBC HD) advanced codec HD digital television
 Service: 17597 (BBC One NI HD) advanced codec HD digital television
 Service: 19648 (303) advanced codec HD digital television
 Service: 20288 (The Space) data broadcast service
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 04 00 40 29                                      ..@)            
Descriptor: Private Data Specifier Descriptor
 Private Data Specifier: Independent Television Commission
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x83
 Logical channel 303 = MPEG service 19648 (303)
 Logical channel 103 = MPEG service 20096 (UTV HD)
 Logical channel 101 = MPEG service 17597 (BBC One NI HD)
 Logical channel 102 = MPEG service 17472 (BBC HD)
 Logical channel 104 = MPEG service 17664 (Channel 4 HD)
 Logical channel 232 = MPEG service 20288 (The Space)

...and finally the NIT for the DVB-T2 NIMM

Network Name: 
Network ID: 12376 (0x3058)
Transport Stream ID: 28673 (0x7001)
Original Network ID: 9018 (0x233a) Version: 29
Current Network: True
Descriptor: Service List Descriptor
 Service: 28865 (TG4) advanced codec SD digital television
 Service: 28737 (RTÂE One) advanced codec SD digital television
 Service: 28801 (RTÂE Two) advanced codec SD digital television
 Service: 28929 (RTÂE RnaG) digital radio sound service
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x7f
 04 00 70 01                                      ..p.            
Descriptor: Private Data Specifier Descriptor
 Private Data Specifier: Independent Television Commission
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x83
 Logical channel 51 = MPEG service 28865 (TG4)
 Logical channel 729 = MPEG service 28929 (RTÂE RnaG)
 Logical channel 53 = MPEG service 28801 (RTÂE Two)
 Logical channel 52 = MPEG service 28737 (RTÂE One)

egal

Re. Zapbox.
I was eventually able to get the HD channels to work by initiating a first-time install and removing the aerial as soon as channel 28 had been scanned, so that channel 30 was not providing a signal to the box as it was scanned. Replaced the aerial just before reaching channel 47 so that Saorview Longford channels were stored. After that did a manual scan of channel 30 to try for NIMM, but to no avail. But at least it didn't interfere with proper operation of the HD channels.

FREETV

Egal and Lawhec, I sent Metronic an email several days ago about the problems with their boxes and I mentioned Vestel but they never bothered to get back to me. :mad: Maybe we all should email both Metronic and Vestel about their crap chronic buggy firmware? I don't see any updates from Harvard either for their two to three year old products. Maybe naming and shaming them on UK forums might make a difference. Watchdog on BBC1 next.

Millsy47

I sent my Bush Freeview HD box back to Argos Outlet.

FREETV

Millsy47 wrote: »

I sent my Bush Freeview HD box back to Argos Outlet.

What happened? Did you get a swap or a refund? Did they say that they would inform Vestel?

Millsy47

I bought the Bush Freeview HD box from Argos Outlet which is on Ebay, about a month ago. I rang them up and explained that i could not get all the channels, unlike the other 2 boxes I have. So they told that they would have to give me a refund because they don't do exchanges because it is a clearing house. So they emailed me a label to put on the package and told me to take it to a shop they named. Its a system known as Collect Plus, I've never heard of it before. So I'm waiting for an email telling me i that my Paypal account has been refunded.
By the way I bought a 500gb Buffalo MiniStation hard drive of Ebay for my Humax HD Fox T2. Refurbished £34.99 including next day delivery (and it was next day from England). Looks new to me the polythene protection still attached to the case. Saved me £15.80 well pleased.

The Vestal clones are all discontinued, I think you'll be waiting awhile for a firmware update.

jeltz

FREETV wrote: »

Egal and Lawhec, I sent Metronic an email several days ago about the problems with their boxes and I mentioned Vestel but they never bothered to get back to me. :mad: Maybe we all should email both Metronic and Vestel about their crap chronic buggy firmware?

Metronic are rubbish for customer support.

Pighead

Need help from the clever people in here. Was just out in my parents house trying to install their new digital receiver they bought for the second television.

Thought it would be just a case of setting it up, pressing auto-scan and hey presto, all the Irish and English stations would be installed. This is what I done in my house in Dundalk and it picked up all the stations straight away.

Anyway the yoke they bought is a Ferguson Ariva T65 mini and it consists of a small box that's connected to the back of the telly via a scart and an eye that you put on top of the television.

When I do an auto-scan all the Irish channels come up but none of the English ones. Think it was auto-scanning on channel 59. Read this thread and seen various other channels being mentioned so tried to manual scan those numbers but without any joy. Anybody know what I'm doing wrong?

They live about 8 miles south of Dundalk by the way.

egal

FREETV wrote: »

Egal and Lawhec, I sent Metronic an email several days ago about the problems with their boxes and I mentioned Vestel but they never bothered to get back to me. :mad: Maybe we all should email both Metronic and Vestel about their crap chronic buggy firmware? I don't see any updates from Harvard either for their two to three year old products. Maybe naming and shaming them on UK forums might make a difference. Watchdog on BBC1 next.

I sent Metronic an e-mail as well. They didn't even ignore me.

kah22

I would appreciate members helping me understand what is happening with my RTE signal and if there is anything I can do to improve the situation. But first my basic setup.

I have a Sony Bravia television and a Humax Fox-T2 digital recorder. My aerial goes into the Humax and out of the Humax into the television. There is a HDMI lead from the Humax to the television. I have two aerials, updated sometime back for digital switchover. There is a splitter box attached to the aerials. I normally watch the television with the signal coming via the Humax

Here is what is happening with the above setup. If I turn on the antenna power via the Humax then I have no difficulty getting a perfect RTE 1, 2 and TG4 signal but I can only receive it coming from the Monaghan transmitter, turn the power off and the RTE signal disappears. However, if I leave the antenna power on and go to one of the UK stations then picture breakup occurs on a regular basis, which means of course that I can’t watch RTE and record a UK station with any confidence.

Again with the above setup here is what is happens if from inputs I choose TV rather than Digital. RTE 1 2 and TG4 will appear on channel 34 and again on channel 55. The former I take to be from Belfast. Again antenna power is ‘on.’ Turn antenna power ‘off’ and both RTE signals disappears.

I would have thought that with RTE broadcasting out of Belfast that my RTE Belfast signal should not need an aerial boost. Neither can I understand why breakup occurs on UK channels when I turn on the antenna power on the Humax. What would happen if I were to use one of those external boosters?

Finally living in Armagh City I think I should receive a good quality signal from Belfast. After carrying out a factory reset on both the television and Humax I get 107 stations.

Kevin

lucernarian

I strongly suspect a problem with the setup of the box which combines the two aerial outputs into the one downlead (aka the combiner) and/or the masthead amplifier used alongside this. More than likely needs an installer to fix unless you're comfortable with and know how to work safely on an aerial at rooftop height!

The Cush

kah22 wrote: »

I would appreciate members helping me understand what is happening with my RTE signal and if there is anything I can do to improve the situation. But first my basic setup.

...

Again with the above setup here is what is happens if from inputs I choose TV rather than Digital. RTE 1 2 and TG4 will appear on channel 34 and again on channel 55.

Is this the same/similar problem you were discussing in another thread?

You say channel 34, no transmitter north or south uses UHF CH 34.

mrdtv2010

I am not sure if this has been posted in the excitement of the last ten days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-20052793

Enjoy.....

Delboy5

Millsy47 wrote: »

I sent my Bush Freeview HD box back to Argos Outlet.

I bought this Bush Freeview HD box in Argos about 2 weeks ago

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5323218/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CTechnology%7C33006169/c_2/2%7C33006169%7CSet+top+boxes%2C+recorders+and+satelite%7C33008689/c_3/3%7Ccat_33008689%7CSet+top+boxes%7C33015958.htm


Working perfectly !!!

formerly scottish paddy

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

I am not sure if this has been posted in the excitement of the last ten days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-20052793

Enjoy.....

Just getting a message that the content is not working

Peter Rhea

kah22 wrote: »

But first my basic setup.

I have a Sony Bravia television and a Humax Fox-T2 digital recorder. My aerial goes into the Humax and out of the Humax into the television. There is a HDMI lead from the Humax to the television. I have two aerials, updated sometime back for digital switchover. There is a splitter box attached to the aerials.

As mentioned in earlier threads, you'll need to provide a more detailed description of the aerial setup: 'splitter box' is too vague.

Do the UK channels disappear when antenna power is switched off?

Digifriendly

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

I am not sure if this has been posted in the excitement of the last ten days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-20052793

Enjoy.....

Strangely doesn't show screen going blank and resulting snow storm effect.

excollier

I recorded it for posterity. (How sad is that)