Magners League Final and Champions League Final in HD

Mayo Exile

The Cush wrote: »

Saorview promo ad on Morning Ireland this morning. It said "HD hurling, rugby and football this weekend". The football must be the CL Final as no Gaelic football in HD was announced.

Still getting mixed messages on this it seems. Only the Magners League Final and Cork v Tipp in the hurling on Sunday were mentioned at the launch today as being in HD. CL Final not mentioned.

Article In Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0526/breaking56.html

Machinehead

fat-tony wrote: »

Get a grip - the source device is SD all of the time until Saturday:rolleyes:

After that, the debate can start as to how good/bad/indifferent RTE's HD quality is in comparison to BBC/ITV/C4/SKY/etc.etc.:D:D:D

A lot of people upset re pic quality/bitrate & bandwidth given over on Freesat to BBC 1 HD & BBC HD in this thread from DS forums. (Interesting comments made re freeview vs freesat & that both must be given equal preference & that none should appear better that the other. Claims made that freesat pq is being be reduced or held back so that the potentially better freesat pq doesn't show up freeview DTT ~ suffering from lack of bandwidth)

BBC One HD gets bitrate increase just for the Royal Wedding

Minstrel27

Mayo Exile wrote: »

Still getting mixed messages on this it seems. Only the Magners League Final and Cork v Tipp in the hurling on Sunday were mentioned at the launch today as being in HD. CL Final not mentioned.

Article In Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0526/breaking56.html

An advert did state that the Champions League will also be HD so I think that they were reading from an old press release yesterday,

Mayo Exile

Minstrel27 wrote: »

An advert did state that the Champions League will also be HD so I think that they were reading from an old press release yesterday,

Hard to know at this stage. The Cush posted this RTE press release over in the "Saorview Official Launch" thread earlier this morning. No mention of the CL Final in HD.

Link: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72442382&postcount=71

Part of RTE press release:

The first ever free-to-air HD broadcast in Ireland will feature the Magners League Grand Final as Munster face newly crowned European Champions Leinster this Saturday 28th May live from Thomond Park. The HD action then continues with the highly anticipated Munster Hurling Senior Championship Quarter Final in Semple Stadium between Cork and Tipperary on Sunday 29th May broadcast live on RTÉ Two HD on SAORVIEW.

The Cush

It just occured to me that during the Magners League final this evening they should be able to allocate a lot of Mbps to the match as both RTÉjr and RTÉ One +1 will be off-air.

My guess there should be about 2.5 Mbps spare capacity available. That should make 8-9 Mbps available for the event.

Can anyone monitor this during the match?

swoofer

I think the allocation for HD is a given ie about 7mbps MAX. I dont think they have the facility or the inclination to vary it. But it will be a very interesting experiment as we have sky, bbc, itv, ch4, ch5, espn, to compare it against, not same game but just for pic quality. I hope they pull out all the stops and do us proud.

gb--

copacetic

GBCULLEN wrote: »

I think the allocation for HD is a given ie about 7mbps. I dont think they have the facility or the inclination to vary it. But it will be a very interesting experiment as we have sky, bbc, itv, ch4, ch5, espn, to compare it against, not same game but just for pic quality. I hope they pull out all the stops and do us proud.

gb--

On a stat mux channels will constantly vary within their range depending on content.

swoofer

sorry I should have said up to a max of 7mbps.

markie29

i just realised this means we are going to see George Hooks face in HD!! eeeeek

seanp_25

markie29 wrote: »

i just realised this means we are going to see George Hooks face in HD!! eeeeek

Eamonn Dunphy too. I'm sure this is the reason for the uncertainty about whether the Champions League will be HD.
His make-up people are pushing against it. There's only so much they can do.

JDxtra

I thought only the match feed would be HD, and the studio bit would be SD. Unless their plans have changed recently.

Machinehead

Attached JPEG selection from tvtrade.ie site on tonight's game.
(page link)
http://www.tvtrade.ie/blog/tag/saorview-box/

Manc-Red

watty wrote: »

No. Sky Sports is their main selling point followed by people not realising what UK TV is available FTA. A high proportion of time the Pay HD channels are actually upscalled SD. Sky1 and Sky Sports (all sports added) are the two top pay channels with less than 2% viewing time each. FTA channels get over 90% viewing time in Ireland and UK.

Sky will add RTE2 HD if they think it's an issue. They will not be in a hurry.

Completely disagree - RTE may not be as big as a draw as say Sky Sports admittedly, but compared to ITV & BBC (FTA) they are to the Irish Subs...

People still think that RTE & TV3 are under the FTA guise when going for Sky because the package of Irish channels are part of a 'Free' package when they buy one or more pack(s)..... According to Sky of course, which is complete & utter nonsense :rolleyes:

The Cush

GBCULLEN wrote: »

I think the allocation for HD is a given ie about 7mbps MAX. I dont think they have the facility or the inclination to vary it. But it will be a very interesting experiment as we have sky, bbc, itv, ch4, ch5, espn, to compare it against, not same game but just for pic quality. I hope they pull out all the stops and do us proud.

GBCULLEN wrote: »

sorry I should have said up to a max of 7mbps.

copacetic wrote: »

On a stat mux channels will constantly vary within their range depending on content.

HD is Stat Muxed - Min 2.0 Mbps Max 9.0 Mbps

This from RTÉ

Capacity Required for HD and SD Services

The following technical specifications are being proposed by RTÉNL and are subject to contract negotiations with broadcasters.

Statistical multiplexing will be used for all video services, audio and data services are fixed bit rate.

It is planned to use the following bit rates as part of a statistical multiplexed pool.

High Definition Video (HD)
1 Minimum of 2.0 Mbps
2 Maximum of 9.0 Mbps
3 Weighting 90%
4 Resolution 1440 x 1080i
5 Expected average bit rate 6.0 Mbps

Standard Definition Video (SD)
• Minimum of 1.0 Mbps
• Maximum of 8.0 Mbps
• Weighting 90%
• Resolution 544 x 576
• Expected average bit rate 2.0 Mbps

JDxtra wrote: »

I thought only the match feed would be HD, and the studio bit would be SD. Unless their plans have changed recently.

That was the plan, haven't heard otherwise. The Project 2025 redevelopment includes new HD production studios

NIMAN

Working during the rugby today, could some boardies keep us informed as to the quality of the HD transmission please.

Thanks.

Machinehead

Programme info for the rugby now has HD included in the information....... still nothing on the footie:(

seanp_25

Studio stuff looks HD now. The HD dog is much sharper looking too.

desaparecidos

The RTE studio backdrops are actually textured.

Minstrel27

It looks ok. Comparable to BBC HD

barnicles

The sharpness of the HD DOG is much improved, the studio stuff does look pretty good. I've also noticed a general improving of quality since yesterday, perhaps the new system has a better upscaler

Minstrel27

Yeah. The Carling Nations Cup highlights last night looked great for an upscaled programme.

noisenotmusic

I'm getting signal break up when they show that shot in the studio of the three panelists, presumably because it needs more bandwidth with more detail etc. Everything else looks great though.

Mayo Exile

Info on programme in Sony TV EPG. HD indicated.

Gipo3

Breaking up on me too.

glimmerman123

The picture quality is excellent well done RTE.

Machinehead

No picture break up here from Maghera. The Mike Ross interview insert was clearly upscaled SD, rough edges everywhere. Pity about the CL game later:(

vicwatson

Is CL deffo NOT in HD ?

JoseJones

Machinehead wrote: »

No picture break up here from Maghera. The Mike Ross interview insert was clearly upscaled SD, rough edges everywhere. Pity about the CL game later

What about it!? I thought it was in HD?

sky23

JoseJones wrote: »

What about it!? I thought it was in HD?

It is in HD!!! its says it in the rte guide

watty

Your aerial is not good enough if you have ANY breakup. Strangely a Lucosade ad was apparently HD

The Cush

vicwatson wrote: »

Is CL deffo NOT in HD ?

The RTÉ Guide says it is - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72454624

seanp_25

1920x1080 screenshot

Really impressed. The game looks great. Bitrate up at 8.2 - 8.8Mbit.

mike65

SD transmission on TG4 (sorry if I'm late with that info) so a direct comparison can be made.

Gipo3

Better picture than BBC HD

JoseJones

mike65 wrote: »

SD transmission on TG4 (sorry if I'm late with that info) so a direct comparison can be made.

It burns my eyes when I watch on TG4 now :pac:. Damn you HD!!!

The Cush

Anyone monitoring the bitrate?

holidaysong

Message at the start of the match about it being in HD on Saorview:

PressTheButton

glimmerman123 wrote: »

The picture quality is excellent well done RTE.

+1. Glad I didn't wait any longer to get the Saorview STB!

seanp_25

The Cush wrote: »

Anyone monitoring the bitrate?

Higher than normal. 8.2 - 8.8MBit

Minstrel27

Pixellated badly with the sea of red flags just now.

barnicles

There are a LOT of artefacts whenever there is a shot of waving flags in the crowd, other than that it looks damn good

sreenshot of the rugby showing a direct comparison of the RTE2HD picture and the TG4 picture.

very impressed with it.

took the pics when watching fullscreen on iMac using Elgato.
didnt readjust the size of the pics after taking.

The Cush

holidaysong wrote: »

Message at the start of the match about it being in HD on Saorview:

There was also an onscreen intro displayed when they handed over from the studio to the commentary "available in HD on Saorview" (or similar).

NIMAN

Looking good so far then. Good on ye, RTE.

Re: artefacts, have seen that before on Sky TV - why does digital TV go all blocky at times? Have also seen it when there is a studio shot with a lot of flashing lights and panning camera - a la Top of the Pops etc.

The Cush

seanp_25 wrote: »

Higher than normal. 8.2 - 8.8MBit

Thanks for that. Guessed they might do that earlier.

The Cush wrote: »

It just occured to me that during the Magners League final this evening they should be able to allocate a lot of Mbps to the match as both RTÉjr and RTÉ One +1 will be off-air.

My guess there should be about 2.5 Mbps spare capacity available. That should make 8-9 Mbps available for the event.

Can anyone monitor this during the match?

Running near the 9.0 Mbps max for the HD channel - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72463665&postcount=65

nicelives

ed1604 wrote: »

sreenshot of the rugby showing a direct comparison of the RTE2HD picture and the TG4 picture.

very impressed with it.

took the pics when watching fullscreen on iMac using Elgato.
didnt readjust the size of the pics after taking.

Thanks for that, watching it here in HD too, nice to see the direct comparison

Beau

Weird comment but the detail on that munster supporter with the beards face was really cool! Love it

nicelives

Beau wrote: »

Weird comment but the detail on that munster supporter with the beards face was really cool! Love it

But it looked like some hand came down to interfere with him, gonna check the aerial

seanp_25

Another screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/I5OeY.jpg

Stinicker

Quick questions for anyone in the Know? Is Cork and Tipperary tomorrow being shown in High-Def?

And more importantly :pac:, what are the chances of Kerry and Limerick being shown in high-definition next Saturday evening from the Gaelic grounds.