The Virgin Media Television thread

channelsurfer2

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/tv3-to-go-global-as-bake-off-and-pippa-oconnor-sign-up-31498809.html

James Corden chatshow high on the agenda... surely thats a failed format as they shifted previous American chat shows to the graveyard shift on 3E as it got no one watching.

iseegirls

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/tv3-to-go-global-as-bake-off-and-pippa-oconnor-sign-up-31498809.html

James Corden chatshow high on the agenda... surely thats a failed format as they shifted previous American chat shows to the graveyard shift on 3E as it got no one watching.

They've tried Jimmy Kimmel and Conan, but perhaps they just aren't as well known to the Irish, unlike James Cordon (I guess). Plus they didn't help themselves by showing Conan nearly 2/3 weeks after the air-date. They need to be broadcast the day after.

Macy0161

reubenreuben wrote: »

I have just listened to the recording of this and Matt Cooper asked if TV3 will be broadcasting HD during the Rugby world cup, she states that 'you need a hd box for the HD and that saorview is not a hd box'

She doesn't state if it is available on saorview or not, she states that you need a HD box.

In other words, this is sales talk or bullocks in other words!

I texted in to say that it saorview receivers are HD, and she was being disingenuous. Didn't hear whether Matt read it out or not - I doubt it given he's not impartial on TV3 issues...

The quality of ITV4 on satellite is way better than TV3 on saorview - can't see me watching any RWC games that are available on ITV1 or ITV4 on TV3 tbh.

deezell

Macy0161 wrote: »

I texted in to say that it saorview receivers are HD, and she was being disingenuous. Didn't hear whether Matt read it out or not - I doubt it given he's not impartial on TV3 issues...

The quality of ITV4 on satellite is way better than TV3 on saorview - can't see me watching any RWC games that are available on ITV1 or ITV4 on TV3 tbh.

ITV4 transmits in 720 by 576 pixels, full SD resolution. TV3 is 544 by 576, Saorview and satellite which insanely is almost half the pixels required on the Horizotal, the widest part of the screen, compared to the vertical. addin a really low bandwidth on the saorview side because that is the payment method for saorview, and you have sub VHS quality a lot of the time.

deezell

The Cush wrote: »

2RN is a separate company within RTÉ and is self financing via transmission and mast network charges, have a look at their accounts via the CRO.

They borrowed €38.25m to finance the upgrade of the transmission network and used the network assets as security for the loan

"2RN are fully regulated and cannot take any initiatives" says Jimmy Russel, so they should not be expected to act like a commercial operator, but should act in the interest of the consumer. How about divvying up the entire available bandwidth of the Two Mux between the current customers, let them pay roughly the same as they currently pay, a little increase for TV3 and a little decrease for RTE. If another player wants in on the MUX then they can pay more to retain the bit they get ''free' , or open a third MUx if thenew customer requires. Its like a toll road operator closing a lane of a toll road and charging more per cart for the reduced service to maintain its income. Its not a comercial operation, not in real world terms until you have some element of freedom and some element of competition. In the absence of these its a public service, levered by state owned assets and should act in the public interest, instaed of throwing shapes. i'm no friend of TV3 but I abhor this kind of pretend commercial business which is constrained by a type of regulation which only ever disimproves the end product, never enhancing it. When you read a phrase like "regulated profit margin" you know you're in trouble, it sounds like something from a Markist manifesto.

ftakeith

TV3's new content is terrible

As I have ITV on satellite, I will watch the rugby world cup there

As a setanta pack customer, champions league is on BT Sport and wednesdays games maybe also on RTE2hd

I will be cancelling 'sky box sets' in January 2016 as I will have everything watched from there.

TV3 HD is no loss to me as their content will be even crap when Liberty take full control

Sam Russell

deezell wrote: »

"2RN are fully regulated and cannot take any initiatives" says Jimmy Russel , so they should not be expected to act like a commercial operator, but should act in the interest of the consumer. How about divvying up the entire available bandwidth of the Two Mux between the current customers, let them pay roughly the same as they currently pay, a little increase for TV3 and a little decrease for RTE. If another player wants in on the MUX then they can pay more to retain the bit they get ''free' , or open a third MUx if thenew customer requires. Its like a toll road operator closing a lane of a toll road and charging more per cart for the reduced service to maintain its income. Its not a comercial operation, not in real world terms until you have some element of freedom and some element of competition. In the absence of these its a public service, levered by state owned assets and should act in the public interest, instaed of throwing shapes. i'm no friend of TV3 but I abhor this kind of pretend commercial business which is constrained by a type of regulation which only ever disimproves the end product, never enhancing it. When you read a phrase like "regulated profit margin" you know you're in trouble, it sounds like something from a Markist manifesto.

It is Sam Russell, not jimmy Russel.

Moving all SD channels to 704 by 576 from 544 by 576 would change bandwidth required from 2.2 MB/s to 2.5 MB/s, so a little over 10%, and overall bandwidth used would increase by a about 10%. Charges would shift slightly for each broadcaster (as RTE use two HD channels) but not by much. The PQ would improve greatly, as the source material for TV3 and UTVi is available elsewhere in HD. No more fuzzy-vision.

2RN (Saorview) should be allowed to be the freedom of going commercial and introducing a bit of enterprise and competition. They already have some freedom on their other operations.

Doing both should be a no-brainer, but there are a lot of no-brains around.

As for opening extra muxes, that is purely governed by demand. Once mux 2 is full, 2RN are obliged to open mux 3, but this has a much lesser impact than the opening of mux 2 had.

Elmo

The one extra customer that 2rn did get TV3 opposed it air on Saorview!

On Conan I assumed TV3 lost the rights to tru.

iseegirls

Elmo wrote: »

On Conan I assumed TV3 lost the rights to tru.

There was a big gap between 3e stopping the rights (around Jan 2014) and TruTV UK started (Aug 2014) - maybe around 8 months? I find it even odder that they had Conan doing a link-up with TV3 for their Autumn launch 4 months previously to his show disappearing from the schedules.

Gonzo

TV3 had much better picture quality in the analogue days compared to digital.

Sam Russell

Gonzo wrote: »

TV3 had much better picture quality in the analogue days compared to digital.

If you got the signal from a main transmitter. Otherwise you were out of luck.

Dave_Dublin

Why has no one else yet mentioned that both TV3+1 AND 3e are stuck in 4:3 squashed mode on Sky ?

3e since it moved transponders a couple of weeks ago and 3+1 since it started.


I've sent email to TV3 but never got an acknowledgement

Rick_

RTÉ 2 HD is currently stuck in 4:3 showing Under The Dome... TV3 and 3e are fine on Saorview.

Hotblack Desiato

Elmo wrote: »

Oh and Gogglebox which starts .... This time next year?

RWC is a great opportunity to have lasting increases in audience share.

Can't see that happening. People drawn to the event will watch the event, realise the presentation and PQ are complete muck and make a mental note to avoid the channel in future.

ITV HD all the way. I actually avoid turning on my Saorview box if I can avoid it, and I almost always can.

deezell

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Can't see that happening. People drawn to the event will watch the event, realise the presentation and PQ are complete muck and make a mental note to avoid the channel in future.

ITV HD all the way. I actually avoid turning on my Saorview box if I can avoid it, and I almost always can.

Just yesterday a frantic work colleague asked me about TV3 HD on UPC, (not that I know of) then he informed me that ITV(UTV) is gone and is replaced by UTV Ireland. This is in HD, but will UTV Ireland carry the ITV feed of theworld cup? I dont think so, as it's an "Irish" channel on Saorview, so can't. That means UPC customers are condemned to watch TV3 on ShtD, or ITV4 for some of the matches. Unlike sat box owners, they have no way out. I can't believe UPC would score such a commercial own goal like that, if all their customers run out to get a freesat dish for ITV HD, they can say goodbye to them in the future. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but he's desperate for a good answer.

Elmo

deezell wrote: »

Just yesterday a frantic work colleague asked me about TV3 HD on UPC, (not that I know of) then he informed me that ITV(UTV) is gone and is replaced by UTV Ireland. This is in HD, but will UTV Ireland carry the ITV feed of theworld cup? I dont think so, as it's an "Irish" channel on Saorview, so can't. That means UPC customers are condemned to watch TV3 on ShtD, or ITV4 for some of the matches. Unlike sat box owners, they have no way out. I can't believe UPC would score such a commercial own goal like that, if all their customers run out to get a freesat dish for ITV HD, they can say goodbye to them in the future. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but he's desperate for a good answer.

UPC the to be new owners of TV3 score own goal!

Hotblack Desiato

I always found the predecessors of UPC to provide a remarkably expensive and poor service, so I shall shed not a single tear. Thank goodness for Freesat.

icdg

deezell wrote: »

Just yesterday a frantic work colleague asked me about TV3 HD on UPC, (not that I know of) then he informed me that ITV(UTV) is gone and is replaced by UTV Ireland. This is in HD, but will UTV Ireland carry the ITV feed of theworld cup? I dont think so, as it's an "Irish" channel on Saorview, so can't. That means UPC customers are condemned to watch TV3 on ShtD, or ITV4 for some of the matches. Unlike sat box owners, they have no way out. I can't believe UPC would score such a commercial own goal like that, if all their customers run out to get a freesat dish for ITV HD, they can say goodbye to them in the future. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but he's desperate for a good answer.

Unfortunately the answer is, no UTV Ireland won't be showing the Rugby World Cup, they no longer carry UTV (NI) and while they still carry ITV4, the version of ITV4 they carry has all sports programmes blocked. This issue has come up on the UTV threads several times since it became clear the swap was going to happen late last year and really that's the place to discuss it.

Although a lot of people who have the choice will watch ITV - I will for most matches not involving Ireland - it won't be the case for everyone. UPC viewers have no choice, as we say above. But for many people, including myself, when Ireland play, they will tune to TV3 to get Irish commentary. Some people prefer to get the "Irish angle" on things, rather than ITV's notoriously England-centred coverage. There's also to note that ITV Wales will be doing separate coverage, though there have been no similar announcements from STV or UTV.

deezell

icdg wrote: »

..... when Ireland play, they will tune to TV3 to get Irish commentary. Some people prefer to get the "Irish angle" on things, rather than ITV's notoriously England-centred coverage.....

But to watch a picture at 544 pixels when a full 1920 is available would require you to have a severe distaste for ITV commentary. The match commentary will be live on RTE radio, My surround system has a VHF tuner, so I'm covered. A plugin for my sat box that would achieve the same would be great, as it has dual tuners. ITV picures, TV3 or RTE radio commentary. ITV should lease their alternative audio channel to an Irish centric commentary team for the Ireland matches.

icdg

deezell wrote: »

ITV should lease their alternative audio channel to an Irish centric commentary team for the Ireland matches.

Why would they? As long as they are only getting advertising revenue from England and Wales they only care about viewers in those countries. Wales will be getting different commentary for Wales games (particularly important since they are in England's pool!). UTV and STV can do alternative commentary if they want, they have done so on past occasions (the last for UTV in 2007).

deezell

icdg wrote: »

Why would they? ....

Commercial opportunity I suppose. A large Irish audience would switch to such a commentary, add in a commercial sponsor (this commentary brought to you by Ryanair, Supermacs whoever..) Plenty of people in that industry who could work out the potential audience and the advertising value of the alternative. Small potatoes I know compared to the target market of the UK, but every broadcast has a revenue potential.

icdg

They would have to do so in such a way that they could not be seen to target audiences actually in Ireland, or TV3 would be onto World Rugby. Even if they targeted NI audiences, which strictly speaking they could, they would be in trouble with UTV. It won't happen anyway.

Meanwhile, off hand remark by Aidan Cooney on Ireland AM this morning suggests that some of the RWC games will indeed be on 3e.

iseegirls

icdg wrote: »

Meanwhile, off hand remark by Aidan Cooney on Ireland AM this morning suggests that some of the RWC games will indeed be on 3e.

The second half of Tonga v Georgia is on the first Saturday on 3e, as TV3 will have an hour and half build up to the Ireland match.

3e also re-showing one match a night around 11pm - one of the big matches of the day - England, Ireland and New Zealand games from the Fri-Sun fixtures.

Looking ahead to fixtures over the next month that might be on 3e would be: Fiji v Uruguay (8pm Tue), Namibia v Georgia (8pm Wed) and USA v Japan (8pm Sun)
All other matches are either afternoon weekend, 4.45pm weekday or prime time games featuring the big nations.

reubenreuben

icdg wrote: »

They would have to do so in such a way that they could not be seen to target audiences actually in Ireland, or TV3 would be onto World Rugby. Even if they targeted NI audiences, which strictly speaking they could, they would be in trouble with UTV. It won't happen anyway.

Meanwhile, off hand remark by Aidan Cooney on Ireland AM this morning suggests that some of the RWC games will indeed be on 3e.

So they will not be in HD.

I thought TV3 had to show all games in HD. Or do they mean when its on TV3??

If that is the case, is 3e not part of TV3?

lertsnim

reubenreuben wrote: »

I thought TV3 had to show all games in HD.

I have only ever seen that mentioned on here.

Hotblack Desiato

deezell wrote: »

But to watch a picture at 544 pixels when a full 1920 is available would require you to have a severe distaste for ITV commentary. The match commentary will be live on RTE radio, My surround system has a VHF tuner, so I'm covered. A plugin for my sat box that would achieve the same would be great, as it has dual tuners.

You'll find a very annoying delay between analogue radio and satellite TV. Sound will be a long way ahead of the pictures.
If you can get the audio from another satellite box it should be less, but probably still noticeable.

icdg

reubenreuben wrote: »

So they will not be in HD.

I thought TV3 had to show all games in HD. Or do they mean when its on TV3??

If that is the case, is 3e not part of TV3?

Seems to be some confusion on that one. Certainly at one point TV3 were indicating if not actually saying explicitly, that all 48 games would be in HD. However they never at any point indicated that World Rugby had placed a requirement on it to broadcast the games in HD. Indeed World Rugby will have sold rights to broadcasters all around the world, many of which will have no HD capability.

3e was mentioned as early as the very first press release. Unless TV3 have 3e HD hidden under a rock somewhere ready to go, if a game is on 3e it won't be in HD.

STB.

icdg wrote: »

Seems to be some confusion on that one. Certainly at one point TV3 were indicating if not actually saying explicitly, that all 48 games would be in HD. However they never at any point indicated that World Rugby had placed a requirement on it to broadcast the games in HD. Indeed World Rugby will have sold rights to broadcasters all around the world, many of which will have no HD capability.

3e was mentioned as early as the very first press release. Unless TV3 have 3e HD hidden under a rock somewhere ready to go, if a game is on 3e it won't be in HD.

Regardless, neither are free to air.

Tv3 holds a licence issued by the IRTC as the time for a free to air television network. I am not aware of the status of 3e or Saorview's requirement to vent carry it as a station.

It is quite clear that Tv3 no longer see themselves as a free to air licence holder when they put the HD output behind a paywall, which in my opinion also goes against the 2009 broadcasting act as regards offering what you do not broadcast. I think it is time that complaints were lodged against the retention of this licence.

Finally, I have no issue with Tv3 as a broadcaster. It is actually Tg4 who started this whole mess. TG4 should have been pulled in by the BAI when they put a HD variant of its output behind a paywall instead of looking after its primary FTA audience. They have no excuse as they are in receipt of direct exchequer funding.

Elmo

Finally, I have no issue with Tv3 as a broadcaster. It is actually Tg4 who started this whole mess. TG4 should have been pulled in by the BAI when they put a HD variant of its output behind a paywall instead of looking after its primary FTA audience. They have no excuse as they are in receipt of direct exchequer funding.

It can be put back to DCENR as they gave extra funding to TG4 for its HD upgrade, without a prerequisite that it appear on Saorview

deezell

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

You'll find a very annoying delay between analogue radio and satellite TV. Sound will be a long way ahead of the pictures.
If you can get the audio from another satellite box it should be less, but probably still noticeable.

Your right, I recall trying it before, ball was in the net on audio while still in the middle of the park on video. George Hamilton had Pshycic powers! Actaully, I'll stream the Irish audio from the same sat box as it has dual sat tuners, I'll feed the stream from my phone or laptop to the speakers. Delay should be nearly the same.