NTL Digital - Galway

Kix

Any one else here with NTL Digital service in Galway? I'm a bit fed up with it recently - about half the channels (perhaps more) are blacked out at the moment and have been for days now - most annoyingly all the UK terrestial channels, E4 and Sci-Fi.

Anyone else having this problem?

K

icdg

No problems here in Dublin.

Try rebooting your digibox (plug it out, wait 30 secs then plug back in) and see if that helps. If not, get on to 1800 321321 .... but make a cup of tea and bring some reading material with you first...

Kix

Thanks, I'll give it another go - I only gave it about 10s the last time.

This is not the first time this has happend though - a couple of weeks they had the same problem and the channels were out for a couple of days. They said it was a technical problem. Perhaps they don't have a big enough dish and the satelite signal we're getting in the west isn't strong enough?

Anhow, I'll try ringing them tomorrow if a reboot doesn't help.

K

Anima

I happen to know that they get the channels through the web by a link from dublin so can't be that.

icdg

Indeed I believe that some or most of the channels are ultimately sourced from Langley (NTL ex-CableTel super head-end), they would go to Dublin to have local channels (RTE, TV3, from Three Rock, BBC, ITV, C4 from NI DTT added), and then be delivered via the NTL trunk network to Galway and Waterford. The Irish network was meant to be connected into Langley but I'm not sure if that work was ever completed.

Digitalspy.co.uk's cable section has some technical information on how the NTL Digital system (for ex-CableTel areas) works.

Richard

Originally posted by icdg
they would go to Dublin to have local channels (RTE, TV3, from Three Rock, BBC, ITV, C4 from NI DTT added.

Do they use NI DTT as the source for DCab pictures? I wonder how they receive this in Dublin. And do they really get RTE/TV3 from an analogue TX?

Kix

Well, it certainly makes sense that they would get their feed directly from Dublin.

Make you wonder though why the new channels for Dublin aren't also available in Galway... Not that I care about five more music channels!

Still no joy on my end. I think I'll pop in in person today - I can't cope with the phone support!

K

icdg

For those interested in how the NTL Digital transmission system works:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/displayinfo.php?id=1897

Not all these details may apply for ROI however. But sourcing the channels from NI DTT is defintely an option, NTL have the ability to recieve them off-air from the north as they do their analogue terrestrial channels. They could of course be sourced from DSat also, but they are not sourced from analogue.

As for the Irish terrestrials, yes I believe these are sourced from analogue still. Remember NTL Digital pre-dates by a good bit the availablity of these channels from SkyDigital.

John R

The Irish channels are definitely analogue in source, they have a faint slow flicker obvious on dark images caused by the mpeg encoding of an analogue based inconsistency. TV3 also has (intermittently) obvious interference patterns similar to the ones I get on my analogue TV3.

I don't think that the UK terestrials are sourced from DTT as there is far less pixellation than any DTT reception I have ever seen, though I could be wrong. NTL would not be able to pick up UK DTT off air as there are no recievable transmitters here.

Richard

Originally posted by John R
I don't think that the UK terestrials are sourced from DTT as there is far less pixellation than any DTT reception I have ever seen, though I could be wrong. NTL would not be able to pick up UK DTT off air as there are no recievable transmitters here.

I have good DTT reception - pixelation is occasional - it really depends on your aerial. But I'd think it would be hard to pick up DTT from Divis in Dublin given that UK DTT transmitters are very low power.

Kix

Just to round this out from my end, the problem was local to my building. I can't tell you why it knocked out some channels and not all, but there you go.

Top marks to NTL for service in this department BTW. I called in to their Galway office around 10:30 and a technician had called and repaired the fault by 17:00. My fault for leaving it so long.

K

icdg

Originally posted by Richard


I have good DTT reception - pixelation is occasional - it really depends on your aerial. But I'd think it would be hard to pick up DTT from Divis in Dublin given that UK DTT transmitters are very low power.

Ah but remember, they do not have to pick them up in Dublin!

(1) They can pick them up at the border and use microwave links (Chorus have a network that NTL can also use) to transmit them to Dublin.

Or

(2) Pick them up at the Belfast regional head-end and transmit them over NTL's trunk network to Dublin.

Originally posted by icdg


Ah but remember, they do not have to pick them up in Dublin!

(1) They can pick them up at the border and use microwave links (Chorus have a network that NTL can also use) to transmit them to Dublin.

Or

(2) Pick them up at the Belfast regional head-end and transmit them over NTL's trunk network to Dublin.

Wherever NTL in dublin anyhow are sourcing their analogue UK terrestrials-the picture quality they get would mean ( in my experience) that the signal quality from that source if it has DTT would be enough for Dtt reception..

Is there Digital BBCi on go digital in either Dub/Galway or Waterford? ie the service on UK DTT and DSat?

I haven't been using my ITV dig box in quite some time now (as since I changed the aerial back to arfon here, I haven't bothered to go back to presely, through laziness and fear of heights:p )

However I don't remember analog ceefax being available through the DTT version of BBC Wales or Teletext on HTV either-only the digital versions of either were there on a separate channel.
Analog teletext was only available on the ordinary analog channels.

Heaven forbid Ntl using Chorus to distribute their service :eek:
Cable link used to have a large aerial mast at Terrenure is that still there? It certainly was in the late eighties and at sea level! and back in those days , the NI terrestrials were as good as they are now on NTL Dublin.
mm

Richard

Originally posted by madman

However I don't remember analog ceefax being available through the DTT version of BBC Wales or Teletext on HTV either-only the digital versions of either were there on a separate channel.
Analog teletext was only available on the ordinary analog channels.

No - it isn't - with Digital you have to encode teletext seperately from the picture and then get the box to reinsert it. SkyDigital and DCab do this, but it was thought it was a waste of effort and bandwidth to do this with DTT, especially when Digital Text was on the way. Digital Text appeared on DTT before DSat if you remember.

Mountjoy Mugger

Originally posted by Kix
Top marks to NTL for service in this department BTW. I called in to their Galway office around 10:30 and a technician had called and repaired the fault by 17:00. My fault for leaving it so long.

K

You lucky devil! Most of us wait a lot more than that. Well done anyway, glad to hear it's sorted.

marclt

where abouts are you... didnt know you could pick up uk dtt in the irish republic???

bkehoe

You can get DTT from the UK in parts of Wexford and in areas near to Northern Ireland.

icdg

Originally posted by madman

Is there Digital BBCi on go digital in either Dub/Galway or Waterford? ie the service on UK DTT and DSat?

No - but it is in Belfast. BBC have developed a version of BBCi Text specifically for digital cable, and that version may well appear when interactive services are launched (whenever that may be!).

Heaven forbid Ntl using Chorus to distribute their service :eek:
Cable link used to have a large aerial mast at Terrenure is that still there? It certainly was in the late eighties and at sea level! and back in those days , the NI terrestrials were as good as they are now on NTL Dublin.
mm

May well be still there. But if you want to know more how the UK channels can be distributed via , may I recommend NERA/Smith (1998), "The Future of Television Transmission in Ireland" (Dublin: ODTR).