The Virgin Media Television thread

Before RTE Two was launched, I believe the government briefly considered retransmitting BBC One nationwide, which would have given an entirely different meaning to the phrase "two-channel land"!

Yes, there were 3 options, Auntie Beeb, independent or 2nd RTE TV channel. RTE 1 was almost entirely on VHF at the time, and the 405 line versions on the same VHF bands were all discontinued bar a few relays in Donegal. The cost of UHF transmission was prohibitive back then, but they came up with a brilliant engineering solution to reuse VHF channels on transmitters well distant from each other. By changing polarity and offsetting the channel frequency by a precision amount, you could have two channels on channel H say, with a very high level of separation from interference, most of the time. E.g, RTE 2 went out on ch. H in Maghera Co. Clare, which was the same channel for RTE1 from Kippure for the greater Dublin and North Leinster area. As an historic footnote, also on the same band for years from 1959 was the 405 line UTV service which could be received clearly in the south until the RTE 625 line transmissions began, whence the vision frequency of RTE 1 from Kippure clashed with the sound carrier frequency of UTV, effectively censoring UTV all the way up to the border. Deliberate? Who knows.

Again, it's hard to believe how few people listened to radio on VHF, more popularly known as FM back then, so TnaG was very much a local Medium Wave event when launched in '72 as households and car listeners mostly tuned into AM transmissions. (who even had a car radio in 72?). RTE Radio 2 went out on AM nationally from the old Athlone medium wave transmitter until 2004, so it had mostly nationwide cover on AM in '79 when Larry launched it that day with the Boomtown rats. I was in the actual studio beside him by chance, called over to fix one of the cartridge machines used for the ads and stings, which decided to go on the blink a few minutes before the launch. My only claim to fame, but wisely used to impress girls at the time.

The channel “Challenge” is coming to Saorview on February 1st. We will have even more choice for watching The Chase. Sarcastic yay

https://rxtvinfo.com/2023/challenge-to-launch-on-saorview/

That Challenge is coming to Saorview? There's a test card saying it's launching on Feb 1st.

I'd say there's a bit more room (even a couple of Mbit) in Mux 2 to squeeze in a couple of sub sd channels. +1 channels get by on 1.5, that might even fit in Mux1. Video band currently only 70% of Mux2. Its interesting to note that the VM offerings have a relatively high bitrate despite their low image res. This link is in the 2rn.ie site. They may even fire up a whole new mux, they have the carriers.

https://www.digitalbitrate.com/dtv.php?lang=en&liste=1&live=15&mux=PSB-MUX-2-THREE-ROCK&nav=mux

Except we all got the first 2-3 sentences in email notification. So I'm going to look at the 6 o'clock show on player to see what the fuss was about, and who the vagrant was.

Off-topic, but on the claim that Telefis Eireann's 625 line transmissions were essentially "jamming" Ulster TV south of the border - TÉ at the time broadcast its 625 line service on channel IH with a vision frequency of 207.25 MHz & audio frequency of 213.25 MHz. Ulster TV from Black Mountain broadcast on channel B9 with a vision frequency of 194.75 MHz & audio on 191.25 MHz. Also for reference, TÉ 405 Line at Kippure was on channel B7 (Vision 184.75 MHz, Audio 181.25 MHz). Since there was a 16 MHz separation between TÉ's 625 line vision carrier & UTV's 405 line audio carrier, there was no deliberate jamming in place. Besides, radio waves do not stop at political borders - Kippure even back then could penetrate well into southern parts of counties Armagh & Down and have reception pockets even further north, causing co-channel interference to UTV within NI would have been diplomatically unacceptable (The GDR authorities once considered jamming reception within the state of the ARD & ZDF TV stations in their territory, but they decided in the end not to as it would have been technically impossible to do this without affecting reception of the same stations in parts of West Germany).

Surprisingly interesting programmes (for me anyway) on VM4 from 8pm onwards tonight.

I wonder are they jiggling their schedule around a bit or did they just pick them out of the hat.

No patterns or structure to VM4's schedule. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just computer automated schedule at times. Lot of replay of sports in January, now it's back into the gameshows (Moneyball, Tipping Point Celeb, 5-Star Family Fortune), along with reality/fly on wall shows (Storage Hoarders, Deal Makers, Vet School, Paramedics) in Feb.

Still don't believe there are listings anywhere in any newspapers, RTE Guide or online, apart from Virgin Media's website and on screen guides.

Awesome. 6 nations in HD from the ageing Apple TV box, and the u20s match last night on VM2. I wonder why the HD not available on Smart TV VM player apps?