menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Archive (2002-)

 

 

Click to see updates

All posts by js

Below are all of js's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.


Quarts into pint-pots

We have

57 BT Sport
58 BT Sport 1
59 BT Sport 2

using the capacity vacated by

41 Sky Sports 1
42 Sky Sports 2

The video streams belonging to "BT Sport 1" and "BT Sport 2" are of type 27 :

"AVC video stream as defined in ITU-T Rec. H.264 | ISO/IEC 14496-10 Video"

which might explain how three can fit in the space of two.

link to this comment
GB flag

The two BT streams are the first to use MPEG-4 compression for SD on UK DTT.

On a DVB-T rather than T2 multiplex too!

A pity a Picnic box only does NDS CA.

"Sky is currently using the MPEG-2 compression format which is currently used by its free-to-air services. They indicated to Ofcom in the consultation document that they would like to move over to the more efficient MPEG-4 format in the future, allowing for further broadcast capacity. It has been proposed that set-top boxes compatible with the Sky Picnic service must support MPEG-4 (which is not currently used on the platform) in addition to MPEG-2. This would allow Sky to implement MPEG-4 without customers needing to upgrade their set-top box. Ofcom is yet to decide on whether MPEG-4 can be used on the DTT platform, and as part of this and other consultation processes, it is determining whether this is a viable option in the future."

Sky Picnic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



link to this comment
GB flag

brian:

New CRIDs for events on Pick TV, Challenge and Sky News were recently added to the DTT EIT.

Previously, all CRIDs in the DTT EIT had a data part that started with "/"; the new CRIDs did not.


The following definition has no requirement of a "/" at the start of the data part.

from ETSI TS 102 822-4 V1.7.1 (2012-12) Section 8:-

http://www.etsi.org/deliv….pdf

==============================================
The syntax of the CRID is:

CRID://<authority>/<data>

<authority> uses the TV-anytime authority naming rules given in clause 7 to assure uniqueness.

<data> is a free format string that is Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) compliant, and is meaningful to the authority given by the <authority> field.

The <data> portion of the CRID is case insensitive.

In its entirety, the CRID is URI compliant. (See RFC 3986 [1] for URI compliance specification). As per RFC 3986 [1], the CRID:// part of the syntax is case insensitive.


Example of a syntactically valid CRID:

CRID://company.com/foobar

CRID created by "company.com" authority, with a data part of "foobar".
==============================================


The following is an example of a typical event on Pick TV before and after the change:-

DTT EPG from 2013/07/08 08:42:45
**********************************************
<programme start="20130708100000 +0100" stop="20130708110000 +0100" channel="233a.5040.56c0">
<title>Stargate SG-1</title>
<desc>Gemini: A duplicate of Colonel Carter seeks help from Stargate Command in defeating the Replicator Fifth. She claims they've found a way to counter the Asgard's new weapon. [S]

crid = /G_SKYB905441, Type : 32 (series)

eventID = 203E, SID = 56C0, TSID = 5040, default_authority = www.sky.com, 698 MHz
</desc>
</programme>
**********************************************

DTT EPG from 2013/07/20 16:53:58
**********************************************
<programme start="20130722100000 +0100" stop="20130722110000 +0100" channel="233a.5040.56c0">
<title>Stargate SG-1</title>
<desc>Avalon (Part 1 of 2): Stargate leaps through the portal for its ninth series. New recruit Cameron Mitchell is stunned by an instant promotion, and soon finds himself led astray. [S]

crid = /G_SKYB905441, Type : 32 (series)
crid = S21823786, Type : 31 (item)

eventID = 221D, SID = 56C0, TSID = 5040, default_authority = www.sky.com, 698 MHz
</desc>
</programme>
**********************************************

On Freesat, the same slashless CRID data has been present ever since the three Sky services were added.

The same event on Freesat:
Freesat EPG from 2013/07/15 14:36:55
**********************************************
<programme start="20130722100000 +0100" stop="20130722110000 +0100" channel="PICK TV.17009">
<title>Stargate SG-1</title>
<desc>Avalon (Part 1 of 2): Stargate leaps through the portal for its ninth series. New recruit Cameron Mitchell is stunned by an instant promotion, and soon finds himself led astray. [S]

crid = /G_SKYB905441, Type = series
crid = S21823786, Type = item

eventID = 221D, SID = 1299, TSID = 07EA, fsatID = 17009, default_authority = Picktv.sky.com, 12207 V
</desc>
</programme>
**********************************************

Finally, after the fix:
DTT EPG from 2013/07/21 18:32:37
**********************************************
<programme start="20130722100000 +0100" stop="20130722110000 +0100" channel="233a.5040.56c0">
<title>Stargate SG-1</title>
<desc>Avalon (Part 1 of 2): Stargate leaps through the portal for its ninth series. New recruit Cameron Mitchell is stunned by an instant promotion, and soon finds himself led astray. [S]

crid = /G_SKYB905441, Type : 32 (series)
crid = /S21823786, Type : 31 (item)

eventID = 221D, SID = 56C0, TSID = 5040, default_authority = www.sky.com, 698 MHz
</desc>
</programme>
**********************************************


link to this comment
GB flag

Dave Lindsay:

Well that's the question. All I have to go by is the ETSI definition in my post and that doesn't require a "/" so I think it was valid.

The equivalent Freesat data is still missing the "/" and has not caused problems as far as I know.

link to this comment
GB flag

Dave Lindsay:

You mean sabotage? Possibly, but if the data was (and is) valid and only a few types of box affected, not very likely.

On the grounds of pure logic, what is the point of wasting bandwidth transmitting something that is always there?

link to this comment
GB flag

Dave Lindsay:
The answer is "yes". The slash is required.

From ETSI TS 102 323 V1.5.1 (2012-01):

6.3.1 Abbreviated CRID rules

In certain situations described in the present document a CRID string may use the following abbreviated forms. These
reduce the overhead of a CRID string by leaving out information that can be inferred from the location of the CRID
entry.

Firstly, the characters "crid://" may be omitted from the start of the string so that the string starts with the first character
of the CRID authority. So the example CRID:

crid://company.com/foobar

may be encoded as:

company.com/foobar

Additionally, within the scope of the definition of a default authority (see clause 6.3.2), the CRID authority part of the
string may also be omitted if the CRID's authority matches the current value of default authority. In this case the string
starts with the delimiter between CRID authority and data parts of the CRID (i.e. "/"). Therefore, the example CRID:

crid://company.com/foobar

may be encoded as:

/foobar


So there we have it.

The same erroneous data was emitted from Winter Hill last week, courtesy of "FIRE HIT TV":

<programme start="20130731060000 +0100" stop="20130731070000 +0100" channel="FIRE HIT TV.75C1">
<title>The Biggest Hits Soon</title>
<desc>Fire Hit TV launches soon on this freeview channel
crid = 8436, Type : 31 (item)
eventID = 5B4C, SID = 75C1, TSID = 7401, default_authority = fireradio.co.uk, 762 MHz
</desc>
</programme>

link to this comment
GB flag
J
Humax FOXSAT-HD freesat HD | Freesat
Wednesday 11 December 2013 6:28AM

jb38: Possibly poor or no signal off 11428H 27500.

This is the Freesat Home transponder and carries Firmware updates and the Postcode Table.

Freesat Mode requires a Bouquet and Region to be set which are determined by the postcode.

"LBP TV" is a TV channel currently active on 11428H and can be used to verify the signal.

link to this comment
GB flag
J
Humax FOXSAT-HD freesat HD | Freesat
Thursday 12 December 2013 5:51AM

DaveG: Until you are able to get a signal off 11428H and enter your postcode and thereby enter Freesat Mode you will be stuck in Non-Freesat Mode.

In non-Freesat mode your Humax behaves as a generic FTA satellite box with arbitrary channel numbers that begin at 5000 and EPG limited to "Now and Next" (at 28 degrees East).

Freesat mode provides both an 8 day EPG and the channel numbers assigned by Freesat.

In Freesat mode, all the channels appropriate to your postcode will appear in your channel list regardless of whether you have a signal for them. This is because the full channel list is read from the Home transponder.

link to this comment
GB flag
J
Humax FOXSAT-HD freesat HD | Freesat
Thursday 12 December 2013 1:04PM

jb38: DaveG said "many of the TV channels are repeated such as Channel 4 first 5 entries on my results list"

This is a horizontally polarised transponder.

10714 H 22000 5/6
Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4
Film4
Film4 + 1
More4 + 1

link to this comment
GB flag
J
Humax FOXSAT-HD freesat HD | Freesat
Thursday 12 December 2013 1:08PM

DaveG: My guess is the dish/LNB is slightly out of alignment.

Set it up on Eutelsat 28A.

If you can tune to any of the Eutelsat 28A transponders shown below then maximise the signal Quality by adjusting LNB skew and, if necessary, dish position.


The block from 11200 to 11450 MHz belongs to Eutelsat 28A and these transponders are the first to go when conditions are poor.

Three reasons why this might be so:

ASTRA satellites interleave in frequency and polarisation. Eutelsat 28A reuse the same frequency. For example:

ASTRA
10714,H,22000,56
10729,V,22000,56
10744,H,22000,56

Eutelsat 28A
11222,H,27500,23
11224,V,27500,23
11260,V,27500,23
11261,H,27500,23
11307,H,27500,23
11307,V,27500,23
11343,V,27500,23
11345,H,27500,23
11390,H,27500,23
11390,V,27500,23
11426,V,27500,23
11428,H,27500,23

So, on Eutelsat 28A, the wanted signal is sitting on a signal of opposite polarisation. Correct LNB skew is thus required.

Note: ASTRA satellites have an inbuilt skew offset of 7 degrees, Eutelsat 28A does not.

All the transponders below 11200 (that means ASTRA and all the PSB channels) are using UK focussed beams. Eutelsat 28A uses a pan-European beam so the radiated power is spread over a wider area.

ASTRA satellites are positioned at 28.2E whereas Eutelsat 28A is at 28.5E degrees.

link to this comment
GB flag