Loading ...Sep 20 2012
Latest update scan on all Freesat receivers:
1 added – 407 Fashion one
0 deleted –
4 changed – 402 Information TV to 401, 403 Showcase to 400, 405 Food Network to 403, 406 Food Network +1 to 404
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September 20th, 2012 at 9:46 am
Is the swapping channel numbers round for some NEW channels I hope
Dave wQuote
September 20th, 2012 at 9:54 am
Sadly not, it is just a reshuffle to close some gaps.
adminQuote
September 20th, 2012 at 11:37 am
I am sure that Fashion one was added last week.
Gordon S ValentineQuote
September 20th, 2012 at 6:29 pm
When the new humax free time box comes out
Will you be able to put freesat and non freesat channels in
Tv guide dose anyone know — I have been told this is possible on the manhattan recorder
Dave wQuote
September 20th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
There are two new music channels due next week, hopefully these will appear at 507 and 508 to close some of the music channel gaps if channels above are happy with it.
NeilQuote
September 21st, 2012 at 8:39 am
It appears not possible on Manhattan recorder.”- Auto scan of non-freesat channels as on Plaza HD-S. These can be added to your favourites list and accessed via the STAR button on the remote (though not in the EPG, which is freesat-only).” Possible on current Humax with the hacked firmware 4.0.8
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 21st, 2012 at 8:42 am
Fashion One is a better music channel than some of the music channels but I don’t rate their videos.
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 21st, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Tried to post last night but it failed.
MTV Trax is FTA on 11895 V 2/3 27500. The encryption flag is set but not enabled.
ianQuote
September 27th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
where are the 2 new music channels heart and capital they should have been on freeset and sky today
johnevansQuote
September 28th, 2012 at 1:51 am
Looks like they’ve been delayed now until the 11th October so another couple of weeks.
NeilQuote
September 28th, 2012 at 9:42 am
UPDATE 27/09/12 – BBC Changes – This morning (27th of September) the BBC’s Astra 1N frequency changed broadcast parameters, 10.847 V is now SR 23.000, FEC 2/3, DVB-S2 8PSK. The BBC are currently in the process of reorganising it’s satellite channels (see “UPDATE 25/09/12 further down this page for more)
from http://robssatellitetv.webs.com/astra1n.htm
4 new BBC1 HD’s coming in a couple of weeks it seems.
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 11:05 am
Hi all where is the new freesat box
I’m thinking we are gonna get out shadowed by the new
YOUVIEW box what do you think ?????
DaveQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Expected in a couple of weeks. The YouView box has been out for a few months now and sales are terrible, so no likely we’ll be out-shadowed.
adminQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 11:21 am
3000 prisoners allowed to watch subscription Sky as part of their punishment. Poor
them, I really feel for them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9574892/3000-prisoners-allowed-to-watch-subscription-Sky-TV.html
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Not suprising at £300 and no real advantage apart from the silly backwards EPG over a smart hub Samsung. Other makes are also available. I really think this backwards EPG thing is misconceived. Did they do any market recearch to find out if people wanted that? They need to bring down the price to £199 asap.
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Astra 2F was successfully launched from Kourou in French Guiana last night. 2F is the first of the new satellites that will be replacing 1N 2A & 2B at 28E.
RoscoQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
you say no real advantage the backward EPG but thats all the new freesat box as got aswell i think
im not keen on the backward EPG like -i would much rather have netflix or something like that -maybe youtube aswell
daveQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
Brill launch last night, I put a dish up at 19.2E connected to my Panny BS750 which scanned all the FTA channels in perfectly. There’s a lot of free to air HD from the regional German stations at 19.2E, looks very good PQ-wise too!
Nice also to see once I put my 28.2E Minidish feeds back in today that the BS750 has handled the BBC modulation change ok. This reinforces my assumption that it’s only SR changes which cause the unit not to update properly and requiring a factory reset. As long as services remain at an SR of 23k in DVB-S2 they can therefore tinker as much as they like with FEC and modulation and it seems my Panny will handle it!
NeilQuote
September 30th, 2012 at 9:04 am
Well bully for Pannny. I’ve never had to do anything to update my Manhattan. It’s just done already when I power up the box.
Panny are a much bigger outfit than Manhattan but it seems they don’t always get things right.
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 30th, 2012 at 10:00 am
Ive been watching the big Ariane 5′s go up for over 10 years – no fun in the early days on dial up!
I still get a buzz when they climb up off the pad.
RoscoQuote
September 30th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
I had to do an automatic update last night as my BBC HD channels on my Humax box showed ‘bad or no signal’. Okay after. Anyone else had that problem?
patsyQuote
September 30th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
See post 11.
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 30th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Yep I agree, Panny can’t seem to get things right or more the fact that they’d just like to now sell you a new product as I’m sure this bug could be resolved via OTA software updates. My TV’s are fine, never an issue but the Panny PVR doesn’t like SR changes done ‘on the fly’. The good thing is with these transponders being 27MHz bandwidth SES won’t push for higher SR’s than 23k in DVB-S2 so guess I’ll be ok now (touch wood!).
NeilQuote
September 30th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
I knew this unofficially, but today, Channel4 gave me this officially, regarding More4HD & Film4HD
Dear Mr ian
We are sorry to hear that you feel Freesat has been overlooked. Contrary to this, we have had an agreement with Freesat’s operators for some time and are waiting to be allocated bandwidth and also until after the retuning after the final UK area goes digital.
We have no date at the present for providing these channels on Sky.
We hope this has cleared up any confusion.
Kind regards,
Damien McCandless
Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries
ianQuote
October 1st, 2012 at 8:32 am
Mr ian That’s brilliant news. Final region to switch (Northern Ireland) starts DSO on 10th October so not to much longer to wait. We might even see UTV HD and STV HD as well as More4 HD and Film4 HD.
Richard CrichtonQuote
October 1st, 2012 at 9:55 am
Come to think of it as a matter of interest what relevance has DSO to Freesat and Freesat bandwidth? It should just be a matter of paying for it now that 1N is up there. I hope Ch4 haven’t confused Freesat with Freeview in their press release. Could Film4 HD and More4 HD be sharing the 5th HD slot on Freeview and therefore also be coming to Freesat. I hope this is the case.
Richard CrichtonQuote
October 1st, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Channel 4 just do an agreement to provide their More 4 HD and Film 4 HD channels on Sky? Which kinda of suggests via the Sky HD Pack subscription? This would prevent the access of these channels on Freesat since they would be scrambled.
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/sky-customers-to-enjoy-comprehensive-access-to-the-best-of-channel-4
I’m gonna assume that More 4 HD and Film 4 HD will NOT be coming to Freesat, so that I won’t get disappointed!
Mark BQuote
October 1st, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Yes they agreed to bring them to Sky but there is no mention in the press release about them being exclusive to Sky. Indeed Film4 HD has been on Virgin Media for ages. ian has inside info and generally gets it right. Don’t forget Channel 4 gets money from the licence fee and so can be classed as a public service broadcaster. There is nothing public service about being behind a pay wall on Sky.
Richard CrichtonQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 12:48 am
Is the guy at Viewer Enquiries trying to possibly make a point of 4Seven having to move off the HD transponder so it can then go S2 improve bandwidth for more HD channels to launch on both platforms?
There is nothing in the Sky press release suggesting these channels would be part of the HD pack, it was just suggested by most that they would. Use of the term ‘Sky+ HD customers’ means those with Sky+ HD STB’s, like the way these same customers benefit from 4HD, ITV1HD, BBC1HD etc etc. They may go behind a paywall but lets be honest, Sky don’t tend to advertise anything that’s ‘free’ as they like people to think their subscription is more value added!
NeilQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:07 am
UPDATE 01/10/12 – BBC Changes – A new BBC 1 England HD channel with it’s own “PIDS” has appeared on the Astra 1N satellite at 28.2 degrees east frequency of 10.847 V, SR 23.000, FEC 2/3, DVB-S2 8PSK, the channel named as “6943″ is a direct copy of the existing BBC 1 HD channel, it is showing BBC 1 England HD, audio track is “AC3/Dolby Digital” only (there is no “MPEG 2″ audio), there are subtitles being broadcast but currently no EPG data.
http://robssatellitetv.webs.com/astra1n.htm
Richard CrichtonQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 10:41 am
Cheers Richard, looks like the beeb are pushing ahead with the BBC1HD ‘Nation’ rollouts. P998 on the Red Button also discusses other changes from the 12th and 15th Oct involving move of TV and radio services. I’m guessing this is too early for the 2F migration so maybe the beeb are clearing out their final 2A transponder and moving a single red button stream to 10773H,closing the rest and moving their radio services across other transponders?
NeilQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 10:58 am
Hi have the sky boxs got something that the freesat boxs don’t cos I have been told be a friend that they have all been up dated and new have BBC iplayer – ITV player and DEMAND 5
So why cannot freesat do this ?????
DaveQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Just checked it. Audio is out of sync by around 400ms and it looks bad PQ aswell.
4 HD Channels on that txp now, the 2 BBC One HD & 2 BBC HD.
ianQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 2:59 pm
That’s because they are showing an old Fools and Horses.
Richard CrichtonQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Massive R&B has moved to egp slot 511. Anybody know when this happened?
KarraQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 4:55 pm
SID 6945 (BBC HD) is mapped to the same VPID/PAID and PCR PID’s at 6940, ie BBC HD. Not sure why they have always had a second SID carrying the same BBC HD service, someone said it’s something to do with early Sky HD STB’s but not sure.
Just checked on the Humax at my parents and it’s still on 518 so expect this change has happened today. If AATW decide to bring Greatest Hits TV and Channel AKA to the platform then they would probably fit nicely in to 512 and 513 between Massive R&B and Clubland, also owned by AATW (All Around The World).
NeilQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Not that, its because the PQ looks bad.
ianQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 6:08 pm
More BBC changes planned in the next week:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/posts/Satellite-Shuffling-reducing-BBC-Red-Button-and-expanding-BBC-One-HD
Sad to see the red button streams reduced but this was inevitable after the Olympics as per DQF.
NeilQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 7:13 pm
Just had a rant on there about it.
So sick and tired of DTT being the bench setter for everything, when its so far behind in capability.
ianQuote
October 2nd, 2012 at 7:29 pm
I agree with everything you’ve said there. After watching a bit of 19.2E last week (primarily for the Astra 2F launch footage) I was so impressed at the amount and quality of German FTA HD content.
NeilQuote
October 3rd, 2012 at 7:35 am
As you say and the sound is out of sync. I agree this platform neutrality thing is very frustrating for Freesat fans. At least they have a second DVB-S2 transponder for HD. Lets hope they are not tempted to go back to 1440 instead of 1920. This from the BBC blog:
“Finally, some readers were curious to know how we planned to fit BBC HD and four versions of BBC One HD into a single transponder without messing up picture quality. The answer is that we’re not. We have bought a new DVB-S2 transponder (DSat8) alongside the existing DSat4. Each of these transponders will carry two versions of BBC One HD and DSat4 will also carry BBC HD, as it does now. (We are evaluating options for the spare capacity on DSat8.) My esteemed colleagues in BBC Research & Development have put a great deal of painstaking work into the configurations of these two transponders to try to match the picture quality of each version of BBC One HD to the one we have at the moment, and maintain BBC HD’s picture quality, for which I am very grateful.”
Richard CrichtonQuote
October 3rd, 2012 at 9:09 am
They could ultimately fit a fourth service in to their existing Txp and two more on their new one without compromise to PQ (as long as it’s not more regions of BBC1 due to stat muxing purposes). I guess they need to close DSAT7, the remaining 2A Txp, prior to bringing on the new TP61 as they’ll reuse the Multiplexing hardware for the new HD Mux. Maybe, just maybe, someone will realise the bandwidth limitations of DTT aren’t a reason why evolutionary technical progression at the BBC in terms of HD should stall on all other three platforms and we’ll see more HD in time from the beeb. If not then it does give hope that they’ll sell some off to Channel 5 to allow 5HD to finally join the platform in the future.
NeilQuote