NI Box

Ronan OFRonan OF Posts: 107
Forum Member
Hi there,

I have a freeview box in Northern Ireland. When I scan my box I pick up holders for the RTE services on Channel 1, 2, 3, etc - with sound but no pictures.

But I want the UK freeview to be stored 1, 2, 3 after the re-scan.

How can I achieve this to ignore the RTE channels?!

Thanks!

Comments

  • reslfjreslfj Posts: 1,832
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    Ronan OF wrote: »
    Hi there,

    I have a freeview box in Northern Ireland. When I scan my box I pick up holders for the RTE services on Channel 1, 2, 3, etc - with sound but no pictures.

    But I want the UK freeview to be stored 1, 2, 3 after the re-scan.

    How can I achieve this to ignore the RTE channels?!

    Where do you live - e.g. postcode of nearest public building. NI has only very low powered digital signals until late 2012.

    Lars :)
  • MuzerMuzer Posts: 3,668
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    Ronan OF wrote: »
    Hi there,

    I have a freeview box in Northern Ireland. When I scan my box I pick up holders for the RTE services on Channel 1, 2, 3, etc - with sound but no pictures.

    But I want the UK freeview to be stored 1, 2, 3 after the re-scan.

    How can I achieve this to ignore the RTE channels?!

    Thanks!
    If the UK channels appear in the 800s, or somewhere else that is wrong, you probably just need to do a manual tune. Do a factory reset, put your postcode into http://digitaluk.co.uk and see what UHF values it tells you - then manually tune each one.

    If you can't get Freeview according to that postcode checker, and the Freeview channels don't appear in the 800s, then you'll basically have to live without Freeview until NI's DSO in late 2012 I believe.

    If it turns out you are supposed to be able to get it but can't, perhaps your aerial is pointing more towards Ireland than towards the transmitter in NI?


    If you do want to be able to receive the picture for the RTÉ channels, you'll need a receiver designed for receiving HD channels (doesn't need to be Freeview HD, ie DVB-T2, but it needs to be able to decode MPEG4).
  • Ronan OFRonan OF Posts: 107
    Forum Member
    Hi thanks folks. This is for my elderly neighbour who asked me to look at it. We are able to recieve freeview in the city (I myself have a HDR Fox T2 and can pick up the range of RTE channels in the 800s now).

    I can't find the manual details... any idea how I can get it? I'm recieving Freeview from the Limavady transmitter.
  • MuzerMuzer Posts: 3,668
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    Ronan OF wrote: »
    Hi thanks folks. This is for my elderly neighbour who asked me to look at it. We are able to recieve freeview in the city (I myself have a HDR Fox T2 and can pick up the range of RTE channels in the 800s now).

    I can't find the manual details... any idea how I can get it? I'm recieving Freeview from the Limavady transmitter.
    Oh, sorry, forgot to tell you to tick "I'm in the aerial installation trade" - that gives you the UHF channel numbers for the frequencies you need.

    But I went and found the values you need for you:

    Mux 1 (some BBC channels): 67
    Mux 2 (Some ITV/C4/C5 channels): 58
    Mux A (Misc commercial things, including more ITV and Channel 5 channels): 53
    Mux B (More BBC channels, as well as encrypted Sky Sports channels): 57
    Mux C (Misc commercial things, including some Sky and UKTV channels): 60
    Mux D (Misc commercial things, including more UKTV channels and one or two ITV and C4 channels): 63



    So, to recap - try a complete factory reset on the TV, then tune each one of these in turn, until you (hopefully!) have all the channels.



    If it still doesn't work, try bringing your HD-FOX around and plugging it into their aerial, to see if the fault is the aerial or the TV. If you can't get a decent signal on your HD-FOX in their house, I would check their aerial; ensure it's pointing in the right way, and check cabling, etc., especially if they have a poor analogue signal.
  • Ronan OFRonan OF Posts: 107
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    Will deleting all the current channels and performing a manual tune using the values above resolve the channels back to 1 - BBC 1, 2 - BBC 2... etc?
  • MuzerMuzer Posts: 3,668
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    A complete factory reset would be best (or sometimes a "first time installation" with aerial unplugged). But deleting all the channels manually MIGHT work.
  • Peter HendersonPeter Henderson Posts: 1,501
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    Ronan OF wrote: »
    Hi there,

    I have a freeview box in Northern Ireland. When I scan my box I pick up holders for the RTE services on Channel 1, 2, 3, etc - with sound but no pictures.

    But I want the UK freeview to be stored 1, 2, 3 after the re-scan.

    How can I achieve this to ignore the RTE channels?!

    Thanks!

    First of all, the box is MPeg 2 only which is why you're only receiving sound and no picture from the Saorview channels (RTE 1 RTE 2 etc.). To view these you need a box that will receive MPeg 4 transmissions, which these days means a Freeview HD box.

    Secondly, in the menu settings you should be able to change the country setting. It must be set to "Ireland" and not the "UK" which is why you're getting some Freeview channels in the 800's.

    Where did you buy the box ? If it was bought in the ROI then a factory reset might not work.
  • egalegal Posts: 263
    Forum Member
    And if you are buying a new box or TV make sure you get one that allows you to re-order and delete (and not just from a favourites list) channels. That way, you can order the channels to suit yourself and you can delete the objectionables.
  • lbearlbear Posts: 1,773
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    egal wrote: »
    And if you are buying a new box or TV make sure you get one that allows you to re-order and delete (and not just from a favourites list) channels. That way, you can order the channels to suit yourself and you can delete the objectionables.

    There are no FVHD boxes that allow this and you need an HD box to receive all of the Saorview channels as they use MPEG4 encoding. Single mux manual tuning will enable what is needed, ie getting the UK channels in their correct locations. Most FVHD boxes (but not the Harvard clones) allow deletion of a channel.
  • Ray CathodeRay Cathode Posts: 13,231
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    A Picnic box should work in NI & Eire but SD only. (It's MPEG 2 & 4).
  • MuzerMuzer Posts: 3,668
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    A Picnic box should work in NI & Eire but SD only. (It's MPEG 2 & 4).
    The problem is, HD is a requirement for Saorview as channels are not simulcast.
  • reslfjreslfj Posts: 1,832
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    Muzer wrote: »
    The problem is, HD is a requirement for Saorview as channels are not simulcast.

    In NI all new boxes/IDTV's should be FreeviewHD approved (DVB-T2) as
    • ROI channels will be mostly broadcast as HD only i.e. will require MPEG-4 High Profile Level 4.0.
    • The new RTE/TG4 mini mux for NI will be DVB-T2 based.
    • 5 HD UK channels will be available from DSO (late 2012).

    The Picnic concept was and is a mistake !

    Lars :)
  • paul_mpaul_m Posts: 1,448
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    lbear wrote: »
    There are no FVHD boxes that allow this and you need an HD box to receive all of the Saorview channels as they use MPEG4 encoding. Single mux manual tuning will enable what is needed, ie getting the UK channels in their correct locations. Most FVHD boxes (but not the Harvard clones) allow deletion of a channel.
    However, at least some integrated FVHD TV's allow this. My Sony TV lets me delete and move channels. For instance I have BBC1 HD on LCN1 and BBC HD on LCN8.
  • egalegal Posts: 263
    Forum Member
    lbear wrote: »
    There are no FVHD boxes that allow this and you need an HD box to receive all of the Saorview channels as they use MPEG4 encoding. Single mux manual tuning will enable what is needed, ie getting the UK channels in their correct locations. Most FVHD boxes (but not the Harvard clones) allow deletion of a channel.
    Not so, I'm glad to say. I have a cheap Metronic Freeview HD box, which allows both deletion and re-ordering of channels. And as poster above said, Sony TVs (I would imagine there are others as well [Samsung?] allow you to do this; I have a notion LGs on the other hand do not.
  • reslfjreslfj Posts: 1,832
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    Winston_1 wrote: »
    reslfj wrote: »
    In NI all new boxes/IDTV's should be FreeviewHD approved (DVB-T2) as
    • ROI channels will be mostly broadcast as HD only i.e. will require MPEG-4 High Profile Level 4.0.
    • The new RTE/TG4 mini mux for NI will be DVB-T2 based.
    • 5 HD UK channels will be available from DSO (late 2012).

    The Picnic concept was and is a mistake !

    Lars :)

    That maybe so but NI is part of the UK and gets the same equipment as the rest of the UK.

    Picnic equipment was never allowed in th UK by Ofcom - Indeed picnic was explicitly disallowed,

    Yes NI is part of the UK - what else should it be?
    It is part of the 'Good Friday agreement' that culture should freely cross the border. The two governments have signed the MOU and later agreed on the mini-mux in NI to provide coverage for RTE/TG4 where ROI spill-over cannot be received.

    The Freeview HD standard covers both the UK signals and the ROI signals and the RTE/TG4 mini-mux. FreeviewHD is the only standard it makes any sence to buy in all of the UK and even more so in NI.

    Lars :)
  • joshua_welbyjoshua_welby Posts: 9,017
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    reslfj wrote: »
    Picnic equipment was never allowed in th UK by Ofcom - Indeed picnic was explicitly disallowed,

    Yes NI is part of the UK - what else should it be?
    It is part of the 'Good Friday agreement' that culture should freely cross the border. The two governments have signed the MOU and later agreed on the mini-mux in NI to provide coverage for RTE/TG4 where ROI spill-over cannot be received.

    The Freeview HD standard covers both the UK signals and the ROI signals and the RTE/TG4 mini-mux. FreeviewHD is the only standard it makes any sence to buy in all of the UK and even more so in NI.

    Lars :)

    Won't it be better to buy a Saorview box for the Irish channels and a Freeview or Freeview HD box for the English channels in NI, because the two systems are not compatible,
    with a Freeview HD box you cannot access the Text and Interactive Services from the Republic of Ireland because they do not use the MHEG5 standard
    and the UK do not use the Republic of Ireland Interactive system, I would suggest that the two boxes are needed to get both the Irish channels and the English channels,
    unless you just want the NI Mini Mux that carries the Irish channels, but not the full Saorview range of channels and services
  • MuzerMuzer Posts: 3,668
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    I thought Saorview did use MHEG5. Plus, who actually uses interactive services? At the very most I use them to check up news if I don't have a computer handy and there's a programme on I'm not interested in (eg waiting for another to start).
  • joshua_welbyjoshua_welby Posts: 9,017
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    Muzer wrote: »
    I thought Saorview did use MHEG5. Plus, who actually uses interactive services? At the very most I use them to check up news if I don't have a computer handy and there's a programme on I'm not interested in (eg waiting for another to start).

    No, Saorview does not use MHEG5 they use something else
  • egalegal Posts: 263
    Forum Member
    No, Saorview does not use MHEG5 they use something else
    Saorview DOES use MHEG5, so interactive services should work. Subtitles are different, though.
  • the cushthe cush Posts: 235
    Forum Member
    No, Saorview does not use MHEG5 they use something else

    Yes it does use MHEG-5. Currently used for RTÉ Aertel Digital (DTT teletext) and on screen captions for the RTÉjr and RTÉ1 +1 channels when they are off-air.
    To conform to the minimum receiver specification the IRD shall be compliant with the following standards:

    1) NorDig 2.2 Basic Profile @ High Definition Level
    2) MHEG-5 UK Profile, version 1.06
    3) Additions and clarifications as set out in this document

    Saorview Minimum Receiver Requirements Digital Terrestrial Television
    Additions and clarifications to NorDig Unified Requirements 2.2
  • joshua_welbyjoshua_welby Posts: 9,017
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    Winston_1 wrote: »
    One of the Irish channels, either TV3 or TG4, uses EBU teletext rather than MHEG 5 and part of the Saorview spec is that both should be resolveable. The only Freeview HD box that can resolve both as far as I know is the Icecrypt T2200 so that is what you should be getting.

    Thanks for that
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