This Friday night the clash of Track cycling (301) with Wales vs Samoa rugby means rugby fans outside of Wales with Freeview only miss out. If BBC had kept second red button this would not be the case. Interestingly Ireland vs Fiji (Sat. at 5.30pm) is being screened nationally not just on BBC2NI and this is a non-cap international while Wales match is only on BBC2W.
Red Button is now down to one video stream on all platforms. The rugby will not be broadcast live on satellite or cable either (except via BBC Two Wales, which of course satellite viewers can tune into if they know where to look).
The second stream was only possible for the Olympics because BBC Parliament had closed for the duration. BBC Three took BBC Parliament's 24-hour slot, then 302 took BBC Three's normal slot. 302 only ran in BBC Three's usual hours (7pm to 7am).
The BBC have decided not to compress as heavily as the commercial broadcasters. They only cram 7 full-time TV services into one multiplex, rather than the 8 of ITV/C4:
BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three (7pm to 7am)/CBBC (7am to 7pm)
BBC Four (7pm to 7am)/CBeebies (7am to 7pm)
BBC News
BBC Parliament
301 (BBC Red Button video stream)
+ 11 national radio stations
+ MHEG programs containing Red Button text
+ 'Engineering Channel' (software updates)
BBC Parliament and 301 use reduced horizontal resolution, 544x576 pixels, rather than the full 720x576.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the nations' own radio stations, both in English and Gaelic or Welsh, are carried as well. In Scotland, between 7pm and 7am BBC Alba runs in place of most of the national radio stations.
The BBC had more capacity before switchover. They had two multiplexes with 18 Mbit/s capacity, they now have only one with 24 Mbit/s, so in effect lost one-third of their capacity. The second BBC multiplex was converted to DVB-T2 to run the HD services. Once the decision was taken to convert, the BBC closed all additional services that had been on Mux B which they would not be able to transfer to the available space on Mux 1 (now generally referred to as 'BBC A' or 'PSB 1'). Up until each transmitter group switched over, BBC Four/CBeebies and the radio stations remained on Mux B as there simply wasn't space on pre-switchover Mux 1. 301 moved from Mux B to Mux 1, for sites that hadn't switched over, in January, as I recall.
Red Button is now down to one video stream on all platforms. The rugby will not be broadcast live on satellite or cable either (except via BBC Two Wales, which of course satellite viewers can tune into if they know where to look).
The second stream was only possible for the Olympics because BBC Parliament had closed for the duration. BBC Three took BBC Parliament's 24-hour slot, then 302 took BBC Three's normal slot. 302 only ran in BBC Three's usual hours (7pm to 7am).
The BBC have decided not to compress as heavily as the commercial broadcasters. They only cram 7 full-time TV services into one multiplex, rather than the 8 of ITV/C4:
BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three (7pm to 7am)/CBBC (7am to 7pm)
BBC Four (7pm to 7am)/CBeebies (7am to 7pm)
BBC News
BBC Parliament
301 (BBC Red Button video stream)
+ 11 national radio stations
+ MHEG programs containing Red Button text
+ 'Engineering Channel' (software updates)
BBC Parliament and 301 use reduced horizontal resolution, 544x576 pixels, rather than the full 720x576.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the nations' own radio stations, both in English and Gaelic or Welsh, are carried as well. In Scotland, between 7pm and 7am BBC Alba runs in place of most of the national radio stations.
The BBC had more capacity before switchover. They had two multiplexes with 18 Mbit/s capacity, they now have only one with 24 Mbit/s, so in effect lost one-third of their capacity. The second BBC multiplex was converted to DVB-T2 to run the HD services. Once the decision was taken to convert, the BBC closed all additional services that had been on Mux B which they would not be able to transfer to the available space on Mux 1 (now generally referred to as 'BBC A' or 'PSB 1'). Up until each transmitter group switched over, BBC Four/CBeebies and the radio stations remained on Mux B as there simply wasn't space on pre-switchover Mux 1. 301 moved from Mux B to Mux 1, for sites that hadn't switched over, in January, as I recall.
Very well and carefully explained why no space for second red button. However still wonder why a full rugby international is not being screened live nationally by BBC (Wales vs Samoa) while non-capped one (Ireland vs Fiji) is.
I am sick with programmes being delayed on the channel 301, if we still had 2 Red Button channels we wouldn't have this problem.
Right now we have MotoGP on when it was supposed to be finished 10 minutes ago. I have no problem with MotoGP but i am sick of Final Score always being delayed.
Just give us back channel 302 like we used to have 3-4 years ago.
unfortunately all TV network that the BBC dont think it a cost effected service so they are only have 1 interact button on free view, freesast virgin media and sky so they can invest more into hd services that is the future
Look at Red Button 998 for the BBC Trust review into BBC Online and Red Button: the last Servivce review for the Red Button was publlished two years ago. You have until 23 Janary to make your response.
Very well and carefully explained why no space for second red button. However still wonder why a full rugby international is not being screened live nationally by BBC (Wales vs Samoa) while non-capped one (Ireland vs Fiji) is.
The BBC Sport website and Red Button schedule says '(web only)' for the Ireland v Fiji match. Red Button will be carrying Final Score from 2:30pm to 6pm on Saturday.
The closing date is 23 January 2013 and the BBC has more than enough stuff to fill more than just one Red Button stream, e.g. putting on Test Match special with the stats scoreboard and so on.
However still wonder why a full rugby international is not being screened live nationally by BBC (Wales vs Samoa) while non-capped one (Ireland vs Fiji) is.
The Ireland match is on a Saturday afternoon when there is normally sport shown, whereas the Wales games is on a Friday night. Screening the match in the rest of the UK on BBC Two would mean viewers would miss out on the regular programming.
As for the red button, the cycling will probably take priority because of a British team competing. The rugby involves only Wales, not the whole of Britain. I don't see the issue really. Anyone without satellite and who really wants to see the rugby can go to the pub or watch online. I for one couldn't give a monkeys about the Wales rugby team.
The Ireland match is on a Saturday afternoon when there is normally sport shown, whereas the Wales games is on a Friday night. Screening the match in the rest of the UK on BBC Two would mean viewers would miss out on the regular programming.
As for the red button, the cycling will probably take priority because of a British team competing. The rugby involves only Wales, not the whole of Britain. I don't see the issue really. Anyone without satellite and who really wants to see the rugby can go to the pub or watch online. I for one couldn't give a monkeys about the Wales rugby team.
To be correct the Ireland match is on Saturday evening. Take your point about Friday's regular programming but BBC could have put this match on BBC Three the way they put highlights of England's autumn internationals. I am an Irish rugby fan but do give a monkeys about other teams and am fortunate about having satellite but still think BBC could have shown Welsh game nationally.
The last time the BBC showed a Friday night rugby union match was (I think) the six nations clash between Wales and England in 2011. It was definitely on either BBC One or Two, can't remember which. That occasion of course involved two home nations rather than just one, so presumably they thought it was worth changing the schedule then. Even if it wasn't Children in Need night on BBC One, it's hard to ascertain how many people would complain that the normal schedule on One, Two or Three was interrupted to show a match involving a country where it is being shown on BBC Two there anyway.
I the BBC has more than enough stuff to fill more than just one Red Button stream, e.g. putting on Test Match special with the stats scoreboard and so on.
There is no doubt there is plenty of content that could go on Red Button Digital Text and the interactive stream: not everyone has access to BBC Online content, after all. Bu t as the Licence Fee Freeze stands, there have to be cutbacks under Delivering Quality First.
There is no doubt there is plenty of content that could go on Red Button Digital Text and the interactive stream: not everyone has access to BBC Online content, after all. Bu t as the Licence Fee Freeze stands, there have to be cutbacks under Delivering Quality First.
and as strongly indicated by the BBC Trust.... as Red button emission is (seen to be) expensive .
But the BBC executive have said that Internet delver will give a lot more red button and a lot cheaper for distribution.
But the BBC executive have said that Internet delver will give a lot more red button and a lot cheaper for distribution.
Except that if you're heavily using your Net connection elsewhere in the house, streaming even SD video live will result in pausing etc. leading to an unacceptable live viewing experience.
To be honest, if they were going to keep the red button, I'd actually scrap BBC HD and make the red button HD to replace it instead. That way we'd finally get HD sport (F1 practice sessions, triathlon, rugby whatever) without tying up BBC One HD and bringing the anti-sports brigade out. Even better, call the red button "BBC Sports HD", but I suspect they don't have enough rights now to fill even 12 hours a day with sport :-(
Unless the BBC to decide to adopt something that allows for an extra stream, but I can not see this on Freeview took years to get BBC Parliament and then years for it in full screen. So don't hold out any hope!
Red button had Treviso vs Ulster followed by second half of Edinburgh vs Ospreys last night. The Ulster match was a late change to the EPG and red button schedule. If only there were 2 red button streams they could have covered both matches in full on Freeview.
To be honest, if they were going to keep the red button, I'd actually scrap BBC HD and make the red button HD to replace it instead. That way we'd finally get HD sport (F1 practice sessions, triathlon, rugby whatever) without tying up BBC One HD and bringing the anti-sports brigade out.
Well, bearing in mind that BBC HD will change to BBC Two HD next year, replacing that stream with Red Button HD would mean that many programmes now shown on BBC Two would never get an airing in HD.
Unless the BBC to decide to adopt something that allows for an extra stream, but I can not see this on Freeview took years to get BBC Parliament and then years for it in full screen. So don't hold out any hope!
Change to 3/4 FEC. Bam, free capacity for 1 extra channel.
Not quite free - it's at the expense of a slight loss in coverage, which the BBC would not be willing to take.
They would not allowed to make this change, unless they could prove that they are already exceeding analogue coverage and that the change would not reduce coverage below analogue levels, broadly matching analogue coverage. That's a pretty tough standard to reach.
The commercial multiplexes were allowed to do it as their performance standard for switchover was much lower: they simply had to match pre-switchover coverage levels (percentage of homes covered).
Not at all. It's a one-time change to the parameters at each main transmitter, co-ordinated with DMOL so that the Service Information transmitted along with all multiplexes is accurate. FEC 3/4 is a standard mode and can simply be selected at the exciter (the device that turns the bitstream of MPEG-2 Transport Stream packets into the actual waveform to be transmitted; usually considered part of the transmitter).
Certainly there are some one-off costs involved with managing a migration to a different mode; I would expect a phased roll-out, as occurred for the FEC change on the commercial multiplexes. The multiplex operators have remote control of the transmitters, no-one needs to go and physically push buttons on the control panels, but there will be planning and change control overheads.
Just seen some of the rugby on 301 and was surprised to see a Welsh language audio stream. I didn't think it was possible on Freeview.
On other sports we sometimes get choice of audio too. I wish the BBC would give us the choice of Graham Norton's or Ken Bruce's commentary on the Eurovision Song Contest, but it hasn't happened yet.
(During the Paralympics Opening Ceremony, the Audio Describers were on More4)
Comments
Red Button is now down to one video stream on all platforms. The rugby will not be broadcast live on satellite or cable either (except via BBC Two Wales, which of course satellite viewers can tune into if they know where to look).
The second stream was only possible for the Olympics because BBC Parliament had closed for the duration. BBC Three took BBC Parliament's 24-hour slot, then 302 took BBC Three's normal slot. 302 only ran in BBC Three's usual hours (7pm to 7am).
The BBC have decided not to compress as heavily as the commercial broadcasters. They only cram 7 full-time TV services into one multiplex, rather than the 8 of ITV/C4:
BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three (7pm to 7am)/CBBC (7am to 7pm)
BBC Four (7pm to 7am)/CBeebies (7am to 7pm)
BBC News
BBC Parliament
301 (BBC Red Button video stream)
+ 11 national radio stations
+ MHEG programs containing Red Button text
+ 'Engineering Channel' (software updates)
BBC Parliament and 301 use reduced horizontal resolution, 544x576 pixels, rather than the full 720x576.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the nations' own radio stations, both in English and Gaelic or Welsh, are carried as well. In Scotland, between 7pm and 7am BBC Alba runs in place of most of the national radio stations.
The BBC had more capacity before switchover. They had two multiplexes with 18 Mbit/s capacity, they now have only one with 24 Mbit/s, so in effect lost one-third of their capacity. The second BBC multiplex was converted to DVB-T2 to run the HD services. Once the decision was taken to convert, the BBC closed all additional services that had been on Mux B which they would not be able to transfer to the available space on Mux 1 (now generally referred to as 'BBC A' or 'PSB 1'). Up until each transmitter group switched over, BBC Four/CBeebies and the radio stations remained on Mux B as there simply wasn't space on pre-switchover Mux 1. 301 moved from Mux B to Mux 1, for sites that hadn't switched over, in January, as I recall.
Very well and carefully explained why no space for second red button. However still wonder why a full rugby international is not being screened live nationally by BBC (Wales vs Samoa) while non-capped one (Ireland vs Fiji) is.
unfortunately all TV network that the BBC dont think it a cost effected service so they are only have 1 interact button on free view, freesast virgin media and sky so they can invest more into hd services that is the future
20 October 2009
and 2 October 2012
Look at Red Button 998 for the BBC Trust review into BBC Online and Red Button: the last Servivce review for the Red Button was publlished two years ago. You have until 23 Janary to make your response.
The BBC Sport website and Red Button schedule says '(web only)' for the Ireland v Fiji match. Red Button will be carrying Final Score from 2:30pm to 6pm on Saturday.
I'd go along with that recommendation ---> http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/services/online/service_reviews/online_red_button.html. One of my reasons for getting Freesat to complement Freeview was to get access to the extra Red Button streams - and then they go and axe them!
The closing date is 23 January 2013 and the BBC has more than enough stuff to fill more than just one Red Button stream, e.g. putting on Test Match special with the stats scoreboard and so on.
The Ireland match is on a Saturday afternoon when there is normally sport shown, whereas the Wales games is on a Friday night. Screening the match in the rest of the UK on BBC Two would mean viewers would miss out on the regular programming.
As for the red button, the cycling will probably take priority because of a British team competing. The rugby involves only Wales, not the whole of Britain. I don't see the issue really. Anyone without satellite and who really wants to see the rugby can go to the pub or watch online. I for one couldn't give a monkeys about the Wales rugby team.
To be correct the Ireland match is on Saturday evening. Take your point about Friday's regular programming but BBC could have put this match on BBC Three the way they put highlights of England's autumn internationals. I am an Irish rugby fan but do give a monkeys about other teams and am fortunate about having satellite but still think BBC could have shown Welsh game nationally.
There is no doubt there is plenty of content that could go on Red Button Digital Text and the interactive stream: not everyone has access to BBC Online content, after all. Bu t as the Licence Fee Freeze stands, there have to be cutbacks under Delivering Quality First.
and as strongly indicated by the BBC Trust.... as Red button emission is (seen to be) expensive .
But the BBC executive have said that Internet delver will give a lot more red button and a lot cheaper for distribution.
To be honest, if they were going to keep the red button, I'd actually scrap BBC HD and make the red button HD to replace it instead. That way we'd finally get HD sport (F1 practice sessions, triathlon, rugby whatever) without tying up BBC One HD and bringing the anti-sports brigade out. Even better, call the red button "BBC Sports HD", but I suspect they don't have enough rights now to fill even 12 hours a day with sport :-(
Not quite free - it's at the expense of a slight loss in coverage, which the BBC would not be willing to take.
And it costs money to code ...
They would not allowed to make this change, unless they could prove that they are already exceeding analogue coverage and that the change would not reduce coverage below analogue levels, broadly matching analogue coverage. That's a pretty tough standard to reach.
The commercial multiplexes were allowed to do it as their performance standard for switchover was much lower: they simply had to match pre-switchover coverage levels (percentage of homes covered).
Not at all. It's a one-time change to the parameters at each main transmitter, co-ordinated with DMOL so that the Service Information transmitted along with all multiplexes is accurate. FEC 3/4 is a standard mode and can simply be selected at the exciter (the device that turns the bitstream of MPEG-2 Transport Stream packets into the actual waveform to be transmitted; usually considered part of the transmitter).
Certainly there are some one-off costs involved with managing a migration to a different mode; I would expect a phased roll-out, as occurred for the FEC change on the commercial multiplexes. The multiplex operators have remote control of the transmitters, no-one needs to go and physically push buttons on the control panels, but there will be planning and change control overheads.
On other sports we sometimes get choice of audio too. I wish the BBC would give us the choice of Graham Norton's or Ken Bruce's commentary on the Eurovision Song Contest, but it hasn't happened yet.
(During the Paralympics Opening Ceremony, the Audio Describers were on More4)