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Old 25-05-2011, 12:45
Muzer
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Someone should give it a real name, officially, other than just DDR7.
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Old 25-05-2011, 13:21
Greebo
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Someone should give it a real name, officially, other than just DDR7.
I was thinking that too. Let's call it the MCR7 mux - that's hopefully quite good for googling. I've seeded the idea into the ukfree thread as well - let's see if it sticks!
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Old 25-05-2011, 13:33
Muzer
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DDR7 is good for fitting in with the PSB and COM names, imho - we don't need to use something like MCR7 unless there become loads of DDR muxes. What I was referring to is one to fit in with BBC A, BBC B, D3&4, ARQ A, ARQ B and SDN.
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Old 25-05-2011, 13:38
marria01
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I think anyone with more than a passing interest in local tv would have said the original plans for rollout wouldn't have had local interests at heart. The likes of Richard Horwood simply wanted a new national channel on the cheap, he didn't really have any interest in local tv at all.

The power should rest with the stations themselves, they should be able to decide what goes on and when. Yes, that might result in a fractured service, but no more really than the ITV of old. I've read somewhere about restricting the number of licences a single operator can have, while I'm sure that might keep it from turning into another ITV, it makes certain areas difficult to justify running if you can't leverage economies of scale by pooling central resources across a number of licence areas.

I'd say strict, enforceable limits on networked content and minimum levels of local programming would have a better end result. Would it matter that 80% of the stations were owned by one company if strict local content quotas were adhered to and local production bases were set up?
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Old 25-05-2011, 14:35
marria01
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Someone should give it a real name, officially, other than just DDR7.
I think for the time being, it's probably an apt name for it. If local TV is rolled out using those muxes then maybe LCL7, or if there were have a public service remit, PSB4?
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Old 25-05-2011, 15:28
Greebo
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Neither DDR7 or LCL7 would refer specifically to the Manchester local mux. They could equally be used for the mooted Cardiff local mux from Wenvoe ch30 that is mentioned in the same Ofcom pdf document that has the coverage predictions for the Manchester local mux.
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Old 25-05-2011, 15:39
Muzer
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I would have just called those DDR8, DDR9... etc.
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Old 25-05-2011, 16:03
Ray Cathode
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Neither DDR7 or LCL7 would refer specifically to the Manchester local mux. They could equally be used for the mooted Cardiff local mux from Wenvoe ch30 that is mentioned in the same Ofcom pdf document that has the coverage predictions for the Manchester local mux.
The trouble with calling it a 7th mux is that 2 new national muxes could very well appear on UHF31-37 and they would get 7th and 8th status.

The local muxes should just be called Local 1, 2 etc or LCL1
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Old 25-05-2011, 19:56
marria01
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Neither DDR7 or LCL7 would refer specifically to the Manchester local mux. They could equally be used for the mooted Cardiff local mux from Wenvoe ch30 that is mentioned in the same Ofcom pdf document that has the coverage predictions for the Manchester local mux.
True, but how you differentiate between the PSB1 mux at Winter Hill and the PSB1 mux from Emley Moor?

A local mux in Manchester is likely to be 90% identical to one in Birmingham as they'll probably pool their capacity to sell on as a quasi-national platform. It could be that only the local TV service will be different.

In the same way you'd refer to the PSB1 mux on Winter Hill, you'd just call it LCL7 on Winter Hill.
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Old 01-06-2011, 15:25
Greebo
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The NIT update has appeared this afternoon, now showing:
DVB-DescriptorTag: 90 (0x5a) [= terrestrial_delivery_system_descriptor]
descriptor_length: 11 (0x0b)
Center frequency: 0x048ab840 (= 762000.000 kHz)
Bandwidth: 0 (0x00) [= 8 MHz]
priority: 1 (0x01) [= HP (high priority) or Non-hierarch.]
Time_Slicing_indicator: 1 (0x01) [= Time Slicing is not used.)]
MPE-FEC_indicator: 1 (0x01) [= MPE-FEC is not used.)]
reserved_1: 3 (0x03)
Constellation: 0 (0x00) [= QPSK]
Hierarchy information: 0 (0x00) [= non-hierarchical (native interleaver)]
Code_rate_HP_stream: 0 (0x00) [= 1/2]
Code_rate_LP_stream: 0 (0x00) [= 1/2]
Guard_interval: 0 (0x00) [= 1/32]
Transmission_mode: 1 (0x01) [= 8k mode]
Other_frequency_flag: 0 (0x00)
reserved_2: 4294967295 (0xffffffff)
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Old 27-09-2011, 16:34
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Anyone know if Channel M/Arqiva are actually going to implement the change of beam pattern detailed in http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...tice524/im.pdf once The Wrekin releases ch57 tonight?
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Old 27-09-2011, 17:48
Ray Cathode
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Anyone know if Channel M/Arqiva are actually going to implement the change of beam pattern detailed in http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...tice524/im.pdf once The Wrekin releases ch57 tonight?
I suspect that Ch M only has one aperture on the mast at Winter Hill and so it would involve removal and replacement, with substantial downtime. No doubt mb21 will photograph any changes as soon as they occur. Whether Ch M can afford it is another good question. I doubt whether Ofcon would force them to increase their service area.

I wonder when the Cardiff local service will start operating?
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Old 27-09-2011, 18:51
chrisy
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I suspect that Ch M only has one aperture on the mast at Winter Hill and so it would involve removal and replacement, with substantial downtime. No doubt mb21 will photograph any changes as soon as they occur. Whether Ch M can afford it is another good question. I doubt whether Ofcon would force them to increase their service area.

I wonder when the Cardiff local service will start operating?
Given that Cube have expressed an interest in running the official C6 service for Cardiff, probably never.
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Old 06-10-2011, 18:47
marty111
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Whether Channel M can afford it is another good question.
I doubt Channel M / Guardian Media Group would be able to afford it. You only have to look at the EPG to see that all programming consists of ether repeats, Euro news or Real Radio. Also I am unsure if it would be worth replacing the aperture and increasing the service area due to the lacklustre programming.
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Old 06-10-2011, 19:57
Greebo
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Lots of variables that few of us are in a position to determine:

Is the beam pattern a legal condition of the licence?
Will ofcom be upset if the beam pattern isn't changed as they specified?
Did channel M anticipate and budget for the change of beam pattern?
Does the contract between channel M and Arqiva already specify that Arqiva must change the beam pattern at the appropriate time? And at who's cost? Was someone at Channel M clever enough to write the contract such as to pass the cost of the change over to Arqiva - or at least to spread it evenly over whatever monthly payments are in place so that no bean counter is going to get a nasty surprise?

We can speculate all we like, without hard facts it remains just that. Meanwhile this thread awaits someone previously out of coverage to report that a signal has appeared.
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Old 06-10-2011, 20:09
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I will check periodically but there's no sign of it yet.

Andy
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Old 01-11-2011, 10:25
a516
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Everyone in the Manchester area keep an eye out for changes to the local multiplex.

I'd be interested to hear if areas where the multiplex wasn't available get the multiplex following today's anticipated mode change. Also any reports if the multiplex is down at any point today if changes are being made.
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Old 01-11-2011, 10:39
kjhskj75
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Still only 2 channels on local mux.

Mode change is on the 3rd here (according to DigitalUK)
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Old 01-11-2011, 10:56
a516
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Still only 2 channels on local mux.

Mode change is on the 3rd here (according to DigitalUK)
The local mux or ArqB?

The local mux would need to change modes today, if the reports that Movies4Men+1, 2, 2+1 and Men and Movies launching on the local mux today are correct.
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Old 01-11-2011, 10:59
kjhskj75
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The local mux or ArqB?
ArqB changes on the 3rd.

I have no means of telling what the mode is. I just see channels.

But as I said no sign of new channels this morning.
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Old 01-11-2011, 11:03
Greebo
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The local mux would need to change modes today, if the reports that Movies4Men+1, 2, 2+1 and Men and Movies launching on the local mux today are correct.
Ah, now I understand the significance, I hadn't spotted the thread re new licences being granted. Will report if/when my pc detects any changes.
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Old 01-11-2011, 12:21
marria01
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Everyone in the Manchester area keep an eye out for changes to the local multiplex.

I'd be interested to hear if areas where the multiplex wasn't available get the multiplex following today's anticipated mode change. Also any reports if the multiplex is down at any point today if changes are being made.
It begs the question, why are you interested? Do you own it?
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Old 01-11-2011, 12:26
a516
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Is showing interest in the development of the Freeview platform forbidden?
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Old 01-11-2011, 12:52
Greebo
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First sign of changes: at approx 12:15 the mux changed from QPSK to QAM16. Unfortunately that means my pc can no longer get a good lock on the mux. Checking on a TV, there's no sign of any new channels yet. The tesco/Dion box reports QAM16 , FEC3/4 and GI of 1/32.
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Old 01-11-2011, 12:54
a516
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First sign of changes: at approx 12:15 the mux changed from QPSK to QAM16. Unfortunately that means my pc can no longer get a good lock on the mux. Checking on a TV, there's no sign of any new channels yet. The tesco/Dion box reports QAM16 , FEC3/4 and GI of 1/32.
Thanks for that Greebo. I was hoping that they would take the opportunity to boost coverage, to compensate for the mode change, now that the Wrekin is no longer in the way on UHF 57. For the success of the local Manchester service, it's really needed!
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