Yes, but don't expect the commercial operators to improve resolution at the expense of slots.

they arent making use of that yet though!
Also ARQ A isnt using 544*576 they are using ether 704*576 or 720*576 (probably not the later!)

All of the COM multiplexes use 544x576 on all streams. SDN has 13 streams in Wales, so there is a stream available outside Wales. Arqiva B already has 13 streams and Arqiva A had 13 streams while BBC RB 302 was on the multiplex.

oh ok thats a lot on there then! I guess the BBC could use its own BBC A MUX for a RB 2 on 302 if it uses the new incoders too!

Probably not, it was a temporary measure. They will be making more use of internet streams and IPTV for red button services in future.

Haha, yes. This is something that has always intrigued me.

Why is do you think they just don't get it when it comes to compressing SD broadcasting? Do you believe the people who make these decisions think we just don't notice? Have they all become so accustomed to all that mosquito noise themselves? Do these executives even watch TV that much to notice?

There was so much positive feedback a few years ago when ITV West Country (or whatever it was called) was forced for some technical reason connected with analogue broadcasting to pump out their content using higher bit rates. Even my granny noticed how good the pictures were!

Since then PQ on SD broadcasts has continued to drop and compression artefacts have become the norm.

If only C4 would allocate just half half of the bandwidth they will be squandering on the +1 channel to the main channel instead it would make a huge difference.

BTW we are talking here about the same Channel 4 whose SD up-scaling on their HD channels is second to none and who are so impressive with the quality of their SD 4OD offerings on the Sky platform. So there cannot be a lot wrong with their encoders.

Why then do they treat their Freeview viewers as though they are visually impaired?

ITV were forced by the ITC on a number of occasions to improve their picture quality because it was so poor. Since Ofcom took over I don't think that has happened though.


C4 SD isn't too bad - it's at least full resolution. There are far worse examples - I accidentally tuned into Create & Craft earlier and couldn't believe how bad it looked (I think they were selling individual super-sized pixels)

A casual glance suggests they haven't upgraded Sandy Heath yet, so we'll see how much better it looks when they do. I hate being forced to watch things on C4+1 because it looks terrible, when an hour ago I could have watched the same programme in HD.

ALL channels should be full resolution at a minimum - anything less is barely better than analogue. Perhaps if/when we switch to DVB-T2 the PQ standards will go up.

check this idea out: http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/...pse0f79dc2.png
its not a compleate view but its an idea a516 worte in a post: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...8#post67276158 so its not actually my idea but I have put in in a diagram!

If we can keep 6 muxes beyond 2018 we should be fine. 5 DVB-T2/AVC muxes, 4 of which are HD and 1 of which is SD. This allows 20 HD channels and 20 SD channels with great quality and no need for simulcasting. The final mux can be used for UHD/HEVC tests (two channels).

What we really need is for no 700Mhz clearence, DVB-T1 gone by 2018, Moblie companies to reuse 2G spectrum for 5G (by it going back to OFCOM and re-bided for!). We can then have 9 MUXs (if we utilise the 600Mhz band better) and keep local TV.
All new equipment on sale needs to be DVB-T2 and HEVC compatible from Jan 2014 onwards and everything else off the market!

From 2018 with 8 DVB-T2 National MUXs, 1 DVB-T3 MUX (some with regional TV like now) and 1 local DVB-T2 MUX, we can have the lyout thats been suggested in my diagram and 4 MUXs on top (BBC B and the 3 in the 600Mhz band we could suqeeze in with SFNs), BBC B being a nationa 4K area with BBC 1 4K (UHD) and ITV 4K (UHD), and 4 other 4K (UHD) channels on two of the MUXs, with the last MUX being DVB-T3 testing and potentually fitting more 4K (UHD) channels on!

Even if DVB-T3 was ever going to be invented, it wouldn't be much more efficient than DVB-T2 so you'd never be able to fit more than 2 UHD channels in a single mux, until HEVC is very mature, when 3 would probably be possible.

I cannot think that any broadcaster or DTG member would have profiled HEVC by the end of the year ... If ever.
And certainly not for UHD ....

The next wave of terrestrial TV will be based on what ever FOBTV stirs into action......
It may use something close to DVB-t2 ... As this is efficient and does not rely on MPEG2TS. And thus encapsulates IP.
..... It or similar technology may be used as the interim ATSC 3 which is needed for repacking.. Assume that broadcasting will continue in the USA .

Unless you miss the start of a film you wanted to watch, I see this as a waste of space. Just like all the other +1 channels - sorry

when will they move the channel over do you think.

It might be ok when the 9pm movie is on as there may be sports or other show on till 10pm.

I must admit I don't really see the point of this as a plus one channel on the whole. I'd like it if Channel Four used this to showcase seasons of films. Such as back to back anime or classic European cinema or maybe a joint venture with ITV and Channel 5.

I just think that with the number of people who can now record programmes onto PVR/DTR set top boxes, watch via catch up etc. it seems a bit of a waste with such limited space on the DTT platform.

But that's just my view and I am sure that I will use it and find it very handy if we miss a film or if one clashes with something else as we do use most of the other plus one services a few times a week at least to juggle programmes.

So do we know when Film4 is moving to D3&4 and Film4 +1 starting on Arq B?

I wouldn't mind channel 4 getting one of the slots if they did something different with Film 4, a second Film 4 channel instead of a +1. I guess it would be too much to ask for Film 4 World, like we used to have years ago.

Know that a good idea how about Film4 Action?

They've just gained a new slot on a PSB mux. They will suffer penalties if they vacate the commercial slot (or, at the very least, they will be paying for it anyway). They will either keep running Film4+1 until the mux carriage expires, or they will keep hold of it as a "spare" for future channel launches.

I suspect the latter. C4 have never given up any of their slots in the past - we still have E4+1 which I expected to be replaced with something new years ago!

Like others, I'm surprised that C4 gained access to this new slot - I thought it would be ITV's as they gave up a space nationally for C5, whereas C4 only gave up a slot in Wales. I'm quite pleased that C4 are using it rather than ITV - I suspect this arrangement is related to ITV's ownership of SDN.

Much as I welcome Film4 going back to a decent picture resolution, I'd have rather ITV had had it for ITV4.

Yeah, ITV4 really needs 704x576 with a decent bit rate. Even the satellite version isn't as good as it used to be.

It's entirely possible that another ITV service makes its way onto the D3&4 mux. I guess it would be ITV3 judging from what they have done in the Channel Islands.

There's currently 9 channels at less than 3 Mbps each (once Film4 gets added anyway). They're all running at 720x576 now so this is really as low as you can go at that resolution.

Right now BBC A is the only good quality SD mux to be honest. D3&4 is decent, the rest suck balls.

Although it's really difficult to make any predictions from what they have done in the CI. There are no COM multiplexes there and no +1 timeshift for ITV Channel Islands. It just makes sense to use the empty slot for a channel they can't receive from another mux.

You've already stated that null packets are now running at 500kbps, that really doesn't give much elbow room for a 10th slot.