Recording length C4 on Sky & Freeview

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penfald

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#34068 17-May-2009 21:41

I suppose many people have noticed that with MySky HDi 1 hour of TV on TV3 takes 4%, Prime, TV1,2 take 2% and C4, Living, 63, Nat Geo etc take 1%.

The difference in quality between Prime and C4 is much greater than Prime & TV3 despite TV3 being HD. I was in Noel Leemings and they had C4 Freeview terrestial on (I asked) and the quality of the picture was sooo much better, about the same as Prime on Sky. Has anyone else noticed this and shed any more light on it.

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openmedia

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#215447 17-May-2009 22:45

Sky transmit their own encode of C4 which is at a much lower bitrate than Prime/TV One etc.

The freeview satellite broadcast of C4 is of a similar quality to the TV One and TV 2 picture.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

lchiu7

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#215695 18-May-2009 19:56

openmedia: Sky transmit their own encode of C4 which is at a much lower bitrate than Prime/TV One etc.

The freeview satellite broadcast of C4 is of a similar quality to the TV One and TV 2 picture.

Interestingly, the Freeview (terrestrial) version of C4 isn't upscaled - it's 576p whereas all content on TV3 is either upscaled to 1080i or native 1080i (HD). It's also in that awful AAC-HE audio format.

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openmedia

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#215711 18-May-2009 20:51

lchiu7:
openmedia: Sky transmit their own encode of C4 which is at a much lower bitrate than Prime/TV One etc.

The freeview satellite broadcast of C4 is of a similar quality to the TV One and TV 2 picture.

Interestingly, the Freeview (terrestrial) version of C4 isn't upscaled - it's 576p whereas all content on TV3 is either upscaled to 1080i or native 1080i (HD). It's also in that awful AAC-HE audio format.

C4 on DTT is 576i.

Also there is nothing wrong with HE-AACv2 providing you have the correct decoder.

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lchiu7

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#215748 18-May-2009 22:06

Forgot about the fact that my player sends out 576p. As for AAC-HE audio, the less said about that the better :-(

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openmedia

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#215766 18-May-2009 23:05

lchiu7: Forgot about the fact that my player sends out 576p. As for AAC-HE audio, the less said about that the better :-(

So what codec are you using for HE-AACv2?

A lot of codecs don't deal with the full version and you end up with quite a poor quality plain AAC audio.

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lchiu7

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#216073 19-May-2009 20:30

The one that sub recommends for gbpvr - can't remember the name. It works fine but I would much prefer to play HD content on my Popcorn Hour. And of course AAC-HE also means that all TVNZ HD broadcasts are in stereo (well I think I read somewhere on this forum that in fact the HD shows have audio encoded in Dolby Prologic so if you passed the stereo signal through a DPLII decoder, you can get surround audio).

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Dingbatt

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#216183 20-May-2009 09:25

lchiu7: The one that sub recommends for gbpvr - can't remember the name. It works fine but I would much prefer to play HD content on my Popcorn Hour. And of course AAC-HE also means that all TVNZ HD broadcasts are in stereo (well I think I read somewhere on this forum that in fact the HD shows have audio encoded in Dolby Prologic so if you passed the stereo signal through a DPLII decoder, you can get surround audio).

Ah, that would explain why some of the TVNZ shows appear to have better audio when played through an AVR.

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lchiu7

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#216199 20-May-2009 10:14

Dingbatt:
lchiu7: The one that sub recommends for gbpvr - can't remember the name. It works fine but I would much prefer to play HD content on my Popcorn Hour. And of course AAC-HE also means that all TVNZ HD broadcasts are in stereo (well I think I read somewhere on this forum that in fact the HD shows have audio encoded in Dolby Prologic so if you passed the stereo signal through a DPLII decoder, you can get surround audio).

Ah, that would explain why some of the TVNZ shows appear to have better audio when played through an AVR.

This was the quote from a TVNZ insider that mentioned they were doing this

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=83&TopicId=32085&page_no=1#207094

Once I read that, I repatched my HTPC audio output from going to the TV directly to going to the AVR and apply DPLII processing to the signal. It seems to widen the sound stage and sounds that should be in the rear channels (mono only) do seem to be appropriately positioned. But my TVNZ viewing is limited to Criminal Minds only since that is the only HD shows on TVNZ I watch

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WaffleMakerMan

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#216470 20-May-2009 21:21

openmedia: Sky transmit their own encode of C4 which is at a much lower bitrate than Prime/TV One etc.

Do you know why sky still transmit there own version instead of using the freeview feeds?

openmedia

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#216495 20-May-2009 22:45

The SD versions of TV3 and C4 are broadcast by both Kordia and Sky. Sky would have to negotiate with MediaWorks and Kordia to get permission to carry their transmissions.

It is a little surprising as the other Kordia transmissions on 12456H are included in Sky's lineup.

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rugrat

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#216890 22-May-2009 09:35

openmedia: The SD versions of TV3 and C4 are broadcast by both Kordia and Sky. Sky would have to negotiate with MediaWorks and Kordia to get permission to carry their transmissions.

It is a little surprising as the other Kordia transmissions on 12456H are included in Sky's lineup.

So when buy a non free view approved box, do they have to get kordia and other peoples permission to recieve or carry a free to air signal.

openmedia

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#216955 22-May-2009 12:57

rugrat:
openmedia: The SD versions of TV3 and C4 are broadcast by both Kordia and Sky. Sky would have to negotiate with MediaWorks and Kordia to get permission to carry their transmissions.

It is a little surprising as the other Kordia transmissions on 12456H are included in Sky's lineup.

So when buy a non free view approved box, do they have to get kordia and other peoples permission to recieve or carry a free to air signal.

Nope as long as it is a FTA reciever.

Technically there is nothing stopping Sky mapping the channels, legally is a different matter and IANAL.

Steve

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pjamieson

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Chorus

#217339 23-May-2009 23:15

Don't Sky still also transmit their own signal of Maori TV, and even the RNZ Radio channels??? Ridiculous waste of bandwidth and Quality if you ask me.

Duplicating TV 1/2/3 in HD of course makes sense as they don't exist on DVB-S.

openmedia

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#217379 24-May-2009 11:11

They stopped their own transmission of MaoriTV quite some time ago, and use the freeview feed. Also Stratos, Te Reo and Cue all come off the freeview feed.

Yes they do still transmit the RNZ radio channels (on 12519H), but they take a very small amount of bandwidth.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

penfald

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#217414 24-May-2009 14:51

It makes no sense to me that they should re-encode C4 at a lower quality when they could use the Freeview feed with higher quality, unless it is about money and C4 would have to pay a higher price for better transmission quality?