when will HD be over satellite?

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link2007

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#27217 18-Oct-2008 09:30

thanks!

sbiddle

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#171907 18-Oct-2008 09:36

There never have been any plans to do this and nothing is on the drawing board.

eXDee

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#171923 18-Oct-2008 11:24

Elaborating on why - it would require a reasonably large size of satellite space for HD, which would be very expensive.

1101

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#171958 18-Oct-2008 14:41

just my guess here...
NZ Freveiw Sat is DVB-S : the older standard
DVB-S2 would have been the better option for Sat HD as it supports h264 etc etc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-S2
".....DVB-S2 performance gain over DVB-S is around 30%[citation needed]. When the contribution of improvements in video compression is added, an (MPEG-4 AVC) HDTV service can now be delivered in the same capacity that supported an early DVB-S-MPEG-2 SDTV service, only a decade before."

ie we have the old sat standard.
Makes just sooo muuuuch sence not to use the new standard given that this would be a perfect time to use DVB-S2 since no one had bought he old hardware yet before Freeveiw was up & running.
It basicly too late now????

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#171960 18-Oct-2008 14:46

If DVB-S was the primary delivery platform then yes, DVB-S2 may have made sence. DVB-T is the primary delivery platform with 75% coverage and this probably will be extended to 87% in the future.

Your argument is the exact reason H.264 was chosen for Freeview|HD - nobody had boxes so we could easily opt for the newer standard. WIth satellite however it was different, DVB-S was and still will be the dominant standard for many years to come.

People would have had to pay triple the price they did for a DVB-S2 receiver and Freeview would have still required more costly bandwidth that what they have at present.

cyril7

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#171962 18-Oct-2008 14:56

DVB-S2 is already in use in NZ with Sky for its HD service.

I dont think at this point there is any intention to do HD on the Sat service, it was chosen as a base line service that provided modern digital TV to all NZ's anywhere they maybe, as such you get mpeg2 video feeds in 16:9 with full SD component video from studio to home, sounds a pretty good upgrade on the old analog system to me.

It was also decided to keep it cheap, therefore the use of now commonly available DVB-S mpeg2 hardware that will be around for a long time yet, and saves the cost of a lot of terresital Tx sites.

The current old analog system in NZ has over 400 Tx sites (compared to 18 DTT ones), some as small as 100mW, but even so this struggles to reach 80% of the population with reasonable reception. The implementation of a essential but good DVB-S mpeg2 SD service to cover the whole country (100% unless you live in a cold hole) using very common equipement is a good decision, keep it simple, keep it cheap.

Then overlay the main population with a more uptodate DVB-T network using mpeg4 to enable easier HD, seems also a sensible option.

My only two comments, I really would like to see <$50 DVB-S boxs on the market, even if it takes Woolworths to get the volume up to get the price down. In Aus you can get DVB-T mpeg2 boxs (which other than the DVB-T tuner are identical to a DVB-S mpeg2 box that works here) for <$50, I see no reason why a basic $50 box cannot be sold here. The other comment is TV1,2,3 is it possible to include AC3 streams (in 5.1 when appropriate) on the DVB-S service, this would in someway make up for the lack of HD. Oh an Prime please.

Cyril

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#172201 20-Oct-2008 10:25

Could someone let me know please...

Does the satellite freeview service offer 5.1 sound when TV3 show one of their HD where available shows? I know some of the receiver boxes have coax/optical out, but do they offer 5.1 over sat?

Cheers!

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#172213 20-Oct-2008 10:53

Jaxson: Could someone let me know please...

Does the satellite freeview service offer 5.1 sound when TV3 show one of their HD where available shows? I know some of the receiver boxes have coax/optical out, but do they offer 5.1 over sat?

Cheers!

No.

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#172218 20-Oct-2008 11:18

Bugger. Cheers Sbiddle.

So the only output on freeview sat is 2 channel, or maybe the older dolby prologic etc.

Just hoped that it would be broadcast with something cool to warrant using a digital coax/opt out.

lchiu7

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#172724 22-Oct-2008 11:16

...

My only two comments, I really would like to see <$50 DVB-S boxs on the market, even if it takes Woolworths to get the volume up to get the price down. In Aus you can get DVB-T mpeg2 boxs (which other than the DVB-T tuner are identical to a DVB-S mpeg2 box that works here) for <$50, I see no reason why a basic $50 box cannot be sold here. The other comment is TV1,2,3 is it possible to include AC3 streams (in 5.1 when appropriate) on the DVB-S service, this would in someway make up for the lack of HD. Oh an Prime please.

Cyril

I'd be rapt if TV1/TV2 provided AC-3 streams for the HD programming. Sticking to AAC stereo seems like a half hearted gesture to me. It's not as if they don't have the content. Perhaps it's a bandwidth thing with having to support TV6/7 etc.

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Quidam

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#172771 22-Oct-2008 14:01

lchiu7:
...

My only two comments, I really would like to see <$50 DVB-S boxs on the market, even if it takes Woolworths to get the volume up to get the price down. In Aus you can get DVB-T mpeg2 boxs (which other than the DVB-T tuner are identical to a DVB-S mpeg2 box that works here) for <$50, I see no reason why a basic $50 box cannot be sold here. The other comment is TV1,2,3 is it possible to include AC3 streams (in 5.1 when appropriate) on the DVB-S service, this would in someway make up for the lack of HD. Oh an Prime please.

Cyril

I'd be rapt if TV1/TV2 provided AC-3 streams for the HD programming. Sticking to AAC stereo seems like a half hearted gesture to me. It's not as if they don't have the content. Perhaps it's a bandwidth thing with having to support TV6/7 etc.

I think Cyril is commenting specifically on the DVB-S service, which uses MPEG-2 (I assume for both the Video and Audio stream).

It does raise an interesting question. Since I don't do DVB-S, I'm curious, is the audio stream AAC also?

Here's an interesting link about AAC that seems to suggest it at least could be -while AC3 would obviously be even better it doesn't sound (excuse the pun) too bad, at least on paper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

Update:

It appears that for MPEG-4, what we get is HE-AAC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HE-AAC

Which as far as I can tell, is not part of the MPEG-2 standard.

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cyril7

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#172773 22-Oct-2008 14:10

The DVB-S service uses Mpeg2 video and Mpeg1 layer2 audio, which is the normal audio associated with mpeg2 video transmissions and is the baseline audio codec for DVB system.

Yes my comment was with regard to AC3 tansmissions on the DVB-S service, all the STBs either certified or not have spdif outputs and support AC3 if transmitted, it would be nice if TVNZ and Canwest offered those on the Sat service some extras in this area.

Cyril

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openmedia

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#172843 22-Oct-2008 18:05

cyril7: The DVB-S service uses Mpeg2 video and Mpeg1 layer2 audio, which is the normal audio associated with mpeg2 video transmissions and is the baseline audio codec for DVB system.

Yes my comment was with regard to AC3 tansmissions on the DVB-S service, all the STBs either certified or not have spdif outputs and support AC3 if transmitted, it would be nice if TVNZ and Canwest offered those on the Sat service some extras in this area.

Cyril

I agree it would be nice but it would mean reducing the video bit rate on TV1 and TV2 to allow for the AC3 streams.

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