You Ask Freeview thread #3

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sbiddle

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#222476 7-Jun-2009 16:53

dontpanic42: When does Freeview plan on including EIT data in your HD broadcast?

This would speed up the release of Sony's Play TV add-on for the PS3.

I will answer this for you now. The answer is never.

EIT is very much an obsolete way of transmitting EPG data. The inability of EIT to reliably support features that people expect these days such as series link means that MHEG5 has become the new "standard" for EPG's, hence the reason it's being deployed by so many countries.

dontpanic42

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#222477 7-Jun-2009 17:05

sbiddle:
dontpanic42: When does Freeview plan on including EIT data in your HD broadcast?

This would speed up the release of Sony's Play TV add-on for the PS3.

I will answer this for you now. The answer is never.

EIT is very much an obsolete way of transmitting EPG data. The inability of EIT to reliably support features that people expect these days such as series link means that MHEG5 has become the new "standard" for EPG's, hence the reason it's being deployed by so many countries.

That makes sense. Thanks for your reply.
That also creates a new question though. And sorry I don't mean to clog this topic up with discussion.

Q: Will MHEG5 be loosened up so that non-Freeview approved STBs can make use of a full 8-day EPG. This includes the above Play TV add-on for the PS3.

It might be a good idea for Freeview to collaborate with Microsoft and provide Microsoft some downloadable TV listings content for Media Center. This obviously would not be necessary if we had access to a full un-locked 8-day EPG via DTT.

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#222486 7-Jun-2009 17:21

I'm sure Mauricio can ask them about these issues but very briefly MHEG5 is not some closed standard if you're thinking it is.

The MHEG5 specications are readily available and if you contact Freeview they will provide you with all the technical requirement for MHEG5 and the MHEG5 PVR EPG addon used in NZ. There is nothing stopping anybody from incorporating MHEG5 support into their devices except the software development costs of adding the feature to existing products.

openmedia

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#222487 7-Jun-2009 17:22

sbiddle:
dontpanic42: When does Freeview plan on including EIT data in your HD broadcast?

This would speed up the release of Sony's Play TV add-on for the PS3.

I will answer this for you now. The answer is never.

EIT is very much an obsolete way of transmitting EPG data. The inability of EIT to reliably support features that people expect these days such as series link means that MHEG5 has become the new "standard" for EPG's, hence the reason it's being deployed by so many countries.

The series link meta data is actually carried in the EIT stream on freeview HD.

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.

HybridE506r

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#222496 7-Jun-2009 17:52

imho anyone that can actually receive a DVB-t signal should be happy, theres communities that cannot get a reliable nor strong DVB-t signal

Biggles69

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#223714 10-Jun-2009 18:54

Why is there not any info on the official freeview website to explain the macroblocking, pixelation etc caused by lowering the bitrate , not even in the FAQ which list common problems!!!

I did notice that on the website it now describes Digital Vs Analog as 'near DVD quality', i'm pretty sure it didn't used to say 'near', I guess they are covering their a$$ so they don't breach any false advertising claims.

There is a news item about the regionalisation of TV ONE but nothing about the 2 months of testing & the on going picture quality problems.

What are Freeview trying to hide?

grolschie

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#223786 10-Jun-2009 22:07

Any plans for DVB-S2 (perhaps with backwards compatibility)?

freeviewsholdbefree

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#223966 11-Jun-2009 14:20

Hi,

As already stated in previous posts we're half way through 2009 and there's only 1 PVR on the market that supports the MHEG5 guide for the EPG, in Australia they haven't even officially launched the service and there are many PVRs (some approved ones already i.e. the Topfield TRF7150) because they have an EIT EPG (EIT is the standard worldwide for EPGs, all PVR manufacturers have already implemented this) they don?t require MHEG5.

Is the MHEG5 EPG and Freeview approval process being used by freeview to control the market because it is very expensive for manufacturers to implement MHEG5 (licences and development time required).

Freeview should allow use of the EPG standard: EIT EPG not force the use of a vastly inferior, no one likes seeing:

Loading...

With EIT all the PVRs I have seen, the EIT data is buffered and the EPG is instant.

We (I am sure that includes manufacturers such as Sony) would like to ask again that the EIT EPG data is sent on Freeview HD, this will significantly improve many devices performance and reduce there cost (reduced development and licence costs will be passed on to the consumer).

Apart from that using the EIT EPG allows the EPG interface to be integrated properly into the devices i.e. Sony Play TV will have a Sony PS3 style to it etc.

There is no excuse for not doing this the amount of aditional bandwidth required is very very small, the benifit to the public is very very big.

freitasm

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#223969 11-Jun-2009 14:22

Hey, "freeviewsholdbefdree", I am curious about your username. What isn't "free" on Freeview?

By the way folks I am now getting these questions to send out. Anything after this point won't be sent today.

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freitasm on Keybase | My technology disclosure

freeviewsholdbefree

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#223972 11-Jun-2009 14:27

Re: What isn't "free" on Freeview?

MHEG 5 is not free that is the problem (Generally the manufacturer needs to pay S & T a lot of money for the licence)

We need EIT to be sent on Freeview HD!

openmedia

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#223985 11-Jun-2009 14:38

None of the tech is free. If you make an STB you have to pay for an MPEG2 or H.264 license.

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.

freeviewsholdbefree

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#224009 11-Jun-2009 15:08

openmedia: None of the tech is free. If you make an STB you have to pay for an MPEG2 or H.264 license.

Yes that is right, but MPEG2 and H.264 licences are much much cheaper. H.264 is the more expensive of the two $2.50US/STB. Compared with MHEG 5 that is virtually free.

Development work to do EIT has to be done for other markets also, it is not nessary to do any additional development work for EIT EPG the STB manufacturers already have this in every set top box. This is a close to free solution, compared to a very expensive one (costs for the STB manufacturer are in the region of $300000-1000000 to implement the EPG using an S&T MHEG 5 Engine)

MurrayC

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#224012 11-Jun-2009 15:14

There is a free-to-air channel on my Freeview box called "TV-CH" and shows a Kordia logo. Is this going to be a new Freeview channel?

Fossie

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#224014 11-Jun-2009 15:16

Cool, lets broadcast an antiquated system, lacking cool features.....

I opposed the move to ADSL because my 56k modem would not support it...

freeviewsholdbefree

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#224021 11-Jun-2009 15:28

freeviewsholdbefree:
openmedia: None of the tech is free. If you make an STB you have to pay for an MPEG2 or H.264 license.

Yes that is right, but MPEG2 and H.264 licences are much much cheaper. H.264 is the more expensive of the two $2.50US/STB. Compared with MHEG 5 that is virtually free.

Development work to do EIT has to be done for other markets also, it is not nessary to do any additional development work for EIT EPG the STB manufacturers already have this in every set top box. This is a close to free solution, compared to a very expensive one (costs for the STB manufacturer are in the region of $300000-1000000 to implement the EPG using an S&T MHEG 5 Engine)

I agree with you, my user name should be freeviewshouldnotbeexpensive

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