BBC Trust approves Freesat

"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote in message
...
Roger R wrote:
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote in message
...

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...067033,00.html

BBC Trust approves Freesat

It would have been much better if the digital switchover was to be
straight from analogue to digital satellite given the reception
problems associated with terrestrial broadcasting. Thus ending
terrestrial television broadcasting. Why are they bothering with
the vast expense of equipping terrestial transmitters for digital
other than as Steve quotes Greg Dyke, to maintain the BBC licence
status.


I wouldn't go as far as to say that DTT should be abandoned altogether,
because virtually everybody has got a TV aerial, so it makes sense to use
DTT, and not everybody can put a satellite dish on the outside of their
house/flat etc, and others still wouldn't want to. All I'm ****ed off
about is that they could have launched it ages ago - MPEG-4 set-top boxes
have been available for some time now - if they'd have wanted to, but they
chose not to for self-serving reasons.


BBC channels are already FTA available on satellite, so I'm not quite
sure what extra the BBC free sat system is going to provide,


It'll provide a non-Sky EPG, have MPEG-4 support for HDTV, and the BBC
will probably advertise it (although because it doesn't help them they no
doubt won't advertise it as much as they could or should, especially
considering how much advertising they've lavished on Freeview over the
years), so they'll generate substantial interest and a market for MPEG-4
set-top boxes that wouldn't have existed without their advertising.

It'll be interesting to see whether they launch a package where people pay
for the receiver and installation at the same time, or whether there'll be
a lot of Rod Hull moments. And it'll be interesting to see how much it'll
cost as well.
[snip]

Installation and box as a single package has been the most satisfactory
marketing model for Sky. For many people it is the dish installation that
is the worrying unkown part,and they don't want to be vulnerable to a bunch
of 'here today gone tomorrow' rip off cowboys. Viewers would have much
more confidence if the complete kit were installed by 'BBC Satellite
Installation' (some kind of sub contract organisation) for a standard fee as
the Sky package.

I thought the BBC were planning HD to be a premium service, perhaps they may
revive the old B&W or colour licence idea to be SD or HD. Not a good idea
IMO.

Roger R

DABi s the horrid rubber things they used for contraception before latex
was invented in the 1920s that were like wanking into a sock' -- or
something snappy like that?

Latex grows on trees dosn't it?

Don't you know nofink Bill?

--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

....snip...
DAB is the 78rpm shellac disk of audio recording'...

Interesting that you single out shellac. As a child I was most surprised to
discover that my parents owned a 78rpm vinyl record - just the one! Lonnie
Donegan if memory serves.

Paul DS.

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message
.. .
...snip...
DAB is the 78rpm shellac disk of audio recording'...

Interesting that you single out shellac. As a child I was most surprised
to discover that my parents owned a 78rpm vinyl record - just the one!
Lonnie Donegan if memory serves.

Paul DS.

It wasn't vinyl Paul

--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

Roger R wrote:
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote in message
...

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...067033,00.html

BBC Trust approves Freesat

BBC channels are already FTA available on satellite, so I'm not quite
sure what extra the BBC free sat system is going to provide, and why
its taking three years to set up. Clearly I have fallen asleep at
the back.

Why an alternative to Sky FTA is needed ?

Easy: current arrangement requires a box from Sky, with Sky supplied card.
Sky can turn it off at any point, or decide to charge for it. (subject to
commercial contract notice periods).

If you want a PVR, you have to take a rental of Sky+. You can't just go to
the local electronics shop and buy a satellite receiver with hard drive
which behave the same as an analogue VHS recorder and TV.

Many people do not want to buy from Sky or want rental arrangements with
Sky, regardless of any caveats. (I have a lot of friends who say that).




Why its taking so long ?

Dunno, guess too many committees, too many people to consult.




- Nigel


--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

In article , d-e-c-o-d-e-
says...
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote in message
...

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...067033,00.html

BBC Trust approves Freesat

It would have been much better if the digital switchover was to be straight
from analogue to digital satellite given the reception problems associated
with terrestrial broadcasting. Thus ending terrestrial television
broadcasting. Why are they bothering with the vast expense of equipping
terrestial transmitters for digital other than as Steve quotes Greg Dyke, to
maintain the BBC licence status.


Given the BBC's current concentration (some might say obsession) with
environmental issues its surprising they aren't trying to push that on
those grounds.

They must use giga Watts (anyone have precise figures?) on terrestrial
tranmissions. Satellite by comparison uses tiny amounts of power.

Steve.

if wrote:
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote:
...

You've got a weird moniker there, surely DAB is the VHS of digital
radio. The Betamax would be MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, the superior format
which lost out.


Not this again!

Here's my reasoning: Betamax is the classical example of a technology that
lost a format war and became obsolete. On a global scale that's what's
happening to DAB - it was originally intended to be the digital replacement
for FM, but other standards emerged, countries (apart from the incompetent
UK broadcasters) decided they didn't want to use it because the newer
systems were far more efficient, cheaper to transmit, allowed far higher
audio quality and more stations etc, and refused to use DAB. WorldDAB had to
design DAB+ in a hurry, and DAB will now be slowly phased out in the UK,
Denmark and Norway.

My name has nothing to do with the technical superiority of one standard or
another, because the vast, vast majority of people associate Betamax with
being the classical example of a technology that lost a format war and
became obsolete.

to anybody else who wants to question me on this, please don't, thanks,
I've been through it enough times already


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

Bill Wright wrote:
"if" wrote in message
...
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote:
...

You've got a weird moniker there, surely DAB is the VHS of digital
radio. The Betamax would be MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, the superior format
which lost out.

Yes Steve, why don't you change it to 'DAB is the greaseproof paper of
sandwich wrappers' or 'DAB is the steam engine of mechanically
propelled road vehicles' or DAB is the 78rpm shellac disk of audio
recording' or 'DAB is the horrid rubber things they used for
contraception before latex was invented in the 1920s that were like
wanking into a sock' -- or something snappy like that?


I considered: 'DAB is those hairs in the plughole that mount up occasionally
and which are so difficult to get out and you've got to dig your nails in to
pull the buggers out and when they've mounted up a bit they make the water
slow to drain out worse than FM' - my reasoning was that hairs in the
plughole have become obsolete hairs, but I decided that it wouldn't fit in
the From column in people's newsreaders.



--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

Roger R wrote:
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote in message
...
Roger R wrote:
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote in message
...

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...067033,00.html

BBC Trust approves Freesat

It would have been much better if the digital switchover was to be
straight from analogue to digital satellite given the reception
problems associated with terrestrial broadcasting. Thus ending
terrestrial television broadcasting. Why are they bothering with
the vast expense of equipping terrestial transmitters for digital
other than as Steve quotes Greg Dyke, to maintain the BBC licence
status.


I wouldn't go as far as to say that DTT should be abandoned
altogether, because virtually everybody has got a TV aerial, so it
makes sense to use DTT, and not everybody can put a satellite dish
on the outside of their house/flat etc, and others still wouldn't
want to. All I'm ****ed off about is that they could have launched
it ages ago - MPEG-4 set-top boxes have been available for some time
now - if they'd have wanted to, but they chose not to for
self-serving reasons.
BBC channels are already FTA available on satellite, so I'm not
quite sure what extra the BBC free sat system is going to provide,


It'll provide a non-Sky EPG, have MPEG-4 support for HDTV, and the
BBC will probably advertise it (although because it doesn't help
them they no doubt won't advertise it as much as they could or
should, especially considering how much advertising they've lavished
on Freeview over the years), so they'll generate substantial
interest and a market for MPEG-4 set-top boxes that wouldn't have
existed without their advertising. It'll be interesting to see whether
they launch a package where
people pay for the receiver and installation at the same time, or
whether there'll be a lot of Rod Hull moments. And it'll be
interesting to see how much it'll cost as well.
[snip]

Installation and box as a single package has been the most
satisfactory marketing model for Sky. For many people it is the dish
installation that is the worrying unkown part,and they don't want to
be vulnerable to a bunch of 'here today gone tomorrow' rip off
cowboys. Viewers would have much more confidence if the complete
kit were installed by 'BBC Satellite Installation' (some kind of sub
contract organisation) for a standard fee as the Sky package.


I agree, but I'm not sure the BBC would go in for something like that -
we'll see.


I thought the BBC were planning HD to be a premium service, perhaps
they may revive the old B&W or colour licence idea to be SD or HD. Not a
good idea IMO.


No, they're not going to charge extra for it, and they've been trying to
convince the government and Ofcom to give them more spectrum to transmit HD
free-to-air on Freeview, but Ofcom and the government aren't budging,
because they say that there'll be sufficient spectrum to broadcast a few HD
channels after digital switchover.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

Graham wrote:
"if" wrote in message
...
"DAB is the Betamax of digital radio" [email protected] wrote:
...

You've got a weird moniker there, surely DAB is the VHS of digital
radio. The Betamax would be MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, the superior format
which lost out.

Yes I cringe a bit when I see Steve new sig for that very reason.
"Sinclair C-5" or "wax cylinder" would be my suggestions.


I think I might revise my name as I so often get questioned about it. The
Sinclair C5 and the wax cyliner don't sum up the story of DAB though. If you
were to visualise it it would be something like a jet aeroplane on its last
legs (something like a comet) being used to launch some new low cost airline
and it's all painted nice to give the impression that it's new and the staff
wear bright orange clothing and there's a reality TV show made about them,
then on the 3rd day after launch a small bird is sucked into the jet on
take-off and the plane crashes violently to earth, explodes and there's no
survivors.


I have to confess I actually bought a DAB radio yesterday
Purely to hear how bad it sounds you understand,
I was not disappointed IYKWIM. Plus the processor hash
audible during the dead-air bits on Radio 3 comes at no extra charge.


Have you listened to FM on it yet? Without even knowing what DAB radio
you've got, I would predict that the reception quality on FM is attrocious
compared to the reception quality on FM on a bog standard £15 analogue
radio. I've used loads of different DAB radios, and virtually all of them
have absolutely diabolical FM reception quality. I wonder why that is? It
can't be due to any vested interests in FM being seen to be bad in
comparison to DAB, of course, because UK companies are far too honest to
allow something like that to happen.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php