New Freesat service

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
.. .
Why is it so hard to free-ise the ch4 and 5. I'd have thought the
industry could have got its act together by now and effectively
duplicated the freeview channels on sat.

I'd also be interested to know if the receivers have the narrative
channel, ie audio description.


Many people don't realise that Ch4 and five are both regionalised for
adverts (and Classic FM for that matter.) Live in Yorks and many ads
have a Geordie accent, but go you Geordie-land and you get Yorkshire
accents.

Can't speak for the rest of the country!



--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

Agamemnon wrote:

The European standard was designed to be platform independent. Both Sky
and Freesat will only work on Astra 2 and with broadcasters working with
Sky or the BBC. Sky's EPG is already full up and Astra only has about 600
channels. Hotbird has over 1000 channels. How many channels will the
Freesat EPG be able to cope with?

As a complete ignoramus in this area,
I've been reading this thread with increasing bewilderment.

As far as I can see - please tell me if I am wrong -
there are two completely different and unrelated issues:
1. Encryption
2. EPG

I would have thought the EPG issue was fairly simple, technically speaking.
The amount of information if 1000 or even 10,000 channels were included
must be reasonably small.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy wrote:
: As far as I can see - please tell me if I am wrong -
: there are two completely different and unrelated issues:
: 1. Encryption

Yes - either embedded (as all Sky STBs have) or as plugin modules to a common
interface (the CI slot)

: 2. EPG

: I would have thought the EPG issue was fairly simple, technically speaking.
: The amount of information if 1000 or even 10,000 channels were included
: must be reasonably small.

Sky dedicate an entire transponder (up to 6 TV channels worth) to a full
7-day EPG for all their channels - so the data volumes are not small. They
also transmit limited EPG data (not including descriptions and for the next
few hours only) on *ALL* Sky transponders - so that limited EPG data is
always available without needing to retune to the "EPG transponder"

Freesat seem to be working on a carbon copy of the way Sky do it - as they
want to have the same facilities!

kim wrote:
Brian McIlwrath wrote:
kim wrote:

Never having to deal with a Sky call centre is a major incentive to
me.
Having had Sky for 10+ years I (a) only need to deal with their call
centre about once a year and (b) have never had any troubles with
them! That being so I do not fully understand why others have such a
great dislike of them.

It was bad enough when a *BT* call centre operator spent twenty minutes
trying to sell me a Sky subscription without having a Murdoch employee
trying to do the same on a premium rate line!

Premium rate ? They're all 087* numbers. Still a rip off, but not premium
rate, and by use of www.saynoto0870.com you can normally get through on an
0800 or worst case, 'Geographic' 01*/02* number.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Mark Carver wrote:
kim wrote:
Brian McIlwrath wrote:
Agamemnon wrote:

As I said before the government should have forced Sky to make
CAM's available to all European satellite receivers manufactures
not created Freesat.
That wasn't the alternative - as, even with a CAM, European
receivers just do *NOT* offer the EPG/interactive/digital text
features that the BBC wanted!

The real alternative was, as Sky *already* offer a non-subscription
service - FreesatFromSky,

IIRC FreesatFrom Sky was only offered *after* Freesat from BBC was
first announced?

An FTV/FTA package has always been available from Sky, since the
launch of Sky Digital in October 1998. However it was 299 or perhaps
even 399 Quid back then ?

It was only £100 for a while a few years back.

Adrian wrote:
:
: An FTV/FTA package has always been available from Sky, since the
: launch of Sky Digital in October 1998. However it was 299 or perhaps
: even 399 Quid back then ?

: It was only ?100 for a while a few years back.

It's currently only £75 from a few retailers (such as Argos) - and includes
3 months "trial" subscription to 4 Sky "Mixes"

"Brian McIlwrath" wrote in message
...
Agamemnon wrote:
:
: As far as I can see the *MAIN* selling point of Freesat will be for
FTA HD
: broadcasts (which are just NOT available on Freeview) and for no-cost
PVR

: There are already FTA HD Satellite receivers available for £150.

But PVRs need a full-EPG to to useful to the majority. Freesat *will*
provide people who want HD material for their new "HD-ready" TVs a means
of getting it - without subscribing to Sky-HD and getting a Sky-HD STB.

As far as I can see it is Freesat's *only* "unique selling point"

Who is going to pay £300 (or even £150) for a HD PVR when all the HD
channels are covered in DOG ****? I'd rather save the money and spend it on
DOG free Blu-Ray boxed sets or watch the programmes on DOG free SD.

"Brian McIlwrath" wrote in message
...
Timothy Murphy wrote:
: As far as I can see - please tell me if I am wrong -
: there are two completely different and unrelated issues:
: 1. Encryption

Yes - either embedded (as all Sky STBs have) or as plugin modules to a
common
interface (the CI slot)

: 2. EPG

: I would have thought the EPG issue was fairly simple, technically
speaking.
: The amount of information if 1000 or even 10,000 channels were included
: must be reasonably small.

Sky dedicate an entire transponder (up to 6 TV channels worth) to a full
7-day EPG for all their channels - so the data volumes are not small. They
also transmit limited EPG data (not including descriptions and for the
next
few hours only) on *ALL* Sky transponders - so that limited EPG data is
always available without needing to retune to the "EPG transponder"

Freesat seem to be working on a carbon copy of the way Sky do it - as they
want to have the same facilities!

Well if that's the way they are doing it then there is no reason why
standard European Satellite STB manufactures can't incorporate the BBC EPG
in their UK models for the Feesat channels on Astra and switch to the
European EPG for the 6000 other channels which are not covered including on
other satellites.

"Agamemnon" wrote in message
. uk...

"Brian McIlwrath" wrote in message
...
Agamemnon wrote:
:
: As far as I can see the *MAIN* selling point of Freesat will be for
FTA HD
: broadcasts (which are just NOT available on Freeview) and for no-cost
PVR

: There are already FTA HD Satellite receivers available for £150.

But PVRs need a full-EPG to to useful to the majority. Freesat *will*
provide people who want HD material for their new "HD-ready" TVs a means
of getting it - without subscribing to Sky-HD and getting a Sky-HD STB.

As far as I can see it is Freesat's *only* "unique selling point"

Who is going to pay £300 (or even £150) for a HD PVR when all the HD
channels are covered in DOG ****?

I know that it's not a popular view but I have no problem with DOGs. I
don't think that I am alone, don't judge everybody by your own expectations
in this.

tim

Agamemnon wrote:
: Freesat seem to be working on a carbon copy of the way Sky do it - as they
: want to have the same facilities!

: Well if that's the way they are doing it then there is no reason why
: standard European Satellite STB manufactures can't incorporate the BBC EPG
: in their UK models for the Feesat channels on Astra and switch to the
: European EPG for the 6000 other channels which are not covered including on
: other satellites.

*Except* that the Freesat EPG specs are currently confidental and are ONLY
available to a very select few manufacturers who are making the "launch
models". These are guaranteed some period of exclusivity.

This will undoubtably change over time!