Blank TV screens as cable firm ditches analogue

Terry Casey wrote:
Apart from improved facilities and quality when the analogue STB is
replaced by a digital one, the customer will still get the same end result!

I wonder why on earth you suppose that cable viewers will actually
benefit from a cable company using DVB-T as a source when moving from
analogue.

gr, hwh

Ian Jackson wrote:

Some cable companies get their signal for some radio and TV stations
direct from the radio or TV station rather than from an off air signal.
I'm not aware of any that do that.


Cable & Wireless (now part of Virgin Media, of course) did.

Originally they received BSkyB signals via satellite and repackaged
them but there was an overhead involved in this.

Later, when they got a direct feed from BSkyB, they were able to
package them much more efficiently into fewer Transport Streams.

Ditto Telewest.

Interesting, are they (now as Virgin) still doing it ?

--
Mark
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www.paras.org.uk

In message , Mark Carver
writes
Ian Jackson wrote:

Some cable companies get their signal for some radio and TV
stations direct from the radio or TV station rather than from an
signal.
I'm not aware of any that do that.


Cable & Wireless (now part of Virgin Media, of course) did.

Originally they received BSkyB signals via satellite and repackaged
them but there was an overhead involved in this.

Later, when they got a direct feed from BSkyB, they were able to
package them much more efficiently into fewer Transport Streams.

Ditto Telewest.

Interesting, are they (now as Virgin) still doing it ?

Don't know. I haven't 'been there' for nearly 3 years.
--
Ian

hwh wrote:
Mark Carver wrote:
J G Miller wrote:
On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:25:24 +0000, Charles asked:

how do you think cable services get their signals?

Some cable companies get their signal for some radio and TV stations
direct from the radio or TV station rather than from an off air signal.

I'm not aware of any that do that.

It would be a good idea. This is a way to compete with other sources on
quality. In the Netherlands it is common practice.

I know, the equipment racks that feed the cable cos I've seen in various parts
the Hilversum Media Park have a higher technical status than the ones that
feed the terrestrial Tx networks. Not surprising given that cable is by far
the dominant platform there.

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

www.paras.org.uk

In article ,
Mark Carver wrote:
J G Miller wrote:
On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:25:24 +0000, Charles asked:

how do you think cable services get their signals?

Some cable companies get their signal for some radio and TV stations
direct from the radio or TV station rather than from an off air signal.

I'm not aware of any that do that.

in the '60s the BBC used to feed British Relay direct from LO SWC.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

hwh wrote:
Terry Casey wrote:
Apart from improved facilities and quality when the analogue STB is
replaced by a digital one, the customer will still get the same end
result!

I wonder why on earth you suppose that cable viewers will actually
benefit from a cable company using DVB-T as a source when moving from
analogue.


Because, no matter how well maintained the network, it is impossible to
distribute an analogue signal without introducing noise and distortion.
The picture retrieved from the digital signal will not suffer these
impairments.

The headend source is immaterial.

Terry

Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , Mark Carver
writes
Ian Jackson wrote:

Some cable companies get their signal for some radio and TV
stations direct from the radio or TV station rather than from an
signal.
I'm not aware of any that do that.


Cable & Wireless (now part of Virgin Media, of course) did.

Originally they received BSkyB signals via satellite and repackaged
them but there was an overhead involved in this.

Later, when they got a direct feed from BSkyB, they were able to
package them much more efficiently into fewer Transport Streams.

Ditto Telewest.

Interesting, are they (now as Virgin) still doing it ?

Don't know. I haven't 'been there' for nearly 3 years.

Ditto. But I can't see any logical reason not to, can you?

Terry

Terry Casey wrote:
hwh wrote:
Terry Casey wrote:
Apart from improved facilities and quality when the analogue STB is
replaced by a digital one, the customer will still get the same end
result!

I wonder why on earth you suppose that cable viewers will actually
benefit from a cable company using DVB-T as a source when moving from
analogue.


Because, no matter how well maintained the network, it is impossible to
distribute an analogue signal without introducing noise and distortion.
The picture retrieved from the digital signal will not suffer these
impairments.

The headend source is immaterial.

Ah, I see what you mean. The headed source should be analogue over
DVB-T, for as long as possible. Not sure about DVB-S in this comparison.

gr, hwh

Terry Casey wrote:

Ditto. But I can't see any logical reason not to, can you?

Only politics, and some broadcasters' alleged need to have the same quality
picture on all platforms.


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

www.paras.org.uk

In message , Paul
Martin writes
In article ,
Terry Casey wrote:

A cable customer will receive either an analogue or a digital service -
never both!

Oh aye? So the analogue signals I'm getting off my "digital cable" are
a figment of my imagination? BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 Granada, C4,
Five[anamorphic], and BBC News Channel all sit between E22 and E30.

But do you still have an analogue STB? If not, I presume that you are
receiving them directly on the TV or VCR, and the rest of the service is
digital (for which you will need a cable STB). It's unusual for a
customer to have both and analogue and a digital STB.
--
Ian