BBC: World Cup in HDTV

[BarMoo]

No Stick nothing directed at you;) Hopefully everyone is happy and sorted by now.

Have Fun,

Mark.

P.S. I just hope the BBC don't use DVBS - or i'm doomed

 

[jimbo]

HD TV is one new concept that I will be happy to sit back and watch the 'must haves' iron out the bugs for me. Honestly, with my current Philips pixel plus CRT, I'm just not bothered about HD.

What are ppl going to record the HD programmes on? Sony are having problems with Blu-ray and it will be expensive when they get it on to the market.

 

[spiney]

Sorry Spiney, had forgotten about that, perhaps we should move it to the new HD section (in fact have done that now). I would still say though, that with the average punter, the eyes will glaze over after the first couple of paragraphs, there is just too much info to absorb.

Criticism accepted, I do agree there's an offputtingly huge amount of stuff, far too much detail for most practical purposes. The general idea was "all levels of information in one place", but that's very ambitous and maybe impossible. That said, I'll try to tidy up a bit, and be more "user friendly".

The first few paragraphs - and first 5 or 6 links - give quick stuff with FAQs and news etc, hopefully useful for complete newcommers. Then, the rest gives far more specific details, with further links explaining various technical principles. Hopefully, my own brief descriptions and summaries should make at least some sense, then the added links give much more detailed info if required (there's lots of specific stuff around the Internet, on various HDTV topics, but that's no use unless you've first some idea of what you're looking for!).

It's done in "rambling mode", the central theme being HDTV bandwidth, since that's indeed the main problem, determining how everything else is done! You don't necessarily have to wade through all that, but on the other hand, I don't know any other Internet site that explains this particular "crucial issue" of HDTV, and how it's affected the various practical technologies now being used.

Anyway, fair enough, it all shows that I'm an anal retentive boring fart (can you be anal retentive but still fart?), and hopefully others will soon be adding additional more helpful stuff.

 

[rober48]

I e-mailed the BBC to ask about the standards they would be using. I was told unencrypted, MPEG4, DVB-S but later moving to DVB-S2. Unfortunately they didn't say exactly how much later...
Cheers

Neil

 

[BarMoo]

Well, remlap and pinkerton will be happy at this news.

The starting with one and moving to another issue strikes me as odd. Surely they wouldn't be dumb enough to change mid tournament.

Great news anyway, isn't it.

Mark.

 

[rober48]

It does seem a little odd but then again this is the BBC so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised. Here's the full text of the e-mail they sent me:

Dear Mr Robertson
Thank you for contacting the BBC with your enquiry.
Just like our other satellite broadcasts, the BBC HD trial stream will not be encrypted, so open standard HD satellite receivers may be able to pick it up. You need to understand that the BBC's HD trial is due to end after 12 months and such boxes may not receive the full range of on-screen programme information and interactivity.


Here are the specifications you have asked for:
Unencrypted
MPEG-4
DVB-S moving to DVB-S2

I hope you find the information helpful.

Kind Regards
Steven Derrick
BBC Reception Advice
To reply to this email you will need to complete the online form. Please quote Reference number . . . within your reply. Alternatively you can telephone by contacting our call centre, quoting the reference number. BBC Reception Advice: 08700100123 http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/feedback.shtml




###### 41135c08000000000ac40847233f0002: 30 Mar 2006 11:15:27

 

[rolfw]

Their choce of DVB-S probably has something to do with the lack of S2 equipment out there at the moment.

 

[BarMoo]

Nothing beats a BBC email. I am not being nasty, but, its pretty clear that they simply cannot bring themselves to say 'SKY': reasons unknown.

.... and such boxes may not receive the full range of on-screen programme information and interactivity

Whether that's during the World Cup or after makes no difference. From the start, there are days with two matches going at the same time. So a one stream (reading that as one channel) offering is not going to satisfy everyone.

Maybe SKY wants a honeymoon period to flog its subscription services? We'll never know. Uumm, well I could write them an email

Have fun,

Mark.

 

[remlap]

Well, remlap and pinkerton will be happy at this news.

The starting with one and moving to another issue strikes me as odd. Surely they wouldn't be dumb enough to change mid tournament.

Great news anyway, isn't it.

Mark.

Can the SKYStars decode MPEG4 though using the DVB-S standard I still havent learnt how to make the best out of this card.

 

[remlap]

Yes they can!

Ive been fiddling around with tsreaderlite, seems to be able to decode MPEG4 in VLC okay ish shame it limits playback to one minute and MPEG4 decoding looks a little weird.

Im sure a solution will be found by someone in time for the BBC trails with DVB-S, well lets hope!

*Touch wood*

Ah well

Right im off to watch The Daily Show.

 

[BarMoo]

Odd.

I looked here and then did a check on the specs for the TI and B2C2 decoder chips. According to both their specs - neither is quoted as decoding MPEG4.

@remlap - is your skystar on that page (link above)?

Curious .....

Mark.

 

[remlap]

Well with the help of tsreaderlite it dam well can, to a point, it shows up grey on VLC, then VLC crashes.

Im sure thats just a codec problem within VLC because ive downloaded a H264 .ts from http://www.giusberto.ch/hdtv/ its the same, yet media player classic with the right codecs im perfect running a little slow on FPS thats because of my processor.

And im still trying to find a free .ts recorder if anyone can find one Im betting if I can record the transport stream and play it back later on with media player classic.

Any suggestions guys.

 

[remlap]

So can anyone suggest a free .ts recorder because so far ive found nothing that works

Cheers

 

[BarMoo]

@ remlap - So, the picture is grey, it crashes, doesn't really play .. whatever your success - its still looking a little pear-shaped. LOL. Sorry, just having a pop

I looked into the VLC, the spec doesn't offer much more than MPC (even if it does transport stream files). VLC installed, I downloaded that SKY demo clip from the linked site. Now, I reckon I have a decent setup, but, did that clip play in full - did it hellas like. Corrupted file? Did you have the same problem playing that clip in VLC? My PC has no problems with any other H.264 files.

wish I could help - but can't. I'll follow your posts though. Perhaps you could head down to the receiver/card forums. There are guys there that clearly know there stuff (unlike me:mad: ).

Have Fun,

Mark.

 

[remlap]

@ remlap - So, the picture is grey, it crashes, doesn't really play .. whatever your success - its still looking a little pear-shaped. LOL. Sorry, just having a pop

I looked into the VLC, the spec doesn't offer much more than MPC (even if it does transport stream files). VLC installed, I downloaded that SKY demo clip from the linked site. Now, I reckon I have a decent setup, but, did that clip play in full - did it hellas like. Corrupted file? Did you have the same problem playing that clip in VLC? My PC has no problems with any other H.264 files.

wish I could help - but can't. I'll follow your posts though. Perhaps you could head down to the receiver/card forums. There are guys there that clearly know there stuff (unlike me:mad: ).

Have Fun,

Mark.

My PC can play H264 perfect, VLC can play normal encoded H264 encoded save an avi fine its the transport stream that has problems with.

I downloaded something called "ffdshow" which handles H264 and it played in Media Player Classic without it nothing.

Well, im sure its a step in the right direction, if only I can rip the SKY Italia or TPS .ts on DVB-S in H264/MPEG4 ill be laughing right now.

Will post in the Sat Card Section now.

 

[BGonaSTICK]

Hmmm, at the risk of getting slagged off for repeating myself from earlier in this thread, the only thing you need to both view and record perfect quality S1 HD TV on the Skystar 2 is a fast PC, some decent/recent filters/codecs and half an hour's fiddling about.

I've used both MyTheatre and ProgDVB to do this, and you don't have to use VLC if you don't want to. It may take some fine tuning to obtain a stable picture when watching live but recording to disk with the real-time video decoding turned off can be performed on quite a cr@ppy PC.

You'll need a bl00dy big disk though!

Thanks for reproducing that email rober48. The initial period may well be up before the WC begins but as I said earlier, and now with the May install dates for Sky HD boxes, it makes it even more logical to start on DVB-S.

There will be many many thousands of PCI card owners hanging on this decision. Let's hope they get it right.

STICK

 

[remlap]

I purchased a copy of DVBViewer and Coreavc Professional and now can view HD H264 amazing

Slight error in the program for TPS but SKY italia HD promo is bloody great.

 

[remlap]

Here is a little H264 cap of Astra 1D/23.5e promo.

​

 

[rolfw]

What's you PC spec remlap?

 

[remlap]

What's you PC spec remlap?

Pentium 3ghz
512mb Ram.
Skystar2 with Coreavc Professional codec and DVBviewer upgrade.

Im so looking forward to BBC HD tests on Astra 2 now.