Saorview - Ireland's Freeview

kah22

I suppose this is a question for moneysavers living in the RoI.

I've just gone down the Saorview TV listings and note that they are listing quite a few more tv stations than the British Freeview. e.g. they are listing the Disney Channel, Comedy Central and National Geographical to name but three.

Living up in Armagh I'm receiving what I though was the full range of Saorview stations ranging from RTE1 through to RTE News. all with fantastic clarity.

Anyway to business, is it to much to hope that some of these stations are going to be Free to Air or will they be subscription based? I haven't come across any ads yet as to how one would subscribe. Is anyone receiving them at all?

Kevin

Any additional information on Saorview welcomed

Kevin

yorkie98

These listings are from the Rte Guide and are releated more to Sky and cable channels.
The current Saorview channel line up is:

RTE ONE
RTE ONE+1
RTE TWO HD
TV3
TG4
RTE News Now
3e
RTE Jnr

and the following radio Services..

RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ lyric fm
RTÉ Raidi! na Gaeltachta
RTÉ 2XM
RTÉ Choice
RTÉjr
RTÉ Gold
RTÉ Pulse
RTÉ Radio 1 Extra

There is only one Mux currently transmitting, so you either have all or nothing at this stage. There are no pay or subscription services. There were plans to launch such a service but this has been put on hold, partly due to poor management by the BCI and partly due to the financial climate. There is capacity for up to 6 muxes but it's likely to be some considerable time until this is reached.

kah22

Got all the eight stations you mentioned. Pity the other ones weren't free to air. Still you can't have everything

Kevin

yorkie98

There is talk of another free-to view mux launching in the next year or so but this is most likely going to be BBC channels and content mirrored by the UK Freeview service.
Premium channels that are pay on Sky/cable will never be free to air on Soarview but might be available later when/if they launch the commercial muxes, however, it will most likely not be possible to subscribe to these at NI addresses.

ourkidjuli

Can you use this box in the uk as my parents would love to have the RTE channels?

almillar

ourkidjli - maybe in the far west of Wales or something, but this is like Freeview, ie terrestrial digital, so is short range, and transmitted from the tops of mountains in the Republic of Ireland. If you can't get RTE (analogue) through your aerial, you've not much chance of this.

ourkidjuli

Thanks we are in Liverpool so prob have no hope!! But thank you anyway for your reply!

TimothyEBaldwin

almillar wrote: »

If you can't get RTE (analogue) through your aerial, you've not much chance of this.

The ability to receive RTE analogue though one's existing is not a good guide as one would need an aerial pointing towards a ROI transmitter, an aerial installed for UK television will most likely be unsuitable. Furthermore some ROI analogue TV is in the VHF band so has different coverage and needs different aerials and can not be received by many British TVs.

It is indeed the case that West Wales and Northern Ireland are the only parts of the UK that can receive ROI terrestrial TV. Also some ROI channels will be broadcast from Northern Ireland transmitters to the Freeview HD specification in standard definition.

yorkie98

ourkidjuli wrote: »

Thanks we are in Liverpool so prob have no hope!! But thank you anyway for your reply!

In Liverpool, it MIGHT be possible to bring in RTE transmissions from one of the east coast transmitters as the signal path is mostly across water but you will need a dedicated, high gain aerial and possibly amplification to get it. You would need to be in a relatively good reception area and even then there are no guarantees. I would recommend that you speak to a local CAI accredited aerial installer and see what they say as they will have far more experience of the local area.

To view the Soarview signal, you will need, as a minimum, a reciever capable of DVB-T2 and Mpeg4 decoding (such as a Freeview HD box). There are also a few Samsung sets out there which can view Saorview with the built-in tuner.

TimothyEBaldwin

yorkie98 wrote: »

To view the Soarview signal, you will need, as a minimum, a reciever capable of DVB-T2 and Mpeg4 decoding.

No, Soarview is MPEG4 over DVB-T, with one channel in HD only. Are you confusing it with the planned Northern Ireland transmissions of the Irish channels?

Almost all Freeview (not HD) boxes will not decode Soarview, but will be able to receive the channel list. Some Freeview televisions are MPEG4 capable so will be able to receive Soarview.

yorkie98

TimothyEBaldwin wrote: »

No, Soarview is MPEG4 over DVB-T, with one channel in HD only. Are you confusing it with the planned Northern Ireland transmissions of the Irish channels?

Almost all Freeview (not HD) boxes will not decode Soarview, but will be able to receive the channel list. Some Freeview televisions are MPEG4 capable so will be able to receive Soarview.

Jesus, the nit-pickers are out in force today...

I'm quite aware that Saorview is Mpeg4 over DVB-T (I actually recieve it where I am) but how many boxes/tvs do you know of that do Mpeg4 but not DVB-T2? If there are any, they are in an insignificant minority and to advise anyone to buy one and leave themselves without UK HD reception would be very foolish.
The point is that the only boxes readily available in the UK which will decode Saorview will be the DVB-T2/Mpeg4 Freeview HD type boxes.