DVB-T2 and DVB-S / S2

[richardjgreen]

Greeting from England,

Over here, Sky and Virgin Media have the main markets, with Virgin using DVB-C and Sky using DVB-S - Both are subscription based encrypted packages. Freeview which has been around for sometime and Freesat which is just appearing in some places are FTA unencrypted systems.

As it stands, it is possible to use HDHR with Freeview over DVB-T, however as part of the Digital Switchover/Analouge Cutoff over here, they are commencing broadcast of HD content on Freeview, however this is being done via DVB-T2.

Freesat already has HD content available via DVB-S.

My question, are they any plans to extend the current DVB-T implementation to DVB-T2 and are there any plans to add support for DVB-S?

I currently have Sky, however I would love to be able to cut my ties with them and buy up two Euro HDHR's for my setup at home but with being able to access Freeview HD or Freesat I cannot consider it.

Thanks
Richard

[jasonl]

Hello,

DVB-T2 is not compatible with any tuners currently on the market as it requires entirely new hardware.

We cannot comment on potential future products.

Jason

[richardjgreen]

Jason,

I understand that DVB-T2 would require new hardware and I understand that there isn't currently any commercially available DVB-T2 tuners, but they are in the making.

This was more of a feature request as there is already a long topic requesting DVB-S support.

[deejc]

Hi There,
I live in London in the UK, Our local transmitter has just started broadcasting 2 HD channels via DVB-T2 so i have been looking for some thing to receive those and came across the HDHomerun.

However, After looking through the forums it appears that this cannot do HD, so, What does the HD part stand for ?

In the UK none of our DVB channels are broadcast in HD are they ? well except for the new ones on DVB-T2

is there plans for a DVB-T2 Device ?

[richardjgreen]

Hi There,
I live in London in the UK, Our local transmitter has just started broadcasting 2 HD channels via DVB-T2 so i have been looking for some thing to receive those and came across the HDHomerun.

However, After looking through the forums it appears that this cannot do HD, so, What does the HD part stand for ?

In the UK none of our DVB channels are broadcast in HD are they ? well except for the new ones on DVB-T2

is there plans for a DVB-T2 Device ?

Deejc,

HD over Freeview is a new concept and uses DVB-T2 and as pointed out by the Admin. The DVB-T HDHR currently doesn't support DVB-T2.

As far as I know there isn't any STB devices that will allow you to recieve the DVB-T2 signals as these are just test signals for the BBC, ITV and so forth to experiment with the delivery of HD over DVB-T2.

Thanks
Richard

[deejc]

thanks, i understood that it cannot receive DVB-T2 but i was also wondering what the HD part of HDHomerun was for, as i understand, DVB-T is not broadcast in HD .. and the unit sold for the UK only receives DVB-T

[richardjgreen]

Deejc,

In other countries I believe you can recieve HD over DVB-T. It is not a limitation the technology, but the bandwidth that the providers are willing to push out.

I believe that the transmitters used in the UK for DVB-T cannot support the bandwidth required for HD and that DVB-T2 will require uppgrades to the masts to support the extra bandwidth.

I would actually be more interested in DVB-S for FreeSat or Sky, however you cannot decrypt Sky encoded channels with the CAM modules.

[deejc]

ok thanks, that makes sense.

howver, HDHomerun still seems like a great option

[jelockwood]

thanks, i understood that it cannot receive DVB-T2 but i was also wondering what the HD part of HDHomerun was for, as i understand, DVB-T is not broadcast in HD .. and the unit sold for the UK only receives DVB-T

I can understand the confusion over the use of HD for this product. As far as the UK is concerned it is impossible for this product to do any form of HD.

In the UK we use the MPEG2 codec over DVB-T and currently only get SD resolution broadcasts. In theory it would be possible to broadcast and receive HD resolution broadcasts in MPEG2 over DVB-T but this would use so much bandwidth that we would loose room for a lot of existing channels. I believe that Australia did use MPEG2 over DVB-T for HD for at least a while.

Currently Ireland and Norway, and possible now also Australia, use H.264 over DVB-T for both SD and HD channels. H.264 is a lot more efficient than MPEG2 and makes this possible while still having a reasonable number of channels.

Here in the UK, the decision was made not to simply switch to H.264 over the existing DVB-T but to switch to DVB-T2 at the same time. DVB-T2 itself is more efficient than DVB-T and therefore the combined improvements of H.264 and DVB-T2 allow HD and more channels. This is exactly comparable with Sky HD here in the UK. When they introduced Sky HD they switched to DVB-S2 and H.264 at the same time for (most) of their HD channels and left the SD channels on DVB-S and MPEG2.

While currently DVB-T2 test broadcasts are taking place in the UK and supposedly will go live in at least some parts of the UK in time for the World Cup, there are currently as far as I can see no PC (or Mac) DVB-T2 tuner solutions. Indeed at this date there might not even be yet any stand-alone set-top boxes that can do DVB-T2 and of course no TVs with built-in DVB-T2.

I suspect some set-top boxes will be available in time for the World Cup but probably no Mac/PC tuners.

I would agree that ultimately SiliconDust need to upgrade their product to support DVB-T2, and likewise a new product that supports DVB-S and DVB-S2 is also needed. This DVB-T product does not need any updating for H.264 as that is merely passed through unaltered just like MPEG2 and handled by the PC/Mac and hence already suitable for Ireland etc.

While the UK is going to be the first country to use DVB-T2, it will not be the only one. On the DVB-S and DVB-S2 side, these are already widely used throughout Europe and the rest of the world and chips are widely available so there is no real excuse for SiliconDust to prevaricate over a DVB-S2 model. I would not be surprised if over Europe as a whole that DVB-S/DVB-S2 use exceeded DVB-T use.

Note: Elgato now have a new network DVB-T tuner which like the SilconDust product is also only DVB-T and not DVB-T2 compatible. It is probably a rebadged new Terratec product.

[a_crook@hotmail.com]

Any news on supporting DVB-T2 or the launching of a DVT-S2 product?

should I be looking to move the products found here?

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/tuner/netstreamsat/product1.en.html

it would appear they have S2 covered?

[chrisw]

Just to add another UK vote to the "would be interested in a DVB-T2 version of the HDHomeRun" pile.

I note that DVB-T2 tuner cards & sticks are now being sold, so the tuner hardware must be available. Also a large part (most?) of the UK now has HD broadcast over DVB-T2, so the UK market must be there.

If a DVB-T2 tuner HDHomeRun was available I would buy one.

[stav]

I would also buy one if we had DVB-T2.

And yes there are othe already making tuner cards...

Black Gold,
http://shop.blackgold.tv/BGT3620

PCTV systems.
http://www.pctvsystems.com/Products/Pro ... fault.aspx

Please catch up !

[jneave]

::bump::

Any news? DVB-T2 is rapidly being rolled out across the UK and I know of a few dozen people at work clammering for a HD version of the HomeRun, myself included.

[cuninghamnd]

I would like to add my vote for a DVB-S2 DVB-T2 variation & also know a number of colleagues who would jump at the news if you were thinking of developing such a product.

[joylove]

Another vote for UK HD over DVB-T2 and DVB-S2.