Freesat - why no C4 HD?

[Legend83]

Freeview has it!

[HellDiver]

Because it sucks? No ITV2HD, ITV3HD or ITV4HD either.

Considering ITV are co-owners of Freesat with the Beeb, I can't see Freesat lasting much longer. Freeview HD will kill it, dead, IMHO.

[Gingerbread Man]

It was a blow when ITV didn't release ITV2 HD to Freeview.

[anonymous-user]

I think because C4 have some contract with Sky that means that restricts C4HD to Sky only for satellite broadcasts.

[Road2Ruin]

HellDiver said:

Because it sucks? No ITV2HD, ITV3HD or ITV4HD either.

Considering ITV are co-owners of Freesat with the Beeb, I can't see Freesat lasting much longer. Freeview HD will kill it, dead, IMHO.

Not at all. The problem with freeview is the bandwidth restrictions, which freesat doesn't have. Currently channels liek C4HD are restricted due to contractual obligations. Within time they will all be on Freesat. Freeview will then lose out due to the limited number of HD channels that can be fitted into the bandwidth.

[HellDiver]

Road2Ruin said:

HellDiver said:

Freeview HD will kill it, dead, IMHO.

Not at all. The problem with freeview is the bandwidth restrictions, which freesat doesn't have. Currently channels liek C4HD are restricted due to contractual obligations. Within time they will all be on Freesat. Freeview will then lose out due to the limited number of HD channels that can be fitted into the bandwidth.

But, Freeview at the moment is sharing bandwidth with analogue. Once analogue closes, Freeview will have much more bandwidth available.

Over here in N. Ireland, Freeview's signal strength will be 35x stronger once analogue is turned off.

I also don't agree that bandwidth is unlimited on satellite. Compare a Sky boradcast to Freeview, you'll see Freeview is a much better signal. Sky's HD transmission is pretty crap, too. I don't expect to see blocking on a HD transmission, but it's there.

So, I stand by my assertion - Freesat will die when the Beeb and ITV realise it's pointless once the Digital changeover is complete.

Edited by HellDiver on Friday 14th January 11:30

[randlemarcus]

HellDiver said:

So, I stand by my assertion - Freesat will die when the Beeb and ITV realise it's pointless once the Digital changeover is complete.

Won't ever be pointless. Freesat works where I am. Neither Analogue nor Digital do, very well. The vast majority of the costs are in the content production, not the transmission.

Might be nice to have C4 HD, but the dross on the ITV channels isn't worth SD, never mind HD

[Mutton]

Will Freeview HD ever be able to transmit HD channels with Dolby Digital like Freesat can? If not, there will always be demand for Freesat as long as they can get the extra channels.

[Road2Ruin]

HellDiver said:

Road2Ruin said:

HellDiver said:

Freeview HD will kill it, dead, IMHO.

Not at all. The problem with freeview is the bandwidth restrictions, which freesat doesn't have. Currently channels liek C4HD are restricted due to contractual obligations. Within time they will all be on Freesat. Freeview will then lose out due to the limited number of HD channels that can be fitted into the bandwidth.

But, Freeview at the moment is sharing bandwidth with analogue. Once analogue closes, Freeview will have much more bandwidth available.

Over here in N. Ireland, Freeview's signal strength will be 35x stronger once analogue is turned off.

I also don't agree that bandwidth is unlimited on satellite. Compare a Sky boradcast to Freeview, you'll see Freeview is a much better signal. Sky's HD transmission is pretty crap, too. I don't expect to see blocking on a HD transmission, but it's there.

So, I stand by my assertion - Freesat will die when the Beeb and ITV realise it's pointless once the Digital changeover is complete.

Edited by HellDiver on Friday 14th January 11:30

I think you are getting your terms mixed up. The transmission strength has nothing to do with the bandwidth available.

Firstly, yes Freeview and analogue do share the same bandwidth currently. However due to the extra information required by an HD channel switching off the existing 5 analogue channels isn't going to generate much i'm afraid. Secondly Ofcom has decided that the space freed up will not be used for extra channels, instead sold off to the highest bidder. The reason people quote the 35x stronger signal is that freeview is currently broadcast at a much lower strength 16-QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), which will switch to 64-QAM when analogue is gone. This is done so the freeview signal does not interfere with the analogue signal. The bandwidth on satellite is of course limited but not anything we need to worry about yet. The reason why some sky images are poor is that is the way they have chosen to broadcast them. The channel providor (not sky) still has to pay for its used bandwidth in the satellite so may choose to broadcast a lower bit rate to save money! It's all about money after all.