Unheard Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 I have a pinnacle 72e USB freeview tuner that i use with Windows Media Centre. For quite some time now certain programs on channel 4 have been showing up as HD.Sometimes they tune sometimes they just show up black with audio. I would not like to say if it actually is HD When they do show, it would be hard to tell because i hardly ever watch in full screen. In contrast to dedicated freeview PVR boxes i don't think tuners on the pc show the direct bitstream anyway so the quality would be slightly compromised from the transcoding. Its certainly transcoded in WMC to allow the rewind and record function . The interesting thing i have noticed is that the programs that don't show on C4 all show on C4+1. C4+1 is obviously at a lower bitrate than C4 anyway to maximise bandwidth on the multiplex.Its getting a bit annoying now when they don't show up. I was just wondering if anyone else has a TV tuner and noticed the same thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDGM Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Is your USB tuner DVB-S or DVB-T? If it's T than you aren't going to get an HD signal, nobody does. The menu is merely telling you the programme is available in HD if you have the right equipment and subscriptions where necessary.DVB-S carries the HD channels, but there are differences in what you are able to receive. Freesat HD gives BBC and ITV in HD, Sky gives you C4 and many more in HD. Sky also do their own pay once Freesat service, but I'm unsure if C4 HD is on there.Given C4 is part funded by the public, it's a piss take you don't get it on Freesat HD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unheard Posted June 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Is your USB tuner DVB-S or DVB-T? If it's T than you aren't going to get an HD signal, nobody does. The menu is merely telling you the programme is available in HD if you have the right equipment and subscriptions where necessary.DVB-S carries the HD channels, but there are differences in what you are able to receive. Freesat HD gives BBC and ITV in HD, Sky gives you C4 and many more in HD. Sky also do their own pay once Freesat service, but I'm unsure if C4 HD is on there.Given C4 is part funded by the public, it's a piss take you don't get it on Freesat HD.Its a DVB-T HD capable tuner. See thats what i am wondering because i think WMC downloads its EPG from the net rather than the channel 5 multiplex as the boxes do. That however does not explain the reason for the channels showing up black and only when it says HD. No other channels do this and reception level is good. Pinnacle arealways very good at putting the latest stuff into their products but i am not sure what the new DVB-T2 standard entailes, how much its a hardware thing and how much firmware/software thing Freesat may have only recently launched in the UK, but the BBC has already begun testing the transmission of HD services over Freeview.The broadcaster has started transmissions from a Guildford-based transmitter using the second-generation DVB-T specification DVB-T2. The trial could clear the way for the introduction of HD onto Freeview by December next year.DVB-T2 is said to offer 30 per cent more data-carrying capacity as DVB-T under the same conditions.Justin Mitchell, leader of the DVB-T2 modem development team at the BBC, said: “This is a big step forward in enabling the introduction of full HD terrestrial on Freeview by the end of 2009HD on freeview has been talked about for ages, the thing that makes me wonder is that our aerial is pointed towards Guildford. It started doing it after i decided to try the aerialthat way instead of pointing at Crystal Palace. I assumed it was picking up a Crystal Palace repeater but never really figured out where it was picking up from. It was just good reception so ididnt question it. It may be something over towards Guildford as we are up high here with fantastic line of sight to Guildford without anything in the way. I think i will swing the aerial back the other way and see if it stops showing HD. I probably would have put it down to the EPG if it had not started to show C4 black with just audio only on the HD marked programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L119 UPO Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Is your USB tuner DVB-S or DVB-T? If it's T than you aren't going to get an HD signal, nobody does. The menu is merely telling you the programme is available in HD if you have the right equipment and subscriptions where necessary.If it was DVB-S then it would be a satellite tuner, not terrestrial. DVB-t2 is the standard for HD terrestrial which uses mpeg-4 encodingThere are no HD services being broadcast on any of the muxes yet, and obviously there is no way youll be receiving a sat signal through the kit you have. I would say that there must be some sort of connection to the internet for the EPG to be telling you there are HD channels available, Or there could be some kind of HD testing going on at your transmitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L119 UPO Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 crystal palace did run some HD testing in the last couple of weeks, so theres your answer. Your tuner will display the programme guide but cannot decode the signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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