7mate & GEM issues - Melbourne

Started by tvmandan, September 18, 2010, 09:28:44 PM

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tvmandan

Just wondering why the Melbourne IceTV guide is currently listing 7mate instead of 7HD and GEM instead of 9HD when these channels are yet to be launched and do not show up in the Windows 7 tv guide? I guess I could manually change them but if the TV stations themselves are still using the 'old' channels why is IceTV using the new names?

prl

In the ACT, Prime HD appears to have stopped normal broadcasts. When the Davis Cup was on today, it was on 7mate, but Prime HD was black during the Davis Cup play, but was still showing ads. A bit strange, really.
Peter
Beyonwiz T4 in-use
Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

raymondjpg

Quote from: prl on September 18, 2010, 10:14:48 PM
In the ACT, Prime HD appears to have stopped normal broadcasts. When the Davis Cup was on today, it was on 7mate, but Prime HD was black during the Davis Cup play, but was still showing ads. A bit strange, really.

Showing ads to maintain their HD broadcasting obligations? Wunderbar!
Beyonwiz T2, Beyonwiz U4, IceBox BYO with Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD (x2), Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD

prl

Quote from: raymondjpg on September 19, 2010, 09:52:20 AM
Quote from: prl on September 18, 2010, 10:14:48 PM
In the ACT, Prime HD appears to have stopped normal broadcasts. When the Davis Cup was on today, it was on 7mate, but Prime HD was black during the Davis Cup play, but was still showing ads. A bit strange, really.

Showing ads to maintain their HD broadcasting obligations? Wunderbar!

It was really very odd, because I'd have though that for now that if LCNs Prime HD and 7mate were being broadcast, then they would simply point to the same underlying stream PIDs.

In general, Prime could shut down HD broadcasts entirely for a few weeks and not risk breaching their HD quota, because the HD quotas are so weak that the commercial broadcasters have been transmitting more than double their quotas for a few years now -- Prime Television (Southern) broadcast 2456:45 hours of HD in 2009. The quotas are for less than 3 hours/day of native HD material (1040 hours/year).

Anyway, the real scandal of HD quotas IMO is that the ABC and SBS are allowed to upscale analog and SD to HD and include that in their quota.
Peter
Beyonwiz T4 in-use
Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

raymondjpg

Quote from: prl on September 19, 2010, 10:56:48 AM
Quote from: raymondjpg on September 19, 2010, 09:52:20 AM
Quote from: prl on September 18, 2010, 10:14:48 PM
In the ACT, Prime HD appears to have stopped normal broadcasts. When the Davis Cup was on today, it was on 7mate, but Prime HD was black during the Davis Cup play, but was still showing ads. A bit strange, really.

Showing ads to maintain their HD broadcasting obligations? Wunderbar!

It was really very odd, because I'd have though that for now that if LCNs Prime HD and 7mate were being broadcast, then they would simply point to the same underlying stream PIDs.

In general, Prime could shut down HD broadcasts entirely for a few weeks and not risk breaching their HD quota, because the HD quotas are so weak that the commercial broadcasters have been transmitting more than double their quotas for a few years now -- Prime Television (Southern) broadcast 2456:45 hours of HD in 2009. The quotas are for less than 3 hours/day of native HD material (1040 hours/year).

Anyway, the real scandal of HD quotas IMO is that the ABC and SBS are allowed to upscale analog and SD to HD and include that in their quota.

I guess it doesn't matter what the quotas are while (IMO) what is shown in true HD is largely a waste of bandwidth. There are some notable exceptions - particularly motor racing and cycling (for which I am grateful). I sometimes wonder if the advertisements aren't more worthy of HD treatment than program content.

Up until a year ago, both 7 and 9 were broadcasting material on HD that didn't directly parallel what was being shown on their SD channels. Introduction of bubblegum third SD channels seems to have been enough to satisfy audiences (and advertisers) such that the HD broadcasting requirements have almost become irrelevant to progress in TV broadcasting here. Is the demographic that is not interested in sport going to have to continue to make do with standard definition broadcasts?

While we have a Minister and Department preoccupied with other issues there doesn't appear to be much prospect for change, such as a requirement to use HD channels to their full capability for broadcasts other than sport, in the near future.
Beyonwiz T2, Beyonwiz U4, IceBox BYO with Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD (x2), Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD

tvmandan

So, back to the original question  ;)
Why do GEM and 7mate show up in the Melbourne EPG and not 7HD or 9HD when the new channels haven't even launched yet?
Today the IceTV EPG is showing GEM broadcasting a whole bunch of stuff that it isn't because channel 9 are still running 9HD not GEM......

Cheers,
Dan

chopper

Similar for Adelaide, not sure what channel mapping to use any more.  I've posted a thread on the Adelaide "issue".

raymondjpg

Quote from: tvmandan on September 19, 2010, 12:37:00 PM
So, back to the original question  ;)
Why do GEM and 7mate show up in the Melbourne EPG and not 7HD or 9HD when the new channels haven't even launched yet?
Today the IceTV EPG is showing GEM broadcasting a whole bunch of stuff that it isn't because channel 9 are still running 9HD not GEM......

Cheers,
Dan

Ice seems to be trying to anticipate the changeover.

As far as I am concerned, while 7HD and 9HD were only programming what was on the SD channels, it is no great loss to see the EPGs for these channels dispensed with.

I do have an issue with EPG data for 7mate not showing yet in the Beyonwiz, but hopefully that will be resolved after the changeover.
Beyonwiz T2, Beyonwiz U4, IceBox BYO with Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD (x2), Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD

prl

Quote from: raymondjpg on September 19, 2010, 01:12:07 PM
...
I do have an issue with EPG data for 7mate not showing yet in the Beyonwiz, but hopefully that will be resolved after the changeover.
I'm seeing it (ACT guide). In fact I deleted Prime HD from my Favourites lists yesterday and replaced it with 7mate because of the problems I noticed with the Davis Cup broadcasts.

I had to clear the EPG cache on my Beyonwiz and wait for the next IceTV EPG update to get IceTV's 7mate EPG data to display.

I'm not seeing GEM in my scanned services on my Beyonwiz yet (Black Mountain transmitters, Canberra), either from Dynamic Chanel Management, or after a rescan of Prime's channel.
Peter
Beyonwiz T4 in-use
Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

raymondjpg

Quote from: prl on September 19, 2010, 01:38:02 PM
Quote from: raymondjpg on September 19, 2010, 01:12:07 PM
...
I do have an issue with EPG data for 7mate not showing yet in the Beyonwiz, but hopefully that will be resolved after the changeover.
I'm seeing it (ACT guide). In fact I deleted Prime HD from my Favourites lists yesterday and replaced it with 7mate because of the problems I noticed with the Davis Cup broadcasts.

I had to clear the EPG cache on my Beyonwiz and wait for the next IceTV EPG update to get IceTV's 7mate EPG data to display.

I'm not seeing GEM in my scanned services on my Beyonwiz yet (Black Mountain transmitters, Canberra), either from Dynamic Chanel Management, or after a rescan of Prime's channel.

I'll try clearing the cache, thanks.

9 is still broadcasting WIN SD, GO! and WIN HD from the Black Mountain transmitter. Not GEM, yet. Probably less risk of confusion than with 7 which is still broadcasting PRIME HD as well as 7mate.
Beyonwiz T2, Beyonwiz U4, IceBox BYO with Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD (x2), Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD

Garyvx

 >:( Well changing something that you rely on without letting your customers know what you are going to change is NOT ON, in my opinion.
I don't use ICE interactive I use WEBGUIDE so the shows I had set to record on 9HD and 7HD how are set to record on 7mate & GEM. This is also because the "My Account TV page" HAS ALSO changed without me changing it. :-X
The reason I record the HD channels over the SD channels is the 5.1 Sound that comes through my AV and speaker setup, not because of the video (not much difference on a 42" screen).
It's pure luck that I came back early from over seas yesterday and I thought I'd check my setup before I head off to Sydney on Tuesday, lucky I did !!!

Not a very happy customer, Gary

raymondjpg

Quote from: Garyvx on September 19, 2010, 05:46:34 PM
>:( Well changing something that you rely on without letting your customers know what you are going to change is NOT ON, in my opinion.
I don't use ICE interactive I use WEBGUIDE so the shows I had set to record on 9HD and 7HD how are set to record on 7mate & GEM. This is also because the "My Account TV page" HAS ALSO changed without me changing it. :-X
The reason I record the HD channels over the SD channels is the 5.1 Sound that comes through my AV and speaker setup, not because of the video (not much difference on a 42" screen).
It's pure luck that I came back early from over seas yesterday and I thought I'd check my setup before I head off to Sydney on Tuesday, lucky I did !!!

Not a very happy customer, Gary

Are you getting 5.1 sound on HD channels in Melbourne?

It is at least 15 months since I have detected a surround sound broadcast in the ACT.
Beyonwiz T2, Beyonwiz U4, IceBox BYO with Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD (x2), Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD

tvmandan

Looking at IceTV guide for Melbourne today and 7mate and GEM are still listed with a countdown to launch scheduled for both yet neither one is actually being broadcast yet so the program guide is completely incorrect! Wondering if and when this will be rectified so we get correct data and can schedule HD recordings on 7HD and 9HD?

Mitch IceGuide

We had alot of requests for people to 'see' the upcoming programming for GEM and 7-MATE, not to mention reasonable uncertainty as to what they would actually broadcast in the days leading up to respective launches. (ie loop tapes / graphics etc etc). It would be different and easier if these new channels were not using the 7-HD and 9-HD bandwidth.

This has obviously caused other problems though. We have just now changed the programming back to 'normal'. The 7 and 9 programming should now appear as before. The new channels' programming won't appear until only hours before they launch as a consequence. Apologies for the confusion.

Garyvx

Thanks for going back to normal BUT the 7mate and GEM are listed on my account page and I cannot select 7HD and 9HD guides to be sent to my PVR as LCN