DVB-T/H Terestrial Digital Television

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XARBOR

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I would like to start a discussion on the in's and out's of the new Digital System put in place and growing, I find it actually very interesting since you have the services of a PVR, Live PAUSE, REWIND etc. It seems that the SABC are going to limit who is allowed to sell Set Top Boxes which I see as a monopoly and very rude. And further more is that the standard UHF and VHF Analogue signal WILL be turned off by 2011 forcing everyone to have a set top box. Which will be nice since the signal stays strong with no interference in HD (HD after 2010) and DSTV and MNET is coming along having not to have a dish anymore. (Like CABLE elsewhere). You pay per channel. I think this is going to be cool.

Here are links to get started with:

http://www.sabc.co.za/dtt/home.htm (Official DTT Site for SABC)

http://www.dvb.org/about_dvb/dvb_worldwide/south_africa/index.xml (DVB Guys)

http://www.digitalmigration.gov.za/ (Official Government Site)

http://www.techleader.co.za/tobykurien/2008/11/06/switched-on-to-digital-tv/ (Some Article)

http://sybaritic.co.za/store/produc...14821&osCsid=ee140470701c9fec5d7c8887472c9002 (Equipment)

http://www.sadiba.co.za/pages/home/dtt_coverage_2001.html (SENTECH, Official Signal Distributor, Coverage map out of date!)

http://www.mceguide.co.za/ (Here you can get the TV Guides for the Set Top or media Centre to schedule recordings)

http://www.dstvmobile.co.za/SamsungTerms/tabid/104/Default.aspx (DVB-H for mobile, not VodaFoneLIVE TV but real TV Channels Live: DVB-H)

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/settopbox/productSubType.do?ctgry_type=37&ctgry_subtype=51 (Some Free-to-Air Receivers)
 
Don't get too excited. The only new channels we can expect is community channels like SABC 4 and SABC 5 which won't have any enlish language content. Even if the power that be approve new entertainment type channels there just is not the capacity to have the same variety as say DSTV or cable. In the uk there are only a few 10 or so new channels on freeview.

HD I doubt will be a priority anytime soon (in the next decade).
 
Nooit, as jy lees bietjie, you will see that DSTV is definitely on for 2010 especially on the DVB-H side, and HD is definitely coming only after the total switch off in 2011. But still for Free-To-Air guys WITH MNET with the PVR functions and crystal clear picture? Broaden the discussion.....
 
I see a disaster coming. DTV requires a clean signal, otherwise you get artifacts and 'blockies', sound break up etc. that you see on dstv during rain storms. Everyone who now puts up with snowy or ghosty analog tv in outlying areas will basically not be able to watch TV after 2011.
 
plz sound break up where? signal loss where? you guys have not read a thing on this yet, there are not such things my friend. it's a digital higher frequency signal..... broadband and voice is also available on this service. goto http://www.sentech.co.za/index.php?...&POSTNUKESID=84a717e21a394aa1f02ec1689b7a0ddf this is the first basic thing to realise, after ya guys did some reading and homework then reply, don't pick out of the air what is right and what is not. This is actually kewl guys, where other countries uses CABLE for everything for 20mb lines to TV to VOice we are starting of with Digital Wireless via SENTECH who are the bosses in the first place for getting signal from anywhere to anywhere in this country, TELKOM, MNET, Government everybody uses them as their backbone.
 
And MOST IMPORTANT is one can get these channels at crystal clear signal on your PC for recording and scheduling even if you do not have a Set Top Box which suggests a few things to think about.

AND:

What You also don't realize that is this Technology is MOBILE, you get mobile kits for your car under R600, which guys like TRANSLUX and TOURS Guides and TAXI's or MOBILE HOMES are going to use.
 
Well there is still buggerall DVB signal in Cape Town. Not a very speedy start if they switching off in 2 years time....:rolleyes:
 
Yes IVORK, they could have included Cape Town for the test signal, it's sad really, here http://www.sabc.co.za/dtt/whyswitch.html they state where only, but be happy, at least when it is switched on there you can be sure it well tested and ready.

I have a few contacts and heard of a few big antenna tower tenders and contracts started this january in the western cape, I'm well sure who's it is. lol

I actually do realise the potential of this technology, cause everything can go through it and another thing I failed to mention properly is the SENDING of information, the INTERACTIVITY of this kind of signal. hmm....
 
XARBOR said:
and another thing I failed to mention properly is the SENDING of information, the INTERACTIVITY of this kind of signal. hmm....
Click to expand...

Who told you that? Her poisoness ivyness? That tower has one Fkcoff big transmitter so it transmits for miles. What size expensive STB you going to use to transmit stuff back?

There are other ways of course. Digital TV's in UK for example have modems built in - but for that you need a land line - something that's sadly lacking in this place.
 
haaa haaa haaaaaa, in case you did not know, it's all in the software, not the transmitter my friend, and yes, the set top box must have some kind of modem or IP receiver/transmit unit. Which it in anycase has for authentication purposes, but ok, I am anycase well into this by now, I'm just waiting for my Member approval from Sentech after that I am set for being a supplier for set top boxes whatever comes after that I am learning everyday.
 
XARBOR said:
in case you did not know, it's all in the software, not the transmitter my friend, and yes, the set top box must have some kind of modem or IP receiver/transmit unit.
Click to expand...

My point was that your "SENDING" and "interactivity" had nothing to do with the signal as such, you need something else to "send" eg fone line, DSL, wireless etc something that most don't have.

Those that do probably will stick to their DSTV in HD anyway. This is why I object to the sophistication of this box, it's all pushing up the price. Why not a simple DVB tuner with simple (and fast!) EPG like the rest of the world for heavens sake ;)
 
XARBOR said:
Yes IVORK, they could have included Cape Town for the test signal, it's sad really, here http://www.sabc.co.za/dtt/whyswitch.html they state where only, but be happy, at least when it is switched on there you can be sure it well tested and ready.

I have a few contacts and heard of a few big antenna tower tenders and contracts started this january in the western cape, I'm well sure who's it is. lol

I actually do realise the potential of this technology, cause everything can go through it and another thing I failed to mention properly is the SENDING of information, the INTERACTIVITY of this kind of signal. hmm....
Click to expand...

Any idea when Cape Town will get a decent DVB signal? If Nigeria can can DTT surely we can too by now.
 
That STB I'm seeing on the SABC site, is that the actual box that will be shipped out to the stores...and the EPG looks nice- have to say. From what I heard the STB's in the trial phase are made by UEC but I've been checking their site and don't see it there.

@XARBOR: I think what you're referring to is some sort of a return-path...from what I've heard, and I've been following this for a while now is that there'll be no return path(for the initial STB's) hopefully down the line but then again Telkom/Neotel/Vodacom/MTN/Cell C will have to come on board.
 
Hi Brixton, ok, I do understand that for a normal Set Top Box receiver, but if you go to sentech's website and click on the left on Other Products" you can read those 3 statements and lookup those points from there then maybe you will understand what I'm onto, You get a set top box from Samsung with a modem which you can connect to a pc. But running it directly from you pc, you can have all three functions soon sumiltaniously, voice, data, terestrial, which you already get from sentech anyway, if you checkout their site properly on their products like my wireless flexi which runs right up the ally of this topic.

Maybe I am failing to realise or understand it, if so, then I am still learning anyways, but as far as I get it from the GENERAL UNDERSTANDING of this technology wether only DVB, it stays DATA CASTING, for now My Flexi Wireless and DVB is broadcasted seperate, but still on near the same frequency. IT STAYS IP Protocols, just converted to something else like MPEG etc.

Here is SENTECH's Description of their New Technology Digital Switch Over:

A New Technology
Until now broadcasters, such as the SABC, eTV, MNET and our many radio stations, have relied o*n Sentech’s terrestrial network of transmitter towers, located at strategic positions around the country. Their signal, in analogue form, would be channelled to the transmitter towers, from where it would in turn be broadcast and received via standard wire antennae in millions of homes across South Africa. The process of channelling the signal from broadcaster to transmitter by means of landlines and microwave link, however, has historically proven expensive.

A solution was needed, and Sentech introduced satellite technology to feed these towers Under the new technology, broadcasters convert their signal to a new format, namely MPEG (the international standard for digital broadcast). Signals are now sent directly from the broadcaster to the uplink station, and then up to the satellite and back down to the terrestrial transmitter, which converts the digital signal back to analogue for re-broadcast – allowing for high power direct-to-home transmissions in the form of pay TV as we know it today.

Data Casting
By adding a computer at the point of reception, coupled with a data gateway that is capable of interpreting data in IP format for conversion to MPEG, it is now possible to broadcast multimedia, data files, radio and TV directly to a PC. This is what is known as data-casting.

The Waiting is Over
The frustrations of the web are familiar to all of us. Sentech makes this a thing of the past. By connecting the data gateway to the uplink station, information is redirected back to the user via the satellite, giving him a much faster return path for incoming data. Consequently, everything from normal web browsing and FTP traffic, to email collection is dramatically sped up, delivering the promise of the Internet without the wait.
 
XARBOR said:
Hi Brixton, ok, I do understand that for a normal Set Top Box receiver, but if you go to sentech's website and click on the left on Other Products" you can read those 3 statements and lookup those points from there then maybe you will understand what I'm onto, You get a set top box from Samsung with a modem which you can connect to a pc. But running it directly from you pc, you can have all three functions soon sumiltaniously, voice, data, terestrial, which you already get from sentech anyway, if you checkout their site properly on their products like my wireless flexi which runs right up the ally of this topic.

Maybe I am failing to realise or understand it, if so, then I am still learning anyways, but as far as I get it from the GENERAL UNDERSTANDING of this technology wether only DVB, it stays DATA CASTING, for now My Flexi Wireless and DVB is broadcasted seperate, but still on near the same frequency. IT STAYS IP Protocols, just converted to something else like MPEG etc.
Click to expand...

First off, even DStv's interactive services which were introduced some years back weren't a raging success and they've had to go back to the drawing board under the guise of DStv-i. When a well-funded monopoly like DStv can't make truly interactive tv work cost-effectively it tells you something about the technology.

Government officials who've been going on about "interactive" e-government services don't know what they're talking about when they claim that you'll be able to apply for your ID or any other government document through your tv...its sounds more like a sales pitch used by Sentech to justify the billions needed to get DTT off the ground.

If Sentech were capable of a return-path on terrestrial digital transmissions we would've seen it implemented elsewhere already like the UK and France.
 
UK has been digital for years now and its called Freeview (48+ digital TV channels and 24 radio stations ):
http://www.freeview.co.uk/

U can pickup a setup box for as low as £10 but these days all new tvs have built in digital receivers.
 
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Question:
Will DVB-T is SA be freeview, or will there be some sort of subscription, meaning the set top box will require a smartcard or something? If that is the case then TVs with digital tuners will need a slot for a smartcard, and what about PC digital tuner cards; will they be of any use if the broadcast ain't freeview?

just wondering if it will be worth spending R1700 on a decent DVB-T tuner card if all it will receive in a few years are scrambled signals.
 
All newer TV's will be digital sets, I dont have the finance at the moment for an LCD HD TV so I can can confirm that I am "waiting" for the digital HD TV's to be launched here.
 
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