Owners of Digital TV (DVB-T) receivers unite

As most of you might have heard, the "Digital TV switch on" officially occurred on Nov 1st.

However, I have not been able to pick up any digital channels here in Pretoria (Brummeria) with my Compro USB TV tuner (U2800F hybrid analog and DVB-T).

Please post here if any of you have been able to pick-up any digital broadcast, and if so, your location and any specific details/settings (frequency, decoder software used etc).

I will try again tonight (as rumour has it, trial channel broadcasts may start today).

Other rumours (can anyone confirm or bust these):
- sentech cape town is still waiting for their transmitter to be delivered (see this post by vodacom3g)
- broadcasts will be in MPEG-4 (H.264), so you need to use H.264 capable decoding software (like VLC)
- encryption will be used in the STB's, but the current test phase transmission is not encrypted

Facts
- According to this article, SA currently has only 3 digital transmitters ("Sentech... said that they switched on three transmitters on 1 November (2008)... located on the Sentech Tower, Kameeldrift in Pretoria and Alverstone in Durban.")

Ok, my experience with DTT:

I have a Compro DTV E900F PCI-E tuner card. This card has two analog and two digital tuners and goes for about R1.5K.

It's a very nice piece of h/w but the s/w it comes with is rather crappy. They've now updated their s/w and it's working much better now. The previous version of s/w didn't have H.264 decoding so I was forced to use it with VLC player. There were some issues with that, as you had to set the frequency every time. Windows Media Center and Nero also doesn't have H.264 decoding, so that doesn't work either. Luckily Compro brought out new s/w with H.264 decoding so now working very nicely. (Came out on Thursday, how's that for timing )

I have an outside antenna with a powerful signal amplifier on it. I pick up my signal from Kameeldrift. It shows a 100% signal, but if the wind blows even a little bit it loses signal completely. I pick up the six channels (plus six radio channels) on 554 000 kHz. I've scanned all the frequencies and this is the only one I get stations on.

The picture quality varies quite a bit, depending on the source material I guess. When watching movies or series the pic is crystal clear, much better than analog. Live broadcasts like the news totally sucks though. And forget about sport, tried watching the cricket this weekend, any fast movement causes artifacts. Also for some reason the pic was very blurry. Guess they need to upgrade their OB equipment. Another thing, most of the programmes are still broadcast in 4:3 aspect ratio.

It's clearly still a test transmission as the signals go off the air for several hours at a time. Also sometimes there's just a test pattern, but with audio. Also there's no EPG yet.

A very nice feature of the tuner card is the auto aspect ratio, as the aspect ratio of the programmes broadcast change the whole time, like when they go to ads. Very nice having the proper aspect ratio on my widescreen all the time

Ok, I'll try answer any questions that may come up

I have a FujTech (Aftech AF9015 chipset) usb dvb-t receiver. Relies on software decoding of the video. It came with TotalMedia which does a fine job.

In Radiokop (Next to Honeydew) I receive broadcasts on 554MHz and 770MHz. Using both an external antenna and the small one that came with the tuner. If I find a spot where I get a signal on 554MHz there won't be any on 770MHz and vice versa.

There is also a DVB-H broadcast on 586MHz. This is digital video broadcasts for hanhelds and comes from multichoice so has nothing to do with the DTT switch on. It is encrypted in any case.

On 770MHz I receive SABC1,2,3, E-Tv, 5Fm, GHFM,TWR,DWR and Classic FM. The video is mpeg-2. Quality is very good compared to my analog picture. But it is still 4:3 and standard definition. But I think it will scale better on LCD tv's than the analog signal. There is no encryption information in the transport stream but there is EPG data for SABC 1,2 and 3 but only for the current program and the following program.

On 554MHz I get E-tv,SABC 1,2,3, SABC International,SABC Entertainment, Radio2000, Lesedi FM,Ukhozi FM, SAFM, Umhlobo Wenene FM and Ikwekwezi FM. The Video is H.264. Quality is ok, but I think the channels on 770MHz looks better, but this could be due to software decoding. Here as well it is 4:3 and standard definition. Ther is no EPG in the stream, but there is encryption information. Altough it is not encrypted yet. Seems to be Nagravision they will be using.

SABC Entertainment is a new channel and is currently broadcasting movies and some local programs. No advertising.

Apart from the software that came with the tuner I have also used VLC (crashes a lot with H.264, but very usefull if you want to stream the channels over the lan), ProgDVB (very useful for scanning the entire range and showing signal quality, I generally use it to find a spot where I get good reception, but you have to pay for H.264 support), AltDVB (usefull for seeing the bitrates, encryption info etc) and DVBSam (technical app, only usefull for signal strength, bitrates etc, not for viewing, actually used for DVB-H analysis). And then I also made use of ffdshow for codec support.

Also I'm sure they are broadcasting in interlaced mode as the jagged edges during fast movement disapear when I enable deinterlacing.

I find the coverage very patchy, propably due to the few transmitters, refractions and reflections. I had to move the arial around a lot to find places where there is a signal. Altough, 554MHz seems to be a lot stronger and I pick it up in more places than 770MHz. Did a test drive and picked up a 100% signal strength and quality, driving past Diepsloot, on the N14 while doing 140km/h! So make sure you using a tool that allows you to lock on a frequency and checking the signal strentgth and quality (ProgDVB is easy enough for this), then move your aerial around slowly until you find a spot where you get a signal.

Channel lineup on 554MHz changed. The new channel list is:

e-TV1
e-TV2
SABC1
SABC2
SABC3
SABC ENT (Entertainment)
SABC Sport
SABC NI (News International)
SABC Edu

SAFM
Umhlombo Wenene FM
Thobela FM
Unkhozi FM
5FM
Lesedi FM
Lotus FM
Ikwekwezi FM
TruFM
YFM
Ligwalagwala FM
Munghana Lonene FM
Phalaphala FM
GoodHope FM
RSG
ChannelAfrica
MetroFM
Radio2000

wow now i want one of these units

That is pretty awesome!
Correct me if I am wrong, but at one stage weren't there plans for SABC 4 and 5? Was suppose to be regional...

Hi guys

Forgive my lack of detail, just came across this thread at work and no info on me here, will check at home and update equipment detail.

I brought a DTT set top box over from the UK with me a couple of years back. I can pick up all the channels listed above, but get told that they are scrambled. Is this to do with different encoding? No audio from the radio tranmissions either.

wilbur said:

Hi guys

Forgive my lack of detail, just came across this thread at work and no info on me here, will check at home and update equipment detail.

I brought a DTT set top box over from the UK with me a couple of years back. I can pick up all the channels listed above, but get told that they are scrambled. Is this to do with different encoding? No audio from the radio tranmissions either.

Click to expand...

I have a DVB-T USB dongle and i use to pick the pilot signal very well and i managed to watch SABC 1, 2, 3 and ETV.... When i check yesterday again, i can see more channels in the list but cant watch any of them... My Presto PVR software says that the channels are encrypted... Even the radio channels i cannot listen to anymore..... I tried ProgDVB and the same problem...

What changed? and can anything be done about it??? Please assist... I miss the radio stations especially...

wilbur said:

Hi guys

Forgive my lack of detail, just came across this thread at work and no info on me here, will check at home and update equipment detail.

I brought a DTT set top box over from the UK with me a couple of years back. I can pick up all the channels listed above, but get told that they are scrambled. Is this to do with different encoding? No audio from the radio tranmissions either.

Click to expand...

Possibly on both accounts. The Transport Stream does contain Conditional Access info, although it is not encrypted, so if your unit honors it, it won't display it. But the video is also encoded using H.264 so older equipment does not support it. You might be able to find a firmware upgrade for your unit that can support it. But I'm not sure.

Try moving the aerial around to see if you can not pick up the signal on 770MHz. That is mpeg2 which your unit should support and it does not have any conditional access data.

PurePower said:

I have a DVB-T USB dongle and i use to pick the pilot signal very well and i managed to watch SABC 1, 2, 3 and ETV.... When i check yesterday again, i can see more channels in the list but cant watch any of them... My Presto PVR software says that the channels are encrypted... Even the radio channels i cannot listen to anymore..... I tried ProgDVB and the same problem...

What changed? and can anything be done about it??? Please assist... I miss the radio stations especially...

Click to expand...

Try using vlc from http://www.videolan.org

quick question is the sabc ent channel still broadcasting are they still showing movies and programs

hhm, I have been playing around with my E900F, and so far have had no luck getting any signal. I stay in Lonehill, and my UHF antenna is pointing kind-of towards honeydew, but I am not 100% sure. I get all the analogue channels perfectly though, so signal seems to be strong. Any suggestions?

I'm in midrand i have a matsui set top box from the uk i pick up all the channels but can only they the normal channels can't view the sabc ent channel

No DTT for Cape Town until July 2009

Analogue broadcasters, the SABC, e.tv and M-Net, together with broadcasting signal distributors Sentech and Orbicom, will make digital terrestrial television (DTT) available to consumers from July next year

Click to expand...

The trials will take place in Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria. All the participants are aware that they are participating in the trial.

Click to expand...

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=147212

That's the reason that everyone in Cape Town with a DTT decoder has been picking up the digital equivalent of static when attempting to tune in to the new channels.

brixton tower said:

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=147212

That's the reason that everyone in Cape Town with a DTT decoder has been picking up the digital equivalent of static when attempting to tune in to the new channels.

Click to expand...

It is not digital static, the signals on 586M are DTT-H, (so I am told) and the signals on 706M are an M-net MUX and the channels include Mnet, AJE, Learn, Soweto, TBN, plus others and they are encrypted in Irdeto. I believe they are done by Orbicom who also have a broadcasting test licence.

Hi All,

I just noticed that I cannot pick up signal on 770MHz which is the Sentech Test Signal.
I can only pick up the channels on 554MHz. Previouly the transmission on 554MHz was encrypted with I tried to view with my TV Tuner card (Gigabyte GT-P8000) but now I see picture and hear the audio. But I do not know if the Sentech signal on 770MHz has been pulled of the air. Does anyone have any idea's?

Seems like the 770mhz is now off they just broadcasting in h.264

Where can I find one of these set-top boxes and which should I buy? Or should I wait until they become more mainstream?

eBay

Hey,

I ordered my DVB-T USB stick off eBay today, cost me R170 including delivery. This is much better than any local store, I think R400 is the cheapest.

Not bad, although I just want to play around with it, not expecting much. And want to get it on my laptop, I'm sick of having an analogue tuner on my desktop, now I can watch tv anywhere (hopefully).

There is still Fkcall signal in Cape Town. When is this ever going to happen??
Is this Mpeg 4? I think my digital TV only does DvB digital Mpg2 for the F2V channels