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BBC HD to switch to DVB-S2 on 6th June 2011

The BBC will switch to the higher-capacity modern modulation scheme for the BBC HD and BBC One HD channels on satellite.

The BBC will switch to the higher-capacity modern modulation sc
published on UK Free TV

The high definition (HD) television channels on satellite require a lot more bandwidth (number of bits per second) than the standard definition (SD) ones, as you might expect.

However the additional capacity required is reduced in two ways. First the MPEG-4 compression system is used (rather than MPEG-2) and generally the DVB-S2 modulation system increases the bandwidth of each satellite transponder.

Generally speaking, around nine SD television channels can be carried on a transponder in DVB-S mode, and four HD channels on one in DVB-S2 mode.

For historical reasons, the BBC's Astra 2D transponder 50 has been providing BBC One HD and BBC HD (and also ITV1 HD Merdian South) in the DVB-S mode, and this has used all the capacity on the transponder, because of the lower bitrate.

The changes

One 6th June 2011, the BBC will switch the transponder to DVB-S2. If you watch using Sky+HD, Virgin Media or Freeview HD you will not have to do anything.

If you use a branded Freesat box (or TV set), you may need to put it into stand-by mode for 30 seconds on 6th June. If that doesn't work, perform a 'first time installation'.

Update: Some Panasonic Freesat boxes are unable to deal with the change - see comments below

If you are using a unbranded Freesat box, you may find that you also have to do a 'first time installation' to get the channels back.

Some older satellite equipment will not support DVB-S2. If you can't watch Channel 4 HD, then you will no longer be able to watch the BBC HD channels.

Sky HD, Freesat HD EPG issues

Currently BBC One HD cannot automatically replace BBC One in the Sky EPG at position 101, because there are 15 regional versions of BBC One, and only a single BBC One HD 'stream' on the satellite.

BBC Two carries four regions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. For a BBC TWO HD to appear in the Sky EPG at position 102, the BBC would need to provide four versions of BBC TWO HD.

All the other BBC channels are national, and have no regional components. BBC Three timeshares with CBBC, BBC FOUR timeshares with CBeebies, plus there is BBC News, BBC Parliament and BBC Alba.

The extra capacity found by moving to DVB-S2 could allow the BBC to provide BBC Three, BBC Four, CBeebies and CBBC channel in HD, and these could be provided in the "usual" EPG slots for Sky HD and Freesat HD users, which would put them on the lower numbered channels nearer the top of the guide.

Help with Free satellite?
What can I do when my Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fau1
Can I receive UK TV in Ghana?2
What is a CA module?3
My box says "No Satellite signal being received"4
Is there any way I can get free channels via satellite and have the kind of hard5
In this section
Show me the 55 TV channels have moved to the new Astra 2G satellite 1
Good news for Freesat? Astra 2E satellite launched2
No satellite signal? Check your dish for snow!3
New satellite footprints page4
BBC satellite changes: radio, BBC ONE HD, Red button reduction 12-15 October 2015
Changes to BBC HD transmissions on Astra satellites on 20 September 20126

Comments
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:22 AM

Barry: In that case you "may" have a problem as I am not acquaint with that version, the reason for the problem being that the BBC HD service on Satellite made a technical change to the method of transmission on the 6th of this month (ref:link below) this being something which has caused problems with quite a number of devices, the unfortunate aspect about it being that in some cases its not a rectifiable problem.

You will need to contact the supplier of your set.

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: Changes to BBC HD channels on satellite on 6th June

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Les Nicol
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:03 PM

Barry - If the tuner module fitted to your Samsung is not DVB-S2 compliant then this isn't rectifiable as jb38 points out.

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Les Nicol's 991 posts GB flag
C
Chris
5:04 PM
Rugeley

Hi, I have a non freesat HD satellite kit I purchased from aldi a few weeks ago, it has been working fine. I re-tuned it a couple of weeks ago to get BBC HD & BBC One HD that was ok. My problem is is that on Sunday afternoon I turned it on & have lot loads of channels, to name a few I have lost include BBC 2, channel 4,channel 5, all of the itv +1's, film 4 plus some news & music channels. I have looked for the frequency rates & they have not changed. I have tried evrything I can and cannot get these channels back. I live in Rugeley - WS15 by the way, about 25 miles north of Birmingham and 25 miles south of Stoke.
Any help would be much appreciated!

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Chris's 2 posts GB flag
Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:31 PM

Chris: Rectifying problems on non-Freesat boxes can be a nightmare, but "if" your model is the 28260ALD (made by Tevion)I would rescan it again using the procedure seen on the web link, but starting at paragraph 13 and ignoring everything that precedes it.

I realise it may of course not be that model, but just thought it worth mentioning in case it was.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:34 PM

Chris: I think it may have been better if I had included the link, sorry about that!

http://www.philex.com/ass….pdf

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
B
Barry
9:41 PM

Hi Les,

I can confirm that the TV is DVB-S2 compliant as well as the LNB. (I do in fact have 2 TV's with DVB-S2 and same problem on both).

Do you think that there are any solutions given that the Inverto Ultra LNB and two Samsumg TV's are DVB-S2 compliant but not picking up the new BBC HD signal?

Many thanks,

Barry

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Barry's 5 posts ES flag
B
Barry
9:44 PM

Probably worth mentioning that the Samsung TV's are DVB-S2 but not Freesat branded. As far as I know reading posts on the matter, this affects only the channel order and the EPG (only shows now and next).

Barry

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Barry's 5 posts ES flag
Les Nicol
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:39 PM

Barry - You may then need to try a manual set up of these channels. May I suggest if you continue to struggle with this that you post a query in "Tech Help" to satandpcguy based in Spain. He might be better placed to offer further help on this one if you can't manually correct this yourself.

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Les Nicol's 991 posts GB flag
Thursday, 23 June 2011
C
Chris
7:00 AM
Rugeley

Hi jb38,

thanks for that, it the 28260ALD by Tevion I have. I have done the re-scan already, several times to no luck. I even did a factory reset and scanned again but it didnt find them. Before I did delete them though I just got a message up saying 'NO SIGNAL'. I have found a list of all free to air channels and their broadcasting frequencies anmanually tried to find each one, I even tried different symbol rates but still could not pick them up. I have spent the last week searching the internet but cannot find any help, I just dont understand how I can have them one moning and then a few hours later they're gone? My signal strengths are 71% & 99% quality too so pretty decent I think.

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Chris's 2 posts GB flag
Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:47 AM

Chris: Judging by all you have tried doing to rectify the problem without having any success, now indicates to me the possibility that the actual box has developed a fault and as such will have to be returned to source.

Before you do though, and although I feel that it may not make any difference, but it would be interesting to know the result if you temporarily tried the box coupled into a different satellite dish, as these boxes (or all) work on any dish.


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