NoSky - Free Satellite TV

[BGonaSTICK]

Well, there has been a bit of a stink kicked up over the revelation in an interview with What Satellite magazine by Freesat's Managing Director Emma Scott that Sky is directly involved in the process of getting more channels onto the free-to-air service from Freesat.

The comments, whilst diplomatically worded, have enraged many consumers who perceive this purely as red-tape, giving the established satellite giant yet another commercial advantage over the new boy.

But Sky has pointed out in a retaliatory release to TechRadar that a lengthy checking process is in place to ensure that having two broadcasters (and two electronic programme guides) on one transponder does not interfere with existing viewers.

"Sky is working to configure a number of free-to-air channels so that they are available in both the Sky and BBC/ITV Freesat EPGs via a single satellite transponder, said a spokesperson for Sky.

"This means that certain BBC/ITV Freesat data passes through Sky's network, which poses a risk for the operation of both platforms.

"This risk was recognised by the BBC Trust in its approval of the BBC's participation in BBC/ITV Freesat when it stated that the BBC should take "all reasonable steps" to ensure that BBC/ITV Freesat is able to "co-exist with other digital television platforms without impairing their technical operation".

"Sky is therefore focused on minimising the risk of loss of service to the many millions of households already receiving digital television via satellite.

"In managing this risk, Sky and BBC/ITV Freesat have certain agreed processes and procedures in place to ensure a safe and stable environment for the roll-out of more than 200 services."

Which is exactly what you would expect them to say, because it's absolutely true. The configuration of combined EPG data is no small task, and in the absence of any other party willing to step up to the plate and take on the management of this onerous and critical process, Sky are doing everyone a favour. Never forget though, that the sole reason that they are committed in this way is to protect their own interests. They have a lot more to lose than Freesat if EPG-world falls apart, and the costs involved are negligible to such a company, whereas it would hurt Freesat's 'balance sheet'.

Screw-ups in this area would impact every one of the nearly 10 million Sky viewers using the propriety 'digibox' technology.

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[BGonaSTICK]

With only a handful of Freesat receivers available at the present time, it's great to hear that another manufacturer is to enter the marketplace.

According to Connected TV, Metronic will shortly be launching a “fully-featured HD STB including IF loop through, which will be followed by an HD DTR.”

Connected TV's Barry Flynn has been provided with a pre-launch product specification sheet, the detail on which has been reproduced below.

No official launch date has been stated, but the word is that it will be mid-October 2008 for the standard HD box and 1st quarter 2009 for the recorder.

Could this wind up being the first Freesat PVR in the shops? Could be, if Humax don't pull their finger out...

Specifications:

Tuner: DVB-S2 & DVB-S
Input Frequency: 950-2150-Mhz (F-Type)
IF Loopthrough: 950-2150-Mhz (F-Type)
Video Format: SD MPEG-2 MP@ML (Main Profile, Mail Level, i.e. chroma 4:2:0, picture format 4:3 or 16:9)
HDMI Upscale:
   HD - 1920x1080i25 & 1280x720p50
   SD - 720x567
Video Signal/Connector: 2xSCART (RGB & composite) + HDMI V1.2
Audio Connector: SPDIF Optical
Compact size

Front panel controls:

Power on/off, Channel +/-, Volume +/-

Rear Panel I/O:

TV SCART (RGB & composite)
VCR SCART
HDMI
RJ45
SPDIF optical audio

Other Features:

OTA updates
DiSEqC 1.1
Broadband return path (via RJ45 connector)
MHEG-5 V1.06
Parental lock
Subtitle support
Teletext support
Freesat 8-day Electronic Program Guide
Quick start guide
Two year warranty

The receiver comes complete with external power supply and an HDMI lead.

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[BGonaSTICK]

Free to watch

BBC One, Two, Three and Four; BBC News Channel; BBC Parliament; ITV1, 2, 2+1, 3 and 4; Channel 4, MORE 4, E4 and E4+1; Five, Fiver and Five US; Sky Three and Sky News; Virgin 1; CBBC and CBeebies; Film 4 and Film 4+1; UK History; Dave; The Hits; TMF; UK Entertainment; Teachers TV; the Community Channel; QVC, Price Drop TV and Bid TV; Ideal World; LBC; STV; CITV; Nuts TV and Smile TV.

Pay TV

Entertainment and Family packages:

Discovery Home and Health, Discovery Knowledge, Discovery Real Time, Discovery 1, DMax, Discovery Turbo, Discovery Travel and Living, Animal Planet and Discovery Science; Fashion TV and Fashion Men; the Performance Channel; Main Street; Paramount 1,1+1, 2 and 2+1; CNN; Al-Jazeera; Russia Today; Information TV and Information TV2; TV Polari; Wedding TV; 18 Doughty Street; Redskin Records; The Magic Channel; UK Entertainment; RCTV; Dave Courtney TV; Turkish Travel; MTV, MTVR, MTV2, MTV Hits, MTV Base and MTV Dance; VH1 and VH1 Classics; TMF; Nickelodeon, Nick Toons, Nick Junior and Nick Replay; the Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network 2, Toonami, Cartoonito and Boomerang.

Play Setanta:

Setanta 1 and 2, Setanta News, NASN, Setanta Golf, Racing UK, Setanta Ireland, Liverpool TV, Arsenal TV, Celtic TV and Rangers TV.

Play Sports package:

Eurosport 1 and 2, TV Scuba, Huddersfield FC, Sussex Cricket, TV Freestyle, TV Boardrider, Suzuki, The Baseball Channel, The Fight Network and Race Clubs.

Play Movies:

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and TCM2, Sixty 6 Films

There will also be several other niche and local channels.

PlayTV UK managing director Jim Deans appeared relieved as much as excited at the eventual launch:

“Finally, after four years of hard work, IPTV is now looking like it is supposed to. Our platform facilitates niche, small and independent channels to sit alongside the major broadcasters and, with our extensive sports offerings, it allows Rangers FC to sit alongside Accrington Stanley.”

PlayTV is aggressively targeting UK IPTV in what is still a very immature marketplace, because they understand that it is vitally important to gain an early foothold and establish a strong brand presence.

From it's current position of having only 1,000 set-top boxes in the hands of the viewing public, they intend to have more like 50,000 within twelve months.

For details of free television channels available via satellite and terrestrial, check our UK free TV channel listings section.

The PlayTV website is: http://www.playtvuk.com

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[BGonaSTICK]

Enjoying the Euro 2008 championships in high definition?

No?!

Then you’re missing out on something truly amazing. For £150 or so, you can turn your HD Ready TV into an HD Reality TV. Pop down to Currys, or anywhere else you can find stock of one of the Freesat HD boxes, and you can be up and running in minutes - assuming that you already have a satellite dish on your property!

The BBC HD channel is showing around half the games live, whilst the remainder are covered by the brand spanking new ITV HD channel. This is exclusive to the new Freesat platform, and is available via the red button on the ITV1 SD channel.

Having said that, there is actually an ever-growing list of non-Freesat STBs than can receive ITV HD, but then you’d miss out on the great Freesat EPG and all the other benefits that a Freesat box will bring over time. ITV HD is not available using a Sky digibox.

Check out our review of the Humax Foxsat HD receiver at http://www.nosky.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,3445.0.html for more info.

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[BGonaSTICK]

A nice looking receiver. At least the specifications are, even if the box itself looks like it's made from Lego bricks.

Supposedly released right about now - but Joe Public doesn't seem to have taken any deliveries yet...

* Multimedia Linux ENIGMA PVR Ready Set-Top-Box

* WLAN integrated (not in the ‘light’ version)

* 10/100 Mbit Fast Ethernet LAN connection

* Support for internal 2.5 inch hard disk in any capacity

* Sharp Blind Scan DVB-S satellite tuner

* Twin Plug&Play Tuners (DVB-S, DVB-T, DVT-C) - single tuner in ‘light’ version

* Diablo CAM revision 2.3 incorporated - update via WLAN/Ethernet/USB

* Enigma OSD user interface - multi-language

* Recording on external USB hard disk possible

* 2 x USB (1 at the front for media USB stick, 1 at the rear for external HDD)

* 1 x mini USB (at rear, for communication with PC)

* 2 x card reader slots incorporated (DuoCrypt)

* Video/Audio streaming facility

* 2 Scart sockets (YUV, RGB, FBAS) i.e. one can be used like component

* Separate safe-boot storage (bootloader therefore protected against corruption)

* Small enclosure - this receiver measures only 6 x 23 x 15 cm

* IBM PowerPC 250 Mhz processor

* Linux kernel 2.6.17

* External 12 volt power supply

* S/PDIF for digital bit stream out

* 2 status LED

* V.24 RS232 serial port

* Video/audio cinch out

* Channel change time <1 second

* Supports EPG (Electronic Program Guide)

* Supports multiple LNB switching control (DiSEqC)

From Duolabs - makers of the original 'Diablo' CAM.

'Diablo inside' (compatible with the standard Diablo light multiCAM support) you don't need to update it with an ftp program, you will be able to update the Diablo emulator with a specific file from Stealth team using USB, Wireless or Ethernet. It is believed that the Diablo V2.3 inside is simply an emulator and not hardware, but Duolabs must have gone to great lengths to ensure that it’s not portable to other Linux STB’s!

We'll see!

Price: £175

Availability: Unknown at present time

Official website (still under construction at time of writing): http://www.q-box.tv/

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