[mythtv] freesat from BBC/ITV

Charles Mason charlie.mas at gmail.com
Thu Dec 13 13:36:06 UTC 2007


On Dec 12, 2007 9:22 AM, Simon Kenyon <simon at koala.ie> wrote:
> Freesat will be launching in March 2008.
> Has anybody been in contact with these folks to get details?

Freesat is basicly an EPG and a marketing campaign.

You can already get all the BBC and ITV channels in the clear from a
standard uk satlite set up with out the need for a viewing card. You
will need one for Channel 4 and Five.

So MythTV can already receive the same signal that the Freesat
receivers will be using. If it takes off it will be good for uk Myth
TV viewers because it will cause many more channels (like Freeview
has) to transmit unencrypted making them easily usable with MythTV

> For example, will the EPG be usable by MythTV as it stands, or will
> changes be required?

The using the FreeSat EPG may be possible but its going to take time
and a developer who is interested in adding the feature.

> What will be the minimum hardware requirement be for a frontend (and a
> backend for that matter)?

The frontend for SD content will be similar to that for freeview
content. Of course the big advantage with Freesat is there is plenty
of room for HD content and at launch will probably have at least BBC
HD and ITV HD (which is supposedly coming back on air around launch
time).

There has been a fair amount of discussion about frontends needed for
BBC HD and similar channels. Apparently the SVN trunk has a newer
version of FFMPEG which is much better at decoding BBC HD. The Fixes
branch and the last release really struggle to play it back
apparently. Not having a stalite set up yet I havn't been able to test
that.

> I would like to "hit the ground running" when this service is launched.
>
> Regards
> --
> simon

Its certainly an interesting development and one thats going to enable
the main UK channels to push out a lot more HD content. Channel 4 is
aparently looking in untill autmun 2008 with sky, although is keen to
come to Freesat. So I am not going to be throwing out my Freeview
tuners yet, but its certainly will be a good addition and nice to
finally get some HD content with out subscription.

If you really want to hit the ground running you could set up your
DVB-S tuner and satellite dish so you can get the BBC and ITV
channels. Its the same signal sky boxes use so its currently
transmitting all the BBC and ITV channels as well as BBC HD. Then as
Freesat launches you can add the rest of the freesat channels.

Hope that helps.

Charlie M


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