Humble Pie with custard and raspberries.
Right…it seems a good while ago since I posted the rant (scroll down) about us in rural Ireland..or anyone with a fuzzy RTE picture, not having the option of a Free to air digital service from RTE. The only option that was available was to pay Rupert Murdoch lots of pieces of silver for RTE on SKY on top of the annual licence fee. It seemed outrageous that we couldn’t get the Irish channels free on Freesat as the BBC and ITV are all on it.
Warning..rant!
My main objection to SKY is that I just will not pay Murdoch’s corporations anything..anywhere at any time. They are a major evil part of the world’s problems and the control of the media’s presentation of “facts” that make up the public’s diet of “news”, amounts to the control of populations and their opinions…and hence war..and death. He is the enemy of free and open media and people should know more about what they consume and who it serves. People’s opinions are only forged by the facts available to them and that’s how he works with the governments that he colludes with. SKY TV subscriptions are in my opinion Pieces of Silver covered in the blood of anyone sitting on oil or anything that gets in the way of US, and its puppy the UK, global ambitions. Never mind blood diamonds..this is blood digital…and digital opiates for the masses.
Rant over!
So, completely unrelated, I bought an aerial to improve the fuzzy poverty four channels (RTE1&2, TG4 and TV3). I’d just bought a new Samsung Full HD TV for the house and just couldn’t handle the RTE fuzziness. During the channel scan setup I noticed channels coming in on digital as well as analogue. What did we get? RTE1&2 and TG4 is crystal clear digital! I had to sit down and get a drink and make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. TV3 is still on analogue but at least it’s an improved fuzzyiness due to the new aerial. The quality of the picture is far superior to what you get with UK channels on satellite.
What happened? It seems to be a bit of good luck on our part to start with…starting with the TV. If you’ve bought a brand new Samsung make sure the country setting is Ireland..that is crucial for the mpeg4 reception and decoding. RTE are putting the digital channels out using a different encoding system to the UK. Theirs is mpeg2..and I wondered why RTE had decided to do things differently to our neighbours and now I see why. I should really have studied all the specs ages ago seeing as it’s a major part of my job here..encoding video. The mpeg4 encoding is vastly superior to the mpeg2…hence me being stunned. I was studying the LCD screen from about a couple of inches away to get a look at the pixelation. I would even go so far as to say that a lot of people could be fooled into thinking that live broadcast almost look like HD..it’s that good. Anyway, the new Samsung TVs have the mpeg4 DTT tuner built in so no need for another box. Check that before you buy though..the older models in stock don’t have it!
Then there was the aerial. I screwed it down to the top of a wall next to the house and used Google Earth to get a bearing from the house to Truskmore up the mountains ..our local aerial where all the TV comes from. It’s easy enough..use a placemark and draw a line path to where you want and note the bearing. Then get your Lidl camo combat compass out and line up the aerial…hey presto..RTE DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television).
So..there we go. I’m am almost choking on this massive slice of humble pie. However…the problem now is that we have all the daily cock-ups by presenters and programmers in glorious mpeg4 digital. lol. No more demands for pieces of silver to Rupert Murdoch to see our own National Broadcaster in digital…and it’s well overdue.
Thank you RTE…now bring on the HD before the next decade!
PS. On a footnote rant..this is the type of thing we’ve been up against. This guy doesn’t seem to think that ordinary TV licence payers have a right to free digital TV, and the Government is wasting €70 million…and it makes me mad. He seems to think that because his estimation of 80% of people subscribe to SKY..which is total rubbish..that the rest of people shouldn’t get the TV they pay for in their licence fee. He sounds like just another ignorant urbanite…probably from Dublin, that there’s no-one left without broadband and SKY. If the Govt were to follow that thinking then they should revoke the licence fee altogether and goodbye RTE. It’s a good job they don’t. Of course this guy has a vested interest..he’s flogging WiMax. I can’t see him putting Leitrim at the top of his sales list.
O’Kelly on Silicone Republic