This topic

Freeview over broadband

l0586 — Thu, 19 May 2022 19:13:42 GMT

Hi all,

Does anyone have any updates on Freeview channels coming over broadband?

Thanks.

Re: Freeview over broadband

NigelB72 — Thu, 19 May 2022 19:29:55 GMT

Nope

Re: Freeview over broadband

gomezz — Thu, 19 May 2022 22:32:13 GMT

One bit of news that I would like to hear is that they come up with a different name for free to view channels over broadband as Freeview is by definition those FTV channels available over the DTT platform.

Re: Freeview over broadband

Les-Gibson — Thu, 19 May 2022 23:21:16 GMT

Call the Freeview Advice Line

03456 505050

Re: Freeview over broadband

DaveSwan — Fri, 20 May 2022 01:21:23 GMT

Don’t bother calling Freeview, whilst there might be carriage agreements in place between BT and Freeview broadcasters, it looks like BT are managing this themselves over their network.

The multicast streams are all there now, encrypted, but they include HD versions of many Freeview SD channels and stacks of regional variations.

According to a mod on a similar post, they had planned on launching it during April, but this was scrubbed very late - hence the reason call centre staff and terms and conditions online made reference to it.

There’s not been any mention of when they now plan to launch.

Obviously anything can change but here are the services I found with a multicast scan;

CBS Drama SD

CBS Justice SD

CBS Reality SD

Horror SD

BBC Alba HD

BBC Four

BBC News HD

BBC One East HD

BBC One East-Cambridge HD

BBC One London HD

BBC One Midlands East HD

BBC One Midlands West HD

BBC One N East and Cumbria HD

BBC One N Ireland HD

BBC One North-Lincs and Humbs HD

BBC One North-West HD

BBC One North-Yorks HD

BBC One Scotland HD

BBC One South East HD

BBC One South HD

BBC One South-Oxford HD

BBC One South-West HD

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One West HD

BBC Parliament HD

BBC Scotland HD

BBC Three HD

BBC Two England HD

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

BBC Two Wales HD

CBBC HD

CBeebies HD

4Music SD

4Seven SD

C4 London HD

C4 Midlands HD

C4 North HD

C4 Scotland HD

C4 South HD

C4 Ulster HD

E4 SD

Film4 SD

5Select HD

5Star HD

5USA HD

Channel 5 HD

Paramount Network HD

DMAX SD

Food Network SD

HGTV SD

Quest HD

Quest Red SD

Really SD

CITV HD

ITV1 Central West HD - Central East

ITV1 Central West HD West Country

ITV1 Central West HD - West

ITV1 Central West HD

ITV1 Granda HD - Border England

ITV1 Granada Border Scotland

ITV1 Granada HD

ITV1 London HD

ITV1 Meridian East HD - Anglia East

ITV1 Meridian East - Anglia West

ITV1 Meridian East - Meridian North

ITV1 Meridian East - Meridian South

ITV1 Meridian East HD

ITV1 UTV ND

ITV1 Wales HD

ITV1 Yorkshire West HD - Tynes Tees

ITV1 Yorkshire West HD - Yorkshire East

ITV1 Yorkshire West HD

ITV2 HD

ITV3 HD

ITV4 HD

ITVBe HD

S4C HD

Challenge SD

Pick SD

STV1 Aberdeen HD

STV1 Edinburgh HD

Re: Freeview over broadband

l0586 — Fri, 20 May 2022 07:08:31 GMT

This is really becoming annoying as when i initially took BT TV i was promiced it was active, then got told it isn't out yet its been delayed in Jan and the update is expect within a couple of weeks this was in April, were now in May and nothing.
I bit the bullet and paid for a aerial install but that cannot be done due to birds nesting next door and constant attacks from the jackdaws.
So now I'm really praying this update comes out soon so i can watch live Freeview channels with ease but my thoughts, now is will be be put on hold further due to the jump of BT services over to EE.

Re: Freeview over broadband

DaveSwan — Fri, 20 May 2022 08:28:06 GMT

I agree, it definitely could of been handled better.

To get to the stage where you’ve circulated details to the call centre teams and they’re advising it’s launched, would suggest an eleventh hour problem.

Also, worth keeping in mind that launching this service literally quadruples the number of services carried over multicast - that may bring it’s own complexities.

Re: Freeview over broadband

Les-Gibson — Fri, 20 May 2022 11:33:43 GMT

It's by no means the finished article yet but you can already access many of the Freeview channels and watch them live online and you don't need BT TV to do it.

If you have a smart TV or a set top box then download the various apps, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 & My5 all deliver live content as well as archived content, the only 'disadvantage' is the lag which means that those watching (say) an off-air football match will see the kick off and any goals etc around 60 - 70 seconds before those watching via the apps.

Edit: And not to forget that you can watch live TV online via a laptop etc and cast it to your TV

Re: Freeview over broadband

DaveSwan — Fri, 20 May 2022 11:53:10 GMT

I don't think the OP is referring to simply getting access to Freeview channels.

Yes, you could download each and every app, moving from app to app with different layouts and navigation, but it's clunky.

Bring all of that together, along with BTs subscription services, HD versions of SD channels on Freeview, and make it all available without an aerial, anywhere in the home with wifi, and you've got a half decent offering that might just give YouView a fighting chance past 2024.

Aside from that, looking at the bitrates for the services currently testing - there's a considerable improvement on quality when compared to the space available on Freeview, or even Freesat - even the SD services are higher.

The HD channels are running around 6-7Mb/s, and SDs 2.8-3Mb/s. In theory, the SD channels should look better than through Freeview - especially anything on SDN, which runs all channels at 544x576. The average for CBS Reality on SDN is 1.2Mb/s, so as well as doubling the bitrate, with move to a higher resolution should mean there’s an improvement.

Re: Freeview over broadband

Les-Gibson — Fri, 20 May 2022 12:23:21 GMT

@DaveSwan

The OP made it quite clear in message 6 that an aerial is not a practical option.

As I stated in my post, using the apps in such a way is not ideal by any means but by the sound of it, it does allow him more choice than he currently has

Re: Freeview over broadband

DaveSwan — Fri, 20 May 2022 12:45:59 GMT

Apologies, I replied to the wrong post.

I hope we don't have to wait too long either. Although the service has yet to be officially announced, if it works neatly within the YouView ui, then it would be a game changer for me - perhaps even give me the push I need to drop Sky completely.

Whilst Sky Glass perhaps offers more features than BT TV, their standalone 'puck' launching later this year will use the same platform as Glass and also carry the main FTA channels alongside subscription ones.

Add that to the fact you can't actually record anything on Glass, and BT TV starts to look like a real contender.

Re: Freeview over broadband

DarrenDev — Sat, 21 May 2022 13:48:01 GMT

It wasn't an 11th hour issue as such - just an 11th hour decision. It's an issue that has plagued the YouView box since it was launched: the lack of accurate recording over IP.

When recording over DTT, the recordings are scheduled to start and end at the published times, however an extra signal sent down the stream (EIT p/f) ensures each recording begins and ends exactly as the broadcaster intended.
This EIT p/f signal isn't (currently) available on the IP channels, so recordings can only start and end as per the schedule. This causes recordings to be cut short very frequently on our current list of IP channels.

Now imagine that ALL channels are IP - what was previously an annoyance is now a complete pain as it affects every single recording on the box. Thus the decision was made quite late on to NOT launch until support for accurate recording was added. This is a HUGE change to the software that has taken many weeks of effort to implement, and will take many more still to test, trial, and rollout. We want to make sure you have the best possible experience before launching this for everyone.

I don't know any dates yet, but I would guess at least another couple of months.

Note: the rebrand doesn't affect anything. We've known about that for many months, and it hasn't detracted from any other core feature development.

Re: Freeview over broadband

StewM — Sat, 21 May 2022 19:59:11 GMT

Thanks for the info @DarrenDev

For me it can’t come soon enough. I have several rather large wood pigeons fighting and using my aerial as a landing and pooing seat. The result is that I now have little Freeview signal!

Stew

Re: Freeview over broadband

DaveSwan — Sat, 21 May 2022 20:24:35 GMT

Thanks for the insight!

It does seem odd that if this was something that was already an issue with IP channels, that it wouldn’t of been considered from the outset. My box is constantly chattering back and forth with YouView servers, you’d think there might be provision to include these triggers over IP. Or perhaps the developers didn’t consider it an issue until feedback from testers?

Whatever the case, knowing the backlash Sky Glass got for not including traditional local storage and recoding, the fact that BTs version has been held up to ensure it works properly can only be a good thing.

Re: Freeview over broadband

gomezz — Sat, 21 May 2022 20:27:08 GMT

That is quite an admission. For years we have been complaining about Accurate Recording not working on IP channels and only now the disclosure that there *is* no Accurate Recording on IP channels!

Puts the poo-pooing of there being a need for fixed time recordings in a whole new light!!

Re: Freeview over broadband

garybs29 — Sat, 21 May 2022 21:03:30 GMT

There is some form of accurate recording on BT Sport channels (at times)

Re: Freeview over broadband

DaveSwan — Sat, 21 May 2022 21:24:11 GMT

If correct, it does seem a very big and obvious oversight; especially when you consider this new service adds more than 120 new multicast streams. If Freeview’s channels are more likely to be recorded over IP subscription channels, and they’re used to an experience of recordings starting and ending using data from the DVB-T NIT, then it could cause trouble for many more people.

We’re not talking about a proprietary stream format though, the specs for multicast contain very similar flags to DVB, and it’s used by providers around the world. If it’s not been implemented until now, then it looks like current BT IP subscribers are not a priority.

Re: Freeview over broadband

enapace — Sun, 22 May 2022 14:08:44 GMT

This is very good to know that when it does launch later this year that the recording feature should be sorted out. Another tick towards me considering moving to BT TV when i move this summer. A lot will say recording is a thing of the past in this current age of catchup etc. But I still think it has a role to play definitely with sports.

Re: Freeview over broadband

Weerab1983 — Mon, 23 May 2022 09:07:06 GMT

Hopefully forces tv will be included in this when it launches. Great channel on multiplex 7 I believe, that is getting switched off soon for 5g

Re: Freeview over broadband

DaveSwan — Mon, 23 May 2022 10:40:09 GMT

Certainly at the moment, it's not. It looks like BT's only done deals with the bigger service providers. (As with Sky Glass), shopping and special interest services are not included.

If the channel is to come off Freeview at the end of June, then it's unlikely to be included in this service anyway.

It'd have to be part of the subscription channels, and given that BT's somewhat given up on this by handing the process to Sky through Now, it's probably very unlikely.

You should be reaching out to Forces TV directly, they're they only ones who can book carriage on Freeview, or be aware of the alternatives once COM 7 does close. It was always going to happen, they must have some plan or contingency for when it gets switched off.