The naming of the regional channels is taken exactly as it reads within the data stream.
The formatting includes ‘BBCip’ at the start, as with ‘IP’ on some of the Now channels. Clearly the naming used on the guide (and the ‘SD/HD’ at the end) isn’t likely to be included, so I expect this long-form naming is just for internal use.
To get the list I did a scan of the multicast addresses from 234.81.130.0 to 234.81.132.55 with the port as 5802.
There’s about 216 streams in total, and the new Freeview additions now make up more than half of those. They’re all encrypted the same way as the subscription services. Although I’m getting audio on a few of the secondary audio description steams, along with subtitles.
All the SD Freeview services are running at 720x576 which is up from most other SD services on BT at 544x576. HD are all kicking out 1440x1080 - which I know has always been a sticking point for many.
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.
As for the debate BT TV v Sky, yes, it is a different offering, but offering HD versions of Freeview channels is a game changer. It gives the service another point of difference that one-ups Freeview, but doesn’t directly challenge Sky.
The absence of Channel 4 services in HD (at present), is likely down to exclusivity of carriage along the line. I know there was a row with Freesat, so maybe there’s a contractual reason to stick with SD for now.
One thing I also noticed, there’s Discovery’s channels are still being carried but I seem to recall they had all now been removed from lineups?
IPdisc Investigation Discovery
IPdisc Animal Planet
IPdisc Discovery Science
IPdisc Discovery Turbo
IPdisc Discovery
IPdisc TLC
(With SD and HD versions of each)
Perhaps if the talks with Discovery and BT go well we could see a return?
They’re defiantly not accessible to customers anymore, right?
