What Can We Expect From Saorview? - Digital Terrestrial Television From RTE By Barry F

Forget the fact that the big guns are in the process of taking financial control of the Country, an EU mandate has also taken steps to introduce Digital Terrestrial Television to the Irish nation with an analogue switch off set to take place at the end of 2012.

This October 29th saw the trial phase of Saorview (saor meaning 'free' in Irish) becoming accessible to up to 90% of the Irish population, allowing them to view free to air digital terrestrial television with the aid of a Walker set top box. The new service began it's journey incorporating RTE1, RTE2, RTE News and TG4 as the channel pioneers. TV3 and 3e have now come on board the digital terrestrial train along with a variety of radio channels for greater choice.

So what can we expect from Ireland's newest free to air digital terrestrial service? Well, on launching the trial the RTE Director-General Cathal Goan described Saorview as "a major step change in Irish broadcasting, offering viewers across the country: more channels; high definition (HD) pictures; higher quality sound; on-screen programme menus and digital teletext - all free-to-air." On closer inspection of the current Saorview offering it seems that the HD picture quality is not in place as yet so hopefully this will be completed by the launch date expected in the Spring of 2011. In fact, as RTENL (owned subsidiary of RTE and responsible for the DTT production) have enticed the free to air public with talk of the future availability of HD, movie channels, interactive services, sports and drama; the pressure is on to realise the vision and create the reality through the medium of integrated digital television or an approved set top box.

Ah, the set top box! Currently RTE have a limited selection of approved set top boxes and these are both produced by Walker Technology. The lack of competition in the approved set top box market is hindering price competitiveness and the manufacturers involved in the digital terrestrial television industry need to enter this specialized market to remedy this. The incentive isn't there though because as our specification differs from the rest of the EU, production costs of the set top box remain high. That said, keep an eye out for the Fortech Star HD DTT receiver and the Triax TR110 MPEG4 Digital Terrestrial receiver. When making a choice, be conscious of the availability of PVR and HD readiness so your box is equipped for the future enticements that may emerge and it might be an idea to have a box that incorporates Mheg5 software to support that promised interactive interface. Another option is the dual combination of satellite and digital terrestrial enclosed in the one set top box. Edison are the ones to watch for this with a choice of their Argus Combo and their VIP2 satellite and digital combo receiver to peruse.

Whatever decision is made, it will have to be done by 2012 at the latest. Digital viewing will be the accepted norm throughout the country by then and hopefully those financial big guns will have made the same progression with the economy as the EU has with Saorview and Irish Digital Terrestrial Television!