Digital television in Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Republic of Ireland, digital television is confined to Sky Ireland which is operated by the BSkyB satellite service (available nationwide), and UPC's digital-cable service. A free-to-air digital terrestrial and satellite service that is yet to be named will be launched in late 2008 and is currently being tested by national broadcaster RTÉ.[citation needed]
Contents |
[edit] Terrestrial
[edit] Cable
Digital cable (DVB-C) is provided by three of the firms involved in cable in Ireland. It is deployed on the entirety of the Casey Cablevision network, is available to the majority of the UPC cable network (formerly NTL Ireland and Chorus) The uptake rate of digital in enabled areas increasing rapidly, and many homes continue to use analogue cable to feed second televisions, video recorders and similar devices. The remaining, mainly small, cable firms do not provide any digital
[edit] Mobile
O2 Ireland and 3 Ireland have commenced trials of DVB-H. Vodafone Ireland and 3 Ireland already have significant digital video content distributed over their 3G and 3.5G (HSDPA) networks
[edit] MMDS
SCTV Digital provides an advanced digital television service to Cork City and parts of County Cork. It is licenced to operate all over Munster and will be doing so within the next year. Operating at 11.7 GHz to 12.5 GHz, it delivers approximately 75 digital television channels and video on demand services from "Sky By Wire". It also has extra channels available from Setanta sports. This service also offers a 80gb hardrive based PRV set top box allowing customers to pause, record and rewind live TV and the ability to upload all of your MP3s directly to your PVR. The functionality is similar to Sky+ or TiVo.[citation needed] UPC Digital provides a cable-like service over an all digital MMDS network reaching over 80% of the country. This network operates at 2.5 GHz.
[edit] Satellite
Virtually all satellite reception, be it from Sky Digital, who are the dominant commercial satellite provider, or free-to-air setups, is digital. No Irish channels operate on analogue satellite.
Sky HD was launched by BSkyB on 22 May 2006 in both the United Kingdom and Ireland as an add-on to their existing Sky Digital service. Both 720p and 1080i are used. Some reports suggested that Sky's system will be capable of transmitting imported U.S. HDTV programming in its native 30 or 60 Hz vertical scan rates, in addition to domestic programming in 25 or 50 Hz. However, according to Sky's official website, only 25 and 50 Hz will be used.
[edit] IPTV
Digital Television via IP is offered by Magnet Networks either over fibre optic networks in some new developments or over ADSL2+ in certain areas. A similar service is also available from Smart Telecom in apartment buildings and housing developments that have been pre-wired with fibre optic cables.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
