Freeview Sheffield Transmitter - Retune / Channel Loss From 5 Feb 2020

[belperite 11]

Just for awareness, anyone who gets their TV via the Sheffield Crosspool transmitter will need to do a retune on 5th Feb. In addition, a fair few channels will be lost, including:

 

BBC Four HD

BBC News HD

Channel 4+1 HD

4seven HD

QVC HD

CBeebies HD

(all the above will still available in SD)

 

The full list is here:

https://www.freeview.co.uk/5-feb-2020-changes-freeview-channel-line-sheffield-area

 

The reason is that Ofcom are clearing the 700MHz spectrum for 5G services:

https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/700mhz-clearance

[Justin Smith 10]

Basically they're turning off MUXES 7 and 8 from Sheffield / Crosspool transmitter. These MUXES will be turned off at all transmitters before 2023 anyway, when, one assumes, the channels with the highest audience (and very few channels on MUXES 7 and 8 have a particularly high audience) will be moved to one of the other MUXES.

MUX 7 and 8 will continue to be transmitted from Emley Moor, Belmont, Bilsdale and Waltham transmitters :

https://www.aerialsandtv.com/knowledge/transmitters/sheffield-crosspool-transmitter#sheffield-transmitter-channel-allocations-table

 

The other MUXES (of which there are 6 and they have far more channels on than 7 and 8) on Sheffield transmitter are not due to move frequency (or be switched off). The MUXES off Emley, Belmont and Waltham transmitters are due to move, but this shouldn't cause a problem, other than yet another retune..... In fact people on Belmont (of which there are  fair few around Sheffield) and Waltham will have the opportunity to improve their signal by utilising an A group aerial, though this only applies to those on poor signal areas. These graphs explain it all :

Belmont transmitter

Waltham transmitter

 

 

Edited January 31, 2020 by Justin Smith

[Justin Smith 10]

12 hours ago, glitterballs said:

Having looked at this it seems I'm going to loose those channels and Quest HD and I get my signal from Emley Moor!

Its getting to the point where I can't watch some SD channels as the compression is so bad and as usual they told us going digital would be better 😂

Emley Moor is going to continue transmitting MUXES 7 and 8 (until about 2022), as are Belmont, Waltham and Bilsdale transmitters. Sheffield transmitter is one of the relatively few to cease broadcasting them early, though there are a significant number of 6 MUX transmitters which have never transmitted 7 and 8, and none of the smaller repeater transmitters (e.g. Stocksbridge, Totley or Oughtibridge) have ever broadcast them either.

 

[oldskool 11]

I got a on screen message on my tv yesterday regarding the closure of bbc news, so i must be on the crosspool transmitter disappointing  news not enough HD channels too begin with,  SD looks very poor on large sceen tvs ☹️ i wont be tuning in. 

 

one consolation bbc news 24 is available too stream live  on bbc iplayer looks as  good as the broadcast HD channel.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by oldskool

[Blue Day 10]

Ok. Stupid question. 
 

if you have 2 channels for 1 broadcast (example bbc news and bbc news HD) why not close down the SD version? Surely by now the vast majority have HD TVs and if they don’t they can still watch the HD channel but won’t get the benefit of a sharper picture. 
 

Or is it more technical?

[muddycoffee 10]

I've not had a TV for well over a decade so I might not fully understand this, but why on earth would you insist on an HD feed for a news channel which is mainly a newsreader's head.

Do they still blur the image slightly anyhow so you can't see the blemishes and wrinkles on their neck and face?

 

When I've met TV presenters in real life they often look many years older than they do on screen it can be quite a shock.

[altus 540]

3 hours ago, Blue Day said:

Ok. Stupid question. 
 

if you have 2 channels for 1 broadcast (example bbc news and bbc news HD) why not close down the SD version? Surely by now the vast majority have HD TVs and if they don’t they can still watch the HD channel but won’t get the benefit of a sharper picture. 
 

Or is it more technical?

It's more technical. A different method is used for encoding HD channels than SD ones. SD only TVs can't decode HD channels. The encoding methods aren't strictly limited to HD and SD so you could send HD channels using the encoding usually used for SD but they'd take up much more bandwidth (so there'd be fewer channels). There are some SD channels that use the HD encoding method, they are not available on SD only TVs.

[oldskool 11]

47 minutes ago, muddycoffee said:

I've not had a TV for well over a decade so I might not fully understand this, but why on earth would you insist on an HD feed for a news channel which is mainly a newsreader's head.

Do they still blur the image slightly anyhow so you can't see the blemishes and wrinkles on their neck and face?

 

When I've met TV presenters in real life they often look many years older than they do on screen it can be quite a shock.

Because it looks very poor on a larger tv even if it  is just news,  granted on the spare 32 inch old tv i have it's perfectly reasonable but bigger the screen the worse it looks your stretching those limited pixels too far i think SD is only 720 x 480 up-scaling can only do so much. and if you've spent a fair bit on a  4k tv watching stuff in SD is a bit pointless may as well have Kept the old fashioned crt tv. 

 

plus bbc4 is decent  too sometimes  documentary's ect that's another  one we are losing. 

 

 

 

 

[pattricia 575]

On 29/01/2020 at 12:25, belperite said:

Just for awareness, anyone who gets their TV via the Sheffield Crosspool transmitter will need to do a retune on 5th Feb. In addition, a fair few channels will be lost, including:

 

BBC Four HD

BBC News HD

Channel 4+1 HD

4seven HD

QVC HD

CBeebies HD

(all the above will still available in SD)

 

The full list is here:

https://www.freeview.co.uk/5-feb-2020-changes-freeview-channel-line-sheffield-area

 

The reason is that Ofcom are clearing the 700MHz spectrum for 5G services:

https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/700mhz-clearance

How do we know whether we get our tv via the Sheffield Crosspool transmitter ? 

[hilldweller 10]

If the main elements of your TV aerial are pointing up and down (vertically polarised), then you are receiving signals from Crosspool transmitter.

Emley Moor transmits with horizontal polarisation (aerial elements side to side)

Simples😀

Edited February 3, 2020 by hilldweller

[willman 10]

On 02/02/2020 at 08:43, Blue Day said:

Ok. Stupid question. 
 

if you have 2 channels for 1 broadcast (example bbc news and bbc news HD) why not close down the SD version? Surely by now the vast majority have HD TVs and if they don’t they can still watch the HD channel but won’t get the benefit of a sharper picture. 
 

Or is it more technical?

I assume it is technical  but if you watch BBC1 in HD you can't local news you have to tune in to an SD channel.

I don't know if that will change anytime soon.

[Colin Foster 70]

19 hours ago, pattricia said:

How do we know whether we get our tv via the Sheffield Crosspool transmitter ? 

One way - have a look on Calendar news on ITV. If the background behind the presenters is the Humber Bridge, you're receiving Crosspool. The version broadcast from Emley Moor has Leeds as the backgound.