SBS Viceland channel programming details

[pheggie]

[th37sk]

Interesting. And I wonder if it will be part of SBS on-demand? I have viceland installed to Roku and generally enjoy the free programming.

[SpankedHam]

Vice should do a show about how Vice's contracts seek to absolutely screw over the small content producers that end up in its schedule.

[pheggie]

Viceland launched this Tuesday on SBS 2 now SBS Viceland

[ol' boy]

Been watching Viceland a bit lately.
What is the story, is it a channel made by Stoners for Stoners?

[gordon_s1942]

I shouldnt make any comments because I have only gone to the channel, looked at what was on and beat a hasty retreat.
But even looking at whats on offer hasnt made me want to watch anything.

[lsemmens]

I noticed it for the first time tonight, the programming for this evening did nothing to inspire me to even check it out.

[gordon_s1942]

I watched their News at 10pm last night and it was different.
One thing that did impress me with it was the lack of 'Vigour and Verve' most channels use to present the News like some of those so called 'Reality' shows who push a point to the extreme.
It seemed to me to be a bit of a mix between the ABC and a Community Radio/TV presentation with aspiring but not fully fledged announcers but it wasnt bad overall.

[ol' boy]

Our boys alarm went off on his phone to say South Park was on SBS TWO last night
Ummmmm not anymore its not

[nicron]

There are a few good shows that are aired on viceland, as long as there is still SBS content airing (which i think in a press statement they advised there would be) it is a good alternative to the prime time rubbish on most of the big FTA providers.

I just cant get over the poor quality, the bitrate is so low it can be frustrating to watch.

Sample:
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 669 kb/s

[ol' boy]

I just cant get over the poor quality, the bitrate is so low it can be frustrating to watch.

Sample:
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 669 kb/s

Wonder if the IPTV option is better?

[gordon_s1942]

I was just watching the URDU news and it seemed to be of reasonable quality but I wondered if some of your problems could possibly be local from transmitter or the program itself could be degraded when it was converted from its original format (SEACAM, NTSC or one of the many derivatives) to our system?
Then too It could depend on how good the recording system is and what lighting is available, particularly on those done outside.

[nicron]

Wonder if the IPTV option is better?

Just jumped on sbs on demand and the same show can be viewed at 720p, looking into details:
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 565 kb/s

So quite similar to the dvb-t version

I was just watching the URDU news and it seemed to be of reasonable quality but I wondered if some of your problems could possibly be local from transmitter or the program itself could be degraded when it was converted from its original format (SEACAM, NTSC or one of the many derivatives) to our system?
Then too It could depend on how good the recording system is and what lighting is available, particularly on those done outside.

Im over in perth so im not sure if it may be different in other areas of aus?


I do know that a lot of the vice content it available for purchase online via itunes and such at a higher quality, if anyone does find a series they want to grab.

[gordon_s1942]

I was told by a technician a digital TV signal can only be 'repeated' 2 or 3 times before it becomes unusable, disappeared is what he said.
By this he explained was when a signal was taken 'OFF AIR' and broadcast with that signal being picked up by another Translator for rebroadcasting.
You would think you could keep simply 'Daisy Chaining' it 'For Ever' but he said thats not the case.
That 'rebroadcast' from a Translator to another was done locally with the signal being picked up off air from the home location Transmitter 100kms away and the translators signal was picked up and rebroadcast by another translator a kilometre away to cover an area that could not 'see' the other translator.
There have been numerous complaints that the second relaying of the signal is not very good with drop outs and poor quality.
This method could have changed since I first read of it being done here but it was in use for some years.

In this I am not referring to any signals sent by any form of Cable or by Microwave but purely to a signal being transmitted from a Base transmitter and then picked up at another location OFF AIR and being rebroadcast (different frequency) which is done all over the country and then THAT signal being picked up OFF AIR and rebroadcast AGAIN by another translator on another frequency to cover that area.

[th37sk]

Just jumped on sbs on demand and the same show can be viewed at 720p, looking into details:
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 565 kb/s

It appears SBS on Demand only offers 1 or 2 episodes per show eg not every episode of every show (as the Viceland channel on Roku, etc. offers - in fairness, with cable subscription autorisation). Content is certain to rotate, however.

Great channel and very cool of SBS for picking it up. Favourite show is Abandoned.

ReleaseHUB on Kodi, btw

[gordon_s1942]

Out of curiosity, what day/time is that show (Abandoned) on as I cant find it in the listings.

[th37sk]

Out of curiosity, what day/time is that show (Abandoned) on as I cant find it in the listings.

I've only watched the free episodes within the Roku app. I presume the channel requires US DNS (which I utilise). I don't yet see it in the SBS listings, either. See my previous post for all eps.

[Neddie]

I was told by a technician a digital TV signal can only be 'repeated' 2 or 3 times before it becomes unusable,

Perfectly true for Analogue transmission where the intelligence in the video signal is contained in the amplitude of the received signal, however Television in Australia is now digital, so the intelligence is contained in the digital code which is regenerated at each transmission point.

Provided each hop is of sufficient quality such that it is possible to distinguish the digital code from the ambient noise, the regenerated transmitted signal is of the same quality as that originally transmitted. So in theory there could be an infinite number of hops.

[gordon_s1942]

Thanks Neddie as even I can understand that information.
I take it that its not just the atmospheric noise but from within the circuits themselves which eventually 'drowns' out the 'intelligence' of the signal.

[Neddie]

I take it that its not just the atmospheric noise but from within the circuits themselves which eventually 'drowns' out the 'intelligence' of the signal.

The way digital works, provided there is sufficient signal for the digital code to be recovered and regenerated, it does not matter where the noise originates.

By way of example, take a look at your own digital TV during an electrical storm or during heavy rain. Occasionally the noise will exceed the digital stream and on those occasions you will typically see patches of green squares on the screen, but usually the rest of the picture is OK.

Those green squares are the parts of the digital stream that was lost in higher level noise, but usually the rest of the picture is able to be decoded OK. If this was an analogue TV of old, you would have had snow all over the picture, it would have rolled and torn and perhaps have become unwatchable.

Digital TV overcomes almost all these problems with only the occasional display of small green boxes.