This fantastic picture (courtesy of SES) shows satellite Astra 1N during testing. As you may recall, we moved many of our services on satellite over to Astra 1N earlier this year . I thought I'd share it with you as I have some news to tell you about a forthcoming change to the transponder on Astra 1N that carries BBC One HD and BBC HD.

During the summer last year we made a significant change to our HD transponder, upgrading the transmission mode of the BBC's signal from "DVB-S" to "DVB-S2".

This change meant that we were able to make more efficient use of the valuable satellite capacity available on our HD transponder. It gave us the ability to broadcast at 1920 resolution and conduct 3D trials on satellite for Wimbledon, Strictly Come Dancing, Street Dance, the London 2012 Olympic Games and, most recently, Planet Dinosaur.

Over the last year, we have worked closely with our colleagues at Sky, Freesat and SES to investigate how we can continue to make the most efficient use of our satellite capacity in light of improving technology. As a result, we are now able to make a further modification to the DVB-S2 operating parameters which enables us to access additional capacity. This will support the forthcoming launch of BBC One HD for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We will be making this change during the early hours of 27 September 2012 and will update our reception advice page which details all our satellite tuning details at that time.

The change will mean different things to different people:

• If you watch TV using Freeview or Virgin Media, or can't currently view HD channels you will not be affected.
• If you have Sky, you should not notice the change and shouldn't have to do anything on or after 27 September. If you do have an issue receiving the BBC HD channels from this date you can try unplugging your Sky set top box, waiting 30s and plugging it back in again. If that doesn't resolve your problem it's best to contact Sky on 08442 411 653.
• If you have Freesat you may need to put your HD box or TV into standby for 30 seconds and then switch it back on again to continue to receive the two BBC HD channels; if the channels are still unavailable then carry out a 'Freesat channel retune'. During last year's changes we found that a small number of devices didn't store the information after a Freesat retune so if that happens try a 'first time installation' or 'full factory reset'. Full instructions can be found in the manual for your digital TV or box. Further help with retuning can be found at www.freesat.co.uk or by calling their customer support team on 08450 990 990.
• If you have any other kind of satellite receiver that can currently receive the BBC HD channels then you should use the new parameters below to tune manually into the services. The current and new parameters for Astra 1N tp.50 are:

We have also contacted satellite and aerial installer trade associations - the CAI and the RDI - providing them with information with which to brief their members in case anyone experiencing a problem contacts an installer rather than their platform operator. We will also be putting information about this change on the satellite BBC Red Button page 998 a bit nearer the time because we know not everyone has access to the internet.

If you watch our HD services on satellite, I hope this change won't cause you any worry.

Alix Pryde is Director, BBC Distribution

Follow @AbouttheBBC on twitter for all the latest updates.

I think there are a few areas where you may find an update useful:

• Details of the new services we are launching for the London 2012 Olympic Games and how to access them
• How to make sure you watch in HD if you have it
• 3D broadcasts and HD resolution changes this summer

I've also written a separate blog on how to make sure that you are still recording your favourite shows through any regular recordings you've set up, because some of the BBC's most popular programmes on BBC One move to a new temporary home on BBC Two to make space for Olympics coverage.

New Services

We are making great progress with getting 24 high definition (HD) and 24 standard definition (SD) streams onto satellite and cable platforms in time for the first Olympic event on 25 July. I know that some of you will be interested in how we are achieving this. Just for the two weeks of the Games there will be nine additional satellite transponders in use to ensure you can watch as much sport as you can handle. Three of these will carry eight SD channels each and the remaining six will carry four HD services each.

The details of these transponders can be found on the BBC's Reception Advice FAQ site. All the channels are up and working now and should be appearing in your EPG.

However, to make it as easy as possible for you to find the events you want to watch amid this vast array of choice, the BBC's teams in Salford have been working with our platform partners (Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media) to create a slick interactive application on each platform. The application will allow you to see what is coming up and help you to navigate to the right channel. The application will look something like this (depending on which platform you use).

To access it, just press the red button on a BBC channel.

I mentioned last time that it will be possible to access the 24 streams on certain Freeview HD and Freesat HD TVs connected to the internet. This is through the BBC Sport App which enables viewers to watch Olympic sport live from every venue in the same way as you can on satellite and cable. It will be available on the following models of Freeview HD TVs:

• Panasonic connected TVs (2011 and 2012 models)
• Samsung connected TVs (2011 and 2012 models)
• Sony connected TVs (2012 models)

You'll need to make sure your TV is connected to your broadband connection.

You'll need to use your TV's menu or app store to add the BBC Sport App to your TV. If you have trouble with this, the best source of advice should be your manufacturer. The BBC Sport App is also available on the Sony PlayStation 3 and on Virgin Media Tivo, and a mobile version has recently been launched for Android, iPhone and Blackberry via a shortcut app.

People with Freeview HD will be able to watch HD Olympic coverage on three TV channels across the day: BBC One HD, BBC HD and a special HD stream through the BBC Red Button.

Because of the different way that Freeview (digital terrestrial television) works, compared with digital satellite or digital cable television, there isn't enough space to broadcast the 24 streams on Freeview. However, within these capacity constraints, we've sought to do our best to give as much coverage of the Olympic Games to Freeview viewers, and in HD where possible.

Freeview HD launched in 2010 and since then 5.6 million Freeview HD TVs or digiboxes have been sold. The Freeview HD signal coverage of the UK has been rolling out with digital switchover and now covers c. 95% of UK homes.

On 19 June we turned on this new HD BBC Red Button channel which is available to anyone who can currently receive the BBC's other HD channels using a Freeview HD compatible TV or digibox. During the Olympics you will be able to access this service through the BBC Red Button when you are watching either BBC HD or BBC One HD. You will also be able to set up recordings for Olympic events through your EPG by selecting channel 304.

We expect Freeview HD receivers to have automatically discovered the new channel and added it to the EPG. If you can't find channel 304 then please try retuning your Freeview HD TV or box.

If you can't find channel 304 then please try retuning your Freeview HD TV or box.

All Freeview viewers, whether Freeview HD or original Freeview, will have a choice of up to four Olympic feeds in standard definition, depending on the time of day. This is thanks to the temporary return of BBC Red Button channel 302 in the evenings, alongside coverage across the day on BBC One, BBC Three and BBC Red Button channel 301.

Bringing back our BBC Red Button channel 302 on Freeview from 7pm each night is a side benefit of the work we have done to bring you BBC Three all day during the Olympics (see below). If you tune to Freeview channel 302 and can see our holding message on the screen then you are ready for a great summer of BBC Red Button sport. Otherwise please retune your digital TV or box. If you need help with re-tuning, an excellent place to go for advice is www.tvretune.co.uk which provides detailed instructions for many different makes and models of Freeview receiver. We've also made advice available via BBC Red Button page 9991. Plus we've been broadcasting some messages that "pop-up" on screen to let Freeview viewers know that they will get the additional service if they retune, and to press the blue button to get retuning advice.

BBC Three usually comes on air at 7 o'clock in the evening. However, during the Olympics, it will become a 24-hour channel. You shouldn't have to do anything to receive the extended BBC Three once we get to 27 July; your TV should automatically allow you to watch. To make space for BBC Three all day long on Freeview, BBC Parliament will be off-air during the Olympics, but it remains available on satellite and cable.

The BBC has also launched Radio 5live Olympics Extra on DAB. The service went live this week, most DAB receivers should have picked it up already but if yours hasn't, here is some information on how to receive it.

Watch in HD

The best way to enjoy the BBC's coverage of the London 2012 Olympics is to watch in high definition. But because our standard definition channels sit at the top of the channel list on each platform, it's often the case that people watch in SD even though they have HD available. You may be able to watch in HD through Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media or Freeview so long as you have an HD capable digital TV and HD box if necessary. Indeed, if you have bought a large screen (32" or more) TV in the last couple of years, there's a very good chance it has Freeview HD built in, even if you don't usually use it.

All BBC channels, including the HD ones, are available subscription-free (or in the case of cable, in the basic package). To make it easier for you to find your BBC channels in HD, I've included a table below with channel numbers by platform:

• BBC One HD (Sky 143, Freesat 108, Virgin Media 108, Freeview 50)
• BBC HD (Sky 169, Freesat 109, Virgin Media 187, Freeview 54)
• 24 streams in HD (Sky 450-473*, Freesat 150-174, Virgin Media 550-573, Freeview n/a)
• BBC Red Button 301 HD (Sky n/a, Freesat n/a, Virgin Media n/a, Freeview 304)

NB: as well as an HD signal from one of these platforms, you will also need an HD ready TV.

* If you have a Sky HD subscription then you will receive the BBC's Olympics HD channels at positions 450-473. If you have HD equipment but have never subscribed to Sky HD you can still see our HD Olympics channels but these will appear from 474-497. The channels are all labelled HD or SD so you will know which version you are watching.

3D Broadcasts and HD Resolution Changes

Earlier this year, Roger Mosey announced the 3D coverage we will be showing during the Olympics on BBC HD. We will offer the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the Men's 100m final and a daily evening highlights programme. You may also have seen that we broadcast live 3D coverage of the Wimbledon Ladies' and Men's finals, and that later this summer we will broadcast Planet Dinosaur and the Last Night of the Proms in 3D.

For 3D to work on BBC HD, we have to broadcast it at "1920 horizontal resolution", ie, with 1920 pixels across the width of the screen. Usually we broadcast conventional HD at 1440 resolution on digital terrestrial and digital satellite television, so we make a special change to our settings to broadcast BBC HD at 1920 when we need to do 3D broadcasts.

Making this change involves a fair amount of effort, plus there's always the risk that something goes awry. To minimise the effort and risk, I decided that we should broadcast BBC HD at 1920 for an extended period - from May to September. Then, to be fair to the other HD channels we broadcast in BBC controlled capacity on Freeview HD (BBC One HD, ITV1HD, Channel 4 HD*) we investigated whether we could broadcast all of them at 1920 resolution. I'm delighted to say that thanks to a huge amount of work from some very clever people in BBC Research & Development and our suppliers we can do that this summer. We implemented the changes in May to allow us to offer 3D coverage across the great summer of programming and we have moved BBC One HD on Sky and Freesat to 1920 too.

As regular readers of the BBC's blogs will know, 1920 resolution is something we've been aspiring to for some time so I thought I'd explain a bit about the considerations involved. We have to consider the trade-off between the benefits to our audiences of our being able to fit a whole extra channel into the multiplex (whether on digital terrestrial or digital satellite) versus any perceived picture quality benefits of increasing to 1920 resolution. At present the benefits are most apparent on 3D programming. Thanks to some upgrades of our coder systems along with many other tweaks to the way we multiplex services together, this summer we've been able to achieve 1920 on all the channels, whilst the gains would not have been sufficient to broadcast an additional channel. At the moment there is still a question about whether we'll be able to sustain 1920 resolution for the long term; I'll let you know more news on this when we have it.

*Clirlun for viewers in Wales

I'm really proud of what we've been able to achieve in the area of distribution for the Olympics and I hope you enjoy what we deliver. It really is going to be a fantastic summer of sport!

Alix Pryde is the director of BBC Distribution

A collection of TV remote controls, photographed by Flickr user Odonata98 and used here under the terms of Creative Commons.

With less than one week to go before the Opening Ceremony I wanted to take a few minutes to make sure you understood the details about recording your favourite shows during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

As you will probably know BBC One will be showing coverage of the Olympics from 6am until midnight. This means that many shows will take a break during the Games but the following ones will move to BBC Two:

• EastEnders
• Holby City
• Panorama
• Songs of Praise

If your set top box regularly records one or more of these shows for you, you may need to take action to capture them in their new temporary home:

• If you have a Freeview+ or Freesat+ box these should carry on recording your favourite shows even if they move to BBC Two
• If you have a Sky+ or Virgin Media V+ box then you will need to tell your box to record your shows on BBC Two. You can do this by simply setting up a new series link for the show when it appears on BBC Two. You will be able to set up a new recording on BBC Two for a show seven days before it's due on BBC Two
• If you have a Virgin Media TiVo box and have setup a 'Wish List' on your TiVo box for a given show then you don't need to do anything else. If you have a normal series link set up, you'll need to create another one for your shows on BBC Two

After the Olympics have finished, your set-top box should start recording your shows for you again on BBC One. However, Songs of Praise is expected to be an exception because it will have been off BBC One for more than 28 days, so you may need to set up a new series link, as described above.

Besides all the Olympics coverage there are extra programes coming up which showcase our sporting heroes both past and present so whilst you are at it, set some recordings for these as well. Personally, I'm particularly looking forward to Bert & Dickie.

Alix Pryde is the director of BBC Distribution.

The picture used in this post features a collection of television remote controls. and was taken by Flickr user Odonata98 and used here under the terms of Creative Commons. ]]> Alix Pryde Alix Pryde https://bbcstreaming.pages.dev/blogs/aboutthebbc/2012/07/recording-your-favourite-shows.shtml https://bbcstreaming.pages.dev/blogs/aboutthebbc/2012/07/recording-your-favourite-shows.shtml Olympics Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:34:36 +0000