PBS ANNOUNCES HIGH DEFINITION FEED FOR BACKYARD DISH USERS

[Scott Greczkowski]

PBS ANNOUNCES HIGH DEFINITION FEED
FOR BACKYARD DISH USERS
Analog Service to End November 15, 2010

A High Definition (HD) digital “clear feed” of PBS programming is now available to serve households that use satellite receiving antennas (backyard dishes) to directly access video programming. Since May 2010, backyard dish users have had access to both an HD and an SD (Standard Definition) feed of the PBS National Program Service from the AMC-1 satellite at 103 degrees West Longitude.

Accordingly, PBS is announcing that the Analog C-Band transmissions of PBS programming, currently on Transponder 16 of the SES-1 satellite at 101 degrees W.L., will be discontinued as of November 15, 2010. Before November, in order to assure that all viewers in the backyard dish community are aware of the new enhanced service, PBS will also be vigorously promoting the new HD and SD services nationwide. To provide ample customer service to users, an 877 phone number (877.727.4144) and an email address (backyardfeeds@pbs.org) are available for anyone to obtain information from PBS about the new feeds. In addition, announcement of the digital service will also be made within the analog program service by a message superimposed on the video of the analog feed.

Benefits of the Change to Digital

Conversion of the PBS Clear Feed to digital transmission will:

• Preserve an open PBS satellite program service in the most widely used transmission format available;

• Allow PBS to offer both High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) services because of the higher efficiency of digital transmission;

• Allow PBS to provide 5.1 surround sound to the backyard dish community on High Definition programs; and

• Will be in line with the nationwide conversion to digital over-the-air television
A Fact Sheet with details about how to access the digital clear feed, or obtain additional information, is attached.
About PBS
PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans — from every walk of life — the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches more than 118 million people through television and nearly 21 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and its website, pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at PBS, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet.
CONTACT:
Jan McNamara, PBS, 703-739-5028; jmcnamara@pbs.org


TECHNICAL FACT SHEET ON PBS DIGITAL CLEAR FEED
August, 2010


The PBS digital clear feed can be received by readily-available digital consumer receivers. The feed is on Transponder 20 of the AMC-1 satellite located at 103 degrees West Longitude.

Technical parameters of the feed are:

AMC-1, 103 degrees West Longitude
C-Band Transponder 20 (Vertical polarization)
DVB-S QPSK modulation
Carrier Center Frequency: 4091 Mhz (1059 Mhz L-Band)
Symbol rate: 14.028731 Msps

The feed is MCPC with two services:

1. High Definition Service: MPEG Service # 3
Video PID: 49 (decimal) / 31 (hex) MPEG-2
Audio1 PID: 52 (decimal) / 34 (hex) MPEG
Audio2 PID: 53 (decimal) / 35 (hex) MPEG
Audio3 PID: 54 (decimal) / 36 (hex) MPEG
Audio4 PID: 55 (decimal) / 37 (hex) Dolby AC-3 2.0/5.1
Closed Captions: 608 & 708

2. Standard Definition Service: MPEG Service # 11
Video PID: 177 (decimal) / B1 (hex) MPEG-2
Audio1 PID: 180 (decimal) / B4 (hex) MPEG
Audio2 PID: 181 (decimal) / B5 (hex) MPEG
Audio3 PID: 182 (decimal) / B6 (hex) MPEG
Closed Captions: 608 & 708

For additional assistance call: 877.727.4144, or send email to: backyardfeeds@pbs.org.

 

[crossbow]

Thanks for the info.
Anyone getting this?? Not a wimper here.

 

[photoman76]

Coming in fine in Northern California. This mux has been available for quite some time now.

 

[linuxman]

Works fine NW of St. Louis.

Thanks for the Information.

 

[brex2001]

Coming in fine here too in Southern California.
Q is 74% here on Ferguson HD.

 

[LocutusOfBorg]

I wonder why blind scan didn't find it. I'll have to see if I can manually put it in. BTW, a friend of mine that maintains the NETV (Nebraska Educational TV) told me that they have plans to move to fiber in the next 5 years and stream over the internet. Of course, that's subject to change.

[edit] OK. They're identified as clear channel HD and SD. SQ is 68% here.

 

[Mr Tony]

I found it back in August and posted it to thelist

SatelliteGuys.US_TheList - 103.0°W AMC 1 C

little weak with the 6 footer...

 

[Mikhel]

Coming in fine in Northern California. This mux has been available for quite some time now.

Ditto Photoman, for sure before may LOL, and also coming in really strong here in southern California.

=)

 

[TRG]

Is this the same feed thats on 125W Ku?

 

[Mr Tony]

yes

 

[Tron]

They are promoting the C-Band feed and not the Ku feeds on 125W... Wonder why, since more people will likely be able to view the Ku feeds. I hope they are there to stay...

 

[skysurfer]

They are promoting the C-Band feed and not the Ku feeds on 125W... Wonder why, since more people will likely be able to view the Ku feeds. I hope they are there to stay...

The Ku feeds aren't meant for home dish owners. They are meant for PBS member stations and other contracted parties.

The C-band feed is meant for the home dish owner. It should be interesting to see how many calls they get about it since it's their first digital c-band feed meant for the home dish owner (always having been analog for all these decades until now).

I can't even imagine them making the Ku-band feeds official to the home dish owner - with the assumed tons have problems on the PBS hotline with people going from analog to digital on c-band to continue receiving their PBS free, imagine what it'd be like if you add the complication of AC-3 audio into the mix!

 

[B.J.]

When this feed first appeared, many months ago, I was happy, because it provided a C-band alternative for the PBS feeds, despite the fact that it doesn't have quite the bitrate of the AMC-21 feeds (ie this C-band feed is only about 14Mbps, while the AMC-21 feeds are something like 17-18 Mbps. So this is a nice feed to have if it's raining, because the only other C-band alternatives are the NET feeds, and the NET DVB feeds are somewhat variable, and I only get the DCII NET HD feeds on my laptop, which isn't convenient for streaming to my TV.
So I was quite happy to see this feed, HOWEVER, as has been mentioned several times, the SOUND on this HD feed was VERY problematic, since it did NOT have AC3, but instead seemed to divide up the various surround sound channels into discrete mpeg channels, and I ran into a few programs where it was completely impossible to hear all the different characters on the program, unless you were using multiple receivers.
So I basically stopped using that feed, because I was annoyed at the audio that you couldn't depend on.
But when I read the above announcement, I see that they mention AC3 audio, at least on the HD version. So I just tuned in that MUX again, and sure enough NOW, they have an AC3 channel, at least on the HD channel, and the audio was always OK on the SD channel, because I was trying to make manual channels using the HD video and SD audio, but couldn't get that to work right.

Anyway, this is good news that they have now added AC3 to this mux. Not sure WHEN they did that, as I haven't tuned this mux in for quite a while. Now, when it rains, I'll have a reliable alternative to AMC-21. Too bad about the analog feed though, because I still use that feed to tune in the sat it's on, and it seems like it's coming in with a somewhat stronger signal of late, since the changeover to the new sat.

 

[Mr Tony]

But the analog feed I thought had issues with the smaller dishes with Shepherd's Chapel next door on same TP (16)

I always had issues getting a remotely clean signal from that sat for PBS.

 

[n8fq]

Well, Shepherd's Chapel is vertical and PBS is horizontal, so that mitigates most of the potential issues. Both come in good and clear on my 10 footer...

 

[sanjap]

I am in texas and I cannot get the PBS channels on AMC 103 C with a six footer. I get every other channel on that bird though.

 

[colbec]

My experience with the clear channel PBS on my 6 footer is that if I tune for DW-TV clarity then PBS goes weak. If I tune for PBS then DW-TV goes weak. Working on it...

 

[Mr Tony]

same here colbec...it seems on the 6 footer PBS has to be tuned by itself to get optimum signal

 

[utah2]

PBS on 6 ft

Hello all great forum:
I have same problem (as Colbec) here in NY state. PBS digital in clear on FLU has ver low Q oscilating up & down 26 to 39 % on clear day. Not watchable on rain day. If I tweak dec & elev it improves a little. I have co rotor with 6ft unimesh dish. DW tv comes in with Q of 50-60 % then fades for some reason to scrambled, I then change channel & it comes back on & repeats

 

[Mr Tony]

Welcome

DWTV and that transponder is at a 7/8 FEC. What it means in Lehman's terms is DWTV needs alot more signal to stay stable than PBS does. FEC is correction in the signal. The higher the FEC (7/8 being higher than 3/4) the more signal you need to keep it stable