What is SAORVIEW?
SAORVIEW is the digital terrestrial television (DTT) service which will replace analogue television in Ireland. Analogue television is RTÉ One + Two, TV3 and TG4 received via an aerial and will be switched off 24th October 2012.
The SAORVIEW logo
Why Switch to digital?
It is EU policy that analogue be switched off end of 2012. Moving to digital frees up "air space" or spectrum which allows for other services like wireless broadband to be provided. This is especially beneficial to rural Ireland where wired broadband may never exist.
Digital television delivers excellent video and audio quality, an electronic programme guide, and digital teletext.
When will SAORVIEW be launched?
SAORVIEW is already available! it was "turned on" on the 29th October 2010 as a trial service and was officially launched on 26th May 2011 by Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte TD.
How do I receive SAORVIEW?
SAORVIEW is received using a UHF aerial and a SAORVIEW compatible Set Top Box (STB) or Integrated Digital Television (iDTV)
A SAORVIEW compatible STB or iDTV will hold the SAORVIEW logo. A STB or TV which does not hold the SAORVIEW logo may also be fully or partially compatible with SAORVIEW. See the SAORVIEW Receivers page for more information on the types of boxes and TVs needed to receive SAORVIEW.
Depending on where you live, the UHF aerial can range from a coat hanger to a high gain outdoor aerial. Take a look at the Aerial Setup page to help choose and align your aerial.
What is on SAORVIEW?
See the Channel Lineup page for channels currently broadcasting and channels which may appear in future.
Is SAORVIEW the same as UK Freeview?
No.
Irish DTT uses MPEG-4 video compression over a DVB-T broadcasting infrastructure. Both standard definition and high definition channels on Irish DTT use these standards.
UK Freeview uses MPEG-2 over DVB-T for its standard definition channels and MPEG-4 over DVB-T2 for its high definition channels.
A standard definition UK Freeview STB or iDTV (mpeg2 / dvb-t) will not work with Irish DTT.
A high definition UK Freeview STB or iDTV (mpeg4 / dvb-t2) will work with Irish DTT, as DVB-T2 is backward compatible with DVB-T.
Digital vs Analogue
DTT allows for a larger number of channels to be broadcast while using less "air space" compared to analogue. A single channel, or frequency, carries a single analogue channel. With DTT, this same channel or frequency can carry multiple digital TV and radio services.
The process of squeezing multiple TV and Radio stations into a single frequency is called multiplexing. A channel or frequency carrying digital TV and Radio stations can be called a Mux.
Analogue TV needs excellent signal strength to produce "perfect" image quality. Even with a good signal, analogue is susceptible to interference, such as image ghosting and snow. With a poor signal, you will still be able to receive analogue, albeit with poor results.
With DTT, you do not need an excellent signal to produce "perfect" image quality like analogue does. Once you have the signal quality over a certain threshold, you will receive flawless video and audio. However, with a poor signal, you will not receive DTT at all.
DTT is also susceptible to interference such as pixelation and dropouts. This might happen if the strength and quality of the signal is not high enough.