The 2012 Paralympic Games

Interesting question, as that C4 statement implies that Ch 304 (the fifth HD DTT stream) will be used by them for the Paralympics. It may have to be chopped out on Welsh transmitters, or you might be lucky !!

So, was the plan always for C4 to have 3 extra SD and HD channels? I'm a little confused, as the numbers seem to keep changing in this thread.

Am I right, then, that Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media customers all get the extra 6 channels, although their simulcasting their HD/SD variant, and that Freeview customers only get one extra stream? And does this include More4?

When does S4C's HD service shut down? They've announced it is to close to save money. Suspect it will be after the games...

No. Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media will get three extra channels, either in SD, or if suitably equipped in HD

Freeview (HD only) viewers will get one extra HD channel, probably one of the three the other platforms are getting.

It remains to be seen whether Welsh Freeview HD viewers will get the channel.

Freeview SD viewers will not get the extra channel I think (unless the Beeb are lending C4 Ch 302 ?)

^^^ There's no 302 to lend to them. It used BBC3's slot.

BBC Parliament is back on air, so 302's capacity is no longer available. If the BBC are feeling generous they could gift C4 301, but that is unlikely. Unfortunately it looks like Freeview SD viewers are just going to have to accept it's a HD only party.

I believe it is at the end of the year.


Doesn't look like C4 are even going to consider closing C4+1 for the period - I'm sure most viewers would prefer one alternative stream to one stream of action from an hour ago.

Also why is More4 needed for the Audio Description service when C4 carries an audio description stream as standard anyway (as BBC1 would have done too).

These are good - very snappy and pacey stings, strong bass on the soundtrack and I'm liking the animation.

I believe those have been used on That Paralympics Show for a while as well already. I'm a fan of them - I really like how they play off the two-side thing of the 4 things.

Yes, they've been used as stings and the titles for That Paralympic Show and other coverage, but presumably they're intended to act as break bumpers too and considering C4 had pledged to go all out with paralympic theming once the Olympics were over I'm surprised those at least aren't airing yet.

I believe AD works differently on Freeview and Satellite. On satellite a channel has two audio feeds, one has the channels normal audio and another has the channels normal audio with AD mixed in, this is mixed together by the broadcaster. The viewer can then choose which audio feed to listen to.

On Freeview, there are two audio feeds again but one contains the normal audio and one contains ONLY the AD, so the two audio feeds are mixed together by the TV/Freeview box. The viewer then has more control of the AD. They could turn the AD up or down independently of the main audio and in theory, with the right equipment, they could have someone listening to the AD using an earpiece while the rest of the room hear just the main audio.

I don't know how it works on cable.

Anyway, when the BBC did AD for the Olympics (the first time it has been done for a live programme AFAIK), they did it on the commentary free feed to avoid the AD guy speaking over Trevor Nelson (the AD was scripted but was being read out live as far as I could tell).

Anyway, due to the way AD works on Freeview and assuming Channel 4 are doing AD in the same way as the BBC did it, they couldn't put AD on the main channel because the main channel will have commentary.

What they could do, is have More4 as a commentary free channel with the option to turn AD on. Everyone who receives More4 has the option to turn AD on or off so there is no need to broadcast AD as the main audio feed.

That is my understanding of it anyway.

Yep - Freeview uses a 'receiver mix' system for Audio Description where the main audio is mixed with a secondary audio feed that just contains additional commentary. This second feed is mono and low bandwith.

This is fine for pre-recorded shows, as you know where the gaps are and can edit the audio description secondary audio stream to fit them, and where you need to hear both.

For audio description of a live event, you don't want to hear both audio description AND the main commentary - you want to hear a separate commentary that is providing extra description of the event that wouldn't be needed by those able to watch. It would be near impossible to stop people talking over each other. Therefore you can't use the normal audio description system where two streams are mixed. (If you didn't mix in the programme sound at all you'd be left with a relatively low-quality mono stream)

The only really effective way to do an audio described service on all platforms with our current system is to use a second channel I guess.

Trying to implement it via a Red Button service is tricky - as most users of AD will have visual impairments that make using the Red Button difficult or impossible (though I think there may have been one receiver that had some screen reading functionality - made by the recently shut-down TVOnics?)