BBC Two Wales HD

BBC Two Wales to launch as a HD channel / Lansio BBC Two Wales fel sianel HD https://t.co/o8QdIrrukB pic.twitter.com/PNiwadd3zF

— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) June 8, 2018

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/bbc-two-wales-hd?ns_mchannel=social&ns_linkname=corporate&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_press_office

There won't be one in Scotland because of the BBC Scotland channel but BBC Two NI HD can't be far behind.

No mention of BBC 2 Wales HD on satellite, so there goes 'platform neutrality' that the Beeb have clung to for almost 20 years.

Hopefully then a sign of things to come with the regions too - the practicalities of putting them on Sky have effectively withheld them from Freeview viewers for years.

Yes. I think platform neutrality could still apply because BBC 2 Wales is still on Sky and Freesat, it’s just that the Freeview version will be better quality. And, let’s be honest, satellite has always had the advantage due to all the regions being available everywhere.

I think the problem with the English Regions is that they aren't all ready, except for perhaps just London, Manchester & Plymouth, and maybe some of the later refurbs if they were more than just the gallery & studio.

However, platform neutrality aside, ISTR the BBC English Regions appearing on DSat back in the day on a very staggered approach - 'Red Button style' (I think I had 'BBC1 South' as an option to UK Today for a while) before 'BBC1 South West' appeared as part of the massive 'waterfall' of every single BBC region appearing on DSat.

Do they currently get BBC Two Network on LCN 102 on Freeview?

Yes, apparently

Actually some pros to have two different versions when Wales opt out.

To be honest though now they've lost the Pro 14 one of the main reasons for going HD has gone. Almost all primetime Wales programmes are on BBC1 with just the odd occasion where as a result a BBC1 show is bumped to BBC2.

It doesn’t matter so much if the studio isn’t HD yet. Having everything in one place without having to change channel would be a bonus. Obviously infrastructure would need to be in place for this, but where are the HD muxes encoded? ISTR it’s done in London for all regions. If that’s the case would there be any need for new equipment in the region at all if the regional output remains SD?

Circuits in and out of the regional centres would need to be upgraded to carry HD, and you would probably need some form of upscaler.

The HD channels are encoded at a couple of locations.

Yes to provide HD regions would require new encode chains for each of them (so 4 for each, 2 in each site I assume) plus reconfiguring the HD mux. I would assume that the MUX would need a change to its distribution too as there are more BBC regions than there are ITV HD regions

Unless they adopt ITV’s approach and make the English regions remote sources into a centralised facility. Then no HD circuits into the region are required, and the SD regions could feed via SD circuits to the central point and be upscaled there. You lose the ability to soft opt from network and stick up captions and voice overs, but that can still be achieved up to a point with keyers etc