I agree - splitting the triple j brand over the 2x and 2xx allocation looks awful. If they were set on having the split, I’d put NewsRadio on 25.
4 Likes
Much better. I’d even leave a couple of spots vacant, like 203 and 204, just in case they decide to launch Classic 2 and Grandstand later on.
There’s some logic to the split, but it’s still messy. At least they’re not simulcast I guess.
22 ABC Kids
202 ABC Kids Listen
24 ABC News
204 ABC News Radio
5 Likes
Good move, but odd channel numbers. Especially for people who flick up/down on the remote if their TV doesn’t push radio channels to a separate pile.
Also puts them in a bad position for any new TV channels. Even if not real new channels, I’ve long thought they should split ABC Kids and Comedy into unique channel positions, and just use very low bit rate placeholder slides while off air.
No mention of a change from MP2 to AAC encoding - which is strange given I’d assume it’d be a given to get decent quality on all those channels. Would be a huge shame if they didn’t and were the same poor quality as Double J/Jazz.
5 Likes
New ABC Radio stations via Digital TV up and running this morning
Brisbane
The regional QLD feeds showed up as different stations so there may be a different code for these.
LCNs
ABC Brisbane, RN, 128Kbps mono
Not sure about News Radio - showing as MPEG2 AAC while others are MPEG1
Others are 256Kbps stereo
6 Likes
Much better quality than digital radio, but obviously not as robust for reception whilst moving about.
Which is a whole lot better audio quality than MP3 320KBPS and therefore on par with lossless files, sound wise.
1 Like
I’d even go as far to say that it would be good to see AM and FM broadcasters pair up with commercial TV networks to have their stations carried in high quality sound on DVB-T.
Be great for those that can’t get clear AM/FM reception and are not satisfied with the sound quality on DAB and streaming. You could use a cheap STB for a dedicated radio tuner and feed that into your sound system.
I know it won’t happen though but wishful thinking!
4 Likes
Would be better to just work out a way to allow for 256kbps AAC on digital radio.
3 Likes
I agree, DAB+ is still inefficient in my view when all of the error correction seems to chew up so much bandwidth - ie. if you were to add up the bitrates of all stations in 9A, 9B and 9C I reckon it would only add up to about 3-4 Mbps out of a theoretical 23 Mbps maximum.
1 Like
For what it’s worth, it might be mentioning that Foxtel cable still has only Double J & ABC Jazz today despite the new additions to terrestrial TV.
Not sure if Foxtel satellite has any of the new ABC radio channels, but I’m well aware that along with Double J & Jazz they’ve had ABC Sydney, ABC NSW (which I believe is actually ABC Western Plains), RN, NewsRadio, Classic FM and Triple J for many years now.
3 Likes
Here’s a table of all the DVB radio channels available from ABC:
ABC LOCAL, ABC RN, ABC Classic and triple j are broadcast in local timezone on both Freeview and VAST. The rest are in AEST/AEDT.
6 Likes
As nice as it would be, commercial television licensees are not allowed to rebroadcast commercial radio stations.
3 Likes
There are only 768 capacity units available per DAB mux. That equates to around 2mbits.
3 Likes
You’d think that if commercial television broadcasters were allowed to retransmit commercial radio services, SCA would jump at the idea of having their radio channels broadcast on regional TV? Not really sure if any of the others would though.
Either way, I suspect that the ABC/SBS are allowed (and infact, are probably encouraged) to have their radio services available via Digital TV because their services are supposed to be available to all Australians across as many platforms as possible.
6 Likes
New ABC stations in Canberra are as following:
25 ABC CANBERRA
26 ABC RN
27 ABC Classic
28 triple j
29 triple j Unearthed
200 Double J
201 ABC Jazz
202 ABC Kids Listen
203 ABC Country
204 ABC NewsRadio
4 Likes
As expected, it’s ABC Sydney on LCN 25 here in Newcastle (and on the Central Coast, which mostly relays ABC Sydney on 92.5 anyway).
Great sound quality on Classic FM and Triple J in particular too.
2 Likes
Listening to Phil Clarke on Nightlife last night he mentioned about them now being available on LCN25 especially handy during the cricket which starts tonight when that goes over the terrestrial radio in many areas. He said they’ve soft launched now and will do more publicity about it from next week.
LCN25 shows up as ABC Local here in Northern Tas and as expected has the ABC Hobart feed which apart from Breakfast and sometimes in the afternoon is essentially the same.
8 Likes
A plug from Chris Bath for LCN 25 just before the quiz.
Part of the reason was because she said analogue (AM/FM) listeners would be leaving her show for NRL coverage of Roosters vs Souths at 7.30, but she explained if you can’t get Digital Radio (or listen via the ABC Listen App), that she could still be heard on Channel 25 on your TV. “Finally I’ve worked out a way to be on Radio and TV at the same time! Though you can hear me, you won’t be able to see me”.
Good to know that the TV stream mirrors the DAB version of ABC Sydney, not the AM version.
I guess also because there may be a rights issue with putting sports coverage on the TV (even though it’s audio only).
7 Likes
I had that too with the 7 News, Sport and Weather updates in Melbourne.
1 Like