Meeting with Screen System

After meeting screen system at BVE we called them and invited to come to Ravensbourne to give us more details on how to create and transmit subtitles. They kindly agreed that they will give us the subtitle kit as a permanent loan not just for us but also for the next engineers. The visit gave us more understanding on how subtitles work on DVB-T. Now will be waiting to receive the kit and get our hands on it and see what we can do.

This is the U400, the kit screen has kindly agreed to loan us.

Meeting with Stephen Foden

Stephen Foden form Arqiva came to visit Ravensbourne. This visti was mainly focused on the trasport stream and SI specification for DBV-T. We even touched on the future of FreeView in UK. After that we actually tried to generate a transport stream that would contain all the SI table needed for DVB-T. We had some problems we the Excel sheet that stephen gave to Ben last year to use as EPG. On the other hand the meeting with steve has helped to give us more knowledge on the matter.

We spent time on the MUX as well trying to understand its configuration. We manage to generate different services and add PID directly on the Mux.

Meeting with Daniel Cherowbrier

On the 15/4/2014 me and my colleague Teju headed over to the London office of Arqiva to talk with Daniel Cherowbrier. The purpose of the meeting was to show what we had and at what point our understanding of transmission was and also to share the extra ideas of what we wanted to add form last year, ( 5.1 audio and subtitling)

Reflection: 

On reflecting on how this meeting went. Before making my way there I was still a little bit unsure and nervous thinking my knowledge on transmission wasn't enough to make a good and lasting conversation with Daniel, but at the end it was a good meeting and I believe I came out of it enthusiastic and encouraged.

On a negative side I think I could have prepared more question for him regarding subtitles. But at that point neither of us new what we wanted precisely.  

Transmission CAD V.1

This is our first draft of our transmission CAD. In it you can find the 2 HD encoders ( even though we are going to get one) and the 2 SD encoders which we have now in our rack in CAR. A MUX a low power modulator and the transmitter/ amplifier.

Visit to Arqiva for spectrum plot

AT the beginning of this week my self, Nojan and Aidan travelled to Sutton Coldfield to visit One of Arqivas sites. The reason of this visit was to produce a spectrum plot to attach to our Ofcom licence and receive advise on the Ofcom licences.

After having a talk with Arqiva's spectrum employees, we were advised to use 16QAM 3/4 8k with our 5W power. Since we can fit both the SD and HD feed quite nicely with a really good quality even though we might have to sacrifice a bit on the SD.  Below is the spectrum plot they produced for us. The spectrum shows the coverage we have with channel 31. The yellow area shows 90%+ will receive our signal if their antenna is pointed to Ravensnbourne and the green area shows 70% to 90%.

Spectrum plot available on request.

Arqiva

Arqiva has agreed to give us a few equipment. In return The Degree Show will provide them with a sponsorship package. They have agreed to give us an HD encoder, an omni-directional antenna, a transmitter, a subtitling inserter.

The team will be going to Arqiva's offices in Sutton to get a spectrum plot to attach on our Ofcom licence. In the mean time we are putting a system to test and get more knowledge on transmission.

We will be building a test system to practice and get familiar with the equipment. 

BVE

Last week BVE, a broadcast exhibition event, was going on. The Degree Show team thought this could be a great opportunity to engage industry representative and persuade some to help in the making of the show.

The main reason for me and the transmission to visit BVE was to engage with a company who provides subtitles. Since this year we want to add subtitles on both the SD and HD transmission BVE was the perfect place to go. During our research we came across the a company named Screen Systems. Turns out the company is responsible for more than 80% of the industry subtitling. We engaged with them and had engaging conversations with them. We told them about the degree show and understanding where we were coming from they said they will be more than happy to help and show us how subtitling is done. 

This talk with Screen Systems was really productive for me. It opened mind on how subtitling is done over DVB-T.