Astra/VOOM Partnership??

[Sean Mota]

While surfing on the web I found the following forum which keeps track of satellite transmittion in Europe. In their forum, one of the moderator posted picture from Astra HDTV demo channel and guess who it was on the HDTV Demo channel?

Take a look for yourself of the pictures:

Astra Voom Trailer 1

Astra Voom Trailer 2

Astra website

Found it interested that VOOM is providing the sample for their HDTV Demo Channel.

 

[Bilodeaumj]

quote from Astra "...the film being played out in HDCAM SR (1080i/50 Hz) and delivered to an MPEG-2 HD encoder with a data rate of some 1.4 gigabits/s"

1.4 gig data rate. That's better than what we get isn't it?

 

[Sean Mota]

The Demo channel has this:

The ASTRA HDTV promotion channel is receivable via ASTRA transponder Nbr. 102, vertical polarisation, 12,4441 MHz, 27.5 Msymbols/s, FEC 3/4 using MPEG-2 MP@HL, 1080i, bitrate 19 Mb/s.

 

[Walter L.]

Interesting. Would it mean that VOOM may market the exclusive channels in Europe?

 

[Mr.Poindexter]

Good for Europe to help speed the transition to HD along, which will in turn help speed the US along when the entire world starts to adopt HDTV.

It is also very good for us Voomers in the US because this will definitely help Voom's bottom line.

 

[vurbano]

So now we know the reason for worldsport? Cause it sure wasnt to generate viewership in the US. Europe would be a good move.

 

[kfried001]

So now we know the reason for worldsport? Cause it sure wasnt to generate viewership in the US. Europe would be a good move.

Vurbano, Soccer is huge in the US. My oldest son just fot a four year scholorship from being on Serono Elite White. My other two son's are on traveling Soccer teams. Worldsport is exactly why 2 of my friends got voom.

There are people that subscribe to both D* and E* for just the foreign soccer channels. Soccer is bigger than you may think here.

I hope Voom get Gol-TV now, that would be three dedicated soccer channels.

On the other hand, if Voom goes worlwide, that would be great for us. It would make me feel a lot better about purchasing the HD PVR. I just got the Pioneer Tivo machine with a built in dvd burner and recording from the progressive scan inpus at the fines quality yeilds 480p. Is that HD?

Regards.Ken

 

[vurbano]

Vurbano, Soccer is huge in the US. My oldest son just fot a four year scholorship from being on Serono Elite White. My other two son's are on traveling Soccer teams. Worldsport is exactly why 2 of my friends got voom.

There are people that subscribe to both D* and E* for just the foreign soccer channels. Soccer is bigger than you may think here.

I hope Voom get Gol-TV now, that would be three dedicated soccer channels.

On the other hand, if Voom goes worlwide, that would be great for us. It would make me feel a lot better about purchasing the HD PVR. I just got the Pioneer Tivo machine with a built in dvd burner and recording from the progressive scan inpus at the fines quality yeilds 480p. Is that HD?

Regards.Ken

Soccer has lower ratings than "Alf" reruns in the US. Incase you havent noticed, networks, stations, programs etc go under without ratings. And unfortunately, sat services without content that attract users will suffer the same fate. It would be great for Voom to be able to sell the Worldsport feed to a sub base that is actually craving HD euro soccer like europe. Seems like a good move. But the reality is that if Voom wants to attract subs in the US it will have to put out sports content Americans crave, not content Europeans want to see.

 

[Walter L.]

Ken/vurbano:
I think that both of you're right. Soccer in US is not currently a favorite sport. However, based on my experience I see more and more interest everyday particularly with the young people. Perhaps part of the reason is that soccer has become one of the standard High School sports. I'm surprise that (at least around this area) every new school that is build has a soccer field.
Here is an interesting article about soccer in the US:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=307587&cc=5901


Going back to VOOM, I think that WoldSports HD alone could make the "VOOM package" a success in Europe if they market it through Astra.

 

[DarrellP]

Check out the quality of the image from Equator, that's what we should be getting here.

 

[Walter L.]

Check out the quality of the image from Equator, that's what we should be getting here.

I agree; and the difference is that Astra is broadcasting it at 19 Mb/s

 

[DarrellP]

I agree; and the difference is that Astra is broadcasting it at 19 Mb/s

This is what really bums me out about Voom, I figured since they were a new service provider that they would not make the same mistakes everyone else did, but I guess when you have people screaming for all of those GD'd SD channels, this is what happens, quantity over quality wins out everytime.

 

[CKNA]

quote from Astra "...the film being played out in HDCAM SR (1080i/50 Hz) and delivered to an MPEG-2 HD encoder with a data rate of some 1.4 gigabits/s"

1.4 gig data rate. That's better than what we get isn't it?

No it isn't . 1.4 gig is data rate of uncompressed HD. This then is fed to MPEG2 encoder. Besides US/Japan 1080i/60Hz is better than 1080i/50Hz.

 

[Walter L.]

No it isn't . 1.4 gig is data rate of uncompressed HD. This then is fed to MPEG2 encoder. Besides US/Japan 1080i/60Hz is better than 1080i/50Hz.

But ultimately they broadcast 19 mbps MPEG-2 which is better than what we currentky get (12-17 mbps). Now, let's keep on mind that they're currently on demo mode. The question is what will they settle to after they go into full operation and they need to add more channels

 

[CKNA]

So now we know the reason for worldsport? Cause it sure wasnt to generate viewership in the US. Europe would be a good move.

I do not think so. Those soccer games on VOOM are only licensed to be shown on VOOM in US. They can't be shown in Europe as other broadcasters have rights to them. It does not matter if it is HD or not.

All they are doing is showing a promo which is shown at electronics trade shows. That is it.

 

[vurbano]

I do not think so. Those soccer games on VOOM are only licensed to be shown on VOOM in US. They can't be shown in Europe as other broadcasters have rights to them. It does not matter if it is HD or not.

Then a spanish HD soccer channel for Americans is as bad an idea as I originally thought it was.

 

[dziko]

I hope it is true, that would help Voom with the money, I love Voom and I love World sport......