Hello to all,

Tonight, monday march 7th 2011 at midnight (UTC +1:00) all french TV transmitters have gone off the air in Paris and the surrounding ile-de-France area, ending 76 years of analogue television transmissions. SECAM, rest in peace.

During the night, Broadcast TV engineers and transmitter suppliers will be busy connecting the DVB-T exciters to the converted analogue and new digital transmitters.

Service is due to startup tuesday march 8th at 08:00 AM with the 6 legacy ex-analogue OTA channels, then throughout the day all 19 FTA channels will progressively come online.

By tuesday evening 20:00 PM the transition should be complete.

A re-scan of DVB-T tuners will be necessary because of multiplex channel allocation frequency shifts once the analogue service has closed. 12 million households in the Paris area are concerned.

The new spectrum will include 19x DVT-T SD 625/50 UHF channels broadcast in MPEG-2 plus 4x HD channels, 1080i/50 broadcast in MPEG-4.

All VHF Band I & III TV transmissions are terminated. Band III is to be reassigned to digital radio and services to mobile phones.

DVB-T and analogue SECAM L have coexisted in Paris since 2005. with the digital channel frequently co-channel sited alongside the SECAM transmission, the DVB-T signal was broadcast at a - 15dB power level to avoid interference. With the switch-off of analogue a considerable power increase of DVB-T will take place, the 19 transmitters on the Eiffel Tower being increased from 15KW EIRP to 50KW EIRP.

Final analogue switch-off for the entire country is planned for november 2011.

Except for a small ceremony at the Eiffel Tower tonight, no special event was planned.

Photos courtesy of Bruno Piffret, Paris vintage TV collector

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

Adieu, analog.....

Hi Sandy,

Just posted 2 photos at the time of shutdown, courtesy of Paris friend Bruno Piffret. Pix 01 is 10 min before shutdown, pix 02 terminates analogue transmissions showing TV presentation celebrity Jacqueline Joubert presenting the new TV service in ...1950.

Bruno's vintage TV site: http://pagesperso-orange.fr/radio-piffret/

Best Regards

JH/Paris

Bruno has a very nice site-I can't read 2 words of French, but I think I got most of the "Gist" of it...

Jerome, many thanks for the report. This reminded me of the French 819-line system, which was last broadcast in 1984 according to this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_high-definition_television_system

Did you ever see the 819 line broadcasts? Any comments on the quality?

Aw jeez... first they turn on digital in October 2008, an' now they're turning off analog. So much for my dreams of some extreme-DX'ing of French TV....:scratch2:

I can't read 2 words of French, but I think I got most of the "Gist" of it...

Mon Dieu! Have you forgotten French FRIES and French DRESSING? :D
(with sincere apologies to Jerome, the French people, Canadians, Diplomats, Francophiles, and Cajuns....)

Who is next in the OTA analog-to-digital conversion?

Still seeking 2SC1034's for mon ami,

Hi old_tv_nut,

You're welcome!

You asked: "Did you ever see the 819 line broadcasts? Any comments on the quality?"

Sure i did! i'm 57 years old and got interested in TV around 1960 at age 7. My grandmother had a 17" B&W 819 line TV and i clearly remember seeing the 800 pts/line bars resolved clearly on the test pattern shown below. This test pattern is known as "The Chevaux de Marly" - Marly horses because of the equestrian statue shown in the central photograph.

In 1964 the second TV program opened in 625 lines UHF whereas 819 line service continued in VHF bands I & III. A new color UHF/SECAM/625 service was created starting in 1968 to duplicate in color the entire 1st TV channel network nation-wide, this was called "duplication". The 819 line service was shut down in 1985 when the 625 color service covered the entire country.

Very interestingly, the British followed exactly the same path with the 405/625 service for BBC-1.

As for today, some french TV vintage collectors are hoping to see full resolution 819 lines again by using the Y channel of a BluRay DVD cracked with the HDFury decoder device: http://www.hdfury.com/ and some big help from Darryl to make a special wideband version of his 819 converter.

From memory, the 819 line system E specs allocated 8.75 MHz bandwith to the video signal and the entire channel occupied 13.15 MHz.

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

To Findm-Keepm,

1) "Mon Dieu! Have you forgotten French FRIES and French DRESSING?"
Don't worry! i have a solid sense of humor!

2) "So much for my dreams of some extreme-DX'ing of French TV...."
You still can, the southern part of the country is still in dual illumination analogue + DVB-T. it all ends Nov 2011. However, DX-TV is best in VHF Band I (30-60 MHz) and no french TV has been there since the closedown of 819.

3) "Who is next in the OTA analog-to-digital conversion?"
Basically, all of Western Europe. Transition should be completed for all 27 Euro countries by dec 2012.

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

With the switch-off of analogue a considerable power increase of DVB-T will take place, the 19 transmitters on the Eiffel Tower being increased from 15KW EIRP to 50KW EIRP.
This is the really good news for TV viewers in France. In the USA, many DTV stations used very low power for several years before the shutdown of analog transmissions. This use of low power caused many reception problems, and it even gave a bad reputation to DTV in some cases.

This use of low power caused many reception problems, and it even gave a bad reputation to DTV in some cases.

IIRC, Europe uses COFDM for over the air broadcasts of digital TV, and the USA uses 8VSB. We have reception problems as it seems that 8VSB reception is rather fussy. Now, if you can get every local and DX station broadcasting in COFDM on a rusty coathanger, then.... :scratch2:

Heard that Australia will be converting to digital and dropping analog, but not sure when.

Hi Wa2ise,

Yes, European DVB-T uses COFDM carrier coding but the number of carriers may vary (UK vs mainland Europe for instance).

My reception is A-OK with a rooftop antenna, but indoors with a handheld 3" DVB-T receiver on a 10" whip antenna, ahem, not so good, yet i am located less than 5 miles away as the crow flies from the Eiffel Tower powerhouse. Well today is only day one of all DVB-T broadcasts and maybe the transmitters have not yet been powered up from 15KW EIRP to the planned 50 KW. Wait & see...

As a 57 year soon "old codger" i have a pet peeve: i believe that good RF engineers have deserted consumer electronics. I have tested many DVB-T receivers and Wi-Fi TX/RX and in my opinion, all have the sensivity of a grounded anvil.
I remind youngsters that in 1968 i was receiving the Eiffel Tower 80 miles away, VHF Band III, on a Sony TV9-306UM, built-in whip, 819 lines, car battery power, in the midst of a field while having a picnic.

I have never seen better sensitivity since, and all this in spite of noisy 1960s transistors and a 14 MHz wide TV channel.

Shame on today's RF designers...

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

As a 57 year soon "old codger" i have a pet peeve: i believe that good RF engineers have deserted consumer electronics. I have tested many DVB-T receivers and Wi-Fi TX/RX and in my opinion, all have the sensivity of a grounded anvil.


Shame on today's RF designers...



I'm also 57, generic "white trash" American (I don't belong to an ethnic group). :D

Not much if any consumer electronics in the USA either, it all comes from Red China. :) All our RF engineers work for dept of defense contractor companies. Designing RF systems for fighter jets and radars and whatnot.

We have reception problems as it seems that 8VSB reception is rather fussy.

As a 57 year soon "old codger" i have a pet peeve: i believe that good RF engineers have deserted consumer electronics. I have tested many DVB-T receivers and Wi-Fi TX/RX and in my opinion, all have the sensivity of a grounded anvil.
There are some nicely-engineered ATSC receivers out there. ATSC/8VSB is an American-designed system (by Zenith, before it was bought by LG), and to this day, the LG ATSC tuners still outperform any others I have used. I just bought an LG flat-panel TV, and I can receive every digital station from three different directions up to 30 miles/50km away, with a pair of 1950's rabbit ears! The same is true of the Zenith-branded set-top tuner in the next room that I use with my CTC-16. Every channel from San Jose, San Mateo, Concord, Oakland, and San Francisco.

Hi to All,

Thanks for your replies. In the meantime, via Bruno P. we learned some interesting facts about the energy savings DVB-T will allow. The now defunct Eiffel Tower SECAM L transmitters had the following EIRP:

TF1 channel 25 - 300KW
France 2 channel 22 - 215KW
France 3 channel 28 - 215KW
ARTE channel 30 - 100KW
M6 channel 33 - 100KW
Total power used: 930KW

DVB-T network:
Multiplex R1 channel 35 - was 41KW - now 50KW
Multiplex R2 channel 21 - was 22KW - now ch 25 - 50KW
Multiplex R3 channel 27 - was 21KW - now ch 22 - 50KW
Multiplex R4 channel 24 - was 23KW - now ch 30 - 50KW
Multiplex R5 channel 29 - was 21KW - now ch 28 - 50KW - all HD channels*
Multiplex R6 channel 32 - was 22KW - now 50KW
Multiplex R15 channel 23 - was 5KW - now ch 33 - 5KW

*4x FTA, 2x $$ subscription

Total power: 305KW
So, all in all, 7 times more channel, 1/3 the power.

The Eiffel Tower is the main transmitter, located in the center of Paris. It is relayed by 4 secondary transmitters for the suburbs & greater ile-de-France region located North, South, East and West of the city. Apparently they use a locked carrier technology so that for instance a Ch 35 transmission by the northern transmitter can be broadcast on the same frequency as the Eiffel Tower and have no beat interference. Wonder how they do that...

Also, all transmissions must convert to HD by 2015 so buyers of the cheap SD only adapters (MPEG-2) will need a new one (MPEG-4) for HD.

FYI, the cheapest adapter seen so far was a 19.95 Euro product, roughly US $30.00

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

Hi to All,

Apparently they use a locked carrier technology so that for instance a Ch 35 transmission by the northern transmitter can be broadcast on the same frequency as the Eiffel Tower and have no beat interference. Wonder how they do that...

jhalphen
Paris/France

It's called a Single Frequency Network (SFN). The same data is sent to all transmitters (even the central one) via fiber or coax, and each transmitter has a buffer to adjust the final delay of its emission. Exact synchronization is often done by reference to a GPS receiver frequency.

Can you buy digital to analogue converter boxes to continue to use your old TV?

Hello all,

On the subject of TV transmission, I purchased a Philips 3LC2050/05G Micro TV from a UK seller. It has the Pal channel range indication of Pal, but I can receive the low power, analogue, NTSC, UHF stations in the U.S. ? How is this possible? Multi-Band?

Hi to All,

For NowhereMan 1966:
"Can you buy digital to analogue converter boxes to continue to use your old TV?"

Well yes and No:
- All French color TVs since 1975 have by law a SCART or EuroConnector, as later on all Western European nations adopted the device. This is a 21 pin dual-row of pins pins connector which provides composite A/V in/out in stereo + RGB input + a fast-switch used to insert for instance teletext & subtitles for the deaf. Since the original connector, variants have approved to output RGB-Sync, YUV & S-Video.

If your vintage TV has a SCART connector, connection is easy: a SCART cable connected to the DVB-T tuner sends Composite AV to the TV. If your TV is more recent, it can also be used in RGB/YUV for the best picture.

If your vintage TV only accepts an RF input, some DVB-T tuner boxes have a built-in RF modulator, usually for PAL B/G, D,D',I, K,K '. Alas, since the first wave of DVB-T tuner càommerliazed in May 2005, suppliers are scimping on the RF mod, so you need a 2 step approach: DVB-T tuner, PAL output then a modern synthesized UHF or VHF/UHF modulator.

Note 01: PAL in France!! - well yes! since the early 90s, most TVs sold in Europe are PAL and SECAM compatible. One market, one format, making SECAM only sets for France had become a silly proposition.

Now if you are the owner of a really "historical" SECAM-only set dating back to the earliest days of color TV, a 1 or 3-pronged solution is needed:
1) A DVB-T tuner with a SECAM L modulator, that means finding a 2005-2007 model which has already self-destroyed, courtesy of £§!!@ chinese caps!

2) A DVB-T tuner + a PAL to SECAM baseband video transcoder, dirt-cheap at US $10.00-20.00, a leftover of the 8mm camcorder era (Sony) which were PAL only. The SECAM signal is then sent to a modern synthesized RF modulator.

The PAL to SECAM transcoder performs an essential function: it generates the (in)famous SECAM "Bottles" V-interval Color Ident signal which tells the vintage set that it is receiving a SECAM Color transmission. Without them, B&W reception only. Line-by-line Color Ident only became mandatory in the early 80s, so TVs of the 1967-1984 era are left out in the cold.

This may sound like a Rube-Goldberg contraption, but actually it works very well. See my pictures of a genuine 1976 Sony KV-1340DF SECAM only TV receiving DVB-T today - it's the first screen to the left 12"), not bad for a 35 year old TV!

Note 02: A nice thing about DVB-T transmissions is the possibility to switch between the dubbed in French main soundtrack and the original English version. As most of the US police-TV series and many others are popular in France, maybe the French will learn some English after all !

.For E-Type2 - Hi Marshall!
"On the subject of TV transmission, I purchased a Philips 3LC2050/05G Micro TV from a UK seller. It has the Pal channel range indication of Pal, but I can receive the low power, analogue, NTSC, UHF stations in the U.S. ? How is this possible? Multi-Band?"

I can't really answer your question, but this has been my experience: I own several Philips 3LC50 PAL/SECAM "open the book" type LCD color TVs. With both the PAL B/G and NTSC transmitters running, a channel search will first find the NTSC channel and stop. Picture is in B&W with a 1/3 screen V offset and no sound. As oubviously your has a locked-in picture (+ Color ?) it is obviously System M compatible.

Got to run! just heard a loud bang ... turned out to be a can of my prized US (unobtainium) Root Beer which blew its vacuum, got to cleau up the mess ;-(

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

Here'a an extract from a French report (in English) on their "1000-line" system experiments in 1947.

"1000-line" system experiments in 1947.

Looks like a modern HDTV luma signal, at 1080i 50 fields a second would be nearly compatible with a set built to receive these experiments.

Some HDTV receiver boxes may have hackable firmware to convert the digital HD signal to output a luma signal that would produce the old 809i (IIRC that was the number of lines) high res standard France had years ago. This would be difficult to do, to reverse engineer the existing firmware, modify it correctly and burn it back to the box, and hope you don't "brick" it.

Hi wa2ise,

you wrote:
"Some HDTV receiver boxes may have hackable firmware to convert the digital HD signal to output a luma signal that would produce the old 809i (IIRC that was the number of lines) high res standard France had years ago. This would be difficult to do, to reverse engineer the existing firmware, modify it correctly and burn it back to the box, and hope you don't "brick" it."

Such a device exists, type HDFury into a search engine. Will output Full res YUV & RGB.

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France