Saorview Approved or Will a Generic Digital TV Receiver Work?

Pats asks;

I have head these new adverts for Saorview and they mention Saorview Approved. What does this mean?

Our answer;

A simple explanation of Saorview Approved would go something like this;

Saorview will be free-to-air and a DVB-T/MPEG-4 HD set top box (STB) receiver or iDTV and UHF aerial will be required. MHEG-5 has been selected as the middleware standard for digital teletext, Saorview branded EPG and interactive services. For non MHEG-5 compatible receivers regular analogue TV teletext will continue to be available and programme information will be displayed through the receiver's own inbuilt EPG. Either DVB or Teletext Subtitling can be displayed when broadcast.

So to summarise the specs of a Saorview Approved box;

DVB-T (Uses UHF TV Aerial)
HD (High Definition)& SD (Standard Definition) reception, with SCART (Regular CRT TV or Downsampled HD) and HDMI for connecting to HD TVs.
MPEG4 H.264 video and AAC audio
MHEG5 middleware (Enhanced program guide, text/image pages, menus, hidden video, even games)

This is a basic summary of the Saorview Specs but is what you should look out for if you want to purchase a Saorview Approved Set Top Box or TV (iDTV)

Non approved boxes or generic Digital TV receivers are missing some of these features, mainly the Mheg5 middleware. This will affect their ability to for example;

Get Digital Teletext on HD channels
Access Interactive Services (Red button)

It's not a big issue currently as RTE 2 is the only channel that is broadcast in HD (some of the time) and there aren't really any interactive services to speak of but this may change over time.

The generic digital terrestrial receivers are usually far cheaper than the Saorview Approved boxes and usually have other neat features like PVR (Rewind, Pause, Record TV) and Integrated Media Players to play your films, music and photos. The decision is up to yourself really.

Some people will decide on their box based on price considerations and others will decide based on functionality.