Bob Miller wrote: > But they actually "pack" 9 program channels in on 64 > QAM channels.. They may only be doing 8 today but they > consider then that they have a spare unused for sale > slot available. With 16 QAM they "pack" 6 programs > channels in and again if they are not using one or two > those slots are for sale, up for grabs. So that would adjust the numbers downward a little bit for how much Mb/s are used in each SD channel, and also downward a little bit for the lowest possible Mb/s they deem adequate for HDTV. However, I'm not convinced until you show me your source. If you go to this site: http://www.dgtvi.it/stat/Europa/Gran_Bretagna/Page1.html and scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see a picture of the Freeview offerings. And a paragraph (in Italian) that describes this, including the existence of some regional multiplexes. Freeview channels seem to be divided as follows: Multiplex 1: 5 streams Multiplex 2: 5 streams Multiplex 3: 5 streams Multiplex 4: 4 streams Multiplex 5: 4 streams Multiplex 6: 4 streams Multiplex 7: 5 streams Total: 32 program streams. Now go to the mabb site, to see if this bears any resemblance to what the Germans determine adequate SDTV quality to be. German DTT is also 16-QAM, so the comparison should be valid. http://www.garv.de/ shows a similar graphic of the German DTT offerings. Note that these are a consistent 4 program streams per multiplex, which again suggests that good 576i quality is achieved at bit rates of around 3 to 4 Mb/s per SD stream. And the half of the Channel 59 multiplex is dedicated to radio streams. Detail: The German scheme used in Berlin needed to increase the GI to 1/8, in order to support their SFN. Therefore, the bit rate available dropped to a MAXIMUM of 14.75 Mb/s, with a few multiplexes less than that, which gives each SD stream an average 3.7 Mb/s maximum capacity. The UK system I'm not positive about, so I assumed the GI to be 1/16, giving them some extra spectral efficiency. However you do thes numbers, 3 to 4 Mb/s are the consistent bit rate deemed adequate for SDTV in 576i. So it always comes out to 9 to 16 Mb/s required for H.264 HDTV quality, by BBC's own reckoning (not mine). Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.