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back to article Now on Freeview HD: Olympic arts channel that's tough to watch

Freeview HD got a new channel this morning, which will be filled with events from the Cultural Olympiad as well as the occasional Hitchcock film and the usual arts nonsense. The Space sits on channel 117, which puts it into the IP-streamed channels only available to kit conforming to the letter and spirit of the Freeview HD …

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  1. Irongut

    Wonderful

    So almost no one can actually recieve it and none of them would want to watch it anyway. What a wonderful use of £3.5m.

    Next time give it to me and I'll set it on fire.

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    1. Colin Millar
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      Happy

      Re: Wonderful

      Still - surely this must mean that the recession is over and everything is rose-tinted again on make-believe street.

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    2. JetSetJim
      Reply Icon

      Re: Wonderful

      Are you Bill Drummond or Jimmy Cauty? Jimmy is more likely as Drummond is on the record regretting saying he regrets the action.

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    3. dotdavid
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      Thumb Up

      Re: Wonderful

      "Next time give it to me and I'll set it on fire"

      Oh, so you're one of those modern artists? ;-)

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  2. banjomike
    Thumb Down

    Nice one Sony

    My 13 month old Sony Bravia cannot get this channel or Netflix app. I'm not sure I would want to watch either of them but it would be nice to have the option without being dumped by Sony.

    0 0
  3. Blofeld's Cat
    Pint

    Uh ho...

    "an animation showing someone switching a light on (and then off again) for a minute and a half"

    Will there also be those 1970's East European monochrome art-house cartoons of people being followed by buildings? I still get nightmares about those.

    The icon? Well I intend to be Titus Anewt until the Five-ring circus leaves town.

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    1. Lee Dowling Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Uh ho...

      Well, judging by recent experience, ANYTHING has to be better than "The Triplets of Belleville".

      I honestly think I'd rather watch the light going on and off.

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      1. Captain Hogwash
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        Re: ANYTHING has to be better than "The Triplets of Belleville"

        You have no soul.

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    2. Christian Berger
      Reply Icon

      Re: Uh ho...

      Ahh you are thinking about things like this

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj0FykXrjcc

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  4. Paul Shirley

    At least it seems to work on my PC, though the playback controls are lacking on FF and whatever Webm plugin it's using - tip: pause is on the left click context menu.

    Now they just need to get something on there I can be bothered watching.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Lucky b...

      You've got playback controls? I've got a big black rectangle of nothing.

      Just as well as its not playing cos, I'd have stopped it. To my mind Shakespear(e) rendered in "SeSotho, Setswana, Afrikaans & South African English " doth not a cultural olympiad make, forsooth.

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      1. Paul Shirley
        Reply Icon

        Re: Lucky b...

        That of course should be 'right click menu'. Can't tell left from right.

        It's getting pretty weird now, either they're still updating the site or different vids have different setup. I'm actually seeing controls in windowed mode - but cant click them because the screen layouts borked. In fullscreen the 'show controls' just started working and I have a draggable timeline. Still no option to leave fullscreen though (hitting back a couple of times works).

        I think I'll just save the videos and play them in something more competent. Pity the resolution is so low.

        0 1
      2. Tom 7
        Reply Icon

        a big black rectangle of nothing?

        you lucky lucky lucky bastard - the original is worth beelions.

        0 0
  5. squilookle
    Meh

    Wonder why they didn't just throw it in with the BBC Red Button stuff or just put the content in iPlayer and be done with it. Would have reached more people, possibly cost less. .

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  6. tmTM

    Money down the drain?

    or is it up the wall.

    Either way it's alot of money that could have been put to better use.

    1 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Money down the drain?

      So in keeping with the rest of the Olympic spending then?

      2 0
  7. Anonymous Custard
    Joke

    And in breaking news...

    The whole sorry channel^H^H^H^H^H^H "installation" is scandalously overlooked by the Turner Prize committee.

    Details at 10, pretension turned up to 11.

    1 0
  8. Test Man
    Thumb Down

    Hmmm... my DigitalStream HD device can receive these weird IP channels and it's connected to my router too. That said, even if it was on channel no. 1 I couldn't care less.

    0 0
  9. Christian Berger

    Come on...

    Unlike the BBC it's even on the Internet as Webm, what more can you expect?

    0 0
  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bunch of moaning whingers.

    Listen to you all, whining on about that the content isn't interesting to you, has no one actually had a think as to why this has been done like this?

    Riddle me this, given you've a new unproven technology which not many people can receive, what would you put on it to test? Britain's Got Voice? So you can get howls of disappointment from the likes who are commenting here that no one can access it, or something a little more obscure?

    3 2
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bunch of moaning whingers.

      Hold on! China Whotsit, Sports Tonight are already doing this, so t'article says. So what's your case that we need a third test channel of boring unpopular tripe? I'd have thought two channels of tripe were two more than necessary - back in the day we used to just have the test card, and that worked a treat, without costing £3.5m of our taxes.

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    2. Alan Edwards
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      Re: Bunch of moaning whingers.

      > given you've a new unproven technology which not many people can receive, what would you

      > put on it to test? Britain's Got Voice?

      You can beam Britain's Got No Talent (and all the rest of the 'reality' shite) straight into space for all I care. Gathering it all together on a no-bit-rate streaming channel would be a good idea.

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    God forbid they actually wasted the money on

    something else!

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  12. John A Blackley

    "The usual arty nonsense"

    Including Globe performances of Shakespeare and restored versions of early Hitchcock films.

    No doubt El Reg would've been better pleased with endless animated loops of some unfunny, badly-drawn 'graphich novel' that only shut-in geeks have ever heard of.

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  13. Bomberb
    FAIL

    Waste of The Space

    The tossers !

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  14. Dave Bell

    I admit it, I would be curious about the Shakespeare productions, which I suppose are that series of foreign language productions being put on at the Globe. The guy wrote some good stuff, and too much has been messed with by school teachers.

    It sounds like he may be responsible for the only good stuff that ever gets shown on that channel.

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  15. Quinnicus
    WTF?

    What Gives

    I have last years Sony Bravia TV (2011 NX723). I can access and watch Vision (110), CCTV (111), Sports Tonight (112), and even Racing, if i wanted it.

    But when trying this channel The Space (117) it tells me that I dont have a compatible FreeviewHD device.

    Umm, someones cocked up somewhere...

    0 0
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What Gives (Sony)

      I think I've read somewhere (possibly not far from here) that this IPTVHD magick doesn't work on 2011 Sony product, only on 2012. Like you, I've got 2011.

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      1. Quinnicus
        Reply Icon

        Re: What Gives (Sony)

        Yeah, wont be getting Netflix, is what i think your referring to. However, the TV that I bought was only released in Sept last year and I bought it in Oct last year. So far I have not been impressed at the lack of internet updates as well as sony believing that this tv is already out of date.

        I also have sonys 500GB PVR box, all IPTV channels work...with a catch, only audio works and no video. making viewing 110-117 impossible.

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  16. Pete 2 Silver badge

    That'll go nicely ...

    ... with the three channels of snooker on at the moment.

    (For those who want to check: BBC2, BBC HD and channel 301)

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  17. Timmo
    Trollface

    i think with the readership of El reg 24 hrs of non stop Open University programming from the 1970's would have been more popular. It would have been for ME !

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  18. Bunker_Monkey
    FAIL

    Freesat?

    Didnt see that appear this morning!

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  19. TWB

    Works on my Panasonic

    Yippee.......oh, is that it?

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  20. Simon Jones [MSDL]
    FAIL

    The Space

    Is so ugly it is the very antithesis of good web design.

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