Four Phases

 
The DTT Trial was divided into four phases. The trial ended in August 2008. 

Phase 1

Friendly User Trial commenced August 2006 

Phase 1 of the pilot comprised a soft trial with about 50 users – mainly from the Department and from other organisations involved in the trial. This phase was used to test the stability of the network and the technologies involved at a network and user level. During this phase, the four national TV and six national radio channels were broadcast.

Phase 2

Public Trial commenced March 2007

Phase 2 of the trial involved a panel of 500 public participants, drawn from the Dublin and Louth areas. Public participants were chosen by Amarach Research on behalf of DCENR. Amarach Research was actively engaged with the public participants and conducted quarterly surveys to study participants’ reactions to DTT.

Each participant was provided with receiver equipment, which had been specially adapted for the trial. In addition to the Irish national TV and radio channels additional content was provided by Setanta Sports Channel Ireland Ltd, Channel 6 Broadcasting Ltd, Chellomedia Services Limited, Communicorp Group Limited, Eircom & RTÉ, British Sky Broadcasting Ltd, Capital Radio Productions Ltd, Dublin Rock Radio Ltd.  and Digital Audio Productions. To protect rights holders the additional content on Phase 2 was encrypted.


Phase 3

HD Trial commenced July 2007

During the public trial a trial of HDTV services was also conducted.  The HD trial was launched with a live viewing of the GAA Leinster football final from Croke Park on 15^th July 2007. Since 17^th July this trial comprised a loop of HDTV content which was provided by the three terrestrial broadcasters, RTÉ, TV3 and TG4. A range of content was chosen to test the system and demonstrate the improvement in picture quality. For this phase, only trial participants with an existing HDTV should see the full benefits of the service.

Phase 4

Information Services