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Old 2005-07-23, 04:25 AM
4candles 4candles is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Re: Radio Two = mp2?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Five
Yesterday I pulled this one:
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/...ead.php?t=9517

The lineage is:
Roberts Tuner>Endirol Soundcard>PC-Goldwave>WAV>Flac

I have no reason to doubt this... the analysis is not pretty. BigBoyPete assures me that the lineage is correct and I have no reason to doubt it. So, what I'm wondering is whether the bbc radio two broadcasts in mp2 and also am looking for some confirmation from others that this source is lossy.
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BBC Radio Two is available on a multitude of platforms. Just saying "Radio Two" in the source info isn't enough:

1) FM (but I don't know for sure the lineage from studio to the network of local transmitters all over the UK)
2) "DAB" digital radio - currently 128kbps MP2 (but 192kbps a few years ago when DAB launched in the UK).
3) "DVB-S" digital satellite TV - 192kbps MP2
4) "DVB-T" digital terrestrial TV - 192kbps MP2
5) Analogue Cable - you plug an cable from your cable TV company into your analogue FM tuner.
6) Digital Cable - I would guess 192kbps MP2, but I don't know for sure.
7) Web - last time I checked the BBC streamed 44kbps live RealAudio (RA), had archived 32kbps RA and had some sessions archived at 96kbps RA.
8) I think it's now available on XM digital radio in the USA, at least Radio One is - but that won't apply to a 2002 broadcast.

Going back to the torrent in question, the 19KHz FM pilot tone is present, so this would seem to indicate an analogue FM broadcast - meaning either 1) or 5) in the above list.

If the FM feed came from Cable, then we just don't know where the cable company got their Radio Two feed from - but they may well have taken the satellite MP2 broadcast. There was a BBC Radio One torrent on Dime recently where an analysis of a Cable FM recording showed very lossy ancestory, so it seems at least one cable company in the UK does that.

If it was an "over-the-air" FM broadcast, then the lineage between studio and transmitter comes into question.

As far as I know, the BBC use NICAM digital links for their FM broadcasts. The "consumer" version of NICAM is 14-bit/32KHz Stereo PCM audio "lossilly" companded to 10-bit/32KHz Stereo PCM for transmission. I read that the BBC use a better version of NICAM for their FM transmitters, but I don't know the details.

I don't understand SAs very well, so I'm curious to know what makes this "MP2", and not just the lossiness caused by a normal FM broadcast.
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