The Digital switch over - It's coming!

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 04 Jan 2006, 17:37

Crap

I cannot get BBC four as my signals degraded to much

nice to see its on TV as I adore TS, a perfect film.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 04 Jan 2006, 17:41

Do you have Freeview, Cable or Sky Romero? Surely that would get you BBC4. You should speak to someone about upgrading the signal/arial you have

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Jan 2006, 23:57

When I move out in the next couple of years I'll be moving to somewhere that can get cable so I don't have to fork out for BT.

I rarely use the phone so a mobile will be fine and I'd get VOIP anyway (Telephone through Broadband essentially). I "may" get a basic Sky or Cable package but would probably stick with Freeview. It's generally fine for me.

romerojpg wrote:Nope nothing can help with our reception as we are in a black zone and we apparently are not even suposed to get any channels at all where we live (in a valley) its a joke really.

Who told you that? Freeview don't believe them get a second local engineer opinion or did you?

romerojpg wrote:dont see why we should have to pay any cash for the licence when we cannot get BBC channels!!!

Agreed. We only still have it because we pay it and put up with it.

They used to have it in New Zealand a Kiwi friend of mine was saying (this was a few years back) but no one paid it so they scrapped it.

Eva maybe able to remember?

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 05 Jan 2006, 00:05

We live in a black area, thats just the way it is. We are not even suposed to be sold Freeview digibox thingis as all, as they suposed to ask for your Postcode, we made them pay for the pilon on the roof to get any signal at all, and still its crap and has been going down hill for ages now. A few foot either way can loose a signal and for that reason many people will never get Digital, even now many parts of London still dont get it!

The experts say a lot of people will never get Digital, so when them transmitters are turned off in a few years people like us aare shafted if they havent sorted out this crap. I barley watch TV for the reason the picture breaks up all the time and it just gets on my nerves to much.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Jan 2006, 01:55

Everyone will HAVE to have/get Digital TV by 2012.

They'll fix it, again they'll have to. There's no way the TV companies will lose out on that much revenue nor will the advert people.

That's only 6 years!

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Jan 2006, 15:12

I agree about that BTW - when its windy/wet Freeview breaks up all over the place for me and is unwatchable - analogue goes a bit fuzzy but at least I can still "watch" it then.
Sky Digital is fine though.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Jan 2006, 15:21

Don't forget guys one of the BIG things holding digital back is analogue.

The airwaves are shared between digital and analogue, with it gone it will free up stacks of bandwith for digital.

grim_tales wrote:I agree about that BTW - when its windy/wet Freeview breaks up all over the place for me and is unwatchable

It's always perfect for me.

Years back when it was summer off-road motorbike geezers used to cause havoc with our signal but that's managed to fix itself.

I seriously reckon all (or 99%) of these problems will either have been fixed or will evaporate by the time/when analogue is turned off.

Currently while Digital has extra channels a think it is a poor substitute for analogue.

What?

The PQ is vastly superior on Freeview to analogue. I never ever watch analogue now. Analogue breaks down, digital breaks down completely. It's all or nothing (pretty much).

I have to say since getting Dolby Pro Logic II watching TV has never sounded so good.

I'd love to upgrade my amp. to get Dolby Pro Logic II but I have a very good DTS/DD5.1 amp already which cost me £350 about 4 years ago and literally bar DPL2 + DTS ES + DD EX it's first rate.

Those aren't enough to justify me upgrading.

How close does DPL2 compare to DD5.1 in reality?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Jan 2006, 17:05

Its' an occassional problem with digital now, it used to be much worse - our ariel has been fixed (to a degree) so most of the time the analogue picture is MUCH better than it was.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 05 Jan 2006, 17:28

I have never met anyone in real life (as aposed to the net) that has perfect picture using digital (apart from Sky, but thats bugged to hell too). Every persons TV I have seen has had problems with reception and some people cannot even get it at all.

When a car passes our house the picture breaks up! when my mother uses a very small battery operated fan it knocks her TV off!

basically Digital is pants until they get it working for everyone, and from the reports on TV its never gonna happen as some people apprently will never get it for a long time to come and that means the people who get their analogue signal turned off soon (some places as Sky said are a few years away at most) will be shafted!

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Jan 2006, 18:04

Blimey Romero I'd get an engineer in if things are that bad.

Our house uses Sky Digital (satellite) and the picture is great at all times

Freeview (upstairs) is only dodgy sometimes because our analogue reception sometimes is (shares the bandwidth).

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 05 Jan 2006, 18:42

Engineer cannot do anything, its the area. If we didnt have a 12 foot spike (ohh yeah and a signal boster too) on the roof we wouldnt have anything and its not just our area. 25 miles away my friend lives and his is just as bad, Digital is just crap thru the airwaves basically its a very flawed TV signal for everyone in the UK. If you cannot get it in parts of London, we have no hope at all up here.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Jan 2006, 20:25

romerojpg wrote:I have never met anyone in real life (as aposed to the net) that has perfect picture using digital (apart from Sky, but thats bugged to hell too). Every persons TV I have seen has had problems with reception and some people cannot even get it at all.

Well you do live where M. Night Shyamalan got his inspiration for The Village. He told me so.

Do you really think that 8 million Sky customers, the millions of cable users and whatever it is for Freeview ALL have reception problems?

Mines perfect but I'm guessing you mean PQ problems that only you'd notice not reception issues.

romerojpg wrote: When a car passes our house the picture breaks up! when my mother uses a very small battery operated fan it knocks her TV off! basically Digital is pants until they get it working for everyone, and from the reports on TV its never gonna happen as some people apprently will never get it for a long time to come and that means the people who get their analogue signal turned off soon (some places as Sky said are a few years away at most) will be shafted!

You don't really believe that do you? Don't believe everything you read.

There is no way the government will let that happen, it's a problem that can be fixed. We won't know for sure until the analogue mux's are turned off, they're taking lots of bandwidth up digital could be using.

romerojpg wrote:Engineer cannot do anything, its the area.

Is that the same engineer who reckons Mark's PC isn't compatible with Broadband or the same engineer who told you your PC can't take Microsoft Office?

Have you tried the Sky Digital route? or don't you want it. You can get a Freeview service from Sky which may fix your problem.

p.s - The quality of channels don't come close to Freeview but it does offer 1-5 in digital. My Dad did this in the house he owns in Wales. Personally I reckon he could've got Freeview but he didn't bother checking it out.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 05 Jan 2006, 21:50

I wouldnt pay for Sky if it was pennies as we pay to much for TV licence to start with.

Type your postcode into any Freview checker system and it tells you the quality of the areas signal etc.. we are a black area.

and the government has let it happen as people cannot get digital at all in any way in parts of the UK. Have you not been watching the news latley about all this mes on with turning off the transmiters? as it told me more than enuff to see it bollocks for a lot of people, as some people will never upgrade their TV to Digital and they are shafted.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Jan 2006, 22:49

I missed that, any links?

The thing is crap analogue reception people who have it have been putting up with it for years, it doesn't work this way with digital as you know so they'll have to fix it or people won't even get bad digital.

I wouldnt pay for Sky if it was pennies as we pay to much for TV licence to start with.

Agreed but you can't compare the two. One is a Government scam the other a service which I think is a bit expensive but only a bit considering what's on offer.

Besides I was talking about a one off Freeview type cost to get you decent Freeview type digital channels, not the multichannel madness that is usual Sky.

Here we are:

http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/

I agree it's expensive BUT if what you say is really true and shafted with Freeview, analogue or cable then I'd pay it for sure. It's a one off cost and would fix your TV problem for good.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Jan 2006, 23:06

2006 to 2010 they've brought it forward:

http://www.digitv.org.uk/how_to_guide/W ... ch_off.asp

Taken from that very link:

Switching off the analogue signals is the only way we can bring digital terrestrial television to everybody.

See I told you but no you wouldn't listen

. 2009 for me, this only mentions England and Wales -

http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/pub ... _home.html

romerojpg wrote:Type your postcode into any Freview checker system and it tells you the quality of the areas signal etc.. we are a black area.

Funny that's not what Freeview.co.uk says -

http://www.freeview.co.uk/cgi-bin/postc ... de=666+666

8)

I put your postcode in, replace the: 666+666 with your actual postcode (the + being the space) and I quote:

FREEVIEW covers your area for the postcode 666 666 but you probably need a new type of aerial.

The search indicates that FREEVIEW covers your postcode but as well as an box (or integrated digital television) you probably need a new type of rooftop aerial.

Don't tell me, Freeview themselves no less than you?

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 09 Jan 2006, 14:57

How close does DPL2 compare to DD5.1 in reality?

You don't get the same directional effects with Pro Logic II from a stereo source like you would with a proper 5.1 soundtrack but in my humble opinion PLII is a vast improvement over Pro Logic. Actually I should have said I use DTS neo 6 (I think that's what it's called) which is pretty much the same as Dolby Pro Logic II.

Something that most people haven't taken into consideration is the fact that they will need more than one freeview/Sky Box if they want to continue watching in other rooms. A lot of people will have secondary TV's that will be useless once the analogue shut down has occurred. Also most people take for granted that they can watch one side while recording another. So unless you have a Sky plus box or freeview with dual tuners you'll be stuck with one channel!

Another thing most people take for granted is Ceefax/Teletext which you can read without affecting what you're recording. Again unless you have a Sky plus box for freeview with dual tuners you will lose the ability to do that once the analogue switch-off happens.

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 09 Jan 2006, 14:59

There is no way the government will let that happen, it's a problem that can be fixed. We won't know for sure until the analogue mux's are turned off, they're taking lots of bandwidth up digital could be using.

I could be wrong but I think you'll find that the government will sell off all of the bandwidth currently used by analogue television not use it to improve Digital.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 09 Jan 2006, 15:14

Sky75,
Yeah you're right about the Teletext thing, God knows what we'll doi in our house when the switchover happens - my Freeview box is pretty much useless anyway

We do have Sky Difital (not Sky+) also. I also need to get a new video anyway, I'm pissed off with not being able to see one channel/record another on Freeview.
On Freeview you can record the subtitles from the programme your recording.

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 09 Jan 2006, 15:23

I'm pissed off with not being able to see one channel/record another on Freeview.

it is annoying isn't it especially the way everything clashes and you have to choose just one channel!

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 09 Jan 2006, 15:27

Yeah, tonight I'm having to do that - record Life on Mars on BBC1 on Freeview and hope I get no picture break up, and watch Balderdash and Piffle on BBC2 on normal analogue.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 Jan 2006, 20:44

sky75 wrote:Actually I should have said I use DTS neo 6 (I think that's what it's called) which is pretty much the same as Dolby Pro Logic II.

Is it the same as DD5.1 vs. DTS as far as DPL2 vs. DTS N6?

sky75 wrote:Something that most people haven't taken into consideration is the fact that they will need more than one freeview/Sky Box if they want to continue watching in other rooms.

I've thought of this and hope to have an LCD IDTV by the time I need one in the kitchen.

sky75 wrote:A lot of people will have secondary TV's that will be useless once the analogue shut down has occurred

This will piss lots of people off. The fact is 80% of the population I'd say don't even know their purely 5 channels of AV pleasure will soon be bye bye.

I couldn't imagine JUST watching 5 channels now and worse in analogue, yuck!

sky75 wrote:Another thing most people take for granted is Ceefax/Teletext which you can read without affecting what you're recording.

I didn't realise bar Grim anyone still used this VERY out dated information source.

I've not used it for years, what BB Internet.

sky75 wrote:I could be wrong but I think you'll find that the government will sell off all of the bandwidth currently used by analogue television not use it to improve Digital.

That's what I said further down, effectively.

grim_tales wrote:Yeah you're right about the Teletext thing, God knows what we'll doi in our house when the switchover happens - my Freeview box is pretty much useless anyway

Aren't you paying attention?

It's only useless because of all the current analogue crap in the air.

grim_tales wrote:'m pissed off with not being able to see one channel/record another on Freeview.

To be fair you're talking about 20+ year old technology.

I can see there will be lots of DVD or HD Recorders with Freeview built in by the time 2008 comes around. It is a worrying this hasn't started happening big time though.

That would fix it:

1. An IDTV or Freeview box for TV
2. Freeview in your DVD or HD/DVD Recorder

If this doesn't happen I "may" just buy a second Freeview box they're so cheap THAT said I virtually NEVER record off TV so it doesn't bother me.

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 09 Jan 2006, 21:34

bradavon wrote: 1. An IDTV or Freeview box for TV
2. Freeview in your DVD or HD/DVD Recorder

2. The Panasonic DMR-ES20D (around £175) is a DVD recorder with built-in Freeview, and the DMR-EH60D is the same thing with a 200GB hard drive in it too...

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 09 Jan 2006, 22:31

"but you probably need a new type of aerial."

Thats the thing "Probiby"

1) We got the guy out to check that we could get it, he said no and they should not have sold us our TV, but its worth a try

2) we got a new areial and could get the main chanels, but not many of the freeview ones at all

3) we got the place we bought our TV from to pay for that ariel upgrade and for a pilon thing on the rooftop to get enhanced signal and still its not very good and we can barley get any channels

4) we then got a booster and that helped a little, very little

In the end we cannot do much round our area an nor can friends and family (many miles away), most miss quite a few channels on Freeview as the signals are so crap. We all get awfull breakup of the picture for stupid reasons such as trafic! and basically I just end up turning off my TV as there is no point wathcing it when the picture breaks up even a mild amount.

In the end Digital and Freeview are crap and Analogue at least I can watch (and tape off!)

Its shit basically round our area.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 Jan 2006, 23:43

Fair enough Romero old bean.

It is scary all these people buying new TVs that aren't HD ready (separate discussion) to save a few bob and a new DVD/HD Recorder that doesn't have Freeview without thinking for a second in a few years time they'll only have ONE tuner OR worse NO tuners if they're analogue only.

I can really see the sale of Freeview boxes going through the roof over the next few years, when analogue is cut especially.

IronMonkey wrote:2. The Panasonic DMR-ES20D (around £175) is a DVD recorder with built-in Freeview, and the DMR-EH60D is the same thing with a 200GB hard drive in it too...

Wicked thanks. How much is the hard disk one? I wouldn't want one without a hard disk.

Are those fairly new? When I buy a new recording device it WILL have Freeview for sure it's the only way to save from lots of hassle later on.

When I bought my LCD TV about 6 months back I could've gone for an IDTV version but the price difference was something stupid like £90. Part of me wishes I had now but tbh one box isn't a big deal two would be a right pain (in reality I doubt I'd buy a second).

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 09 Jan 2006, 23:51

The whole 2 freeview decoder box situation to tape of TV is not good, but its better than the situation I have to put up with

I have to watch the channel I want to tape!!!!!

so if I want to tape a TV show that on when I am out, or in bed, I have to keep the TV on! and turn off the sound and brigtness etc.., its a joke.