Digital TV (UK)
Where I live (so-called 'civilised' - ie not everyone has mains sewerage or gas, and we cannot get cable or broadband!!) I am told by the 'Freeview' website that I cannot have that either.
Informed opinion locally is to ignore that, so I had a mate bring his set-top box along and, lo and behold, I have a sort of reception on SOME channels, varying from zilch to perfect. I know I will probably need to upgrade my aerial to high gain, and I already have an amplifier in circuit. The puzzle is why are some channels 'dead' (UK History) and some perfect? Are there any gurus of the digibox out there with any tips? Location Sussex, TX Midhurst |
Hoping the forum mods will indulge me as this is not strictly 'computer/internet', but I've moved this from Non-Ati where I had no replies here in the hope that some wiz might help?
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Hi BOAC, try this site, scroll down to "Problems with Freeview". Should answer some of your queries!
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/tvfaq.html |
"Sorry mate - it's probably yer aerial - could be expensive that. Need to go and get me ladders, couple of hours work, then there's the VAT...."
To receive terrestrial digital signals satisfactorily, you need an antenna which covers more of the UHF TV spectrum than the one which receives old-fashioned analogue BBC/ITV from your local transmitter. In other words, a wide band antenna, not just a high gain one. Because the multiplex channel carrying some terrestrial digital TV services in your area will probably fall outside the antenna bandwidth needed for the 4 or 5 analogue TV channels. Whilst I'm no fan of Sky's methods, their digital signals do at least cover the whole UK - and a Sky system can cost less than having a wide band UHF TV and terrestrial digital receiver installed...... |
....you need an antenna which covers more of the UHF TV spectrum than the one which receives old-fashioned analogue BBC/ITV .... I took a chance with a digibox and hooked it up to my attic amplifier/distribution system and the result was good. In fact, before the change Channel 5 was its usual snowy self off normal air. But through the digibox fed by the normal hi-gain antenna inside the attic the result is as good as all the other 20 or so channels. Beags may be right in principle but it could just be worth a try before you fork out for a new antenna. |
Great - I knew I could rely on the 'old faithfulls'!:p
Thanks everyone - I plan to go fobotcso's way. |
In fact it would seem that the digital multiplexes from the Midhurst transmitter should all be receivable on a 'normal' C/D group horizontally polarised UHF TV antenna..... So all you should need is a good quality, well-installed C/D group aerial; there should be no need to have to replace it with a W group aerial.
Try http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html and enter your postcode where indicated. That should give you an indication of which channels you should be able to receive at your location. E.g, from Midhurst, all these Freeview channels should be available: TV 1 BBC ONE 2 BBC TWO 3 ITV 1 4 Channel 4 5 five 6 ITV 2 7 BBC THREE 9 Teletext 10 BBC FOUR 11 Sky Travel 12 UK History 16 QVC 17 TV Travel Shop 18 The Hits 19 UK Bright Ideas 20 f tn 21 TMF 23 bid-up.tv 30 CBBC 31 CBeebies 40 BBC News 24 41 ITV News Channel 42 Sky News 43 Sky Sports News 45 BBC PARLIAMENT YES 46 Community Channel 50 Four Text 51 BBCi 52 ntl i RADIO 70 BBC Radio 1 71 1Xtra BBC 72 BBC Radio 2 73 BBC Radio 3 74 BBC Radio 4 75 Radio 5 Live 76 BBC Five Live Sports Extra 77 BBC 6 Music 78 BBC 7 79 BBC Asian Network 80 BBC World Service 81 Kiss 82 Kerrang! 83 Smash Hits! 84 Jazz FM 85 Oneword |
No matter what, make sure you buy a setpal type box. There are various makes on the market, all the same, but don't getanything other than setpal, especially in a weak signal area
Also try the forum for digital terrestrial here |
Get Sky. I've got both, Freeview and Sky, in different locations and Sky comprehensively wipes the floor with Freeview. Even if you get Sky with the minimum subscription (no Sport/Movies), there are so many more advantages: solid signal, extensive TV-guide, automatic programming of the set top box (for video recording), much more comprehensive interactivity (Sky News Active has to be seen to be believed), even the time it takes to switch channels is ages on Freeview but lightening on Sky.
And, for £18.50/month, you get all this: Sports Sky Sports News British Eurosport Eurosportnews 24hr attheraces Entertainment Sky One Sky One Mix UK Gold UK Gold +1 UK Gold 2 Living TV Living TV +1 Granada Plus Challenge? Bravo Bravo +1 Paramount Sci-Fi Discovery Home & Leisure Discovery Home & Leisure + 1 Men and Motors Sky Travel Sky Travel Extra UK Style UK Style+1 UK Food UK Drama Hallmark Discovery Health E4 ITV2 CNX E! UK Bright Ideas Ftn QVC Sky Travel Shop News and Documentaries Sky News Bloomberg CNBC Fox News Discovery Channel Discovery Channel + 1hr Discovery Travel and Adventure Discovery Civilisation Discovery Sci-Trek Discovery Wings National Geographic National Geographic Channel + 1 Adventure One The History Channel History + 1 hr Biography UK Horizons UK Horizons + 1 Discovery Animal Planet Discovery Animal Planet + 1 UK History Music and Radio The Amp Scuzz Flaunt MTV MTV Hits VH1 VH1 Classic MTV 2 MTV Base MTV Dance TMF The Box KISS Smash Hits Magic Q Kerrang! The Hits Music Choice (10 channels) Talksport (UK, NI & Channel Isles) Big Blue Kids Cartoon Network Cartoon Network + 1 Boomerang Nickelodeon Nick Replay Nick Toons TV Trouble Fox Kids Fox Kids + 1 Discovery Kids Nick Jr. Non-subscription BBC ONE BBC TWO ITV1 London Channel 4 five BBC THREE BBC FOUR Travel Channel Travel Channel 2 S4C ~ Digitol Life TV Showcase Fashion TV Game Network You TV AVAGO BEN Reality TV Classics TV Performance TCM gobarkingmad Motors TV Extreme Sports Chart Show TV Video Vault Classic FM TV channel U BBC News 24 BBC Parliament CNN S42 ~ 2 ITV News Channel Euro News CCTV9 CBBC CBeebies TV Travelshop TV Travelshop 2 PIN Ideal World Screenshop Shop America Travel Deals Direct Simply Shop Best Direct Simply Home Simply Ideas TV Warehouse Shopping Genie bid-up.tv Thomas Cook TV Telsell letsgoshop+ Auction World Shop on TV Simply Hols TV Thane Direct ShopSmart TVWarehouse Shop 24/7 Stop+ Shop Yes Screenshop 2 TGH JML Direct Phoneworld Vitality Going Places TV Factory Outlet God Channel God 2 Wonderful TBN Europe Christian TV Revelation TV Job Shop Community Channel Dating Channel txt me Open Access TDC2 TX1 Create & Craft B4U Music PCNE Chinese mta- muslim TV Abu Dhabi Asia TV BBC 2W |
Wow! You must have a lot of free time to watch that lot! ;)
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Thanks for all the typing and time. Out of interest, Beagle, http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html gives me distinct 'holes' in provision, such as no C5 (no loss!) so I am still (easily) confused. Good news though on the aerial band.
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All those channels...and still nothing worth watching!
I want to invent an automatic channel changer on my remote....so even that chore can be illiminated! |
BOAC,
Get Sky TV - unless you live in a cave you will be able to pick it up ok. Where I live (so-called 'civilised' - ie not everyone has mains sewerage or gas, and we cannot get cable or broadband!!) The transmitter near us is Emley Moor which is on the other side of the valley - so looks like Sky Digital will be the option and DAB Digital radio is definately out. Best of luck |
Well, in my cave I bought the Daewoo DS608 (under £77 delivered) and with my existing knackered old aerial and existing attic amp I get B1/2 ITV C4 C5 ITV2 BBC Parliament BBC News24/ITV News/ CCCC and Cbeebies (whoopee!) plus loads of digital radio and teletext - and IF I wanted them, all the shopping channels.
Overall a good move, and I'll upgrade the aerial next. |
Personally I'd vote for the BSkyB platform. There are so many problems with digital terrestrial television technology still to be satisfactorily overcome - and the only reason for the government's enthusiasm for terrestrial digital is so that they can flog off part of the Band IV and Band V UHF spectrum. Antenna quality and the deterioration which UHF aerials suffer from with time can cause significant post-installation problems. Far more so than with the pretty reliable Sky system (just make sure that you employ a specialist installer, not some barely trained ex-milkman working on fixed installation appointment times..)
BSkyB appears expensive because of that silly Sky+ system. What's the point now that recording is now possible on domestic DVD recorders? Unfortunately all the BSkyB receivers bar the elegant Sony VTX-S760U look like something knocked up by a Practical Wireless reader in his garden shed. ("This week, Oi 'av mainly been buildin' sat-or-light boxes"). Hence persuading the memsahib to accept not only a small dish antenna on the side of the stately pile but also an ugly looking biscuit box on top of the TV may be a bit difficult... Mind you, the terrestrial digital boxes look rather like those bits of cr@p you normally see sitting on top of the TVs in most Yank hotels. |
Next question for the 'fundi'!
With a gathering number of 'remote controls', I have tried to find a 'universal' which will control a Daewoo Digibox, but no luck. Daewoo have not responded to an enquiry abouit their codes. Anyone had any luck? |
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