41 replies to this topic

[Dave]

I know it's a while off yet (2009 in this area) but shutting down the analogue services is going to happen and I was wondering what the current state of readiness is with our board members. Hi Definition choice isn't really an issue because it'll more or less be optional for a while, but I though that we might as well have that question too.

Then there's recording - which is going to be a pain unless you've got a twin tuner in your digibox or a Sky+. We were all spoiled on the old analogue with the ability to watch something and record something else at the same time (due to the video having its own tuner), but there's quite a bit of catching up to do when a lot of people think that they're ready with a single tuner freeview or Sky box.

What about all those old portables that don't stand a cat in hells chance of receiving digital unless you've got a roof aerial feed wired into the room (and a digibox).

How's it going?

[Carr Millite]

Dave, you didn't put enough options on the poll.
I have a HD telly and Sky HD already.
I record by using Sky plus.
I'm so glad I didn't buy a DVD recorder.
BTW, watched the European Cup match last night in HD and switched over for a bit to see how it looked on ordinary telly.
It was dreadful.
The picture, not the match.

[SaintJeff]

I've heard different opinions on HDTV. Some say it the dogs nads and some say they cant tell the difference. The ones ive seen in on display in the shops musnt be connected up to a HD signal cause they look worse than a crt tv.

[Olliebeak]

Not enough options for me either, Dave.

Sky in living room for main tv and digiboxes in both bedrooms (only cheap asda ones but at least a bit more choice).

HDTV can wait for a while longer - Mr Ollie has got enough toys in his life!

[Archie]

As per bleedin' usual, we are being collectively ripped off.
Analogue, with a good signal and a good telly is very good.
Digital is an 'all or nothing' scenario. Anything wrong with your signal and you get distortion, blocking pictures and sound problems.
I've watched numerous footie matches via Sky etc., where the picutre just cant kep up with the action.

HD is a joke. Last I heard, from a respected and highly knowledgeable commentator, there is no way HD will be able to provide the number of channels proposed, at the resolution claimed.


Seems like a repeat of the digital radio fiasco. Govt. selling off inadequate bandwidth to the highest bidder and sod the consumer. Analogue radio at its best, with a good tuner, is way better than digital radio. Digital radio at its (usual) worst, is broadcast at low bit rates and often not even in stereo, which kind of defeats the object.

[Dave]

I kept the poll fairly simple because I was mostly interested in the readiness of digital TV more than anything else. There are all sorts of other things that I could have put in but I didn't want to turn it into a brag-fest.

My experience with terrestrial digital hasn't been all that great. The freeview box wouldn't work proper until the aerial was upgraded and even then the signal wasn't good on some of the channels - breaking up and generally being crap. Since I got Sky though it's been fantastic (cheapest option - £20 for 2 mixes and 8mb (ha - up to 8mb) broadband) and I can't fault the reception. I'm going to get Sky+ eventually, but being a glutton for punishment regards freeview I bought one of those WinTV cards for the PC the other day. The idea was that I'd be able to record anything on freeview (to the hard disk) while I was watching or recording (on DVD RAM) something with Sky. I bought an aerial extension lead (a cheap one) thinking that it'd be adequate to run from the front of the house (where the main telly is) to the back room where this computer is, but it won't register any channels when I scan for them (the bugger). I'll probably need to buy a better extension lead or get another lead from the roof aerial before it'll work (damnit).

I saw some really good HD demos in a specialist shop in Scotland last year. I can see the attraction, but it can wait until it's more mainstream.

[Archie]

Dave, on May 25 2007, 12:31 AM, said:

I saw some really good HD demos in a specialist shop in Scotland last year. I can see the attraction, but it can wait until it's more mainstream.

This is the root of a continuing problem Dave. We've had this ever since CD swept vinyl away (apart from me, and thousands of others who know what good vinyl can really sound like). We had a similar scenario when Beta/VHS/V2000 etc competed. The ultimate victor, VHS, was universally acknowledged to be the worst of the three. We now have HDTV, SACD, HDCD, Blu-Ray, etc., etc. all trying to get their piece of the action.

It is in the nature of digital technology that there is a constant stream of 'better' systems, codecs, or whatever they're called. It follows that it is near impossible to establish a universal and acceptable standard, as different manufacturers compete for prominence.
Add to this the fact that govt. is more interested in revenues from licencing of chunks of the bandwidth, than it is in genuine quality, and you're stuffed.

I have to say that I predicted all this from the early days of Sky etc. Once the big commercial organisations got their hands on the audio/visual media, it was blindingly obvious that quality would. suffer on the altar of the great god profit.

And so it is. TV quality is generally lower than it's ever been, both in terms of picture and content.
The same applies to radio, with millions of 'me too!' stations churning out the same old shite, while quality stations such as R3 and 4 are reduced to also rans. Have you ever listened to Radio 4? There are some very funny, interesting and informative progs on there. And only an inverted snob would find it 'too middle class', as is oftened alleged.

Country's gone to the dogs!

[Dave]

Until recently I'd condemned Sky as being bloody awful. That's because I had the Variety mix (Sky 1, 2. 3, UK Gold, etc., along with a lot of real rubbish) and the Music mix - for the daughter, who only watched it every blue moon. Anyway, I swapped the music for the Knowledge mix (documentaries, history, wild life, etc.) and I've enjoyed that. I suppose that I'll get sick of it once everything is repeated to death.

Here's something that bugs me - people who watch telly in the wrong aspect ratio! My mum has widescreen HD ready and on broadcasts it isn't so bad because it can automatically guess which screen modes to use, but she plays recordings back that were broadcast in 4:3 in widescreen (16:9) and everybody looks fat and squashed! I tell her about it but she won't have it and she thinks that I'm just being an annoying techno-nerd (FFS!).

I can't really be bothered with radio in general. It's okay in the car and I do sometimes listen to Radio 4 but more often than not I forget to switch the radio on and travel in silence.

[Alan]

It's all a bit of a dog's breakfast in our house. Sky with all the bells and whistles in one room, analogue in kitchen and two bedrooms. We even have three video recorders/players plus DVD players. The change will be a last minute affair, largely because I couldn't be arsed to properly read the various leaflets or watch the information recordings. To be brutally honest, I'd just as soon go back to radio as main media with three terrestial TV channels only coming on at tea-time and expiring at midnight

[donkey o'tay]

Andrew Marr's modern history of Britain was excellent the other night even if he did miss some very important things out. It's programme like thia that restore my faith in the BBC. I have no idea whether he was in digital or analogue. He comes through a cable in the wall. We're with virgin.

[Dave]

That'll be digital Donks.

Carr Millite, on May 24 2007, 10:34 PM, said:

I record by using Sky plus.
I'm so glad I didn't buy a DVD recorder.

DVD recorders are good if they have DVD RAM but the Sky+ (hard drive) is probably better, but there's nothing wrong with having both anyway - in case you want to keep something and make room on the drive. Something that would probably be easy to implement but the manufactures are tending to shy away from are Ethernet connectors on PVRs. It's got to come but they're probably saving it for when everybody has bought the currently available kit.

[donkey o'tay]

Dave, on May 25 2007, 12:22 PM, said:

That'll be digital Donks.

Ooooh I feel all 21st century now.

Our telly is about to conk out anyway so we'll have to get a new one soon. I was trying to eek the last out of the old box because I thought I'd have to buy a new one in 2009 anyway. It seems not as I'm already digital.

So it's not the telly itself that is digital/analogue but it's the signal. Got it now.

Hopefully when the dust settles from all this the price of tellies will start to come down just when our old box dies forever.

[Maz]

I don't watch much TV.

[Dave]

So we're about 92% digital so far then.

(when it was 12-1)

[Pete]

Nobody has mentioned the cost of receiving the signal...
I got me dads telly, that being HD ready; so I decided to find out how your suppose to get the HD, anyroad I found out and rang Virgin who quoted me as follows....

Something called a Vplus box you need, installed at 75 quid, then she blabbed on about something Large at £11.50 or Extra large at £20. 50 Don't/didn't have a clue wtf she was on about, then the L was £15 a month and EL was £25 a month....

No way! it can all wait. I thought once you bought the telly, you then just recieved the signal where your tv licence covered the cost.

Thing is, if an old film is being screened, how is it poss to watch it in HD, you can't, I have to assume lots and lots of things can only be viewd in the foramt they were made in even if it is HD.