Query about Freeview/Digital TV

lucygotago

Just wondering if anyone might be able to enlighten me as to whats the story with freeview, I know that you can recieve chanele's for free (freeview) if you have a box connceted to satelite dish or an arial, i also know that Irish cannels such as RTE ... are not yet on freeview but should be starting, now this is whare i get confused i here that there are TV's with MPEG4 Tuners available, would i be right in thinking that if you have one of these new tv's that if should automatically pick up the freeview chanels such as utv, ch4, .... the uk ones available? and that once RTE launches TV3 RTE2..... that the tv should then pick them up also? Or would i still need a box and dish? I hope someone might be able to clarify this as i need a new tv and if it is a case of a few extra quid for a MPEG4 tuner one than i would go n buy it saves the hastle of boxes and arials ... I could be totaly wrong but if you dont ask you will never know !!!

watty

OK..

1) Freeview is UK digital service via an AERIAL. You can't get it in most of Ireland.

2) Freesat, Freesat from Sky and FTA (Free to Air) are three families of receivers you can use to receive free UK TV ANYWHERE in Ireland with a Dish and Setbox (and some TV sets).

3) Yes Irish Digital Terrestrial (via an Aerial NOT a Dish) is testing and will launch on many (but not all) masts this Autumn (2009). Irish Digital TV via a Dish is only via Sky Pay TV Package.

4) Irish Digital Terrestrial in line with nearly 20 countries uses the newer MPEG4. UK freeview uses the older MPEG2, so their receivers/TVs won't work here. Buying a TV or Setbox just right now is "unsupported" as the service has not launced. So wait!

Additionally the main value of DIgital TV is automated recording of up to a month's viewing and easily a week's viewing without tapes (using a PVR) and with playback is IDENTICAL to live TV with no loss of quality at all. Until you have used this you would not appreciate how fantasic it is. Google Tivo and Sky+ to have an idea of what subscription systems have been like for last few years. NOw you can have this with all the main UK channels via a Dish and shortly the Irish Channels via an Aerial.

See this Satellite Forum for info about Freesat and also this Terrestrial Forum for news about Irish Digital TV developments and when the service is launching.


P.S. Welcome to Boards Lucygotago

branners69

Fair play Watty that answers a lot of questions people may have in regards to Freeview/Freesat/DTT!

STB

lucygotago you should also be aware that there are combo boxes that do both DTT and sat. that means one remote control and all your channels on one menu. Typically they are 200-220 for the cheapest (Mvision HD200 Combo). It is discussed in the terrestrial section in the link Watty gave you.

branners69

STB wrote: »

lucygotago you should also be aware that there are combo boxes that do both DTT and sat. that means one remote control and all your channels on one menu. Typically they are 200-220 for the cheapest (Mvision HD200 Combo). It is discussed in the terrestrial section in the link Watty gave you.

Are there any boxes with pvr capabilities??

watty

yes, quite a few.

Though currently better value if you have a Satellite only PVR with HD (downsamples for non-HD sets) and get a DTT PVR later.

It's not recommended to spend money on DTT yet.

branners69

watty wrote: »

yes, quite a few.

Could you recommend a couple in the €300 price range?

Something which is reliable and easy for the boss to use!

Thanks

spongebobx

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Here's an email I sent to RTE recently,
I'll update any replies.


Hello,

I live in Derry City I have a DVD recorder with built-in Freeview.
On Friday 17 July the machine enquired if I wanted to accept a DVB update which is normal, and I accepted the update.

Up until now I have been unable to recieve any RTE freeview signal but I have a full set
of aerials which enable me to watch RTE in the usual manner along with all Freview channels.

This time however my machine started to scan and store RTE channels - "Great stuff", I thought but when I went to watch the channels the screen was blank, with some "encrypted" although the Electronic Programme Guide is fully installed. My main problem is that these channels have now taken over the Ch 1,2 3,4 and 5 slots moving BBC,ITV C4 and five into the 800's storage slots and have generally messed up my machine, moving channels in no logical order.
I have tried new scans but get the same thing.
Could you advise how to correct this?
Will RTE be available on Freeview?

P.S. I am able to access Digital Aertel!

Thanks

[/FONT]

Digifriendly

Spongebobx - If you have a masthead amp. to enable your aerial to pick up RTE, then first unplug the power supply for the amp and rescan your Freeview box. This should bring in only the UK freeview channels. RTE channels on DTT use different MPEG so cannot be viewed on most Freeview boxes.

spongebobx

Digifriendly wrote: »

Spongebobx - If you have a masthead amp. to enable your aerial to pick up RTE, then first unplug the power supply for the amp and rescan your Freeview box. This should bring in only the UK freeview channels. RTE channels on DTT use different MPEG so cannot be viewed on most Freeview boxes.

Thanks for that.
I checked last night and I don't have a masthead amp. I have 2 outside aerials; 1 aligned horizontally, the other vertically.
They must be split some way in the attic and go into a coaxial cable downstairs.

sesswhat

spongebobx wrote: »

Thanks for that.
I checked last night and I don't have a masthead amp. I have 2 outside aerials; 1 aligned horizontally, the other vertically.
They must be split some way in the attic and go into a coaxial cable downstairs.

Your Freeview aerial should be horizontal, pointed towards Limavady.

Your RTE signals should be coming from Holywell Hill, overlooking you to the west. This should also be horizontal but it's so close you may get it with any type of aerial arrangement. You may even pick it up from the back of the Limavady aerial.

For now, try to locate the point where both aerials are combined and scan with only one connected at a time.

Are your neighbours having similar problems?

Different pieces of Freeview equipment may treat the RTE channels in a different way. My TV assigns them to 401,402 etc. while my PVR lists them as 801, 802 etc.

spongebobx

sesswhat wrote: »

Your Freeview aerial should be horizontal, pointed towards Limavady.

Your RTE signals should be coming from Holywell Hill, overlooking you to the west. This should also be horizontal but it's so close you may get it with any type of aerial arrangement. You may even pick it up from the back of the Limavady aerial.

For now, try to locate the point where both aerials are combined and scan with only one connected at a time.

Are your neighbours having similar problems?

Different pieces of Freeview equipment may treat the RTE channels in a different way. My TV assigns them to 401,402 etc. while my PVR lists them as 801, 802 etc.

Do you think that this problem is temporary? I could live with it if it was to be resolved. If I disconnect the offending cable I will be left with a poor terrestrial signal for RTÉ or none at all?

sesswhat

spongebobx wrote: »

Do you think that this problem is temporary? I could live with it if it was to be resolved. If I disconnect the offending cable I will be left with a poor terrestrial signal for RTÉ or none at all?

As long as the cable is disconnected every time you do a scan, you can plug it in again afterwards. The existing analogue signals will be around for a few years to come yet.

Edit:
As an alternative, your Freeview box may have a manual scan option in the installation menu. If so you can try the following:

1. Disconnect the aerial input to the box
2. Do an automatic scan which should clear the channel list completely
3. Do a manual scan on each of the following channels:

53,57,58,60,63 and 67

You should now have only the Freeview channels from Limavady.

spongebobx

Thanks very much.