DIGITAL TV SWITCHOVER

[Ann]

Is anyone else out there frustrated by this digital switchover lark? It is going to cost me an awful lot of money to replace everything, 3 TVs (or buy a box) and my 2 video recorders. I don't really understand what to do but as I'm not 75 years old I don't qualify for the free advice. I'm totally fed up with it all - and we change next week. Can't see the need to change!!! Also Ceefax, which I look at regularly is not half as informative on the digital channels as it was on the old analogue BBC1 channel - why would this be?

[plautus]

You will not have to replace your VCRs.

[whiskeryron]

You must make sure you have good efficient outside aerial, buy a decent freeview digibox, plus an aerial 4 way splitter(booster)
http://www.amazon.co....id=1312635084&sr=1-9.
if you need me to tell you how to connect please ask.

Ron.

[buildersmate]

You must have three pretty old TVs then.

[Hopkirk]

Once you are switched you will be pleased with the better pictures and more choice.

I am glad they are moving away from the old steam driven analogue system.

[beso]

Forget the set top box. The old television is the wrong aspect ratio and all the pictures will be distorted when displayed on it. The pictures on the new technology are way better and the technology allows for far more stations.

This change has surely has been coming for years and you have left it to the last minute.

[deggers316]

i agree with beso ann86 youve known about this for a long time now unless you've ignored the info through your letter box
buy a new tv a 32 in with freeview is not going to break the bank nowadays

[Ann]

Thanks deggers316!!!!! You obviously have far more money than I have!!!!!

[VHG]

>>>You will not have to replace your VCRs.

True if he only wants to watch Videos.

But if his VCR has an analogue TV tuner in it (most have) then he will not be able to record one channel while watching another.

[VHG]

>>>I'm not 75 years old I don't qualify for the free advice.

EVERYONE is entitled to free ADVICE. There is loads of it around

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/

[VHG]

>>> It is going to cost me an awful lot of money

Well in the short term you can buy a freeview box for as little as £15, so for your 3 TVs that is about £50 in total. That will enable you to pick up digital signals on each TV.

In the long term you can replace your VCRs with PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) that record programs to a computer hard disk (built inside the box) which are far better than a VCR player.

Then in the longer term you can replace your TVs one by one for modern widescreen TVs.

I agree in the long term that may cost you quite a few hundred pounds, but you dont need to do it all now, and in the short term £50 will get you digital on your 3 existing TVs.

[VHG]

>>> Also Ceefax, which I look at regularly is not half as informative on the digital channels

There are plenty of news channels on the internet and the BBC news channel www.bbc.co.uk/news has far more information than Ceefax ever had, and it is far easier to navigate (and faster).

[VHG]

>>>>Can't see the need to change!!!

To briefly explain why.

Years ago the world was analogue (radio, phones, photographs, TV, cinema film, records such as single/albums and so on).

Analogue has all sorts of problem (pictures fade, LPs get scratched, phone signals fade over long distances, cinema film fades etc).

Then with the advent of computers everything was held DIGITALLY.

I wont bother to explain why but digital information cant fade over time, it will always be the same as the day it was created.

So gradually we are moving to a digital world.

Misic and films (CDs and DVDs ) are now digital, nearly all cameras (still and video) are now digital, phones are digital, Sky TV signals are sent out digital, feature films are often filmed digitally, radio can now be digial (DAB radio), even newspapers and books are created digitally.

Once information is held digitally it is much easier to store it, move it around, copy it and so on. And it can NEVER fade over time.

The move to digital TV is just one part of a huge process that has been going on for the last 10 or 20 years to get all the worlds information held digitally.

Digital TV has many other advantages over analogue, one being the "red button" where you can get all sorts of extra information about a TV program than is just being shown on your TV.

For example during Wimbledon tennis recently you were able to press the red button and choose the tennis match you wanted to watch, rather than the single match that was on BBC1.

There are all sorts of other advantages for digital TV ver analogue.

Once you have moved to digital TV I think you will find analouge TV very old fashioned.