How does teletext on your telly work?

[barneysdad]

I am baffled by teletext and ceefax it puzzles me how it actually knows the number i have picked!!

[5029]

It knows what number you have picked because you key it into the television via the remote.  It is basically a massive database with a page for each record and you choose which one to display

[srd]

I think 5029 missed the intention of your question - you are I think puzzled by how your requested number is 'sent' out of your TV in order for the right page to be delivered. It is of course impossible for ceefax/teletext to work like the internet, where you have two-way connectivity and can send a 'request' for a specific page to view. To get round this, teletext boradcasts all the pages continuously in a cycle (using a few lines of the TV signal not visible on your TV), which is why you have to wait quite a while for pages to load. So, you key in '321', and your TV 'catches' page '321' as it is broadcast, but has to wait for the next cycle before it can re-load further sections of the page.

[Potatoman]

Good question! Iv been wondering that for ages!

[srd]

...and not a bad answer either, even if I do say so myself!