Digital freeview- son't let the retailers scam you

aj2001

I think its upto the people who are buying, we have dvb-TV or di-tv and its great to switch over from analogue to digi and watch other channels and at the same time have video and sk-y pluged into the scarts. ITS great

Now I want to record the repeat on film-4
It can be done yes but I have to leave the tv ON and on that channel, I cant record and watch something else on bbc or something.

op is right in pointing out that sales guys will try to sell you analogue tv, so if you dad or mam just wants to watch a telly than might as well get them one thats dvb -digital integrated TV, so they are ready for switch over.

Poppycat

LCD's look horrible with analogue tuners. I have both Analogue and digital builtin and not only picture quality is far better on digital but also aspect ratio can be widescreen where as analogue isnt.

Kilty_2

I don't rate IDTVs compared with a seperate set top box.

We have a Sony IDTV and cannot record any digital channels with the VCR (It's probably faulty) & the software is buggy and crashes FAR more often than my Echostar STB, needing the TV to be switched off at the mains and back on again.

Poppycat

But IDTV are better than having an analogue you can still get a freeview set top box or like I do a pvr twin tuner later if you so wish. I can record two programs and still twahc freeview on tv, it comes in handy with a family too for wtahcing tv at a later stage.

I think all tvs should now have freeview builtin, for what it costs it should hardle costing any more than a few quid more than a anlaogue tuner or have both thuse if you live in a bad area at least you can get analogue

Clowance

freeview will not be available in some areas until 2012, apparently only 70% of the population currently receive it. I live in a densely populated area and cannot get it. Therefore I wouldnt wish to pay for an inbuilt receiver in a TV, and in fact its increasingly difficult to get a dvd recorder with hard drive which doesnt have a freeview box. So us consumers will be needing analogue tvs for a while yet.
Found this interesting article about the switch over if anyones interested.http://www.arar93.dsl.pipex.com/mds975/Content/dtt.html

puc

also, if you want to use freeview HDTV when it emerges, the inbuilt tuner in a IDTV will be useless. with a separate box, it's a simple swap.

ckerrd

Some interesting point rasied in this discsussion, from a number of people who seem to be fairly savvy about what is going on, however....

there are a lot of people out in the big wide world who have no idea what the hell is going as regards digital switchover.

My Mother bought herself a big Sony 32"CRT a year or so back and thinks that she will need to ditch it for a "digital" television.
She has BSkyB and rarley watches ananlogue.
To be honest she doesn't watch digital or analogue - she watches programmes.
I have reassured her that she needs buy nothing, unless she wants to watch a programme on BSkyB and record BBC1 for example and then she can spend £30 on a set top box.

emerydown

http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/freeview.htm
Some info here

TTT_2

I am still a little mystified as to why we don't see our TV's as purely monitors as we do with PCs. I am sure this would be the way to go as it would be less likely to become obselete and with less parts inside the basic screen/box would be cheaper and more reliable.
I for one have not used the TV as anything but a monitor for 6 years. The tuner part has been supplied by NTL,Freeview,SKY and then SKY+. Sound comes courtesy of a reasonable HIFI so the crummy speakers inside the box are redundant aswell.
With the convergence of media sources it can't be long before it is more common to have a computer based complete system in each house run wired/wirelessly with a server of sorts hidden away and a handful of cheaper network machine around the house .
Just my twopenneth really !

roadster1

TTT wrote:

I am still a little mystified as to why we don't see our TV's as purely monitors as we do with PCs. I am sure this would be the way to go as it would be less likely to become obselete and with less parts inside the basic screen/box would be cheaper and more reliable.
I for one have not used the TV as anything but a monitor for 6 years. The tuner part has been supplied by NTL,Freeview,SKY and then SKY+. Sound comes courtesy of a reasonable HIFI so the crummy speakers inside the box are redundant aswell.
With the convergence of media sources it can't be long before it is more common to have a computer based complete system in each house run wired/wirelessly with a server of sorts hidden away and a handful of cheaper network machine around the house .
Just my twopenneth really !

Well said.:T

May I add why do DVD recorders all have analogue tuners built in? I'm looking for one to compliment my PVR, why does it have to have a tuner at all??