Here we go again with the digital farce we didnt ask for.

dark_lady

After retuning yet again we have lost ITV1 and ITV2 and ITV 4 all the channel 4 channels thats incuding +1 e4 e4 +1 etc. Two weeks ago it was the bbc channels but we managed to get them back after a lot of fartarsing about. Hubby has just tried to get the itv channels back in the same way but no joy.We bought our freeview tv last year so are supposed to be digital ready. There wasnt all this crap with analogue. This has been forced on us. its something we didnt ask or beg for. im fed up with all the !!!!ing about.

bloss0m

Is your aerial/cable okay, if its old it may need replacing

It looks like you may have a weak signal hence loosing channels

albionrovers

I went to bed last night and watched freeview telly for a bit then woke up this morning, switched on and had nothing.

keith1950

Hi, normally such problems are signal related.

There is a lot of rubbish talked about 'digital aerials' , all you need is an good aerial capable of delivering a good, consistant signal.

What people don't realise is that digital is transmitted at a fraction of the signal that analogue is.

It is said that once the analogue signals are all switched off the digital transmitters will be increased in output and a lot of problems should disappear.

In my area, for example, the digital was originally transmitted at 3kw and was later increased to 10kw and will probably be increased further.
Analogue is transmitted at 500kw, so you can see that an aerial that is ok for analogue might cause problems when receiving a signal that is so much smaller.

Digital is transmitted by a series of multiplexes of around 6-7 channels so if there is a problem with the signal at that frequency you lose all the channels in that multiplex.

The digital strength cannot be increased too far until the analogue transmitters are turned off otherwise there will be severe prolems with interference.

Once the switch over happens you may be ok but most people are not waiting to find out and are upgrading their aerial systems.

macman

OP, what stage are you at in the switchover process-what TVregion? Digital switchover is in 2 stages, each stage requires a retune, which takes only about 3 minutes to do.
If you are trying to get digital reception on a set-top or loft aerial, that may be the problem-decent digital reception usually requires a proper rooftop aerial.

almillar

Retune is the first and simplest thing to do. Beyond that, what model is your TV, what transmitter are you on, and what's the condition of the aerial/cabling. I for one appreciate the better picture on Freeview, just wish the precious bandwidth was dedicated to fewer quality channels rather than loads of cack ones!

dark_lady

hi everyone thanks for your replies. Im in Essex. the channels were back earlier this evening so i suppose i overreacted a bit but you never had to faff like this with analogue. oh for my childhood. Only four channels but better quality programmes and no reality pap!

macman

Essex, but which transmitter-Sudbury?
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/anglia/sudbury

roddydogs

...........And how many channels did you have on Analogue?

Heinz

It's a bit worrying that someone in a digital switchover area* could be unaware of the dates retunes are necessary.

I can understand it with the very elderly (I retuned a couple of elderly neighbour's Freeview boxes on 6 July and again yesterday) but it's difficult to undersatand how that could be the case with others.

* dark lady, assuming you do receive your TV signals from the Sudbury transmitter, put a note in your diary for 16/11/11 and 27/6/12 - retunes will be necessary then too.

Cool4Cats

dark lady i think you are just going over the top, how long does it take to retune a tv or set top box.:T