Will RTE be on freeview lite?

ballyblack

From a leaflet put thru my door

"Freeview signals from the Black Mountain, Carnmoney Hill and Brougher Mountain transmitters will broadcast TG4, Rte1 &2 for the first time at switchover in October. The channels will be broadcast in Standard definition but Freeview HD will be required to receive them"

almillar

As ballyblack (and the leaflet thru MY door!) says - NI are being dealt with specially and Freeview HD boxes will get the RTE channels from the NI transmitters, in a similar way to getting RTE on Sky - ie there are rights issues for some sports etc.
If you can currently get RTE from across the border you maybe able to get Saorview from there too, which gets round any programmes you might miss.
I'd advise putting off buying any equipment until AFTER the final switchover date of October 24th. That way, both north and south will be pumping out theirn proper digital signals, you'll get the equipment cheaper, and can plug it in and test it.

rachel_green

Hello

Could any of you smart, kind people explain what I need to do when freeview happens please?

I have a sony bravia tv which has a digital mode (in the user guide it says "any functions related to digital TV (DV3) will only work in countries or areas where DVB-T (MPEG2) digital terrestrial signals are broadcast").

I receive all my channels from Sky, I can not recieve any channels via the aerial, think this is because i'm surrounded by hills.

When freeview happens do I retune my telly, buy a freeview box or new tv.

D.A.

Let's be clear here - Freeview already "happened" years ago, and your TV has been capable of receiving it since then. What's happening now is digital switchover, where the analogue signal is being turned off, the digital signal is being boosted, and some of the digital channels will be changing frequency.

If you had been receiving any of your channels through an aerial, you would have had to re-tune your TV (twice, on two different dates) to pick up the new frequencies for the channels. But you don't use an aerial, so this doesn't apply to you.

Since you receive all your channels through Sky, you won't have to change anything at all - it'll work as it always did.

Note that if you have any *other* TVs in your house receiving signals through an aerial, you *will* have to re-tune those when the time comes.

esson1

Is anyone picking up soirview or soirsat in Belfast ?

almillar

Rachel - your TV has a Freeview tuner. Not FreeviewHD, just Freeview. If you ever actually used the tuner inside your TV, you'd be retuning it twice in October. If I were you, I'd try a retune at the end of October, the signal is being boosted, so even if you couldn't get anything before, you might now.
Your Sky is completely unaffected by all this. Everything connected to an AERIAL is.

rachel_green

thanks for your replies.

I would ideally like to try and get my stations without having to go through sky.

I think I will try and retune now to see if I can get anything and then again in Oct.

My sky package is basic but still would be happy to be able to cancel it and save the money.

Willyk

Rachel, If my understanding is correct you could cancel sky, but still use the sky box as a freeview receiver. You will still get all the freeview channels and probably a better service (more facilities) on the red button than you would get with a freeview tv.

D.A.

Your understanding is (almost) completely correct. Rachel can indeed cancel Sky and receive all the free-to-air channels through her Sky box. However, to do this, she'll have to request a "Freesat from Sky" viewing card from Sky. (Note that this is NOT the same as actual Freesat, for which she would have to buy a new receiver, but wouldn't require any viewing card).

Rachel, there's no point in re-tuning your TV yet, as if you didn't receive any channels before through your aerial, you won't receive them now. Wait until the signal is boosted in October before you try re-tuning your TV.

Willyk

I have about 5 sky boxes running without any cards (Octo lnb) and am able to get freeview channels okay. Only problem is that they default to London South East for local news etc but all the NI local programs are there if you select the correct channel number. I have one with an NI card and this does default to NI. Maybe the "Freesat from Sky" card gives you something extra ?