BBC channels lost: TV obsolete?

ericonabike

Apologies if this is old news, but new to me! My Philips TV recently lost all BBC channels, saying poor signal. Cutting story short, Digital TV helpline assisted me to manually reinstall, but TV would not 'hold' changes, meaning that channels were lost each time I changed from BBC or switched it off. Rang Philips helpline, to be told that TV is 'too old' and that its tuner could not cope with the new service from BBC. My only option, he said was to buy a Freeview tuner and connect it to the TV.

Is this the case? The set is working perfectly otherwise, and all that has happened, so far as I can see, is that the BBC channels are being transmitted on a different frequency. It's not the cost of buying a Freeview set - I know they are only around £20 or so now - but the principle! Seems like buying a kettle, then being told that the water quality has changed and you need a water softener or something. All advice welcomed.

HeadAboveWater

We had a problem with the BBC channels on our Philips TV after the digital switchover. Does your TV have built in freeview?

Anyway, check out this post and see if it helps

penrhyn

How old is the TV? A lot of early TVs with digital tuners no longer work due to changes to the freeview system.

[Deleted User]

ericonabike wrote: »

My only option, he said was to buy a Freeview tuner and connect it to the TV.

I think you should either buy a Freeview Decoder(as you say, they're cheap as chips) or consider upgrading your television set to a newer model.
Certainly nothing else you can do in the circumstances.

ericonabike

HeadaboveWater - tried the 'menu' workaround, but to no avail. It held the channels initially, but lost them as soon as TV switched off.

The TV is about 6 years old, and has 'coped' with all the digital switchover changes until now, when there has been a change at my [Waltham] tramsmitter. Model 32PFL5522D/05

[Deleted User]

ericonabike wrote: »

The TV is about 6 years old, and has 'coped' with all the digital switchover changes until now,

Just get a new Freeview decoder if the TV is otherwise fully functional, but accept that the older the TV gets the less likely it will perform as new.

Buzby

Yes - I had the same issue with a Sony DVB set - the firmware could only cope with 30 channel placeholders, and could not auto-sort and store.

It's going to have to be relegated to a display (with a STB) or replaced.