Freeview success boosts 2010 switch off

[net1]

Thanks to Freeview's successful take off, the BBC released new figures that show that the UK government's ambition of switching off the analogue television signal by 2010 may not be so far-fetched.

More than half of British households are equipped with multichannel television. "It's a tipping point: digital television is now the norm," said Andy Duncan, Director of marketing at the BBC.

Much of the recent growth is being attributed to the popularity of Freeview, which replaced the defunct ITV Digital.

By the end of the year, according to BBC projections, Freeview is likely to be in 2.5 million homes, making it bskyb's biggest competitor in the multichannel television market. Taking into account Sky's 7 million subscribers, the 2.2 million digital cable customers plus the assorted owners of integrated digital sets and those who have bought a Sky box outright, half of the 24.9 million homes in Britain will have made the leap to digital.

However, doubters are quick to point out that digital TV, in any form, usually connects to one set in the house with often two or three more remain analogue.

[PaulR]

More than half of British households are equipped with multichannel television.

yes but what about the rest of the equipment in the house?

Take my house as an example. I have a dodgybox with solus card so am technically a digital household. But I also have an analogue VCR (less than a year old) on the same TV, which is itself only a month or so old and without an ID tuner so is analogue only.

Then we have a television and VCR in the breakfast room and each of the 2 kids bedrooms. Our bedroom and the garden shed (!) have analogue TVs.

This means that there are 9 further analogue devices that will become useless when the analogue signals are switched off.

My advice is to answer NO to any poll that asks if you have Digital TV in your household. It's to your advantage to have dual broadcasting for as long as possible.

PaulR

Unless they are offering free replacement for all the analogue devices of course. Hmmmm, now how likely is that?

[easysat]

Paul makes a good point. On the radio this morning they were saying that the average British household has 2.4 televisions or so. Maybe the time has come to only buy TV stuff with built-in digital tuners. But how easy is it to buy a VCR, PVR or recordable DVD with a digital terrestrial tuner, at least without paying a huge price premium compared to analogue?

[rolfw]

There may be advantages to some in prolonging the broadcasting of analogue alongside digital, but there are also disadvantages to others.

There are those at present who cannot receive a full analogue package and some who cannot receive a full digital package, if reception is possible at all. Once the analogue frequencies are shut down, it will leave the way open for enhancing the digital signal strengths in some fringe regions and providing transmissions in other areas where they may have clashed with the analogue signals.

It should also open the door to perhaps more channels.

There are already portable ID TVs in the pipeline, but I guess that the price will not drop substantially, until they do away with the analogue side of the receiver and potential sales rise. There appears to be a generation of low spec, but very affordable digital receivers on the way also, so may be possible to add digital to a second or third TV for £40 or so.

The digital roller coaster is well under way, huge numbers of the public are starting to realise that there is more to life than five channels and to attempt to limit the progress may be a futile task.

[PaulR]

how easy is it to buy a VCR, ........ with a digital terrestrial tuner

I don't think there's a single one available at the moment is there? The big push is for DVDs and their RW brethren. I strongly suspect that there'll never be a VCR with a digital tuner but I hope to be proved wrong (at a reasonable price of course).

PaulR

[easysat]

how easy is it to buy a VCR, ........ with a digital terrestrial tuner

I don't think there's a single one available at the moment is there?

I am sure you are right about the VCR. What I would really like is a DVD recorder with a digital tuner. This is the only way to deal with the accumulating silver boxes beneath the TV. Even ditching my VCR, I wouldn't have room for a DVD and a Freeview box (plus another two remote controls would drive the wife mad anyway). Come to think of it, what I would really like is a DVD recorder with digital tuner and a built-in hard drive for time-shifted viewing!

[PaulR]

what I would really like is a DVD recorder with digital tuner and a built-in hard drive for time-shifted viewing

You don't want much then!!! And I presume it would have to be a dual satellite and terrestrial tuner for maximum compatibility.

PaulR

[cjgall]

It shouldn't be too difficult to build a box similar to easysat's suggestion using a VIA mini-itx mainboard with a C3 or Eden cpu.

If you don't want to build your own, companies like tranquil PC are making PC's specially for the living room.

See: http://www.mini-itx.com

[easysat]

It shouldn't be too difficult to build a box similar to easysat's suggestion using a VIA mini-itx mainboard with a C3 or Eden cpu.

I had a look at the site and it's an interesting approach for a PC enthusiast. Do you know anyone who's done this?

Incidentally, I saw a press release this morning from a well-known DVD recorder manufacturer announcing a new DVD recorder with hard disk for the Las Vegas show, but it didn't say whether a digital tuner was included.

[cjgall]

There are people out there that have built mini-itx SAT receivers.

I myself have build a couple of mini-itx boxes. The first is a Linux based server can be visited here: http://vmagic.unimatrixhub.net or http://www.guzelcamli.net , this one is based around a M9000.

The second box is work i progress. Currently it is attached to my TV an contains my whole CD collection as MP3's. It doesn't have a DVD drive or SAT receiver yet but adding these would be no problem although I would need a larger case as there is no room for expansion cards in my current case. It will take a slimline (laptop style) CD/DVD(RW) though. I have made it totally silent, i.e. no fans, the board I used is the 6000ME which has passive cooling on the CPU.

There are a couple of manufacturers that have DVD recorders with hard drives, Panasonic are one, although it is expensive at around 1100-1200 Euro's. You end up paying 500-800 euro's extra for a hard disk that costs around 70-120 euro's, crazy when you consider that the added Hard Drive requires no hardware changes, only software changes.

[easysat]

You end up paying 500-800 euro's extra for a hard disk that costs around 70-120 euro's, crazy when you consider that the added Hard Drive requires no hardware changes, only software changes.

I think I am guilty of turning this discussion away from DTT and towards PVR, so maybe it is now in the wrong forum. But I will continue anyway with apologies.

Anyway I was looking at the Philips Semiconductors DVD writer reference design based on the PNX7100 MPEG codec (on the Philips Emiconductors website). As far as I can see, this chip isn't capable of controlling a disk drive on its own. If you want to combine a DVD writer with disk drive, you need an extra chip the PNX1700 multimedia processor which can interface to a PCI bus. I guess that adding another large VLSI chip and supporting components plus the disk drive will add several hundred euros to the price of the finished box by the time it gets to the shops.

Still if I was a designer of DVD chips, I would be looking at putting a hard disk interface function on the MPEG codec chip. That way the cost penalty for the combined DVD writer/hard disk drive would only be a little more than the price of DVD writer plus a hard disk.

[PaulR]

how easy is it to buy a VCR, ........ with a digital terrestrial tuner

I don't think there's a single one available at the moment is there? The big push is for DVDs and their RW brethren. I strongly suspect that there'll never be a VCR with a digital tuner but I hope to be proved wrong (at a reasonable price of course).

PaulR

Hold the bus!!!!

I've just seen advertised in the Radio Times a VCR from Daewoo with built-in Freeview receiver.

Look at http://www.daewoo-electronics.co.uk/sv900.htm for further information.

PaulR

[rolfw]

Nice one PaulR, will be interesting to see the price as well.

[net1]

The Digifusion FVRT100 digital video recorder is a great new product for the Freeview service giving you greater control of watching your favourite programmes when you want. Storing up to 60 hours of programming on the internal hard disk, there's no need for videotapes. The onscreen Multi Guide™ allows you to record programmes quickly and easily selection of recording up to 7 days in advance, as well as storing thumbnail images of recorded programmes in an onscreen library. You can also watch one digital TV channel whilst recording another, as well as pause and rewind live TV!

No tapes needed
Record the next episode of your favourite soap quickly and easily directly onto the internal hard disk

Digital quality recording
Record and watch programmes and films in digital broadcast quality

Watch one channel whilst recording another
Gives you greater control and choice of watching programmes when you want to watch them

Rewind and pause live TV
No need to hold on until commercial breaks to leave the room - rewind the last 30 seconds of live programming so you¹ll never miss that crucial goal

Watch hours of your favourite TV
Record every episode of your favourite sitcom or drama directly onto the hard disk so you'll always have something to watch






RRP £249.99



Key features

Access up to 30 digital TV and interactive channels as well as over 20 radio stations available with Freeview
Latest TV listings available onscreen with Multi Guide™
Record up to 60 hours of programming onto internal hard disk
Watch one channel whilst recording another with advanced twin tuner
Works with existing TV
No contract required - Digital picture quality
Digital Text
Easy to install with Auto Setup
Easy connection to TV and VCR with twin scarts
Meets digital broadcasting standards (DVB Compliant)

[rolfw]

Think we'd better add these to the Receivers information thread, or perhaps even start another sticky for Freeview/DTT recorders..

[PaulR]

The Radio Times is selling the Daewoo VCR for £159.99 plus £3.99 P&P. Which means it should be available elsewhere for £130 - £140.

Whilst talking about VCRs (and at the risk of taking this thread even further OT) I was asked by an elderly gentleman I know to buy a new VCR for him. He has 2 normally and uses them for copying tapes and recording the porn off Sex View - but that's another story.

Anyway, his much used 8 year old Tosh VCR finally went tits up last week and after 7 days without he decided he couldn't wait for the possiblility of it being fixed, so out I went to see what was available for £100 or less. There were only 2 requirements; it had to have 2 scarts & also separate phono inputs together with a good slow motion replay action (!).

It wasn't as easy as I hoped. The assistant at Currys said that videos were on their last legs now. It's all very well to say that DVDs are the future but that's no use for someone like my friend who has a large library of tapes and also helps out other friends at the OAP club by making copies for them.

Anyway, I'll be sorting it out for him tomorrow. Despite assurances from the assistant, when I got the VCR he suggested back home yesterday it was without the necessary AU3 phono inputs.

It fair makes your mind boggle.

PaulR

[rolfw]

You can probably find everything he wants in the pages of LOOT etc, but most of the new models seem to be either very expensive, or cheap, low spec.

Still not convinced that a DVD recorder is the way to go anyway, perhaps a hard disk recorder with a DVD writing facility would be the business.