Freeview High Definition?

fozzybear · 14 Jul 2006 at 12:32

fozzybear said:
OK, i've bitten the bullet and bought another one. After all, the price tag of £19.99 (were £27.99) couldn't be sniffed at. I'll put up with freezing now and then.

The model i got is the ITD58G. Down sides are that it only has 1 scart and doesn't have 7 day EPG.

....and i'm taking this one back tomorrow as well. This is now the 4th or 5th one ive had that plays up. It suffers from freezing, turning itself off and channels going black.

It was only £20 but even for that price i expect something that actually works ok. I could put up with intermittent problems but they happen far too often.

Kol · 14 Jul 2006 at 12:38

Time for the Asda one then dude

Tesla · 14 Jul 2006 at 14:11

Have you considered that the fault could be with something other than the box if this is your 5th?

fozzybear · 15 Jul 2006 at 10:43

Tesla said:
Have you considered that the fault could be with something other than the box if this is your 5th?

Like what for example?

Could a cheapo scart lead cause problems? I have also tried the scart in both scart sockets on my TV....still have the problems.

Although the box and plug get really hot, i doubt that the box is overheating because problems occur 10 minutes after turning it on.

Tesla · 15 Jul 2006 at 10:45

Too strong or too weak a signal.

I have seen both of the above cause havoc with Freeview tuners.

What sort of aerial do you have setup, where abouts in the country are you?

fozzybear · 15 Jul 2006 at 10:51

Tesla said:
Too strong or too weak a signal.

I have seen both of the above cause havoc with Freeview tuners.

What sort of aerial do you have setup, where abouts in the country are you?

I use an indoor aerial with a booster. Doing a scan gets me a total of 88 (approx) channels including the radio ones.

I'm about 2 miles from the Winter Hill transmitter as well.

Tesla · 15 Jul 2006 at 10:55

fozzybear said:
I use an indoor aerial with a booster. Doing a scan gets me a total of 88 (approx) channels including the radio ones.

I'm about 2 miles from the Winter Hill transmitter as well.

Try using the aerial without the booster.

I imagine in general the aerial setup is what's causing the boxes to crash though.

However the Tesco and Asda boxes are better than the one you have too.

fozzybear · 15 Jul 2006 at 11:03

Tesla said:
Try using the aerial without the booster.

I don't get any channel when i don't use the booster.

Tesla · 15 Jul 2006 at 11:34

OK. I would recommend having an external aerial fitted.

fozzybear · 15 Jul 2006 at 11:50

Tesla said:
OK. I would recommend having an external aerial fitted.

I would do but i'm not sure how long i'll be staying in my current house.

I'll probably give the £27.99 Asda Duraband one a go next week. At least if the same problems occur i'll know its unlikely to be the box again.

Tesla · 15 Jul 2006 at 11:51

fozzybear said:
I would do but i'm not sure how long i'll be staying in my current house.

I'll probably give the £27.99 Asda Duraband one a go next week. At least if the same problems occur i'll know its unlikely to be the box again.

I would conclude after 5 boxes it's unlikely to be the box.

DJ Baz · 16 Jul 2006 at 02:53

Presumably if you have a Sky HD box you should be able to pick up the BBC and ITV HD channels via satellite, even if you stop subscribing to Sky's highly dubious £10 a month "service".

Also, wasn't there talk of BBC and ITV lauching their own satellite service providing "Freeview via satellite" rather than Sky's Freesat service. This could surely provide free HD, and being free of Sky's evil clutches you might even get E4 too...

FrankJH · 16 Jul 2006 at 07:49

DJ Baz said:
Presumably if you have a Sky HD box you should be able to pick up the BBC and ITV HD channels via satellite, even if you stop subscribing to Sky's highly dubious £10 a month "service".

Also, wasn't there talk of BBC and ITV lauching their own satellite service providing "Freeview via satellite" rather than Sky's Freesat service. This could surely provide free HD, and being free of Sky's evil clutches you might even get E4 too...

Certainly there were plans but it seems to have gone quiet recently, not sure if you were meaning this but E4 isnt being broadcast in HD ( yet anyway) its only sky's channels and the "standard" terrestrial BBC, ITV, CH4 and Ch5 - unless the London terrestrial HD trial which I am on is just not transmitting it

Tesla · 16 Jul 2006 at 13:06

There is a new date in place for Freeview Satelite. June '07.

DJ Baz · 16 Jul 2006 at 13:26

FrankJH said:
Certainly there were plans but it seems to have gone quiet recently, not sure if you were meaning this but E4 isnt being broadcast in HD ( yet anyway) its only sky's channels and the "standard" terrestrial BBC, ITV, CH4 and Ch5 - unless the London terrestrial HD trial which I am on is just not transmitting it

I was actually referring to the fact that E4, more4 and (soon) FilmFour are available on Freeview - whereas on Sky they are part of a subscription package. I think this is because Sky have Channel 4 locked into a contract, and even though the channels are available for free on Freeview, Sky must reckon that they can attract a few more subscribers by holding on to them.

Also consider that when Sky made Sky Three available on Freeview they made it available on free Sky also, so it seems clear that Sky are applying one rule to their own channels and another to E4 etc. There are probably more people who use the free Sky service than you think as well, as anybody who stops subscribing to Sky effectively ends up with this system. Plus, if you live out in the sticks and have neither cable or Freeview coverage, free Sky is really your only option for free digital telly at the moment...

My point is that if there was a different free satellite service that didn't rely on Sky's system then there would be no reason that it couldn't have all the same channels as Freeview, perhaps even more because of the extra bandwidth, including HD channels.

DJ Baz · 16 Jul 2006 at 13:32

Tesla said:
There is a new date in place for Freeview Satelite. June '07.

That seems a little late to me... the analog switch-off will start not long after that, presumably being replaced by a high powered digital terrestrial service, which will diminish the point somewhat.

I wonder what the hold up is... are they actually launching their own satellite? What are they using, rockets or some kind of pulley system?

fozzybear · 18 Jul 2006 at 13:37

fozzybear said:
I'll probably give the £27.99 Asda Duraband one a go next week. At least if the same problems occur i'll know its unlikely to be the box again.

Bought the Duraband this morning. I'm very impressed so far considering it was only £27.99. It has 7 day epg, favourites and a reminder facility on it.

I had it on for around 4 hours non-stop this morning and didn't have any problem with any crashing etc. However, it doesn't seem as good as the Sagem concerning the weakish signal i'm getting.

Tesla · 18 Jul 2006 at 13:55

DJ Baz said:
That seems a little late to me... the analog switch-off will start not long after that, presumably being replaced by a high powered digital terrestrial service, which will diminish the point somewhat.

I wonder what the hold up is... are they actually launching their own satellite? What are they using, rockets or some kind of pulley system?

It's not even definate they will do it.

I wouldn't be that shocked if they struck some deal with Astra/Sky to use the channels already being beamed down from 2D.