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Digital TV

Note As work takes place on various digital transmitters (to prepare for the DSO)

 you may experience reception  problems, e.g. with certain MUXES disappearing.

First try rescanning your set top box and if this fails to work check on Transmitter work  

or phone reception advice on 08700 100 123 (BBC) or 0844 881 4150 (ITV).

Subjects on this page are listed in the following order

Do I need a new aerial ? (Nationwide & Sheffield Area) (including “Digital Aerial”)

Digital Myths

Digital Negatives (including "Digital Cliff Edge", Teletext and Nicam)

Digital Positives  (including consequences of the Digital Switch Over / DSO)

Freesat (Free To Air Digital Satellite)

Cable TV

High Definition TV (HDTV)

Proposed Digital Switch Over (DSO) Dates

Digital Multiplexes (MUXES) / PSBs

If......

We are more than willing to give advice to those actually purchasing from us.  

Could those only seeking information please just ring an aerial installer local to them or try calling reception advice on 08700 100 123 (BBC) or 0844 881 4150 (ITV).

Do I Need a New Aerial ?   Nationwide & Sheffield Area

                                                                           (including “ Digital Aerial”)

The first question which most people ask is

"Can I get Digital reception with my present aerial ? "

Examination of the Digital Transmitters Nationwide page will tell you (amongst other things) of any change of group for your transmitter which is an essential starting point in order to answer the aforementioned question. After this it`s a matter of knowing the signal strength in your area to determine which aerial we would recommend. If your transmitter

has a dedicated page on this site that is the first place you should look for the required information. The case of the Sheffield area (below) is a “worked example” of how to

ascertain if you will need a new aerial or not.

Fortunately, by accident or design, in the Sheffield area (not including those on the Chesterfield transmitter) if you get all five programme channels perfectly then you will almost certainly get Digital OK. This simple test proves that you are either on Emley Moor (which has not changed group) or you are on Sheffield/Crosspool ((or Belmont)) and you already have a wideband aerial potentially capable of receiving the digital broadcasts.

If you only get a poor C5 the chances are you will require your antenna changing.

You may, or may not, experience intermittent blocking/freezing depending on the strength

of the signal in your location and the quality of your aerial installation.

One thing which needs to be stressed is the unreliability of the "Post Code Prediction of Coverage". That is only a guide and it is frequently wrong. The very idea of being able to accurately predict RF (Radio Frequency) coverage is laughable. How can they possibly know if (for example) there is a tree or high building in the path from any particular transmitter, or if the site is in an “RF dead spot” ? A site survey by an experienced aerial installer is far more accurate, but (unless that includes climbing on the roof with an aerial and a Digi-meter) even that is not 100%. The only sure way to confirm Digital coverage is

to change the aerial and (preferably) the down lead as well, particularly if it is "budget low-loss co-ax".

What is a Digital Aerial Installation ? The obvious (and correct ! ) answer is any aerial which receives a Digital signal well enough to allow reliable viewing. The word reliable cannot be over stressed because the Digital Cliff Edge can make viewing Digital a very frustrating experience if your signal is marginal. Generally speaking a Digital TV aerial installation is one where the signal reception quality is maximised in order to minimise the effects of the Digital Cliff Edge. This may require a different group or quality of aerial, upgraded cable, a better quality amplifier/splitter, or nothing at all !  

Note that after Digital Switchover (DSO) many aerials which are not “digital” now

will be able to pick up the Freeview signal.       

Digital Myths

There are so many misconceptions and so much (deliberate ?) misinformation about

"Digital" that we thought we should tell the unvarnished truth. We can do that because

unlike the government (wanting to use the RF spectrum to make money...) or the TV retailers (wanting to sell you a new TV...) we have no hidden agenda. Perhaps the biggest Digital myth is that it will make your TV obsolete and that is a complete fiction.

You may need a Set Top Box (from around £25) but all TVs will work with a Digital Set Top Box. In fact, if you buy the correct box, even sets with no SCART input will operate perfectly well on Freeview. Furthermore, for ease of repair, we actually recommend that you continue to buy an analogue TV and use it with a Set Top Box.

I thought we would list the Positives and the Negatives of Digital.

So we can end on an upbeat note we`ll start with the Negatives.

Digital Negatives

1  A Digital TV picture is NOT superior to a good analogue picture. In fact (and "the powers that be" are very quiet about this) it is actually worse...... Because the broadcasters want

as many programme channels as possible they have sacrificed picture quality (and a robust signal) to that end. A good (I must stress that word) analogue picture can take advantage

of it`s greater bandwidth to give more detail and a "higher refresh rate" to the picture.

I accept that one has to be an expert, or to look very closely at the picture, but a Digital picture is worse. Look at the fine detail (particularly on a moving shot, a football match is a good example) and one can see it "blocking". Even more annoying, to me anyway, one can sometimes see the staccato movement associated with a low refresh rate. All the inferior picture qualities of Digital (plus a few more) are also present on LCD or Plasma Televisions.

2  Some people will need their aerial/downlead changing. In this area that often means swapping to a wideband antenna. Unfortunately, in some poor signal areas, this can result

in worse analogue reception, plus the cost of it of course ! Occasionally it can be helpful to use a second aerial on a different transmitter to achieve the best of both worlds.

Some houses are in such poor locations that they will never get decent terrestrial digital and they will have to go down the "Freesat/Sky" route, Boo Hiss. Yes, you aren`t the only one who hates Sky !  Or there`s Cable TV but that has it`s own drawbacks as well.

Incidentally, I would always advise anyone with Sky to have a back up aerial. Not only will

it mean you can tape one programme whilst watching another but if your LNB/Dish/STB

fails you will still get the basic 5 channels. We regularly get customers phoning us up in desperation at Christmas, their Sky has stopped working and no-one can get out to repair

it for 3 or 4 days....... You have been warned !

3  The Digital signal is not as robust as the analogue one. An analogue signal can be really quite poor and one will still get a watchable picture. It may be grainy, and maybe even ghosting as well, but when Mr Rooney sends a right foot pile driver towards the top left corner of the Brazilian goal in the 2010 World Cup final, you will see it go in (or not....).

A Digital signal will not degrade in the same manner. Generally you will either get (what passes for) a perfect picture, or you`ll get very annoying blocking/freezing, or you won`t get anything at all. Sods law being what it is (if you live in a marginal area) this picture loss will occur just when you really, really, don`t want it to. Did he score ? Did we win the World

Cup ? Of course we didn`t, what are you, a fantasist ?

Digital transmissions have in-built "error correction" (though many people feel there isn`t enough of it...) which can overcome a certain amount of signal degradation. However, once that error correction data has been exhausted the picture has no alternative but to fail spectacularly. This is known as the "Digital Cliff Edge". This is why one should go for

the best aerial, the best cable and (if required) a decent screened amp/splitter. Any one of these may (normally) only make a marginal difference, but if they keep your signals on the right side of that "cliff edge", then for what they cost, it`s an excellent investment.

To be perfectly honest you will always get the odd signal “glitch”  (freezing etc) with Digital signals and that applies to Sky as well as terrestrial. All you can do is try to limit it as

much as possible by maximising the quality of your signal.

When (if....) the Digital Switch Over (DSO) occurs those with Portable TVs running off “set top” aerials are likely to be affected in the most negative way. Many use portables in

upstairs rooms (with no connection to their outside antenna) and put up with a less than perfect - but acceptable - picture. Unfortunately, unless they live in areas with a reasonably strong signal, they may not get much worth watching after the DSO......  

You may well find that the BBC channels are slightly more robust because they use a different method of transmission, 16 QAM rather than 64 QAM. This is at the cost of fewer channels per MUX but I think it was a wise decision to use it. Having said that, the most likely cause of superior BBC channels is because they are often broadcast within the

original transmission group of the transmitter and your aerial may require changing to improve the reception of the other channels, see Digital Transmitters Nationwide.  

Most people already have Teletext and this is a digital system, so is Nicam stereo. Both of these demonstrate the above mentioned modes of failure and also the importance

of a decent signal / aerial system because it is deficiencies in reception which are the most likely cause of problems with either Teletext or Nicam.

Teletext is particularly relevant when it comes to error correction data. The header line has significantly more of the latter than has the main body of text. This explains why even when most of the page is a meaningless collection of random letters the header line can still

make a reasonable amount of sense.

In the case of Nicam many TV`s have the facility to switch it off (and revert to the original

FM sound) if the signal level degrades to the point where drop outs are excessively annoying.

This is perhaps the ultimate proof of the more robust nature of the analogue signal !

4  Every conventional (i.e. analogue) TV or video will need its own Freeview "Set Top Box" (STB) if it is to continue working when (if...) they turn off the analogue signals. It is quite common to come across people who find the operation of the Freeview box somewhat complicated, in fact a significant part of our business is "setting up" customers systems.

This setting up also applies to many Integrated TVs.

5  In our experience Digital tuners are not the most reliable * pieces of modern technology and they aren`t really repairable either. That`s not a big deal if it`s a separate "STB" which has failed (they aren`t that expensive) but if its built into your TV then that`s a rather

different story...... We can economically repair around 80% of conventional TV`s

(i.e analogue, non LCD, non Plasma, non Rear Projection) but with integrated sets it`s

rather lower than that, see Repairs. That`s why we advise people to buy an analogue

TV and a separate set top box. Doing it that way is actually cheaper (at the present time) and it`s more flexible as well. Furthermore, until they turn off the signals at DSO, the analogue channels can be a valuable diagnostic tool for tracing signal faults or indeed when “peaking up” your aerial at installation. Some Digital TVs don`t have an analogue tuner to enable you to use the analogue signal in this way.

Remember any TV will work with a digibox (provided the latter has an RF output, which

most do) so don`t be forced to buy a new TV when you don`t have to ! One last thing, there have been rumours that the Digital system may be changed at some time in the future from from MPEG 2 to MPEG 4. If  were to occur than all the integrated sets could then become obsolete or at the very least require an STB. So that`s yet another reason to go with a separate STB in the first place. You have been warned......!

* The most effective way to increase the reliability of your STB (or any piece of electronics)

  is to keep it cool, i.e. do not place it in an enclosed area on top of a video  !

If you do have any trouble with your Freeview signals the first thing to try is a “rescan” of  your set top box and this can usually be accessed in the installation menu. Next try pulling out the mains plug, wait 5 or 10 minutes then put it in again. If it`s still playing up

(and it isn`t a signal fault) then throw it in the bin.....    (also see What is an “old” TV ?)

6  Let`s be honest, most of  the additional programme channels on Freeview (or Freesat)

are either repeats or they`re rubbish. I know that`s a subjective opinion but I suspect most people would agree with it. There is an inverse proportional law about TV, the more programmes there are, the worse they are. I`ll resist the temptation to give my opinion on producers who try to make their programmes more interesting by using “5 second attention span” editing, one can only assume it`s aimed at kids with attention deficit disorder.

Hold on, I`ve just realised I haven`t been able to resist the temptation, oh well.......

Then there`s gravitas, whatever happened to that........

Whisper it quietly but there are far more interesting things to do than watch TV, though

these days “Health & Safety Bollocks” seems to try and to put the mockers on most

other things......

The comments on extra TV channels obviously doesn`t apply if you`re a sports or film

fan, but you won`t (generally speaking) get much of either of these on "Free to View" TV.

Quote from the Radio Times :

“ALL PROGRAMMES ON DIGITAL CHANNELS ARE

REPEATS UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE”

Nuff said......

If....

Now I know I`m a cynic, and I do expect the analogue switch off to occur *, but I also know you can`t ever say anything for sure. I also know that if the switch off becomes a hot

political issue, and any of the parties think it will help get them into power...., they will change their mind on it faster than you can say Jack Robinson....., or even just Jack......

* This is even more likely to take place if one takes into account that most wideband transmitters are due to return to their original groups. Even those that don`t, will transmit

the main three PSBs within their original groups. The importance of this cannot be

over estimated because it means that most of those with no enthusiasm for digital (and I

include myself in that ! ) will be able to get Freeview without paying for a new aerial or

even a new TV come to that. Hopefully all they will need is an STB at £25 or so.

The above may not apply to portable TVs running off “set top” aerials though !

Back to the top of aerialsandtv.com Digital TV

Digital Positives

1  What I said about inferior Digital picture quality is undoubtedly true, but that`s only if

you have good analogue signals. Unfortunately, many people do not have good analogue

signals because they either live in a "fringe" area or they have a poor quality aerial installation. If your signal is of sufficient quality to reliably drive a Digital box there are a

lot of people who will get a greatly improved picture. Digital can be particularly effective at eliminating ghosting, provided the signal stay`s at the top of the "cliff edge".

2  The sound quality is “near CD quality”. Better sound quality is always a positive but remember the analogue system has FM sound anyway, also see Nicam. If you are

unhappy with the sound quality of your analogue TV it`s more likely to be deficiencies in

the sets amp and speakers than anything else. If your set has a SCART (or Phono audio out) try putting the sound output through your stereo, though think of the neighbours if

you`re tempted to turn it up !

If sound quality is important to you I would buy a Freeview box with separate Phono audio out sockets which gives you the option to connect the STB to your Hi Fi. This is particularly useful if you want to listen to the radio stations which are also available on Freeview.

3  There are more programme channels available and the chances are you`ll like at least

one of them. Most STB`s have basic "interactive" functions which could be really useful, for instance by giving you a choice of which sport at the Olympics you want to watch. Unfortunately at the Athens 2004 Olympics the choices seemed to be Synchronised Team Pursuit Fencing or Rhythmic Freestyle Sandcastle Building rather than the swimming that I actually wanted. Consequently I was even more frustrated than I was before ! Let`s give it

the benefit of the doubt though, potentially a worthwhile feature.   

One can buy the relevant card for ones PC and watch TV on it.

In addition there are a number of radio channels available including R5 Live which is not transmitted on FM, see paragraph above.

4  The reliability of the Digital signal will improve when (if....) they turn off the analogue

signal at Digital Switch Over (DSO). The plans are to up the power outputs of the main transmitters and transmit 3 or 4 of the 6 MUXES from all of the smaller repeaters.

The latter are the “fill in” transmitters which are used to increase coverage in fringe areas. Note how there are no plans to broadcast all of the Freeview output from all of these relays. When the DSO occurs it is proposed that (wherever possible) these transmitters will stay

in their original groups. The planned switchover for the Borders area reflects this strategy.

Of the 61 transmitters in the Borders region only 6 will be broadcasting Digital outside of their original groups and in all six cases the new frequencies are below the existing group. Since Yagi aerials are reasonably responsive below their designed for band, this means

that many of those locations will probably still pick up the digital signal OK !

The frequencies for the West Country and Granada repeaters were released by Ofcom

on the 12 Jul 07 and follow a similar policy. There is a list of “post DSO” channels for all the repeaters but as far as I`m aware many of these have yet to be confirmed by Ofcom.

On the 5 July 07 Ofcom released the planned “post DSO” channel

allocations for the 81 transmitters currently broadcasting digital

and full details can be found by clicking on this link.

As we`ve been saying for years * the great majority of transmitters are reverting to their original groups and unsurprisingly this includes all of the “Big Five” which cover about 30 million of us. In fact all the existing Digital transmitters will broadcast the main three

MUXES (the so called PSBs) within band, i.e. those of us who are quite satisfied with the “basic” five channels, will almost certainly get them with the aerial we already have !

As for the other three MUXES, 24 of the 81 transmitters will be broadcasting between one and three of the other 3 MUXES out of their original group. Fortunately seven of these

will be transmitting the new frequencies below the existing group, meaning that those in reasonable signal areas will still have a good chance of picking up the signal OK.

That leaves 17 out of 81 transmitters, and of these only six are “main” transmitters, these being Sandy, Sudbury, The Wrekin, Bilsdale, Craigkelly and Belmont. It must be admitted that for these “Dirty (half) Dozen” an aerial change will almost certainly be required in order

to receive all the digital transmissions, rather than just the PSBs which will be available.

For the great majority, when the DSO occurs many of those who haven`t yet “upgraded” to

a wideband should then pick up the Digital signal OK. Furthermore many of those who live

in fringe areas can, if required, then take advantage of the superior gain of grouped aerials

to improve their signal.

* There aren`t many others who have been telling people about this because there are so many vested interests who would rather the Great British Public didn`t know this little snippet of information, i.e. that the vast majority of locations will get all the Digital

channels without an “upgrade” if they just wait till DSO.

Think about it. The aerial installers don`t want to publicise it because they`ll lose work.

The aerial manufacturers and retailers don`t want to publicise it because they`ll lose sales.

Even the BBC don`t want to publicise it because it`s part of their remit to increase the uptake of Digital now, not at (or after) DSO. It`ll be interesting to see how many others

come clean about this vital piece of information now that it`s confirmed. Unless I`ve missed something the “Digital Television Group” didn`t even put this highly significant piece of information on their “Latest News”........

Just remember, we`ve always been up front about it !

Also see Digital Transmitters Nationwide and Major Transmitters: Which Aerial To Use.

I do wonder how the government are going to end up with spare slots in the RF spectrum

to sell off because one only has to look at the Transmitter Channel Allocations for the

Sheffield area to see how well filled the RF spectrum is.

For the record the “reserved” channels are 31 to 35, 37, 39 to 40 and 63 to 68.

Hopefully, when they`re flogged off, these are going to raise a decent amount and save us

all some tax dollars.....

At the moment the Digital power outputs are all significantly lower than the analogue ones but the nature of the digital signal means the output levels do not have to be as high to give a noise free picture, i.e. no “grainyness”. Theoretically the Digital signal only needs a

26dB signal to noise ratio to achieve a “perfect” picture, as opposed to the analogue which requires around 44dB. Thus the Digital signal received at the antenna can be 18dB lower

and still give (what passes for) a perfect picture. As an example, Emley`s 10kW Digital output coverage is approximately equivalent (radiation patterns differ between the two) to its 870kW on analogue. I`m not convinced that the power outputs are actually equivalent

but in any event they are due to be greatly increased when (if...) the analogue switch off occurs. To continue the Emley Moor example it`s present Digital power of 10kW will be increased to 174kW. That`s a big increase, even if one does bear in mind the inverse

square law, which means that to get double the coverage you need four times the power,

or something like that ! Some frequencies from some of the transmitters will only go up

to full power towards the end of the DSO in order to prevent interference to areas which

haven`t yet switched over. As an example, MUXES 4 to 6 off Caldbeck were originally

1.6kW before DSO, they will be 15kW during DSO, but will become 50kW after DSO.

There is a distinct possibility that many people, particularly those with with aerial amps,

may experience cross modulation interference or other deleterious effects when the power

is turned up, see variable gain amplifiers.

5  OK, so you may need to pay for a new aerial but you`ll need a new one sometime anyway. Nothing lasts for ever, though some things last longer than others ! If you have a steel pole it will eventually rust through (see Poles), your down lead will eventually perish and/or wear through (by the action of the wind if it is not pinned to the slates, see Cable)

and sooner or later your aerial will fall apart, particularly if it is a "contract" or a poorly constructed X-Beam type (see Aerials). Also see number 4 above.

See article on finding a decent aerial installer (and tradesmen generally).

“FreeSat” (Free To Air Digital Satellite) (Also see Cable TV)

Those who live in an area which can`t get Freeview (Terrestrial Digital through your aerial) have no choice but to go down the “Freesat” route, that is to say through a satellite dish.

This is a completely different system and the STBs are not interchangeable.

When I last looked Sky would supply and fit the system for about £150. This seems quite reasonable against the cost of a decent quality aerial installation and a Freeview box.

In fact if a more sophisticated antenna/amplifier is required then Freesat may actually

appear to be cheaper. In May 2008 the BBC (and ITV) launched a free to view satellite. Unfortunately that is not the whole story and for the reasons listed below I would strongly advise anyone, who has any sort of option, to go for the Freeview system.

Obviously those who actually want the pay channels have to go for Sky or Cable.

1 Set top boxes (STBs) for Freeview are available from around £20 upwards and can be obtained virtually anywhere, even at the supermarket ! Sky satellite boxes are about 3 or 4 times this price and are rather more difficult to obtain as well. Remember, until every TV

has digital as standard (see 2), you will need an STB for every set (or video) in the house.

2 Although we don`t recommend their purchase (see unreliability of Digital tuners) sooner

or later all TVs/Videos etc will probably be integrated. That is to say they will have a Digital tuner “built in”. For these to work you will need a Terrestrial Digital (i.e. Freeview) signal. Those on Freesat will still require a separate (and expensive) STB for every set.

3 Many homes have TV aerial distribution systems fitted so as to get decent signals to all the sets in the house. Assuming it is of reasonable quality (or you are just lucky ! ) the system should be compatible with Freeview. Since the signal is at UHF frequency it may even work with the kind of budget low specification cable that house builders (and some aerial installers......) put in as standard.

Satellite distribution systems (i.e. signals from the dish to a number of  STBs, rather than from one STB to a number of TVs) are very much more complicated and expensive.

At the very least you will need a multi feed LNB (with it`s associated wiring) and possibly even a multiswitch system, which should use a 60cm (or even 80cm) dish by the way.

Because the satellite signals are at much higher frequency than the Freeview UHF signal

it is unlikely that the type of low quality cabling mentioned above would suffice, so you may even require your house rewiring too. If the cable is run in the walls that is obviously rather problematic to put it mildly.

4 Heavy rain or snow (remember that ? ) can degrade the picture, possibly giving no picture

at all for powerful persistent precipitation (I love alliteration). I was reminded about this

during a phone conversation with my brother in New Zealand, and he said they had no

(Sky) TV because they were suffering from heavy snow !

I accept that the same can happen for Freeview in marginal areas but you can often do something about that by using a higher gain aerial. The vast majority of people will just use the standard 43cm mini dish supplied by Sky, and wouldn`t usually want a 60cm or 80cm dish on their property, even if one of these were an option.

5 In order to receive all the available free channels you will need a card from Sky.

At the moment this is quite cheap but it is only available from Sky and anyone who has

had dealings with them can testify that it can be a frustrating business.....

The customer service of the BBC / ITV (for their system) may be less frustrating,

you`d have to phone them to find out!

Some of the of the programmes on Freeview are not available on Freesat. As far as I am aware the UK History channel is not available on Freesat although the situation could change so you are advised to check. Basically Sky are in it for the money (they want you

to become a subscriber) and so tend to go for “Shopping channels” and so forth.

That said, most programmes are common to them both.

Cable TV

The third option for Digital TV is Cable, of which NTL Telewest was the main supplier

though it`s now called “Virgin Media.   (Don`t you just hate all this name changing b****x ?)

As with Sky it is a completely different system and the STBs are not interchangeable for either Freeview or Sky.

Cable is similar to Sky in that it has far greater bandwidth (by utilising fibre optic cable) and “Pay To View” is available should you want it. Unfortunately it also has many of the disadvantages of Sky. A separate STB is required for each TV (and always will be) should you want to watch different Digital channels on different sets, though as I understand it NTL do pipe the five basic channels through the system, so on the second set (or the video)

you have the choice of those plus whatever is selected on the STB. As far as I`m aware

the STBs themselves can only be rented (not purchased outright) so if you want additional boxes that`s £15 a month each thank you very much. Installation of the latter is free,

though surely that`s the least you could expect for £180 a year ! It is not really possible

to split the incoming signal (i.e. to the STBs rather than from one STB) yourself and

install your own distribution system. That said, since you cannot buy the boxes outright

(not legitimately anyway....) this is not really that relevant.

You`ll obviously have to find out for yourselves but I`ve heard some cringe inducing tales about how difficult it can sometimes be to get through to them on their customer service telephone line. Having said that they`re supposed to have improved recently.

I always think it`s worth checking any potential suppliers phone service before you commit yourself to them, and not just the sales line !  

There is one definite advantage over Satellite though, no bleedin` dish on your wall !

High Definition TV  (HDTV)

Before we go any further it must be stressed that there are no finalised plans to introduce HDTV to terrestrial broadcasting (i.e. Freeview) at the present time. That said, tests are

taking place (as of July 2008) from Guildford transmitter and, if successful, there is a target date for some HDTV on Freeview, by late 2009.

The most likely outcome (recommended by Ofcom in Apr 08) is that one MUX (probably MUX4 / MUXB) be given over entirely to HDTV, and the programmes which were originally

on it then squeezed onto the other 5 MUXES. Note how this would not require any more wideband aerials to be installed than are currently required, or not as the case my be....

However, even using an entire MUX for HDTV will only give about four HDTV channels and this would be at the cost of increased compression (i.e. a worse picture) to all channels moved onto the other MUXES. Oh yes, and you`ll need a new box as well.....

There has been a debate amongst “interested parties” (e.g. Ofcom, Digital UK, the retailers organisations etc) as to how much bandwidth should be spared for some HDTV broadcasting when the DSO occurs. Personally I think they`d be better advised to use any additional bandwidth to increase the error correction content of the signal (see Digital Cliff Edge) and thus make it more robust and less likely to freeze and pixellate. I suspect there are millions of people in marginal signal areas who would agree with me, but set against

this there is great commercial pressure to introduce some terrestrial HDTV broadcasting

so we`ll have to wait and see. Whatever happens there won`t be a huge number of HDTV channels on Freeview, or any other system, because there simply isn`t the bandwidth for it. You may get a few, but probably not that many, and definitely not all of them.

The government want to sell off the spare slots in the spectrum (which could have been

used for more HDTV at DSO) and, to be honest, if it`s going to save me paying some tax they can go ahead as far as I`m concerned. I reckon there`s tens of millions of others who

probably feel the same way.

You can get HDTV through Sky though unsurprisingly the grasping Murdochs will require you to pay extra (when I last checked it was about £10 per month, that`s £120 per year, every year....) and a special STB is required, at extra cost naturally, that`s £180 (or more).

For all that outlay only about ten HDTV programmes are available on Sky at the moment, but check for the current situation.

In May 2008 the BBC (and ITV) launched a free to view satellite platform which is carrying some HDTV, but it will suffer from all the additional complication/expense involved in

satellite reception, see Freesat.

NTL/Virgin Cable TV now do HDTV, but when I last checked there were only 2 (that`s TWO)  HDTV channels available. Oh yes, and you will require different STB, at extra cost naturally, haven`t I just said that.......? The box is the equivalent of Sky plus (pause live TV, record

a different channel etc) but there`s a £75 installation fee, then £25 per month, every month,

that`s £300 per year......                 (Check for the latest position on cable 0845 045 0001)

High Definition TV is all about more detail in the picture, and this is great when you`re watching the set from a few feet away, which is precisely the distance you`d see it from in the shop whilst the salesman tries to sell it to you. For the average size set I have my doubts about how much of the extra detail you would actually see from the normal distance which you would watch TV from, see fascinating article on “resolution”. As an example,

if you had a 28” TV and sat 10ft (or more) from it then most people would not see any difference in the picture over standard 625 line resolution. There is no question that High Definition TV would be worthwhile if you had a screen the size of your wall but I`m unsure how many people would actually want a TV of that size. I suppose it would at least save on having to redecorate that side of the room and bearing in mind that these days anyone who doesn`t have a "House Makeover" every other month is considered abnormal (Home Makeovers, the new Rock & Roll ?...count me out....) this could save a considerable

amount of time. This saved time could then be used to put in extra hours at work which would then help pay for the expensive wall sized TV you`ve just purchased, and so the

circle is closed. Isn`t the symmetry of life beautiful ?

Having said all of the above if HDTV gives a higher refresh rate to the picture (i.e. to get you what you had before with the "obsolete technology" of analogue.....) then this would be worth having. What I mean by refresh rate is the frequency the picture responds to new images, i.e. movement. This is the weakness in the present generation of flat screen TVs (and the present digital system....) so my advice is don`t bother talking to anyone or spending any time researching HDTV. Go down to the shop, try to be impartial (sub conscious influences, it looks very swish therefore it must be better....) and ask to see the set on showing a football match next to a conventional CRT television (with a decent analogue signal) and a "normal" LCD or Plasma. Watch the picture from the same distance you would normally do so at home and then make up your own mind mind, but remember to bear in mind that (on either Freeview, Cable or Satellite) only a small percentage of all the channels will be High Definition anyway !

The “powers that be” keep changing the name of the MUXES, so we just refer to them as MUXES 1 to 6,

as they should be anyway....

Don`t you just hate all this name changing b****x ?