Freeview

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Damini

Guest
Well, apparently they're upgrading our area to recieve free view in six years, so maybe you can send me one of those future e-mails to remind me to tell you if its any good :(
 
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~Mobius~

Guest
I dont actually own it but all those channels are crap with the exception of Sky News. UK History has some interesting programmes sometimes but there are better history channels.
Looks like ITV digital which I used to have. You never end up using it.
 
C

.Cask

Guest
I was thinking about getting freeview ages ago. Decided not to in the end because I use a communal aerial which probably won't work, and I didn't want to pay a fee to have it tested.

Saw the BBC advert for it the other day and the BBC channels sound crap tbh. Late night eastenders? Ceebeebies? Whoop de doo.
 
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xane

Guest
Originally posted by ~Mobius~
Looks like ITV digital which I used to have. You never end up using it.

It _is_ ITV Digital, took over when it went tits-up.

I was interested because it shows BBC3, BBC4 and ITV2, which I keep seeing trailers for.

The other aspect is the DTV boxes/cards allow for TiVo like recording.
 
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Embattle

Guest
My dads TV has it built in and we do watch it now and then, esp when they show films etc.
 
A

anattic

Guest
I'd rate Sky over Freeview for a couple of reasons:

* The EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) on Freeview is dreadful - it is slow and so makes channel hopping tedious beyond belief.

* The channel selection is better.

* The picture quality is massively better (Sky just plain have more bits).

* Sky+ (which is a thing of beauty).

But then, you get what you pay for. If you don't want/can't afford a subscription service - then it ain't at all bad.
 
D

Durzel

Guest
Damn. I came to this thread expecting talk about a different sort of "freeview" .....
 
C

Clowneh!

Guest
The arial in our house is crap. That's why we had to get cable just to see 1-5 clearly. I don't think Freeview would work here, but if it did I'd get it just to have some kind of choice of what to watch :)
 
S

SoWat

Guest
* Sky+ (which is a thing of beauty).

Isn't it just!

My wife is still amazed that we can rewind live TV to look at bits she missed... and the fact you can just pause live tv, then pick it up where you left off once you've got rid of the Jehova's Witnesses at the door.
 
T

Tom

Guest
I have the basic NTL package, which is the same as Freeview, but with a few more bits and pieces. Anyone who has a widescreen TV should get it, all the terrestrial channels are broadcasting in 16:9

The Threads programme I talked about was on one of the digital channels, so it can be worth it.

Also bear in mind that in about 10 years, all the analogue frequencies are to be redistributed, so not buying digital isn't an option for the future.
 
F

Fex

Guest
It's just crap, only chanels worth watching are the terrestrial ones, BBC3 on rare occasions and Sky Sports News and if theres a war or some sort of natural disaster then BBC news 24 is worth watching. Other than that it's just crap TV.
 
D

Deadmanwalking

Guest
We have freeview here and i can't think why people are even comparing it with Sky

*Like this
*As it is not the same thing
*So comparing it is just wrong
*If i make any more of these im going to be sick

Anyway, considering its a one off payment or inbuilt in many TVs it is worth it. You do get some quite good channels with some interesting programs at times.

Think of it more like extra terrestrial channels then "Sky or Cable"
BBC3 has the best bits (Matter of opinion) of the entertainment schedule from BBC1 and BBC2. A few News channels isn't really my thing but if you are a News junkie you are fine.

You also get channel 5 with it if you couldn't get it in your area before. Now thats not good but they do show the occasional half decent film. On top of that you can subscribe to Film 4 with the box and only pay the £4.99 ? a month sub rather then the whole shebang.

And quality? annatic :twak:

But iirc correctly the number of channels you can get and the quality depends on the quality of your aerial.
 
S

]SK[

Guest
Ive considered it a few times. My current signal is crap though and dont want to pay £100+ to find out.

Sky is one option Ive thought of, keep it for a year then ditch it and use it for the free channels.
 
T

Tom

Guest
Originally posted by ]SK[
Ive considered it a few times. My current signal is crap though and dont want to pay £100+ to find out.

Buy one off Ebay, get an old ondigital box. In fact, I have one here, collecting dust.




No you cant have it :)
 
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Chameleon

Guest
I got this for my dad on his birthday. It isn't even close to the choice of channels you get with sky or ntl (even their basic packages), but it's a damn sight better than the 4 channels you get otherwise. Freeview is about the best value for money though imo. You can get it for £70 ish iirc and for a one off payment I think over time its worth paying for, just so you have more than 4 choices.
Getting 'proper' digital is good if you can afford to waste money, but far from the best value ..... it's a damn rip off tbh imo ...... we pay an outrageous amount of money for something ridiculous like 200 channels, but on the occasions when we put in on, we are either flicking through channels for an hour, finding nothing, or stop at bbc1,2,itv or channel 4!!
If your not a big TV watcher, make do with freeview imo.

Cham
 
A

anattic

Guest
Originally posted by Deadmanwalking
We have freeview here and i can't think why people are even comparing it with Sky

*Like this
*As it is not the same thing
*So comparing it is just wrong
*If i make any more of these im going to be sick


In my defence, I think the words "How does it compare to Sky, etc" in xane's original post, explain why I made the comparison.

Anyway, considering its a one off payment or inbuilt in many TVs it is worth it. You do get some quite good channels with some interesting programs at times.
I agree with you (as I originally said).


And quality? annatic :twak:

The main element determining picture quality is not antenna alignment, but transmission bit-rate, which in turn is set by the total transmission bandwidth. Generally, satellite broadcasters have orders of magnitude more useable bandwith than terrestrial providers. (DMW: I can bore you with numbers if you like...)
 
X

xane

Guest
Originally posted by Chameleon
If your not a big TV watcher, make do with freeview imo.


I'm not, so I may get one now, even though opinion seems to be against it.

1. I don't watch much TV, but when I do I keep seeing BBC3 and ITV2 trailers and often think about it ...

2. I am a news junkie, so BBC24 etc would be nice too.

3. I've been reading how I might be able to get one to link up with a PC and make a PVR.

Any suggestions on a bit of kit, been thinking about this one

Lastly, can this thing get any stuff like Sports or even WWE, either subscribe or whatever, or is that only on Sky ?
 
P

PR.

Guest
I have Freeview, I really like it. You can't compare it to Sky and ntl, but for no monthly charge you are getting more TV for your license fee.

It suports widescreen and the BBCs Interactive content is usually very good. News 24 has a MultiScreen selection that lets you view the latest headlines or a main indepth article on the other, and the EPG is dependant on the box.

Future revisions will soon include a 7 day EPG rather than the current Now and Next.

As the BBCs article said on their news site the greater than expected demand has made it more popular to advertisers and therefore broadcasters, both Disney and Ch4 are going to be offering free channels and there was going to be a Sports channel like Eurosport but I think that fell through.
 
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bigbb

Guest
Originally posted by PR.
I have Freeview, I really like it. You can't compare it to Sky and ntl, but for no monthly charge you are getting more TV for your license fee......

This is all absolutely right. It does irritate me when people compare Freeview to Sky/NTL/Telewest. It's a box, you pay as low as £60 quid (ONE-OFF) and you get digital quality television. Fuck the channels, that's worth it in itself.

Moreover, I think for a free package, it ain't bad. BBC3 and 4 are quite good, 4 especially with it's Jazz. Free music channels, variation of news channels, etc. etc. etc.

(Tessa did want to switch off Analogue in 2010, so get moving chaps. - Note: This deadline is about as likely to be met as a talking donkey)
 
E

Embattle

Guest
Originally posted by bigbb

(Tessa did want to switch off Analogue in 2010, so get moving chaps. - Note: This deadline is about as likely to be met as a talking donkey)

IIRC this is a trigger date, it requires a certain % of people to be switched to digital and I believe its a very high % at that.
 
P

PR.

Guest
When Analogue is turned off there will be more channel space available on Freeview, I know a while ago there had been discussion with '5' to go digital only, if they did that they would have bandwidth for several more channels.
 

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