Digital TV switchover thread

[connor7777]

I have just been reading up about digital TV switchover throughout the word.
I notice most EU countries are switchng by 2012, with stragglers switching by 2015. However the R.O.I switchover date is not mentioned, it just says 2012, they need to announce a date for that soon, don't want to give residents too much short notice.

Israel not long switched over, I cant believe they have done it before the rest of the EU countries.

If Cyprus is switching over this year, then why is'nt Turkey itself doing the same?

 

[starrymarkb]

We've already switched - 2 years now (got HD last year too)

 

[mbonwick]

2009 Cumbria switched, with HD arriving last April.

 

[ainsworth74]

The switch over is under way as others above indicated. I actually live in one of the last areas to switch which is due sometime in 2012.

 

[WestCoast]

2009 Cumbria switched, with HD arriving last April.

Yeah, the Granada region (NW England) switched over in late 2009! Seems like such a long time ago, I'm surprised some regions are still on analogue

 

[Greenback]

Yes, Wales switched a while ago too.

 

[SS4]

The Central region will be changing in September although we got HD in April last year

 

[Dai.]

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/ has all the information on the UK switching over.

 

[LE Greys]

Ours was last week, from Sandy Heath. I stayed up to watch the last few seconds of analogue broadcasting, then looked down to see if the Radio Times said when it would happen. When I looked up . . . :roll:

We got BBC4 back, for which I am grateful (watched a French detective drama called Spiral earlier), but lost "Yesterday" (used to be UKTV History) which annoys me. It doesn't help that Graveley nestles in a hollow, which means that we get a really rubbish signal. It could be worse, but it could be better.

 

[jon0844]

Hatfield is on the edge of Sandy Heath coverage, so now I enjoy a much better signal and have got the HD channels at last. I am quite happy, except I have a Freeview+HD box in a spare room with a el-cheapo HD-ready TV that keeps saying 'not supported' when using the HDMI lead, which means I must reboot the Freeview (Sagemcom) box.. so I've given up on HD in just 4 days to watch in SD via Scart (which is awful, even with RGB!).

I thought I'd be a bit sad to see the loss of analogue but then realised I haven't watched an analogue station for well over 7 or 8 years, probably longer! And, I can actually still get some poor quality channels from Crystal Palace, which I also won't watch or miss when they finally go digital only.

 

[LE Greys]

I'm already beginning to miss Ceefax. How else can I get the Inshore Waters Forecast (so useful when going to the coast) so easily? No need to go online and find it, just turn on the telly and there it is. For some reason, it's not up on Red Button, and ITV text is useless, since they've removed a lot of useful stuff.

 

[Greenback]

We lost BBC teletext when we switched. Strangely, both may father in law (about a mile away) and my parents are still able to get it. We can still get SkyText, for some reason.

 

[HST Power]

You can still get the BBC teletext from the 24 Hour News Channel.

We were switched over on the 13th of this month, along with Bedfordshire and I believe Cambridgeshire.

 

[Minilad]

Does anyone still use ceefax or teletext !!

 

[HST Power]

They clearly do! It's actually quite useful. If you want to see who won an F1 race and they're in the middle of talking about the budget on BBC News, you can dial 360 on the BBC Ceefax and know the result there and then, will all the positions, and post race comments.

 

[Greenback]

Does anyone still use ceefax or teletext !!

Yes, it's very handy to ahve a look at the news and sport when the adverts come on!

 

[HST Power]

Adverts.

If anything, they don't convince me to buy, they convince me not to buy!

With the exception of Compare the Market and We Buy Any Car I hit the mute button as soon as ITV put the adverts on!

 

[Greenback]

I either channel surf or get the text up. The adverts seem to be the same ones over and over again, especially on ITV1/2/3/4. With the extra breaks now, I am thoroughly sick of them. I will not buy anyhting that I see on an advert if I can help it.

 

[HST Power]

I hate the Auto Glass advert. The old Moon Pig advert was incredibly annoying, and I'm yet to find an advert for fragrances or shampoo that isn't completely and utterly ridiculous. What goes through the minds of the producers?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Does anyone still use ceefax or teletext !!

I do; it's a useful quick referene being able to just dial in a page number.

The digital Ceefax is awful - long delays scrolling through ridiculous menus; you would have thought that with this high tech all singing all dancing digital stuff you could still enter a page number and avoid all that hassle by going direct to the page wouldn't you?

 

[HST Power]

I'll be trusting my ceefax more and more, as the date of the royal wedding comes closer, the amount of coverage is stepping up. Which I for one cannot stand.

 

[Greenback]

I do; it's a useful quick referene being able to just dial in a page number.

The digital Ceefax is awful - long delays scrolling through ridiculous menus; you would have thought that with this high tech all singing all dancing digital stuff you could still enter a page number and avoid all that hassle by going direct to the page wouldn't you?

You can, I tap in 3910 to go straight to regional sport! When I'm not at home that is, as we can't get it!

 

[HST Power]

I agree that the digital ceefax can be fiddly. Though I really like the fact that when on BBC News 24, you can still see the picture as you read the headlines, just in case something interesting comes on.

1,000 posts!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Can you?

What's the numbers to tap in for direct access pages like 200 and 233 ( stock market stuff ) then?

No immediate hurry - our TV is staying on analogue until next year. It is a dual signal YV, but I'm not pressing the button to go on to the digital signal until I have to!

 

[SS4]

I hate the Auto Glass advert. The old Moon Pig advert was incredibly annoying, and I'm yet to find an advert for fragrances or shampoo that isn't completely and utterly ridiculous. What goes through the minds of the producers?

Autoglass is far worse (ie more common) on the radio

I tend to use the internet rather than ceefax or teletext but I do remember being too slow on the hold button when checking the football results and having to wait for the cycle to complete. That and cheating playing Bamboozle on teletext

 

[LE Greys]

...The old Moon Pig advert was incredibly annoying...

I know what you mean. Why would anyone want a sneering pig's head in a goldfish bowl as their logo?

 

[HST Power]

I know what you mean. Why would anyone want a sneering pig's head in a goldfish bowl as their logo?

Indeed. And the music was awful! Could never get it out of my head!

 

[LE Greys]

I tend to use the internet rather than ceefax or teletext but I do remember being too slow on the hold button when checking the football results and having to wait for the cycle to complete. That and cheating playing Bamboozle on teletext

Yes, that can take a while, but at least you know you're actually going to get back to it in the end. I did like the in-vision thing that allowed me to keep track of the cricket while watching something else.

Just discovered Film 4 has disappeared as well! :-x

 

[HST Power]

Just discovered Film 4 has disappeared as well! :-x

At this rate, we won't have any channels left at all! I've lost Film4, Yesterday and worst of all, Dave! How can I watch Top Gear now?

 

[starrymarkb]

Sounds like you've lost a Mux - Film 4 is still on and is showing Grease (argh! brain bleach!)