TV digital

[LMH]

When the digital tv thingy comes in next year what will happen if you don't have a digital tv or HD ready? My tv's are about three years old.

Can you still get the channels through Sky?

Lisa

 

[Damian]

Lisa, your TV's will be fine!!

You will still get Sky if you subscribe.

The only difference for many people wil be having to get a set top digi box, and maybe, but not necessarily, an aerial upgrade.

HD is, at the present time, a load of hype, as very few broadcasts are in HD format , and for the majority of people, they will not be able to distinguish standard digital from HD

 

[ColinA]

Yes most channels are available through sky.

Colin.

 

[LMH]

Thanks for the replies I will tell the boss. He was worried we wouldn't be able to watch our tv anymore when it all comes in.

Lisa

 

[JeremyClarksson]

Do not confuse HD with the digital TV changeover.

HD is a high quality format that will probably only ever be available on satellite and although it is digital will only be an "optional extra" for quite a few years and maybe decades to come.

The digital change over is to do with the turning off of analogue terrestrial signals received by an aerial on your roof and will be replaced by digital signals which will be happily shown by an existing TV using a freeview decoder/box.

However it is easy to see where the confusion comes from!

 

[wombat1]

Further, for anyone considering chaning their aerial...

Wait until the changeover, the only reason you might need a new aerial now, is that the transmitted digital signal is low in strenth to prevent interference with the analog (normal) transmission, so you would need a high gain aerial to receive digital.

However when they turn the analogue transmitters off, they will crank up the digital signal strength which will be able to be received by your trusty rusty 20 year old clothes line on top of your house.

 

[RonD]

Further, for anyone considering chaning their aerial...

Wait until the changeover, the only reason you might need a new aerial now, is that the transmitted digital signal is low in strenth to prevent interference with the analog (normal) transmission, so you would need a high gain aerial to receive digital.

However when they turn the analogue transmitters off, they will crank up the digital signal strength which will be able to be received by your trusty rusty 20 year old clothes line on top of your house.

True, but the other reason for a "digital" aerial (wideband) is that the digital transmissions are broadcast,on a typical transmitter site, many channels away from the analogue transmissions. For example, my local TV transmitter's analogue transmissions are all in Group C/D high up the band, whereas the digital mux's are spread all over the band, some in Group B which requires a slightly larger aerial (because the frequency is lower, Group A being the largest). To overcome this, wideband (digital)aerials are designed to cover the whole UHF band, although usually with reduced performance.

Ron, (ex broadcast engineer)