All you need to know to prepare for digital switch over in the UK
You can get to this page directly at http://homepages.tesco.net/~D.G.Hewitt/digitaltv.html
or by using the domain name http://how.to/digitaltv This page is also linked from my other websites.
This page tells you all you need to know about Digital Television in the UK and how prepare for digital switch over. This page was originally created on 6th May 2001 and last updated on 22nd December 2005.
The page was completely re written in December 2005. Recent changes to the availability of information and equipment make a lot of the original page redundant. For historical reasons you can view the original page here to see how things used to be when digital TV first started in the UK.
Simply click one of the hyperlinks from the following contents list, or just scroll down to read the whole lot.
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Up until a few years ago, all television broadcast in the UK was transmitted using Analogue. This is the familiar normal television that we are all used to, giving us a choice of 4 or 5 channels (6 in a few places) received with a normal television aerial, with the only cost being the annual television licence.
Now television is in the process of evolving, and it's going digital. Digital simply means a different way of transmitting the information, and has nothing to do with where it comes from. The difference between analogue and digital television is exactly the same as the difference between analogue and digital audio (for instance vinyl records vs compact discs).
A Digital television transmission uses less bandwith to transmit the same information, (mainly because the picture information is compressed) so using the same available space as Analogue television, it is possible to broadcast a greater number of channels. Remember a few years ago when Channel 5 was added, there was a great problem finding enough space to fit it, and in some area's reception of channel 5 is poor or non existant, because there's no spare space left for more transmitters. Digital television has solved this by allowing many more channels in the same amount of space.
Digital television first started 1998 in the UK. Originally it was only promoted by pay TV companies, which made it very hard for those just wanting to receive the free digital channels. Now equipment to receive the free digital channels is widely available. Pay television for those wanting even more extra channels is still available on both Satellite and Terestrial digital.
The Government have now set a timetable for switching off the old analogue television broadcasts. Some parts of the UK will loose analogue television as early as 2008, with all area's turned off by 2010. So whether you like it or not, every household in the UK must convert to digital television, or you will end up with a blank screen.
The wise thing therefore is to start making plans now about how to "go digital" and that's what this website hopes to help you with.
Terestrial Digital television is now marketed under the "Freeview" banner. Previously it had been promoted by the pay TV operators On Digital then ITV Digital. Terestrial digital simply means that it comes from a normal television transmitter, and you receive it using a normal TV aerial, though you will need some additional equipment.
The simplest way to receive "Freeview" is to buy a set top box. These are now widely available from most electrical retailers, often for as little as £25. An alternative is to buy a new "Integrated Digital Television" or IDTV. This is a normal television with the digital decoder built in. There are more of these available than in the early days, but sadly in my oppinion still not enough choice. One day all televisions will have the digital decoder built in , but not yet. These are certainly worth considering if you were intending to get a new television anyway.
There is a small element of Pay TV available on terestrial digital, from Top Up TV. For a small monthly payment you can get a few extra channels. For this you will need one of the original "On Digital" boxes, or will need to make sure that the box you buy has a card slot for "Top Up TV", these boxes cost slightly more than the ones for just the free channels.
You might find that in order to receive Freeview, you need to upgrade your aerial to a larger one, or perhaps one pointing to a different transmitter mast. That's because the digital signal is not being broadcast from all of the smaller analogue transmitter masts. Indeed some area's can't get digital terestrial at all, so your only option will be satellite.
Digital Satellite television has been operated by Sky since 1988. They have always promoted their service as pay television, which allows you to receive a large number of channels. However it has allways been possible to receive a smaller number of digital satellite channels for free, it's just that nobody told you you could (that's one of the reasons I started this page)
That has all changed. Recently Sky have started promoting "Sky Freesat". It is now easy to buy a Sky Freesat system for £150 including installation of the dish. This will allow you to receive all the free channels. The whole of the UK is covered, so this is a good option for those unable to receive digital terestrial.
At the moment a Sky Freesat system will give you access to all of the free digital satellite channels. However, the only reason for choosing a Sky system is that, Channel 4 and five are encrypted using Sky's encryption system. Part of the Freesat system is a "Free to view" card which will decode these. The BBC channels and ITV used to also be encrypted, but not any more. It remains to be seen if Channel 4 and Five continue to be encrypted, of if they follow the BBC and ITV's lead and go unencrypted.
If you can put up without Channel 4 and five then another option is a "free to air" satellite receiver. These are often cheaper than the Sky Freesat system, but you will have to install your own dish, or pay a local contractor to install it for you. a "Free to Air" satellite receiver offers you the chance to choose which channels are allocated to which channel number, and put them in the order you think best. In contrast with a Sky receiver you cannot change the channel numbering or order, and all the subscription channels appear in the listings, no doubt to try and tempt you into subscribing to one of the pay tv packages.
A Normal installation is with the Set Top box in the living room, connected to the main TV. This is fine if you only want to watch your new digital channels on that TV, but what if you have other TV's for instance in the Kitchen, Dining room or bedrooms. I wanted to be able to watch Digital channels on any TV in the house.
The only total solution is to replace every TV with an IDTV, or have a digital set top box for each television.
A compromise that we have in our house is a "Freeview" box in the living room for the main television. Also we have a Sky Freesat system and a second freeview box located in the office. These two secondary boxes are cabled via the aerial cable to all the other televisions in the house, so we can watch any digital channel on any television. Having two boxes allows simultaneous watching of two different digital channels, or three digital channels counting the main box in the living room. We use a "Powermid" wireless remote control extender to allow control of these two office set top boxes from other rooms in the house.
You are familliar with recording your normal analogue television with a video recorder or perhaps a DVD recorder. You can watch one channel while recording a different one, because your recorder has it's own tuner, so operates independantly of the television. But things are not quite so straightforward with digital television.
You can connect your existing video or DVD recorder to either a digital set top box, or an IDTV. But a major drawback is you can then only record the digital program that is tuned in on the IDTV or set top box. This is because old "analogue" video or DVD recorders don't have a digital decoder. You can of course record an analogue program while watching a digital one, or record a digital program while watching an analogue one, but this option won't be available after analogue switch off, so you need to think ahead about your future needs.
The solution again lies with some new equipment. It is now possible to buy a DVD recorder with a built in Freeview decoder. I don't think anyone makes a video recorder with built in Freeview, but then video recorders are outdated technology and not worth buying any more.
An alternative product that is now widely available for £99 or less is a Hard Disk recorder, sometimes known as a PVR or Personal video recorder. These have a built in Freeview digital decoder and record digital television programes to a hard disk built inside the box. Typically they will store about 50 hours or more of recordings at one time. They have many advantages over a video recorder, mainly better picture quality. If you want to permanently keep a recording you can copy it to a video recorder or DVD recorder.
A variation on this is a "Twin Tuner hard disk recorder". As it's name implies it has two digital decoders built in. This is intended to be uses with an existing analogue television and gives you a total digital solution all in one box allowing you to watch one digital channel, while recording a second digital channel.
You will see from reading this site that whatever happens you will need some new equipment in order to continue watching television in the UK so it's wise to start planning now how you are going to make the change.
The first thing to realise is that the more televisions, video's etc you have, the more complicated and expensive it will be to change all of them to digital. Therefore the first and most important thing is do not buy any more analogue only televisions or video's etc. This would only add to your costs later on. I think is is unfortunate and wrong that retailers are continuing to sell analogue only television equipment without warning you that it is now obsolete technology.
If you are thinking about a new or replacement television, then without a doubt an IDTV or integrated digital television is the best choice. There are more available than there were, and prices are getting more reasonable, but they are still more expensive than they should be, and choice is limited, particularly for small or portable sets. My advice is, if you can't find an IDTV that suits your requirements or price, wait a bit longer and keep your old television a while longer. If you do have to buy another television and can't find an IDTV that suits, consider something cheap or second hand, and be prepared to have to add a set top box to it later to keep it working.
If you want a new recording device, I would not buy a video recorder. They are obsolete technology anyway and not available with a digital tuner built in. Instead buy either a DVD recorder or a Hard disk recorder/PVR, which have built in digital tuners.
All the information on this site is derived as a result of my personal experience installing a Sky Digital satelite system and an ex On Digital set top box in my home for free to view channels. I believe it to be correct, but I do not accept any responsibility whatsoever for anything that happens to you as a result of using the information on this site. You use this information therefore entirely at your own risk. In particular I take no responsibility for what happens as a result of making changes to any of the settings of your digibox. Any changes you make are entirely at your own risk. Please be prudent and make a note of the old settings first, so if things go wrong you can put it back.
Please be aware that Digital TV is a new and evolving technology. As such things are liable to change so it must be considered less stable than analogue TV. However since it is the stated aim of the Government to switch off analogue TV transmissions within the next 5 to 10 years, I think it's a pretty safe bet that digital TV is here to stay in the UK.
this site is deliberately intended as a simple source of basic information. It's not a flashy colourfull graphicly presented site, and never will be. It's just a simple and hopefully helpfull source of information.
I hope to continue adding to it or ammending it as digital TV evolves.
You may freely copy the text of the information presented here, providing you give credit to the fact you found it on http://how.to/digitaltv, and include the disclaimer. You may not copy any of the html or java code used within the website.
If you are interested in Digital TV in general, here is a list of other sites that I am aware of that
will be of interest to you. As well as providing up to date news about Digital Television developments,
many of them have usefull discussion forums. I am not associated with any of these sites in any way.
