Are You Ready For The Switch Over To Digital?

jambutty · 20-11-2008, 14:33

The switch over for the North West in the Granada Region will happen some time in 2009. Once it does and the analogue transmissions are switched off your old analogue TV will be nothing more than a piece of junk.

But there is no need to rush out and buy a new digital TV, you can buy a “Digi Box” instead. Prices vary but less than £40 should cover it.

Some “Digi Boxes” come complete with a “Scart” lead and some do not so find out before you part with your cash. A separate “Scart” lead will cost you about £15. Indeed check your existing TV to see if it has a “Scart” socket at the back. If it doesn’t then it must be an old TV and although you can still connect a “Digi Box” to it, it would probably be better to get a new digital TV. Some shops are still selling the non digital TV’s so beware what you buy. Of course you could go the whole hog and buy a brand new HR LCD or plasma digital TV. You should be able to get a decent sized one for £500 or so.

In the majority of cases, your existing aerial will be good enough, in spite of what some shops and some ‘aerial experts’ tell you. They just want to sell you a new aerial at an inflated price, of course. A good yardstick is if you can get Channel 5 OK then your aerial will be good enough. But that doesn’t mean that if you cannot get Channel 5 you will need a new aerial. Try your digital set-up to see.

Connecting your “Digi Box” is simple enough and once installed it will sort out all the ‘free view’ channels available to you and you can then put them in your own order of your viewing preference if you want to.

Of course you will have another remote control to lose down the back of the couch but think of the fun you can have searching for it before that match starts.

shillelagh · 20-11-2008, 15:02

I got a leaflet through the door last week saying its november 2009 ....

entwisi · 20-11-2008, 15:03

Sart leads are available from £1 from your local pound shop, digi boxes from 15 quid in asda.

However - you aren't guaranteed to get freeview( I can't) but there are three further options

FreeSAT from SKY - cost somewhere between 75 and 150 quid depending on what offers Sky have at the time. This is obviously a statellite connection, this can be affected by very bad weather ( snow/ rain) but if set up correctly it is a very rare event. There is no monthly subscription with this offer but the number of channel is limited.

FreeSat - (No relation to the above) - if you had a sky digibox in the past and the wire is still in you can use this, if not it will cost ~ £60 for a dish. You then can choose standard definition( as per freeview and SKY and the terrestrial you currently watch) for about £70 or a high def box which can also receive some channels in high def but standard for most(Not all, think BBC.ITV and possibly C4 plus some fringe ones) for about £150. There is no monthly subscription with this offer

Of course you can also subscribe to SKY itself, usually you can get a free box with just 60 quid install if you take out the basic package at 16 quid a month. Considering you can also have free broadband with this ( up to 2 meg, 2 gig CAP) its a fair deal IMHO. If you want extar channels teh cost obviously goes up.

And its worth commenting that you can of course have any/all of the above at once. e.g.

my TV has built in freeview(which as stated I can't use due to the position of my house), I have Sky+ and I'm considering a freesat HD box maily for teh footy

.

shillelagh · 20-11-2008, 15:06

Its now £17 a month for the basic package entwisi ....... it went up in september.

bonny_tuesday · 20-11-2008, 15:08

My telly also has freeview built in, and I also can't use it because of where my house is. I was hoping that after the switch over the problem will be solved and everybody will be able to receive the freeview chanels.
Oh Well, thats that plan kaiboshed then.

jambutty · 20-11-2008, 15:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by shillelagh

I got a leaflet through the door last week saying its november 2009 ....

That’s useful. Thanks.

The booklet that I got several months ago didn’t stipulate a date, just the year.

I’ll do my level best to remember to give you some Karma but right now I can’t because I’ve used my daily allowance catching up on a promise I made two days ago because I couldn’t make an award on that day because I was catching up for the day previous and so on and so on.

entwisi · 20-11-2008, 15:25

They are I believe up'ing teh power of teh freeview signal when they turn off teh analogue one but where I live I can't even get BBC1 never mind C5

K-P · 20-11-2008, 16:02

I ahve the full sky package and arial system going upstairs with booster... works ok for terestrial TV ... But I bought a digibox for the kids room and reception is pants... Gonna get an outside ariel (ours is in attic) and hopefully that will get freeview upstairs... not paying multiroom prices

magpie · 20-11-2008, 17:03

got a new tv last year so I think I am ready...but when my heating comes on my tv goes click click click and a splutter and some times it freezes: so hope when they do the big turn on it will work better:

lancsdave · 20-11-2008, 17:13

Does anybody know anyone who still uses the old fashioned aerial method ? Must be few and far between these days.

shillelagh · 20-11-2008, 17:13

Ive just found the leaflet ....... The Granada tv region switches from 4 November 2009

It also says the switchover is a two stage process that will start on 4 November and finish on 2 December. You will receive another leaflet 3 months before your switchover with more details about what will happen.

It also says most rooftop and some set top aerials will continue to work after switchover. To check the condition of your aerial visit teletext 284 where a test shows your aerial strength.

and the website theyre giving you to check stuff is digitaluk.co.uk and the telephone number for the switchover help scheme is 0800 408 5900 and the website is helpscheme.co.uk