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Digital with tears, well almost
Our Sudbury transmitter went off today, yesterday we had our dish installed - the chap told us we would not need our old remote control so we left it to one side. I switched on this morning to find, yes we were off. After us being both close to tears as it was a case of the blind leading the blind with all the business about post codes which we are not going to bother much about now until we get the new TV set orgnaised but it took a chap from Euro Aerials eventually when we did not get any joy from the number given, 08456 business, he told us to use our old controls, I bet that chap will get an earful. Some of these young lads think middle agers such as myself and the elderly are all cued up on techie. I know the Queen is but not everyone. Anyway until we get the new TV we bought all set up and organised, that might be a ball game and a half so keep your fingers crossed, we are using our current one with the Freeview set top box on top. Mind you, we have got the best picture we had for over twenty five years because we live in a hollow. I think the real problem is that the young lad also had a tight schedule. au revoir for now
Comments
We were switched over 18 months ago and I can only watch via a dish. That means I can no longer use the TVs in the bedroom or kitchen. Whilst that's hardly a disaster, it is a shame to have two TVs that can never be used (here) again.
Considered running leads from the dish but it's not practical in this house - three floors.
I don't think we were given enough info about the switchover and what to do.
Even with poor signal, when they powered down the mast for some channels while doing work, in our kitchen we could still get a good B&W picture, and fine everywhere else. Now it just goes altogether or breaks up so much it's unwatchable. And evry time the darned fridge switeches on and off it make a noise.
And our lovely tele with a tube in the living room is going to be pampered and then mended until it can't be any more, its picture is way better than our digital teles.
Bring back analogue!
As you say a lot of TV broadcast is still standard, but there is so much HD now it's very rare you come across it. Obviously HD broadcast is only 1080i but it is still mind blowing if you watch a good BBC documentary, especially ones about the universe or natural history.You are right about the storms you can lose signal for a moment or two. This can also happen with roof top ariels though.
On the whole I'd much rather watch a good quality digital HD programme on a digital TV than anything else. Not to mention the Dolby 5.1 sound you can also enjoy.
Yep.
:(
To be honest, apart from feeling peeved I haven't missed it. I can still use the TV in the bedroom to watch videos and DVDs. But I used to tape Strictly - it takes two, upstairs and watch it in bed. Now I can't because I have to remember to switch the dish channel to BBC2 - and I always forget.
We have several BBC friends who use their old TVs.
I have friends who build cars but ride motorbikes. Makes no difference.
BB an improvement you'll have with digital is you can have recorders to catch shows in any room and watch from any room.
That's not the same at all. They don't BUILD TVs. They edit HD pictures, on all types of screen, high quality screens. The colour balance, reality, deepness of blacks etc is far superior on analogue.
The resolution is so much better on HD, and HD does much better blown up huge on the new TVs, but actually, a plasma screen does NOT give a good quality picture. Maybe they will one day, but at the moment, they don't.
Also you can't even just claim blacks are better or deeper on CRT than plasma. It's not as simple as that. Where one CRT may have a deeper more realistic black level it may lose out to black detail that a plasma will provide. If you have a decent enough set and calibrate it correctly like I mentioned, possibly using the THX tool, then you'll match the black levels of CRT yet have a better dark detail. Add to this the greater colour accuracy and tracking, picture detail and resolution range and you have a far superior picture using HD content.
Maybe the people at the BBC are using HD CRTs which no home can really afford even if they were on the consumer market. The more money you have the better you get. If I had enough cash I could buy a digital 1080p Imax cinema that would blow any TV out of the water. But we are talking normal retail set here. Also if I have a choice I watch on my HD projector anyway. Better than any TV I've ever seen in my whole life.
Certainly, when viewing television displays in retail outlets, here in south-west England; the larger screens appear to distort broadcast programmes. LCD screens present finest detail whilst plasma and other types project tendency of blurr, sense of beaded curtain appears especially when viewed from any angle other than ninety degrees to the monitor.
One personal experience is my parents treating themselves to a forty two inch flat screen plasma television. They had it installed by engineers from an independent high street shop. Imagery appears superb from opposite end of the twenty feet {six metres} long room. However, sitting closer and at side of the room presents a linear distortion to the picture.
A colleague purchased his flat screen telly from one of the chains and had several call back visits in attempts to define colour density and sharp focus.
Many households suffer regular bouts of pixelated imagery and living near flight paths apparently provokes freeze frame braocasting when 'planes operate.
Debate on merit of the various alternatives will, doubtless, continue in the same manner as those surrounding other fashion and style developments.
Yes, been told that. But that means an investment in new equipment. What I have works, or worked. I don't want to spend money on new equipment that would otherwise have been fine for years.
The digital box I bought originally was OK until the switch over. I bought one for the kitchen too. Then a couple of years later and they were obselete. Not sure how many homes have the same problem here, but there have been letters in our local paper.
Liz I'll accept your opinion on this but seriously refuse to accept your point. I've not had a person watch a HD film on my projector without being blown away. People who have everything from CRTs to LED TVs. A few friends have gone and bought one after watching at my house. If you think these people who are involved in technology and media are so enraptured by such 'flat' pictures then I guess they must all be blind or something.
The quality of picture I have is comparable to that at the local Odeon only a hell of a lot smaller. Either you are not watching properly calibrated equipment or there is something in the setup that needs improving. It sounds to me like the old argument about refusing to switch to CD because you think the sound quality of Vinyl is better. Some think it is, but that's not a fact, just a matter of taste.
I know I can (and do) use my pc to hear the radio, but I don't always want it switched on just for that.