Digital TV

[kleinboet]

Oops, I seem to have started something for the techies!

My reason for asking is that we have had saturation ads extolling the benefits of digital but NOT ONE telling you that you must update all your ancilliary equipment! Only once the ball was well and truly rolling, did they slip in the ads telling you this. This means that most OAP's on a pension who have forked out a lot of money for the "new fangled" TV's, now have to find the money to upgrade all their other equipment!!

 

Jeff - I agree with you on the ad. If you want it, it is on utube!

Edited November 21, 2007 by kleinboet

[chesters1]

there wasa talk of helping the poor (that includes pensioners i hope) with the cost but i bet thats purely a cheap set top box ,mind you how many pensioners can operate a video anyway

i bet fortunes are being made "advising" the old folks their aerials are crap and that old telly that sits in the corner is obsolete ,aerials "could" be! the latter is nonsense all that is obsolete is the tuner (without a freeview or sat box) the rest is fine.

Edited November 21, 2007 by chesters1

[yorkio]

there wasa talk of helping the poor (that includes pensioners i hope) with the cost but i bet thats purely a cheap set top box

 

All the details at www.digitaluk.co.uk/en/how/help-scheme.html

[chesters1]

i am a little concerned over the " what will i need to do" section ,hopefully every household will be sent a form to claim the free stuff and NOT the government supplying yet another lot of people with details of those that are receiving the benefits that allow them to get it

there is yet another bit where unmarried couples can get more than the married! a "partner" could easily pretend they are just a lodger and get free stuff whereas the married are excluded

ofcourse the married bit is in every form you fill in benefits wise "partners" could come and go

 

my fears are realised unless its a response to an earlier letter

 

"Eligible individuals in the Copeland area have been sent a letter and an application form by the Help Scheme, and should fill in their form as soon as possible. If you need further information or help to fill in the form, please call the Digital Switchover Help Scheme Call Centre on freephone 0800 5 19 20 21, or visit the Digital Switchover Help Centre at 72 King Street, Whitehaven."

 

this means that the government may have not only given away the names and addresses of every kid in the country by mistake they are supplying the details of everyone on certain benefits or ageon purpose

certainly puts holes in the data protection act and ofcourse in the wrong hands this info could have our over 75's getting visits by masked people in the dead of night :angry:

 

once everyone has an ID card think how easy it would be to give everyones details away in one go ,there is a hidden agenda and it isnt our "protection" , merely more cost effective for the government in selling it

Edited November 21, 2007 by chesters1

[kleinboet]

Chesters read it again, this time looking at how long before the digital swithover happens, in order to be eligible!

[chesters1]

cant see the difference Kleinboet ,if the Copeland area have been sent a letter theres no reason to think it will change when other regions switch over or am i missing your point? if you mean in time scale then the 2012 lot will have less old people that are 75 now(death comes to us all) but gained about the same who will become 75 then and ofcourse you are rarely disabled for X years people as yourself are till you die so the core people receiving the benefits will be the same in 2012 if they are under 75

Edited November 21, 2007 by chesters1

[Newt]

Our old TV set died suddenly a few months ago and all the replacments available were digital ready.

 

I was convinced there would be no advantage to upgrading and only some additional expense. Good grief, was I ever wrong.

 

I agree about TV having way too many adverts but with recorded programs, fast forward makes them much less of a bother.

 

Digital (and the HD service + the DVR) certainly did cost more but after using it a few months, I can say that for us, the extra money was well spent.

[chesters1]

the shops are full of low spec "HD" TV's at the moment no doupt trying to get rid of them before the real ones become cheap

 

as you can see on here theres a strange "fact" that low resolution TV's can be sold as HD but the real HD specification is far better, 720 lines are little better than the 625 we have now

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

 

an analogue signal on a HD tv are merely interpolated by the TV not HD whatever it looks like and ofcourse the HD signal depends on which standard the supplier uses! a low spec signal or DVD on a real HD tv will be interpolated thus not true HD either ,not so simple as it seems

it wont be long before a super HD format will be along and interpolating current signals or DVD's such is progress

Edited November 21, 2007 by chesters1

[Steve Walker]

My reason for asking is that we have had saturation ads extolling the benefits of digital but NOT ONE telling you that you must update all your ancilliary equipment!

 

Look on the bright side; true, you and lots of other people are going to have to fork out for new equipment, but not only will the treasury pocket all of the VAT on it, the government will then be able to flog off all of the analogue bandwidth to mobile phone operators. WINDFALL BONUS!! Might even be enough money to start another small war...

[ColinW]

I bought a Humax PVR about two years ago. Best toy I ever bought! I can't remember the last time I watched an analogue transmission and I was happy to see the VCR go in the bin.