# Today analogue TV is consigned to history



## Jean-Luc

Anyone planning to visit Ireland (26 counties) should note that today 24/10/2012 we have switched off our analogue TV broadcasts.
The only system now available is SAORVIEW which is a digital system like FREEVIEW but broadcast using a later technology (MPEG4).

If you view your television via a terrestrial UHF aerial and if your TV is not enabled to decode MPEG4 it will not work here, so save weight leave it at home and enjoy more time exploring the great outdoors.

If you wish to keep up with the soaps, Premiership, Britian's Got Tallent  etc. etc. you will need either an MPEG4 enabled TV or have Satellite reception.

As a rule TV3 here which is tied in with ITV shows much of ITV prime time content. Similarly our national public service broadcaster RTE shows a lot of BBC prime time content.


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## GerryD

Any TV that is compatible with mainland Europe digital signal and produced within the past 3 years will be compatible with the Soarview transmission.
Also, any Freeview HD receiver is also fully compatible with Soarview.
Gerry

Analogue is dead, long live digital.


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## pippin

I would be celebrating but, and it is a big but, the Labour government has robbed us of over a third of the TV spectrum in the process.

It is a process being continued by the present government - selling off the spectrum in the auction to cellular telephone companies so that we can have 4G.

Were we asked? Nope!

The result is that we actually have fewer digital channels than prior to analogue switch-off.

Those receiving relay signals are particularly worse off.
There were four transmitted channels but one transmitter at each station was turned off.

If the whole spectrum had been retained we could have had about another 100 channels or a better quality picture on the ones we have now.

Plus ça change!


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## Stanner

It would have happened whatever the Govt. in at the start. That is why it's continuing after the change of power.

Party Political Governments only really tinker at the edges, the REAL decisions are made by the unelected "government" that is there all the time - come what may - whosoever actually "wins" at the ballot box.

As the saying goes "It doesn't matter who you vote for the Government always gets in!"


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## Jean-Luc

GerryD said:


> Any TV that is compatible with mainland Europe digital signal and produced within the past 3 years will be compatible with the Soarview transmission.
> Also, any Freeview HD receiver is also fully compatible with Soarview.
> Gerry
> 
> Analogue is dead, long live digital.


Jerry, this has been discussed on other threads and it appears that Digital sets for in the UK market are not supplied with MPEG4 decoding capability, this has bee confirmed to me by many suppliers including Avtex when I was in the market for such a set.

I have since bought an MPEG4 enabled (Saorview) set from Argos here in Ireland and use it via an inverter. which will also work in the UK as it's backwards compatible to MPEG2.


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## GerryD

pippin said:


> The result is that we actually have fewer digital channels than prior to analogue switch-off.
> 
> Those receiving relay signals are particularly worse off.
> There were four transmitted channels but one transmitter at each station was turned off.
> 
> If the whole spectrum had been retained we could have had about another 100 channels or a better quality picture on the ones we have now.
> 
> Plus ça change!


Do we have fewer digital channels than before switchover? Of course not. There are now more digital channels on terrestrial TV in the UK than ever before.

Those receiving relay signals are particularly worse off....Not true, before switchover, they had no digital channels at all and no Channel 5. They now get 18 channels minimum including channel 5, and they get HD.

If the whole spectrum had been retained we could have another 100 channels......Not true, there is insufficient money in the coffers to have more free channels. There were also never any plans to have more channels. Finally, the UK has more free channels than any other country in Europe.

If the whole spectrum had been retained we could have a better quality picture.....Not true, the HD channels utilise less spectrum per channel than the SD channels. So the way to better picture quality is HD transmitted on DVB-T2.

Gerry


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## GerryD

Jean-Luc said:


> GerryD said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any TV that is compatible with mainland Europe digital signal and produced within the past 3 years will be compatible with the Soarview transmission.
> Also, any Freeview HD receiver is also fully compatible with Soarview.
> Gerry
> 
> Analogue is dead, long live digital.
> 
> 
> 
> Jerry, this has been discussed on other threads and it appears that Digital sets for in the UK market are not supplied with MPEG4 decoding capability, this has bee confirmed to me by many suppliers including Avtex when I was in the market for such a set.
> 
> I have since bought an MPEG4 enabled (Saorview) set from Argos here in Ireland and use it via an inverter. which will also work in the UK as it's backwards compatible to MPEG2.
Click to expand...

Jean-Luc,
You are absolutely right, which is why I stated made for Mainland Europe, not UK.
However, all TVs and set top boxes that are Freeview HD compatible are guaranteed to work on Soarview. Soarview uses the Nordig standard, which is DVB-T with MPEG4. All Freeview HD receivers are compatible with this standard and higher.
Gerry


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## EJB

I believe the Netherlands has recently, or is about to change it's transmission standards.

I would love to see an expert evaluation of the various terrestrial outputs across Europe and Scandinavia. (In plain English).

We can't all afford/want satellite systems

I've had a couple of short conversations with Avtex people and they are very reluctant to admit where their TVs don't work....or even where they do work!!


There's plenty of hearsay about :roll:


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## GerryD

EJB said:


> I believe the Netherlands has recently, or is about to change it's transmission standards.
> 
> I would love to see an expert evaluation of the various terrestrial outputs across Europe and Scandinavia. (In plain English).
> 
> We can't all afford/want satellite systems
> 
> I've had a couple of short conversations with Avtex people and they are very reluctant to admit where their TVs don't work....or even where they do work!!
> 
> There's plenty of hearsay about :roll:


The terrestrial TV system in the Netherlands is standard definition DVB-T, the same as the standard definition system in the UK. Therefore any TV designed to receive Freeview in the UK will work in the Netherlands. However, and this is a big however, some of the transmissions are provided by a service called Digitenne; in order to receive these signals you will require a special powered aerial. This aerial is only available in the Netherlands.
There are no HD transmissions in the Netherlands on terrestrial and no plans for there to be any.
Gerry


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## Jean-Luc

EJB said:


> I believe the Netherlands has recently, or is about to change it's transmission standards.
> 
> I would love to see an expert evaluation of the various terrestrial outputs across Europe and Scandinavia. (In plain English).
> 
> We can't all afford/want satellite systems
> 
> I've had a couple of short conversations with Avtex people and they are very reluctant to admit where their TVs don't work....or even where they do work!!
> 
> There's plenty of hearsay about :roll:


Just received the November Caravan Club mag. In the Avtex advert for their most up to date offering is specified as having "DVB-T: Digital Freeview TV". 
Therefore not having DVB-T2 it will not received UK High Definition channels in certain areas and none of the Irish channels (SD or HD).

THIS would appear to be quite informative on the issue of the UK Freeview HD and the technology standard required to receive it.


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## EJB

Thanks for your comments so far.
HD isn't important to me as I assume that the vast majority of MH TVs are still without it.
I know that Norwegian TV is not available to 'our' normal TVs.
I was fairly sure that the Netherlands were going to change their system but perhaps it is the 'Digitenne' system?

We always use our terrestrial TV on the continent....if we don't understand the language the weather forcasts are always quite clear :wink:


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## GerryD

EJB said:


> We always use our terrestrial TV on the continent....if we don't understand the language the weather forcasts are always quite clear :wink:


My views entirely, having worked with digital switchover since the first days of two villages in Wales, I am pleased to note that completion including the first stage of spectrum clearance will coincide with my retirement in October next year.
There are still lots of challenges ahead for TV reception including the spectrum restriction of all channels above CH48 and following that the full switch to DVB-T2. In a few years all terrestrial channels in Europe will be HD/DVB-T2 and then we shall see the switch to the newly established Ultra HD (formerly known as 4K HD).
I firmly believe that nobody nowadays should consider a TV to be a product with a life of more than three years.
Thank God OLED appears to be dying even before it's launch.
Gerry


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## Jean-Luc

GerryD said:


> EJB said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............................................I firmly believe that nobody nowadays should consider a TV to be a product with a life of more than three years.........................................
> 
> 
> 
> So is this an argument in favour of purchasing 'ordinary' tv's that do the job for now instead of high end relatively expensive units unless they offer considerable 'future proofing'
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


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## GerryD

Jean-Luc said:


> GerryD said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EJB said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............................................I firmly believe that nobody nowadays should consider a TV to be a product with a life of more than three years.........................................
> 
> 
> 
> So is this an argument in favour of purchasing 'ordinary' tv's that do the job for now instead of high end relatively expensive units unless they offer considerable 'future proofing'
> 
> 
> 
> Jean-Luc,
> Yes you are right, there is no such thing as future proofing, ask anyone who has bought an iPad or iPhone. The high end TVs look great and have lots of features that will hardly ever be used. Always buy the best for your budget and expect it to be outdated sooner rather than later.
> Gerry
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


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## pippin

Gerry "Thank God OLED appears to be dying even before it's launch."

Wot's dat den?


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## Stanner

pippin said:


> Gerry "Thank God OLED appears to be dying even before it's launch."
> 
> Wot's dat den?


http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/oled.htm


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