I am confused about the digital switchover?

Question

What does it all mean, the digitaltv website is still confusing me, so what does it all mean?

Answer 1

Ignore satellite tv (which is already digital) and concentrate on terrestrial (ordinary) television.

I can give you a very crude analogy to try and describe what's happening. Please don't take the following as a text-book description (you really need an electronics degree to understand it properly):

Traditionally television broadcasts are transmitted using an Analogue System. This means that the electromagnetic  (television) waves are sent from the transmitter in a form similar to that used by FM Radio.

To explain that - imagine a slinky spring (one of those coil things that children of all ages love to "walk" down stairs. If you hold on to one end of the spring and give it a quick and sudden shake you can see the "ripple" move down its length.

That is very roughly how an analogue television signal is formed at the point when it leaves the transmitter mast. Instead of a plastic spring it uses elecromagnetic radiation, but the "intelligence" (or picture & sound information) is encoded by varying the rate of change (or frequency if you like) of the ripple. The Carrier Frequency is the central frequency and the "ripples" consist of small frequency changes either side of the Carrier.  

The tv set decodes this and produces your images and sound.

Each tv station uses a different Carrier. They are spaced far enough apart so that the variations of the "ripples" don't interfere. The tv tuner is designed to select stations by finding their dedicated Carrier frequency.

Digital transmissions work in a very different way. The signal leaves the  transmitter; but instead of using a modulation system as described above, the Carrier carries a series of pulses (effectively on-off). These  "Digital" pulses are encrypted using a fairly complex system. Imagine Morse Code but  incredibly more sophisticated.

The Digital televison set (or Freeview box) is able to decode the incoming digital signal and re-create picture and sound.....but there's more!

As in analogue, the tv tuner is able to select individual Carrier frequencies. However, each Carrier is able to carry up to six digitised television stations. The tuners on digital tv sets and Freeview boxes are more like computers than old-fashioned tv tuners  and the software in the tuners are able to distingish between the six tv stations in each Carrier group (called Multiplexes).

That's how they get 40 or more digital tv stations in an area where analogue could only deliver a handfull.

Between now and 2012 the whole country will be able to receive digital tv. One by one the analogue services in each area will be switched off. This means that the analogue tuners on older tv sets will not be able to recieve off-air broadcasts. They will still be ok to pick the UHF channel 36 output from a VHS machine.

There is no need to throw away a working tv set. You must connect a Freeview box (about £20) to it so that it can still be used for receiving off-air broadcasts from your aerial when your area goes Digital.

I hope this helps clear up your confusion. Sorry if it doesn't - it's a more complex subject than most people think.

Answer 2

The digital switchover means that you can't turn on your tv after your regions change date and get the analogue channels such as BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Four and Five unless you have a DIGIBOX (e.g. sky or cable).

However, if you have a DIGIBOX already installed, it'll make no difference to your television pleasure.

Hope it helps.

Lu :D

Answer 3

There are usually about five analogue channels. When they switch these off you will need a freeview box to view numerous digital channels, or a TV with one built in.

If you buy a box get one with a TWIN TUNER, then you can record a separate channel from the one you are watching (if this is useful to you). Most digiboxes, and TVs with freeview haven't got this facility at present.

Answer 4

After the switch over date (depending on your region), you will need to have a freeview box or tv with built in freeview to watch normal TV.

Doesn't apply if you watch SKY or CABLE TV.

Whats the first part of your postcode? You can use this to find WHEN it switches over and if you will need a new AERIAL after switch over.

Answer 5

it means if you have no digital equipment on your tv then you will not get any pictures .

if you have sky or freeview  box or another supplier or digital ready tv then you are o.k.

Answer 6

I think it means that you won't be able to record one channel while watching another.

Oh, and it also means that you have to BUY more equipment, and that most of your existing equipment is obsolete.

And worst of all you have to put up with pixelated pictures and loads of channels you don't want.

Answer 7

The digital to analog conversion is this: All tv stations will be broadcasting in digital and will no longer broadcast in analog. People who use rabbit ears or rooftop antennas to recieve their television signals will need to purchase a converter box (around 60 dollars- 20 if you get a coupon from the gov.)unless they have a newer television with a built in digital tuner. People who have cable or satellite tv will no be affected.

If you need more info go to a RadioShack store and ask them to answer your questions about the switch or go to http://www.dtv2009.gov   Hope this helps!

Answer 8

If you Have satellite or cable it won't effect you.If you have TV through an aerial you will need a top box which is easily fitted just like fitting a DVD player or something like that.

Answer 9

hi basically what it means is if you don't have a sky dish free to air dish or cable and have your TV conceited to an aerial you will to will have to get to invest in on of in of what i have just outlined to get TV i also know the BBC will have there own box i don't know about itv

Answer 10

The digital switchover on terrestrial (i.e not satellite or cable) simply means that the old signals for television stations BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 will be switched off in the coming few months between now and the middle of 2012, instead of which the new signals for those stations will be broadcast.

Technically, the analogue (old) signal is modulated by frequencies on a carrier wave and the practical upshot of this as far as technical aspects are concerned is that it takes up a lot of airspace because you need to leave some frequencies empty to guard against cross-channel interference. A digital (new) signal is carried on a multiplex band along with many more and so you can broadcast a lot more channels in the same bandwidth.

Politically it means that Gordon Brown can rake in yet more cash by selling off the airspace to anybody who needs it, probably mobile phone companies.

For you as the consumer, it means that your old tellies won't be able to receive a signal unaided UNLESS they are set for digital TV as well as analogue (dual system reception) and you will know whether it is or not because when you bought it it should have had a digital tick on it if it can receive the digital signals. If it is a digital telly, there'll be a button on your remote somewhere that says DVB or DTV.

If it isn't there are a number of things you can do to get digital telly on your old set. Bear in mind that your set will need a SCART lead to use some of these. SCART is the big socket on the back with 21 pins and it's likely that your telly will have at least one if you bought it in the last 10 years.

Number 1 is Sky or Virgin Media. There are a number of restrictions on the latter which is a cable system and it might be that cable can't reach your house, if so they'll tell you.

Sky has fewer restrictions on it, it really doesn't matter where you are in the country you should be able to receive it. The necessary pre-requisite for receiving Sky is of course a sattelite dish, and certain buildings need planning permission to erect one; these include grade one/two listed buildings, blocks of flats and buildings near MoD communications centres. You must have a box and pay a monthly subscription for both Sky and Virgin Media.

NUmber 2 is to buy a Free to Air satellite system. If you pursue this course you will have to install it yourself and you will not be able to receive all the channels that you can on Sky.

Number three is a set top box. This receives a digital signal and plays it through your old tv and in fact is the same thing as having a digital telly with a built in tuner. Your choices here are Freeview, for which you don't pay a subscription, or Top up TV (standard or anytime) for which you do once a month. UKTV is available on Top-up Anytime but not on Freeview, but if you buy a Top-up TV box (it's got a card slot in) you get Freeview included. If you pursue this course of action you may or may not need a new aerial on your roof. If you live near to a major transmitter (not a relay, you can tell the difference easily as a major transmitter is very tall; think Emley Moor, Belmont or Winter Hill) you can usually pick up Freeview with an anologue aerial, if not you may find that one or more Multiplex bands are missing; it commonly manifests itself as not being able to pick up any ITV stations. A new aerial could cost anywhere between 120 and 180 pounds to have installed, though you could get one for about  50 pounds and install it yourself. Not recommended if you don't know what you're doing with co-axial cable or you're not used to working on the roof!

The easiest way to find out if your aerial can get digital telly is to borrow somebody's set top box and plug it in to your TV. If it gets all the channels the aerial's good, if not you need a new one.

Number 4 is through your computer. You can get a card or a USB device that allows your computer to become a telly, and you can run the output to a normal telly through a PC AV cable if your telly set has sockets for it.

Another term you may have heard is HDTV or High Definition. This has nothing to do with digital per se, it means a special broadcasting system (which happens to be a digital broadcast as well) and you need yet more equipment to run it at great cost. I wouldn't bother yet as although the picture quality is fantastic very few broadcasts are made in HD and it's only good if you want to watch HD films on Blu-Ray DVD systems for which you need a special player and a telly that supports HD.

You've probably heard about digital radio too. The best advice I can give you at the moment is forget about that.

I fully sympathise with your confusion. I've been doing electrical retail for years and this is the most bewildering thing since Pay as You Go mobiles came out.

For buying digital equipment, I recommend three places. In order of preference, these are:

Comet (VV good), Currys and Maplin.