All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Still nothing from the BBC, but while working yesterday, one customer also mentioned that his Goodman's box had the same problems, but had started working again, so at least we seem to be getting back to normal (I did advise him that a Humax PVR might be better for the long term).
There was also a gentleman with an 8 year old Panasonic suffering from a possibly not dissimilar problem, so it could be that older tuners (or at least their designs/software) have been hit by this. At some point, there will be more data broadcast, and its possibly wise to think long term if your buying another box.
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Maggie: Whats the model of the Samsung? Although I can think of only one Samsung model (H4000) which has just a Freeview tuner, you might have bought one without an HD tuner. They tend to be cheaper, but some retailers (we only sell ones with Freeview HD) dont make that clear, but just talk about 'Full HD'. As Dave Lindsay pointed out above, thats the panel, not the tuner.
Frankly, I'd take it back if thats the case.
Secondly, even if it had an HD tuner, if your using it via a Virgin box, how are you connecting it? HD has to use an HDMI cable, not scart. If you've simply swapped over the TV, but still kept the scart cable connection, then HD is not going to happen.
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Louise Stevens: I'm not sure that there is any 'high pressure' at the moment, or at least nothing thats been reported, and its sounds like there are other problems.
I'm slightly at a loss to understand why your communal aerial isn't using Beacon Hill, since at just 7km away, you might not need an aerial at all! Stockland Hill is closer than my transmitter, and would seem to have a reasonable signal, so its not the ned of the world.
If your getting 'no signal', the signal is either very weak, or has totally gone. You could just have a dodgy aerial lead. Do you have a digibox attached to your TV via a scart lead? If your picture goes from colour to black and white, it could be a loose scart lead.
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Adrian: It doesn't cost 'them' loads, but it is a cost, and frankly, thats a TV meant for a very particular price point. Cheap TV's (or should I say relatively cheap TV's) are that price for a reason, and if you were buying a 40in TV in 2013, then something with Freeview HD from one of the big four brands would have cost a bit more. However, the excellent LG 575 in a 42 was £379 in December 2013, and you would have had a similar specced panel (actually a very good one considering), and it would have been smart with wifi. But generally you would have possibly paid a bit more for the HD tuner. A Samsung 4000 32in TV is £199 for an HD ready panel and Freeview. The Samsung 5000 has a Full HD panel and Freeview HD. Its currently £239. So the HD box is £40. Buying a seperate box costs you at least £50. But for Toshiba, building a half decent set (with good things like opitical connections in the back) is simply not possible at that price without leaving out something. Ok, its not the worst thing in the world - the panel is 100hz, and its a decent brand. However, I suspect you bought it online or from Argos, thought it a decent price from a brand you'd heard of, and simply assumed that HD meant the tuner as well. Ok, I work for a company which is a rival to Argos, etc, but I'd never buy one from them, unless I'd looked very carefully into the spec. They tend to have 'HD' in big letters, but dont tend to mention thats the panel, not the tuner. TV's have never been cheaper for what you get, but if I wanted a decent Freeview HD TV for the same spec as yours,, then the Samsung H5000 for £329 http://www.johnlewis.com/…1311 would do you fine, with the smart version for about £400 (the LG 580 is £399). However, since I can get the very well specced 40in Samsung 6400 for £439 (which is a silly price) http://www.johnlewis.com/…9188 , thats what I'd go for. You do get what you pay for, but hopefully you've got an HD box of some sort, and it will all be fine.
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Michael, too: Think just how many different countries and lanaguages there are in Europe. Unless you can broadcast in one language, using material which is cleared for all nations, how exactly is that going to work?
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Isla: mine came this morning as well - the mystery is solved.
On the long term, we are going to need a bigger boat !
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michael: Certain manufacturers, like Sony and LG, actually have sat. tuners in their TV's which are designed to be 'pan-european'. Any standisation would obviously make sense to them, to reduce costs. Reduced costs might even filter down to the consumer.
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michael: TV manufacturers have never been more competative, so anything that allows greater economies of scale would be welcomed by them, and its likely that prices would been influenced, if only to a very small degree.
I'm not familiar with all the different European systems, but if they could have a standard sat. tuner using either software or a cam card, then that would make life easier for everyone.
Ironically, when it comes to paid subscription services, there is one pan european system - Sky!
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Although to be fair, even Sky is split into different countries. So if Murdoch can't make one huge market, then what chance do the rest of us have!
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Sunday 21 September 2014 11:29AM
John Everingham: Its nice that they told you 'it was a known BBC problem', since they did'nt know when I contacted them! However, its nothing to do with 4G (why 4G is seen as the root of all problems is beyond me), but is in fact a software problem. Have a look at this thread My ITV/C4 Freeview channels have disappeared - what can I do? Is it my SCART ca | Help! Freeview and aerials | ukfree.tv - 12 years of independent, free digital TV advice , but as you say, the problems seem to be on the way out, so hopefully we should be fine.