All posts by Pete
Below are all of Pete's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
DONNYBOY : Most of the Freeview channels are free through an aerial with a box, and have been since 2002 in most parts of the country.
Even Rupert & James Murdoch can't stop this.
There are one or two extra scrambled channels on Freeview which you have to pay for, but most aren't worth bothering with.
If you are in a Freeview Lite region (normally served by a relay transmitter) you cannot receive these anyway, even after switchover. I have never paid the Murdoch's a bean for TV. Never bought ANY of their newspapers either. Can't believe how many politicians have sucked up to them over the years and gained little in return. Yet they've allowed SKY so many advantages over the rest of the broadcasting media. More capacity, sports rights etc. so the rest of us end up with the poorer quality end of the business. Totally unfair and I hope this will now change. Why should SKY be allowed to broadcast more BBC red button services than Freesat and Freeview when the BBC is paid for from the licence fee. Allow more capacity to the BBC on the other platforms instead of all the junk dear Government and stop protecting ex NotW detritus.
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LW is still pretty good in the Toyota's assuming you can find the older models the new cars don't have LW just MW, FM and a DAB button, but don't be fooled you have to pay £600 extra if you want DAB itself !!
As the bit rate on most DAB stations is so bad cf FM & gives such poor sound quality, I wouln't bother until you are forced to. As an alternative I use the i-player to record my favourite progs onto a recordable CD and then finalise them to play in the car. This is actually better quality now than DAB and in stereo on BBC Radio 4 Extra whereas DAB is in mono at a much lower sound quality. Why the govt & Ofcom can't give the BBC enough bits to broadcast their services on RADIO is beyond me. Guess who broacasts BBC RADIO with the highest bit rate and also BBC R4 LW in the best quality. YES Mr Murdoch's SKY TV (B SKYB) !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY TYPICAL. Why are we paying a licence fee so SKY can provide BBC services in the best audio available and not the BBC themselves. Crazy world, crazy service. At least when BBC WS was on SW the programmes were better, more varied and much more interesting. We seem to have lost the plot these days, all this technology and a worse end product !!
Bring back 648kHz, no wonder BBC WS listenership has fallen recently.
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Love the story "BBC3 on-demand viewing exceeds original broadcast".
That's probably because you don't get the dreadful BRIGHT PINK LOGO on demand, just the plain smaller BBC one, or none if you are very very lucky. I wish they would repeat BEING HUMAN on BBC ONE as they did with the first series when Question Time was off the air ??
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Yes the power will be turned up significantly at ultimate SWITCHOVER. You can buy a book which gives all this info called TV Viewers Guide and the info is also available on line.
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Ofcom DAB switchover coverage planning proposals | Digital radiFriday 29 July 2011 9:01AM
Peterborough
Yes you can receive BBC Radio on Freesat, but you have to pay for a new dish and equipment and is the bit rate for the Radio Stations on Freesat as good as SKY on all channels ?
Why don't the government open up more of the DAB spectrum to allow the BBC to broadcast all their stations at a high bit rate say on the Multiplex originally earmarked for Channel 4 Radio which they pulled out of. Currently a waste of possible bits.
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Brian : Any idea why STEVE can't see the panel of channels to the right of the postings with the "grey & white" heading "LIVE TV & RADIO"
?
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Not very well planned DAB was it. To sell car radios wouldn't it have been better to have agreement EUROPEWIDE or even WORLDWIDE. I cry on Friday nights every time my BBC Radio DAB tuner goes into MONO on Radio 4 at the start of ANY QUESTIONS & THE FRIDAY PLAY both in stereo on FM.
Why can't the government give the BBC more capacity. They are an excellent broadcaster but are being stifled by idiots who are playing at politics but not providing an adequate service to the nation, which doesn't seem bothered anyway, in the main, ready to accept quantity over quality and soon that's all we will know.
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Love the recent improvements Brian including the blue arrows and the large numbers in the RHS panels. Keep up the good work.
Nice to still be able to hear BBC WORLD SERVICE radio on MW in Sri Lanka on holiday last week from 1800 to 1900 BST (2230 - 2330 Local Time) on 1413kHz from Masirah Island in OMAN. Superb !! Especially after the axing of 648kHz in Europe from Suffolk (Orfordness).
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Sunday 17 July 2011 1:37PM
We have already reached the stage now in England, let alone Scotland, where the capacity issues on Freeview are so serious that the standard Freeview picture and sound quality on most channels ranges from poor to totally unsatisfactory. Even the main channels standard Freeview falls well short of the analogue picture quality in areas of good reception (ypu only have to watch any sport and remember how good the picture used to be). This was particularly noticeable watching the tennis and golf recently on BBC TV compared to before Dec 2009. BBC 1 & 2, ITV and Channel 4 analogue gave a much better picture in areas of good clear signal than their standard digital counterparts and not all of us can afford (or indded want to) switch to HD having bought a standard Freeview box only a few years ago (if that). Analogue could also cope better with movement in pictures than the digital replacements (which let's face it is what TV is all about - moving pictures) . There are now a ridiculous number of services that have very low viewing figures, yet are using up valuable bit rate. I think Ofcom need to re-think the digital multiplex and at least split up part of the non BBC multiplexes to allow some of the most watched services such as BBC THREE, BBC FOUR ITV3 & 4 a higher bit rate and kill off some of the trashier channels of which there are far too many (inc the plus ones). I have never understood the need for these when people have recording devices which can display the same programmes logo free. Also all the sex channels should be subscription and move to SKY, in keeping with the Murdoch bottom of the barrel ethos, to free up a bit more capacity. Whover planned Freeview needs a serious talking to. If it is not possible to do some of this in Scotland then a quarter picture at certain times of the day in Scotland in the evening is a much better prospect than losing all the radio channels at that time of day. I wouldn't care but if you delete the services you don't like (QVC, bid-up TV, Filth etc, they come back two or three days later with an automatic update that you cannot stop !! Not good for protecting kids from the dross and inappropraite.