All posts by Charles Stuart
Below are all of Charles Stuart's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.C
Ten more HD channels on two new Freeview HD multiplexes on air Monday 26 November 2012 7:58PM
Bristol
@Nedbod - No, you won't lose services. There is space in the 600MHz band, as shown on the diagram above. The 600MHz band was cleared as a part of the Digital Dividend but its only viable use currently is for TV, so the plan is to give it back to that use.
What I wonder is why Ofcom have decided on only 20 transmitters for this interim service. It strikes me that it would make sense to add transmitters that serve significant cities, such as Storeton (Liverpool), Sheffield, Whitehawk Hill (Brighton) and Plympton (Plymouth). I also think that it would be reasonable for the people in Aberdeen, Londonderry and Swansea to be offered this service
| link to this comment |
C
Sky News, PICK TV and Challenge TV on Freesat from Monday 3rd DWednesday 5 December 2012 10:46PM
Bristol
Is Freesat worth having? I'm completely satisfied with Freeview, living in a strong reception area for Mendip. However, this house that I moved into in June has a fully wired satellite dish and I just wondered what might I find on Freesat that I don't get on Freeview? The type of programming I like is documentaries, science fiction, property programmes, programmes about science, technology and ancient civilizations, and some game shows/quizzes (e.g. Countdown, University Challenge, The Chase, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?). I hate talent shows, celebrity-infested programmes and panel games.
| link to this comment |
C
BBC advertise for a new Freeview HD channel | High definitionFriday 14 December 2012 7:46PM
Bristol
I think that it would be quite nice to have a new PSB channel 6, specifically aimed at an upmarket audience. I have long believed that a commercial channel could thrive in the UK with programming that is unashamedly upmarket drama, arts, science and current affairs, seeking only a 2-3% share of the viewing audience. As the viewers would probably be high worth individuals, the advertisers could probably pay premium rates.
| link to this comment |
May I offer a suggestion for the next site upgrade? The national transmitter maps are almost unusable, particularly for radio. This is because there are so many transmitters that the tags sit on top of each other. Could I suggest that you adopt the approach used in road atlases, though in modified form? That is, a map of the UK cut into squares. One clicks on a square to see the transmitters in that area. The squares can be different sizes, as long as they cover the whole country and the transmitters shown don't overlap when displayed in an average-sized window. If one still wants to see an overview of all transmitters on one map, you could offer a link to that.
I think that my idea would make searching for transmitters by location on a map much easier.
| link to this comment |
I find the zoom function very hard to use. It always seems to zoom into the wrong part of the country and then using the arrows to move to where I want is slow and laborious. Is there some trick to getting the thing to zoom in on the right area in the first place?
| link to this comment |
C
No satellite signal? Check your dish for snow! | Free satellitFriday 18 January 2013 6:43PM
Bristol
I had wondered about this. I don't use it but there is a satellite dish on the side of my house and it's covered in snow. I do use Freeview and everything seems OK there, so I assume that snow on the conventional TV aerial doesn't affect reception.
| link to this comment |
C
Ofcom consults about Freeview HD two-multiplex upgrade plan in Thursday 7 February 2013 11:42AM
Bristol
As a viewer, I would appreciate 10 extra HD services. Nothing will convince me to subscribe to Sky and I'm set up for DTTV, so I'm not keen on getting Freesat either. I'd like to see the 30 site plan because it gives the largest number of people the option and, if the aim is to get people to buy DVB-T2 receivers, you're more likely to succeed if greater numbers of people can receive the service. I think that it has to be decided whether this is a means to an end or an end in itself.
| link to this comment |
C
Ofcom consults about Freeview HD two-multiplex upgrade plan in Thursday 7 February 2013 6:13PM
Bristol
It appears that there's an omission from the 10 site list and a second omission from the 20 site list. Waltham and Rowridge appear in the 30 sites with frequency allocations but they seem to be missing from the list of 30 organized into tens of priority.
| link to this comment |
C
London Local TV licence award to the Evening Standard's London Saturday 9 February 2013 2:44PM
Bristol
I'm fairly sure that the Communications Act 2003 changed the rules on cross ownership so that any one proprietor was limited to a maximum holding of 20% across all media, made up of any mixture.
| link to this comment |
Thursday 15 November 2012 11:46AM
Bristol
@ Gerry Flanagan - I would have thought that trying specifically to tune into one particular transmitter could be an erroneous approach as local topography could make the theoretical best not the best. However, if it's because you have to manually adjust the aerial to the right direction and then add channels to your box, I'd be inclined to start with Blaenplwyf, then try either Presely or Llanddona. However, you might also try Divis in Northern Ireland.