B.L. VISION

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Telephone: 01483 426139

 


Digital Switchover


The Theory

The original system of broadcasting the four or five available television programmes was known as Analogue.
This system provided a very robust signal that was easy to receive and gave few problems but it used a large amount of the available radio broadcasting space (known as bandwidth).
The introduction of modern Digital technology has allowed many more channels to be broadcast with superior quality sound and picture, whilst using only a fraction of the bandwidth.
The latest High Definition Freeview broadcasts require more bandwith than standard definition, so more HD channels are only likely to become available when the analogue is switched off.

Local Transmitter Switchover Dates

Crystal PalaceApril 4th & April 18th
Guildford - Hog's BackApril 4th & April 18th
MidhurstFeb 29th & March 14th
HanningtonFeb 8th & Feb 22nd


BE AWARE
After these dates you will not receive any television channels if you have not installed some sort of digital TV receiver
Whilst most people have been enjoying the new Digital Freeview TV channels for several months already, many have been plagued with reception problems because of the low power of the current digital transmissions. The power has been kept low to avoid interferance between the analogue and digital broadcasts, while they are being broadcast simultaneously.
The good news is that the power of the digital service will be substantially increased when the analogue service is switched off. This should finally resolve most of the common reception problems.

The Switchover

As the digital transmission can not be received on an analogue tuner, all equipment used after the changeover must include a digital tuner.
This may be a simple digibox connected to an existing analogue television. Whilst this is usually the cheapest solution it can be complicated having to use more than one remote control unit.
All new televisions and video recorders include a digital tuner and many now feature a High Definition digital tuner as well. This will allow them to receive the new HD Freeview channels as they become available. This solution is user friendly as a single remote will operate all of the available channels.
Digital video recorders are simple to operate and allow one freeview channel to be recorded while another is being viewed. High Definition video recorders are also available to record Freeview HD channels.

As your local transmitter makes the change to digital there will be some disruption to the services.
Each local transmitter will switch off their analogue channels in two stages.
BBC2 will go on the first date along with the current low power BBC digital services. At the same time the new high power digital services will be switched on. Televisions and video recorders will need to be retuned to receive the new high power BBC channels.
The process will have to be repeated two weeks later, when the remaining analogue channels and low power digital services are replaced by the new high power digital transmissions.

Satellite Television

All of these changes relate only to Freeview, digital television signals broadcast from terrestrial transmitters and received with a TV aerial. Freesat and Sky broadcasts received on a satellite dish will not be affected by the switchover.


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