Just had a pone call from swmbo, she is at the caravan, how do you change from digital tv to normal and weather is effecting the signal.
I have often wondered how we are going to manage when we all go digital, as the weather can affect the signal, I remember that with the old system that we had, the one that went bust, cant remember the name. Even sky can be effected sometimes.
Can you imagine the outcry if we have a thunderstorm in the middle of one of the soaps.
And, yes we do have appropriate aerials. ??

No expert at all .. but on our TV we can choose digital or analogue .. there is no other way as far as I know.

Aerial wise, there is no difference in them.. there is no such thing as a digital aerial ... the aerial recieves a signal ...... it is the information IN that signal that differs between digital/analogue.

Having said that ... an analogue is far less prone to problems than digital .. analogue goes a bit fuzzy, snowy etc .. digital breaks down badly.

'Van aerials are notoriously poor, the older "omnimax" are 360 degree and are reported to have major problems with digital as they pick up all sorts of rubbish that interferes with the decode.

New ones are directional, and can be better .. it pays to look at local houses to guess the best direction.

In all cases, and for home as well I believe, signal amplifiers make things WORSE on digital not better !! As I understand it .. the amplifier boosts everything it gets, including any noise, which an analogue TV can disregard .. but a digital one cannot as it "searches" the whole received spectrum for the bits on info it needs, so the ratio of noise to good remains even when amplified.

This is probably all wrong .. I'm sure one of the experts in telecommunications will pass by and correct my inane ramblings .. :)

Entwood wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:22:

No expert at all .. but on our TV we can choose digital or analogue .. there is no other way as far as I know. Aerial wise, there is no difference in them.. there is no such thing as a digital aerial ... the aerial recieves a signal ...... it is the information IN that signal that differs between digital/analogue. Having said that ... an analogue is far less prone to problems than digital .. analogue goes a bit fuzzy, snowy etc .. digital breaks down badly. 'Van aerials are notoriously poor, the older "omnimax" are 360 degree and are reported to have major problems with digital as they pick up all sorts of rubbish that interferes with the decode. New ones are directional, and can be better .. it pays to look at local houses to guess the best direction. In all cases, and for home as well I believe, signal amplifiers make things WORSE on digital not better !! As I understand it .. the amplifier boosts everything it gets, including any noise, which an analogue TV can disregard .. but a digital one cannot as it "searches" the whole received spectrum for the bits on info it needs, so the ratio of noise to good remains even when amplified. This is probably all wrong .. I'm sure one of the experts in telecommunications will pass by and correct my inane ramblings .. :)

This is my point, when we all go digital tv is going to be badly effected by the weather. :-/

Our caravan is a Static and has a house aerial fitted, better than a caravan one that we had..... :y

Vamps wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:30:

...... This is my point, when we all go digital tv is going to be badly effected by the weather. :-/ ......

Aren't we on a reduced power signal at the moment though? And we'll get the full strength once we're all on digital? ;)

Andy B wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:33:

Vamps wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:30: ...... This is my point, when we all go digital tv is going to be badly effected by the weather. :-/ ...... Aren't we on a reduced power signal at the moment though? And we'll get the full strength once we're all on digital? ;)

I hope so then, I don't know. :)

Andy B wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:33:

Vamps wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:30: ...... This is my point, when we all go digital tv is going to be badly effected by the weather. :-/ ...... Aren't we on a reduced power signal at the moment though? And we'll get the full strength once we're all on digital? ;)

Yep. Most transmitters will increase power when the analogue channels are no more. Doesn't change the fact that a marginal analogue channel is noisy but watchable whereas a digital channel is either perfect or unwatchable.

Kevin

Kevin Wood wrote on 25. May 2009 at 23:06:

Andy B wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:33: Vamps wrote on 25. May 2009 at 22:30: ...... This is my point, when we all go digital tv is going to be badly effected by the weather. :-/ ...... Aren't we on a reduced power signal at the moment though? And we'll get the full strength once we're all on digital? ;) Yep. Most transmitters will increase power when the analogue channels are no more. Doesn't change the fact that a marginal analogue channel is noisy but watchable whereas a digital channel is either perfect or unwatchable. Kevin

What about the original digital set up though, can't remember the name, went bust in 2002 so we had to go to sky. :(

That must have been on full power, and in bad weather the screen just pixelated :-/

Vamps wrote on 25. May 2009 at 23:10:

What about the original digital set up though, can't remember the name, went bust in 2002 so we had to go to sky. :( That must have been on full power, and in bad weather the screen just pixelated :-/

BSB? With the nasty square aerials? That was a satellite system, not terrestrial, and their refusal to use a proper dish made it very marginal.

Kevin

OnDigital

Was OK at £3 per month for 15 channels, but a nightmare to record

Martin Imber wrote on 25. May 2009 at 23:15:

OnDigital Was OK at £3 per month for 15 channels, but a nightmare to record

That's the one...... :y

Yup, On Digital....and they went bust because they used pi$$ poor encryption.

wrote on 25. May 2009 at 23:27:

Yup, On Digital....and they went bust because they used pi$$ poor encryption.

Rumours it was broken by a company involved with Sky.

I was going to get a programmer - just to clone a card so didn't have to keep moving it around.

They lent me a crappy Nokia mediamaster while they got their act together for CAMs, when I actually got a working CAM and the TV updated to handle it was quite good, but recording meant getting card out of CAM on back of TV (if Albatros is reading - the big hole is a CAM slot), and shoving it into the mediamaster and leaving it on the channel I wanted and recording on my old Sanyo via a SCART to BNC stereo phone lead