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| Thread ID: 70083 | 2006-06-21 11:15:00 | Digital TV and those Set Top Boxes. | Jeff (1070) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 465073 | 2006-06-21 11:15:00 | Hope I am wrong but won't we have to buy a Set Top box for each TV,video recorder, etc. If this is so then, have we been mislead a bit here about digital TV costs? At approx. $200-$300 a box and the average house has 2 TVs and (for the sake of argument) 2 videos, wouldn't that mean you will have to buy 4 boxes? That works out to be approx. $1200. Hope I am wrong. Anyone know anything about these boxes? Jeff. :2cents: |
Jeff (1070) | ||
| 465074 | 2006-06-21 11:22:00 | the boxes have been advailable for quite some time. nothing new. basicly its like a sky sat decoder. one for each tv. you don't need a seperate one for video recorders. those people whos homes have a return system can have one box and the channel it outputs goes around the house to all the other tv's. unfortunatly you can only veiw one channel at a time. however there may be advaiable dual channel decoders (or simply by 2 boxes) so you can output 2 different channels around the house. |
tweak'e (69) | ||
| 465075 | 2006-06-21 21:03:00 | If this is so then, have we been mislead a bit here about digital TV costs? At approx. $200-$300 a box and the average house has 2 TVs and (for the sake of argument) 2 videos, wouldn't that mean you will have to buy 4 boxes? That works out to be approx. $1200. You buy a digital TV instead. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 465076 | 2006-06-21 21:50:00 | You buy a digital TV instead. Lots of money?? They cost more that the set top boxes.. |
paulw (1826) | ||
| 465077 | 2006-06-21 22:55:00 | exactly you can get a few high end tv's at the moment that have digital imputs, sat input etc. i don't know how well that would work with videos tho or what would happen when they change the standard (ie mp4 instead of mp2) | tweak'e (69) | ||
| 465078 | 2006-06-22 00:21:00 | the boxes have been advailable for quite some time. nothing new. basicly its like a sky sat decoder. one for each tv. you don't need a seperate one for video recorders.Just to make it a bit clearer for Jeff, Freeview will be available via digital terrestrial in well populated areas and to the whole country via satellite. There are no TVs available that have built in satellite decoders, but many new TVs coming out now have digital terrestrial tuners in them. If your TV or DVD recorder has a digital tuner, you don't need a set-top box. However, you will need an external digital tuner for any item that currently uses an analogue tuner if you want to pick up Freeview. As analogue transmissions will be available for the next six to ten years, you don't need a digital tuner for AV equipment that you don't want to pick up the new stations on. eg. You may have an additional small TV that you don't use much and won't benefit from digital transmissions nearly as much as a bigger TV. Basically it is assumed by the time analogue transmissions are switched off, most people will have bought new equipment or a set-top box for their old televisions etc. So basically, if you don't see the value in digital TV, you aren't forced to go out and buy set-top boxes, but it will be worth the money for those with televisions 32-inches and larger and/or with poor analogue reception. :) |
maccrazy (6741) | ||
| 465079 | 2006-06-22 01:22:00 | if i remeber correctly europeen tv's have had built in sat receivers including digital for quite some time. not exactly comman over here but there are some for those with the $$$$. its the digital terrestrial that going to be interesting. i wonder how they are going to run that at the same time run analogue unless sky is going to give up UHF channels. |
tweak'e (69) | ||
| 465080 | 2006-06-22 01:50:00 | And then theres HD TV, do what my son said he'll do, which is nothing until they switch off the analogue signal. By then they'll probably be going to play catchup and go with HDTV, requiring more new TVs... | pctek (84) | ||
| 465081 | 2006-06-22 02:08:00 | Does NZ Tv and sat, show progs in wide screen, as a family member is wanting to by a wide screen tv, so I told them there is no point really if they dont transmit in widescreen you won't get the full advantage of it, as most people watch widescreen tv's on the wrong setting anway and wonder why people on the tv look fat. Cheers Mark |
mode3 (6544) | ||
| 465082 | 2006-06-22 03:03:00 | yeah there are a few programs done in widescreen. movies of course but also tv shows. i've seen a fair few english ones that have been done in widescreen. not sure if its transmitted in widescreen or they have edited the show (eg trimmed the sides etc) before hand. | tweak'e (69) | ||
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