petetherock Posted November 5, 2007 Posted November 5, 2007 UK starts its analogue switchoff from tomorrow, with Whitehaven in Cumbria being the first area to make the change. This could be the beginning of the switch to digital TV and subsequently Hi Def TV soon: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/10/13/nosplit/dlswitch13.xml "Analogue to digital: The great television switchover Last Updated: 12:01am BST 13/10/2007 As the town of Whitehaven prepares to switch all TV transmission from analogue to digital, Claudine Beaumont launches our four-page guide to how the coming changes will affect you The way you watch television is changing. From Wednesday, the unassuming Cumbrian town of Whitehaven will be at the forefront of the digital revolution. The analogue television signal – that is, the transmission received through a traditional aerial – is about to be switched off; it will be replaced instead by digital transmissions, which will give residents access to a whole host of extra channels in addition to the five main terrestrial channels. Between now and 2012, every household in the UK will be going digital, region by region, in a process known as "the digital switchover". It means that once your region has "gone digital", you will only be able to watch your favourite TV shows if you have a television with a built-in digital receiver, a digital set-top box (known as a Freeview receiver), or subscribe to a satellite or cable service such as Sky or Virgin Media. Engineers are working round the clock to switch TV transmissions from analogue to digital But don't panic: while the prospect of turning on your television one day to find a blank screen rather than Antiques Roadshow might sound like a post-apocalyptic nightmare, the truth is that most viewers in Britain are well-equipped for the switchover. According to a report published by regulator Ofcom last month, 84 per cent of UK homes have digital television already installed, up 13 per cent from last year. Most of this comes in the form of new televisions with integrated Freeview tuners, but lots of other people with older television sets have bought Freeview boxes – more than two million were sold between April and June alone. In fact, there are a number of ways you can ensure you're ready for the digital switchover, some costing as little as £20. We guide you through them on page 21. Going digital So what are the reasons for the digital switchover? Quite simply, it's part of a drive to ensure we all have equal access to the five main terrestrial channels; at present, one in four UK homes cannot get digital TV via their aerials, and many cannot receive Five. By switching off the analogue transmission, it's possible to boost the digital signal, meaning that more households will be able to pick it up in areas where there is currently no coverage. After the switchover, 98.5 per cent of homes in the UK will be able to receive digital television through Freeview (the same percentage of people who receive analogue television today), compared to the current 73 per cent. Digital transmissions can improve picture quality in areas that currently have poor television reception, and they also mean people can receive a wider range of channels – in addition to BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five, viewers will be able to watch a whole array of free-to-air channels for no additional fee, including the BBC's digital channels plus ITV2, E4, Film4 and Sky News, among others. You can also subscribe to pay?TV digital channels, such as music shows and the Setanta Sports channel, and access on?demand services that let you watch what you want, when you want. And because the signal will be digital, more information can be carried by it, so you'll be able to access on-screen programme guides and interactive services (such as location-specific news, weather and on-demand programming) through the red button on your remote control. Switching from analogue to digital also frees up the airwaves, and means that TV companies may develop additional services that require a larger chunk of the broadcast spectrum, such as free high?definition channels. How to get digital television"
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