FREEVIEW

By the year 2012, the government will switch off the analogue transmission system. This means that an analogue television without any form of external digital decoder will not show any pictures on the screen. One of the problems with the analogue system is that there is very little or no space left for more channels. The Digital system uses a multiplex system and can fit a lot of channels on the UHF bandwave.

With the present system approximately one in four users cannot get digital tv through their aerials. When the analogue system is switched off, the digital signal will be increased to full power. Therefore approximatley 98% of users should be able to receive the digital signal.

The benefits of the new digital system are a lot more choice in tv channels and the tv reception is less likely to be affected by external interference.

There are a number of ways to get digital television, below are some examples:

Note: It's not only your main tv that needs a digital decoder:

When the analogue transmitters are switched off (planned approximately between 2008 and 2012) Freeview and top up tv can be transmitted from low power to full power from the main masts to cover approximately 98%, equal to the coverage of the current analogue signal.

Before purchasing a Freeview receiver or set top box, it is strongly advisable to check the possibility of getting reception using the postcode checking facility on the Freeview website.

The digital tv postcode check is cautious, because there are a lot of areas which show poor digital terrestrial reception, which may be able to get reasonable digital reception if an external high gain wideband aerial is used.

If you have purchased a freeveiw set top box, You may need a new wideband aerial to access all of the channels in your area.

If you find it a problem receiving all channels or breaking up of channels, then your current aerial may not be suitable to receive the digital signal to a required level.