Freeview - TV With No Strings Attached

In the beginning, television was analog. The system was basic, and dependable most of the time. However, nearly sixty years later, the demand for house insurance quotes channels and better quality has led to the development of digital tv. It allows for more information to be packed into the signal, which increases not only the number of channels, but a better and more stable picture. Over the next few years, many countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom will be shutting down analog broadcasts and replacing them with digital. The only problem is that sets made up until a few years ago cannot decipher digital signals. A new television or a compatible converter box will be required to view the new format.

The deadline for the switchover in the UK is 2012. One exciting system to emerge that will improve tv watching no matter what kind of set you Gourmet Gift Basket is Freeview. This is the next-generation of free, over-the-air broadcasting. With the advent of cable and satellite systems, having an aerial on the roof of your house was seen as old-fashioned, almost quaint. But Freeview changes all that. It's a serious contender with other methods of delivering content to your screen, with around 40 different channels. The cost is 'free' as you would expect, but it's largely funded by the license fee required for all television sets sold in Britain. Most new televisions and digital video recorders have a Freeview receiver built in. If you have an older analog only tv, you can Kentucky Lemon Laws an inexpensive set-top box that pulls in the digital signals and converts them to analog for your set. Set-top boxes were originally being sold for around 50, but you can now get many for less than 20.

You can also get a Personal Video Recorder, or PVR, with Freeview built in. It works much like a VCR, except it records either onto a built-in hard drive, or DVDs. Most feature on-screen menus to allow you to program what you want to record. Unlike recording with videotape, there's no chance of recording over something previously taped. You can peruse the onscreen menu to see what you've already recorded, and there's no stack of unlabeled VHS tapes everywhere. A 250 gig hard drive will record around 160 hours of shows, which would be a mountain of tapes to wade through. And you can upgrade to larger hard drives over time, if you choose.

After that, the only other expense you may incur is to have your rooftop aerial either re-pointed or replaced. As with the television sets themselves, the antenna may only be capable of pulling in analog signals. TV signals in the UK were originally set up around certain frequencies, with various channels assigned to a particular frequency. This helped to prevent signal bleed from areas of overlap. But with digital signals, Betty and Barney Hill is not required, so analog aerials often have poor reception for digital broadcasts. This shows up on-screen as 'blocking', where small blocks of the picture are missing, or delayed. Also the sound will not sync up properly with the image. When this is the case, replacing the aerial is the best option. A properly certified technician can also determine if the aerial should be re-pointed towards a different broadcast tower, to get the best possible signal.

Once you have either a new digital-friendly television or a converter box, and you've determined whether or not your current aerial will need to be replaced or not, it's just a matter of plugging in and you should be all set. There is no monthly bill, no further service charge (other than your license fee, which is payable no matter what method you use to watch tv), nothing more to pay. The major hosting asp net in the UK (the BBC, ITV, Channel Four and five) all have multiple channels available through Freeview, plus other providers like Dave, QVC, Virgin and even Sky. Freeview is a low-cost way to enjoy digital television, without having to replace your current set (if you want), or paying another monthly bill. 2012 is fast approaching - what will you be watching?

Michael Carpenter operates a site that offers Freeview-compatable TVs, recorders converters and aerials: http://www.freetv-home.co.uk