UK Digibox: Classic or Dud

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i thought ftn stood for "eff the news" is this right? they seem to have thirtysomething on a lot too...

i have real grown up (sky) digital so get all these and several squillion others, but obv this is more expensive...

CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 13:29 (twenty years ago) link

The Ftn capitalisation seems very odd. You'd have thought would be ftn, FTN or fTN. Very continental.

From the website:


What is Ftn?
The Ftn Channel is a frank and uncompromising television experience with an eclectic mix of gritty reality, celebrity gossip, full on talk, hard hitting drama and real life fly on the wall documentaries. Pushing the boundaries of entertainment, Ftn features some of the most original and exciting programmes from LivingTV, Bravo,Trouble and Challenge? and broadcasts from 6pm to 6am.

I have not noticed it being frank and uncompromising, but it certainly pushes the boundaries of entertainment.

N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 13:39 (twenty years ago) link

Mr Miller, did you get my e-mail?

and yes, buy it, it's good.

chris (chris), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 13:41 (twenty years ago) link

nine months pass...
I bought a freeview box at argos today, so far so good. The world on BBC 4,e xcellent long form news. Top of the pops in stereo (tv not stereo) and interference free Radio 4. Excellent.

Ed (dali), Friday, 27 February 2004 20:11 (twenty years ago) link

RJG and AllyC - I have still got that digibox thing if you want to try it...

ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 28 February 2004 01:16 (twenty years ago) link

No I didn't get your e-mail last year, Chris. Was it important? Update: I am now Telewest Key Stage 1 (or something) man. No BBC4 :-(

PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 13:44 (twenty years ago) link

The coming spanner in the works of free-to-air digital terrestrial telly is Top Up TV, which is a company set up by the chaps who used to run ITV Digital (I think).

They'll be broadcasting E4, Bloomberg, Discovery, UK Gold and a few others on four 24-hour DTTV streams which were previously thought reserved for Freeview stuff. £20 for a decoder card (£10 if you buy online), £8 a month thereafter, no annual contract. Here's the rub - you need a set-top box which accepts a decoder card, i.e. an old OnDigital or ITV Digital contraption. All the people (me included) who've bought the new-style boxes since Freeview was launched in late 2002 are out of luck. Oh, or you can buy an even newer box, which *will* accept a TUTV card, which will be in the shops in the next few months.

In the short term, this means (presumably) lower bitrates for existing Freeview channels on the two multiplexes TUTV have bought space on (channel five for instance - no more near-DVD-quality CSI) and no chance of any more free-to-air channels on those streams. In the long term, who knows?

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 13:55 (twenty years ago) link

last May? Christ knows, doubt it though.

chris (chris), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 13:59 (twenty years ago) link

I like to think it was about that football match at Cambridge where you ate all the pies.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 14:06 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, before anyone jumps on me (as if, on this topic...) I should straighten out my facts. TUTV has space on two multiplexes which aren't part of the Freeview consortium, so they were never gonna be FTA channels. Imminent pixellation of Grissom's stubble not welcomed though.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 14:11 (twenty years ago) link

it probably was, all the pies were good too.

I may have had three

chris (chris), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago) link

Michael, in case you were wondering, I am vaguely interested.

N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 14:32 (twenty years ago) link

I was hoping you were, N.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 15:44 (twenty years ago) link

1) Is it possible to connect my analogue cable TV cable to a Digibox and enjoy all the delights listed above, instead of the box Telewest gave me, which only has crap channels? There isn't a 'normal' aerial. Is this a stupid idea?

PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:32 (twenty years ago) link

no, you need digi cable from telewest or an ariel for freeview.

Ed (dali), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago) link

I didn't even know analogue cable still existed. Are the channels really crappier than Freeview's?

N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:39 (twenty years ago) link

telewest and NTL have been really slack at upgrading anywhere they consider people too poor to buy extra services.

Ed (dali), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:55 (twenty years ago) link

Maidonians are very rich (except me). I was told they would eb going digital by the end of the year, but it was all meaningless to me. It's the lack of BBC 3 and 4 I'm bothered about, N. Otherwise I think it's the same.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Thursday, 18 March 2004 20:02 (twenty years ago) link

BBC4 is currently showing a documentary about the man who assassinated the South African P.M. in the 60s. I couldn't understand a word he was saying so switched over to Channel 4 to watch the Curry in Provence ponce. BBC3 is showing Celebdaq, inevitably.

N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 18 March 2004 20:56 (twenty years ago) link

I meantersay, Bid up / Drop Down tv?

It's basically "Old Ladies? Let us Leech off you.. Look Jewellry... mmmmmmm ... !"

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:02 (twenty years ago) link

and the TERROR in the presenters EYES!!!

"Aaaah !! I'm on the TELLY!! I'm a Salesman!!!! on TELLY !!! HEEllllPPPPP!!!!"

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:03 (twenty years ago) link

They are dreadful, but strangely hypnotic, if you're in the right mood. I guess they make most of their money from the premium rate bidding lines.

QVC never seems to sell anything but women's things these days.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:06 (twenty years ago) link

Not quite as horrifying as the now-defunct Shop! channel where you could see former CBBC anchor Andy Crane flogging shit with a near-hysterical, hollow-eyed 'god what happened to my career' look on his sad sad face.

robster (robster), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:07 (twenty years ago) link

NB: Freeview picture quality far better than satellite.

Ed (dali), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:11 (twenty years ago) link

or at least sky

Ed (dali), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:12 (twenty years ago) link

Are you sure about that, Ed? I thought DTTV = far more limited bandwidth?

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:12 (twenty years ago) link

No, that's FMLB.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:14 (twenty years ago) link

Fun, Money and Love Box?

Ricardo (RickyT), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:15 (twenty years ago) link

Bought a freeview box at the w/e because a salesman in one shop told me that it worked fine in our area. However his products were expensive & lacked the all important digital out :) so I picked up one on offer in Dixons.

Connected it all up to find that it can't receive any of

BBC1
BBC2
BBC3
ITV1
ITV2
4
BBC News 24
ITC News
Sky News
Sky Sports News
CBBC
UKTV History
Sky Travel
Price-Drop TV (wtf?)

Now I have to see if I can return it. I have a feeling they will try & stick the blame on me for not checking coverage fully first ...

Mooro (Mooro), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:15 (twenty years ago) link

Dixons, as noted upthread, offer a 14 day money back guarantee, I think. So you should have no trouble.

So you can get BBC4? That's odd.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:19 (twenty years ago) link

That means you're only getting Muxes A, B and D (and not 1, 2 or C). Bad news. Sounds like they haven't ramped up transmitter power for those muxes in yr area.

I'd blame N. for encouraging you against Web advice. Good luck getting a refund, DM.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:20 (twenty years ago) link

I only said to give it a whirl! I made no promises.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:26 (twenty years ago) link

I like my Ftn joke upthread, by the way.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:29 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah! Drat dastardly N. & his cavalier attitude to customers at his weekend salesman job!

Mooro (Mooro), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:30 (twenty years ago) link

It's weird that they sell them in Dixons in an area that can't receive it properly. You'd think they'd warn you when you bought it just to save hassle for themselves. Maybe they keep some commission or something even when it's returned.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:34 (twenty years ago) link

I hate everything about Dixons.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:35 (twenty years ago) link

DTTV uses the DVB standard which uses a bit rate of 8 Mbps Variable nominal.

Sky uses a standard that it created all by itself and uses a bit rate of 4 Mbps Variable nominal.

Ed (dali), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:47 (twenty years ago) link

Wow, I didn't know that, Ed. Any Web links I could follow to read up on this stuff? What do you mean by "variable nominal"? 8Mb/s wouldn't be bad for DVD - do yr actual Freeview channels ever get near that in practice? BBC2 and ITV2 often look shockingly poor.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:00 (twenty years ago) link

I don't think you can get a refund from Dixons. My folks bought my aunt one and they tried it, but it didn't work in her house. When they tried to take it back, they wouldn't let them return it as it had been taken out of the box and used. Like we could have found out another way that it didn't work. Bastards. (this may not have been Dixons, though I think it was).

ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:03 (twenty years ago) link

They must have changed their policy. Sorry Mooro - I feel guilty now.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:05 (twenty years ago) link

Or else I am stupid. N. is usually more right than me about stuff, so you could try anyway.

ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:15 (twenty years ago) link

I dispute that, except when it comes to neds.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 18:18 (twenty years ago) link

I only know what I've picked up through work.

Here's an explanation of how it works (this is how sky works at least DVB is very similar though):

Channels are arranged in bouquet of 8 channels. The 8 channels are supplied to a statistical multiplexer as 270Mbps SDI lines. The multiplexer dynamically assigns bandwidth to the channels, 32Mbits to assign in the case of sky. Each channel has a bandwidth floor and a nominal badwidth. The multiplexer decides where bandwidth should be allocated to get a picture quality of a certain level and dowcodes the SDI to the appropriate bandwidth. So channels with lots of movement get higher bandwidth and other channels get less. Some channels in a bouquet get priority and bouquets are normally organised with a couple of premium channels and a few lower value channels and maybe a data service.

As far as an objective assessment of quality BBC 1 looks better on freeview than it does on sky but the difference is not stark as the BBC not on the main sky satellite and I think they give it higher nominal bandwidth. The difference between bbc1 and one of the less premium channels is starker on sky. There are lots of other factors; the original footage has a lot to do with picture quality, but modern all digital 50 and 270Mbits footage obviously provides the best end product.

Ed (dali), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:30 (twenty years ago) link

So channels with lots of movement get higher bandwidth

Blimey! How does this work.? I was thinking that there wasn't too much quick moving action on QVC, but have you seen how fast that steam cleaner blasts away grime??

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:33 (twenty years ago) link

FAQ for a CIsco statistical MUX

Ed (dali), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:54 (twenty years ago) link

The best quality picture I can get is definitely BBC Parliament. I think this is because it's always slight variations on the same picture, thus enabling them to dedicate more bandwidth multiplex SDI clusters to little details, like the reflections glimmering in a backbencher's glass of water. Am I right or wrong?

Mooro, I am sorry to hear about your problems. Although it's on an entirley different technological level, I recently bought a set-top (AKA indoor) aerial on special offer and then took it back to exchange it for a daft 'all-in-one' remote control, which was slightly more expensive. I had the extra three pounds all ready to make up the difference, BUT THEY REFUNDED ME AS IF IT HAD BEEN FULL PRICE, so I was quids in there then. I reckon they might refund you full price, Mooro.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 11:11 (twenty years ago) link

Freeview box (with its BBC4 & super shiny five - it was nice while it lasted) returned today for full refund. I think the salesman was going to be awkward at first on the grounds that I could get *some* channels, but I did my charcoal grey pinstripe middle class oozing integrity number & it all ended jovially.

Mooro (Mooro), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 15:18 (twenty years ago) link

"You can get Ftn - what more would you want, sir?"

N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 15:24 (twenty years ago) link

what the hell is f tn anyway.

Ed (dali), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

The Ftn Channel is a frank and uncompromising television experience with an eclectic mix of gritty reality, celebrity gossip, full on talk, hard hitting drama and real life fly on the wall documentaries. Pushing the boundaries of entertainment, Ftn features some of the most original and exciting programmes from LivingTV, Bravo,Trouble and Challenge? and broadcasts from 6pm to 6am.

(see upthread)

N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 15:31 (twenty years ago) link

Bitrate is different. The less premium channels run at lower bitrates and are prone to artefacting.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 12:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Are you sure you're not thinking of 1980s drama serials like the ones on ITV 2 on your laptop, Michael?


I get more drop-outs on less premium AKA shit channels. Is that for the same reason, or am I doolally?

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Michael that is EXACTLY what it looks like! Whether that is indeed the cause of the awfulness of it (a great example here is Battle Royale, shown the other night on... can't remember, which I was excited to finally see, only to find that everything BLACK had become BLUE and everything else had become GREY and when anyone swung a fist, the whole image seemed to shudder) or if it's the bitrate thing I don't know. I assumed it was the latter, and not because of reception, but because my understanding has been that broadcasters have had the choice to use all their "bits" (hur hur) to output, say, one pristine channel, or to output four channels of squidged-down compressed crap that they can still sell ads for.

Have had no drop-outs so far, except when I thought the sound was out on Big Brother, having not realized that's just the way the show is.

Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Some multiplexes are better than others but this has nothing to do with bitrate. The BBC has the best multiplexes, of course.

That is artefacting and has to do with the channel purchasing a paltry amount of bitrate.

Which channel was it?

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link

> like 1980s drama serials on ITV2 looking like they've been converted on someone's laptop in ten minutes by some freeware.

ha, i spent last night doing exactly that. (although was bbc2 comedy from 1995)(and it was taking about 14 minutes per half hour)

> Bitrate is different. The less premium channels run at lower bitrates and are prone to artefacting.

this is what i thought tracer meant upthread - artefacting / pixelation.

oddly the worst picture i've seen is on csi on five via analogue - facial shadows were a lot darker than they should've been - like they'd been digitised on a 16 colour amiga or something. without dithering.

My Koogy Weighs A Ton (koogs), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:24 (seventeen years ago) link

only to find that everything BLACK had become BLUE and everything else had become GREY and when anyone swung a fist

sounds like a dodgy scart connection to me.

Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Perhaps we're at cross-purposes; when Tracer says "pixellation" (blockiness, motion judder, low-res feel) he means what Ed means when he says "artefacts". When Ed says "pixellation" he means when I mean when I say "break up".

TV was better at 405 lines. There must be a sloganed T-shirt I can get to that effect.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

what I mean, obv

(Give me a break - 3 hours of sleep a night for the last six nights!)

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I think I'd like a TiVo. Where can I get one? And can I eat it when I get bored?

xpost - pixellisationing up is so hard to do.

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link

(Yeah, does Ed even know I've dumped him?)

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:35 (seventeen years ago) link

> I think I'd like a TiVo. Where can I get one?

ebay. they stopped making new ones about two years after they started (which is a pity because it's a great bit of kit). other (inferior) boxes that do the same thing (after a fashion) are available... the humax seems popular.

(the one thing that does bug me with the tivo is the american use of channel numbers. bbc is 21 for instance. which is fine and you get used to it quite quickly because the names are there next to the numbers. but then the digital channels come along and are also numbered in the same range as the terrestrial channels so instead of bbc1, itv1, bbc2 etc being adjacent they are now interleaved with filum4 and fiveUS and the like. fiddly.)

My Koogy Weighs A Ton (koogs), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:49 (seventeen years ago) link

I keep forgetting you guys have a Queen.

and they're finally giving her an Oscar after decades of neglect.

vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes - I thought they stopped making them - but then you said upthread you upgraded yours, and I thought - gosh! Perhaps they started again. I will look into humax perhaps. Don't really like the name though. HOOOMAX.

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:51 (seventeen years ago) link

human, to the max!

vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:53 (seventeen years ago) link

for channels with crappy bitrate allowance is the artefact issue particularly garish during ad breaks when they crank the volume up so much? (this is still the worst thing about modern TV)

vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Ad volume = brick-wall compression, done in post-prod by the ad companies, I imagine. Broadcasters could just drop ad breaks by 8-10dB across the board to compensate but I bet they're not allowed to. Ed?

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:06 (seventeen years ago) link

> but then you said upthread you upgraded yours

just shoved a hoooge disk in it because 40 hours wasn't enough. it's open enough so that you can do that. i think later models and all the imposters are locked down tightly so you have to go the official upgrade route. or don't bother.

all the major manufacturers do them now, the sony thing won awards in christmas "What Hifi (And Surround Sound System And Half A Dozen Other Categories)" thing. can get them with dvd burners and hard disks and stuff but they tend to be expensive (tivo was £400 when i bought, £200 a year later, £99 for one weekend in some obscure chain about a year after that that was getting rid of theirs)(that said, first nicam video recorder i bought was £399 so...).

i wouldn't've thought volume would affect bitrate. besides, audio bitrate and video bitrate tend to be independant. the compression trick is the reason mute buttons were invented. if they try and grab my attention that way they get muted out. see also: flashing banner ads and adblock

My Koogy Weighs A Ton (koogs), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:36 (seventeen years ago) link

That is audio compression rather than compressing audio and has nothing to do with video leagalising (the equivalent to audio compression but not to compressing audio)

Audio compression: when audio signal peaks are brought below a certain level to prevent clipping in the audio signal when it is digitised or otherwise transmitted. This is usually accompanied by some gain normalisation to make sure that the sound power level is brought back up to what it was before compression. Heavy compression and normalisation is what makes the adverts sound louder

Compressing the audio: Using a codec, (AC3 and MP2 are the most common for TV) to reduce the bitrate of the audio signal.

Video Legalising, brinigin the video signal to within the parameters of the tranmission system, i.e. making sure that the Luminance, Chrominance and Variage of the signal all fall within specified limits, in a modern all digital workflow this is normally done at the editing stage.

Video Compression: Using a codec (MPEG-2) to reduce the bitrate of the video signal.

Artefacting: blockyness, blotchiness brought on by over compression of the video signal or inexpertly applied compression. In general older poorer video sources compress poorly and show more digital artefacts because they don't have the sharp focus and bright tones footage of modern digital material and because of existing analogue artefacts You can also get artefact with high motion video at low bitrates.

Blocking or Pixilation: If the MPEG-2 transport stream is interrupted then data integrity will break down. The picture is encode by block of pixels, if it can maintain the picture by holding a block for a few frames then the system will try to do this in an effort to keep something on screen whilst this system tries to recapture the stream. this causes squares on the screen to appear to freeze, go black or change to unexpected colours.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:07 (seventeen years ago) link

This last one happens on my digibox from time to time. It ain't no thang.

Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Last night's subliminal message to me and me alone:

"Don't forget to set your *digital* recorder so that you catch every episode."

I half expect them to say "don't forget to set your Humax PVR 500..." tonight.


Sometimes the picture goes away but the subtitles stay. What's all that about?

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 25 January 2007 12:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Subtitles are normally on a different PID on the Bouquet, and require low bandwidth so are less susceptible to break-up.

Ed (dali), Thursday, 25 January 2007 12:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Nice glossary, Ed! (You can see why some people might call digital artefacts "pixellation", even though it's not strictly correct).

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 25 January 2007 12:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Absolutely.

Ed (dali), Thursday, 25 January 2007 12:32 (seventeen years ago) link

it's always particularly bad during the title credits to celebrity big brother arf

vita susicivus (blueski), Thursday, 25 January 2007 12:43 (seventeen years ago) link

i guess i meant 'titles/credits'

vita susicivus (blueski), Thursday, 25 January 2007 12:46 (seventeen years ago) link

> Battle Royale, shown the other night on... can't remember, which I was excited to finally see

part 2 (universally judged inferior i think) is on film4 on saturday:

http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=132014

in related news (kinda), ftn is showing Takeshi's Castle starting in a week or two. first time on freeview.

Koogy Bloogies (koogs), Thursday, 25 January 2007 17:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Battle Royale 2 is complete rubbish. Inferior isn't a strong enough word. It's the inferioriest sequel ever.

ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 25 January 2007 17:55 (seventeen years ago) link

No mention of digital recorders last night.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 26 January 2007 09:50 (seventeen years ago) link

i was watching the war film 'the train' last night, or bits of it, on film4 + 1. blocky as fuck. i wonder if +1 is blockier than the actual filmfour.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Friday, 26 January 2007 09:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Filmfour has a crystal clear picture usually. Maybe the source of Battle Royale was just crap. Last night I watched "Stuck on You" and it looked perfect. I almost cried when they were on the operating table. I am such a ninny.

Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 26 January 2007 11:46 (seventeen years ago) link

i guess 'the train' could well have a shitty source. i switched over and indeed 'stuck on you' looked pin-sharp. it would be funny if +1 were lower quality tho.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Friday, 26 January 2007 11:51 (seventeen years ago) link

it would be funny if +1 were lower quality tho

Yeah, cos it's supposed to be one better, innit? That's the point.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 26 January 2007 11:57 (seventeen years ago) link

two weeks pass...
MORE4 – 10 Feb 2007


15:35 Relocation, Relocation
16:40 Relocation, Relocation
17:45 Relocation, Relocation
18:50 Snowmail
18:55 Relocation, Relocation
20:00 Relocation, Relocation
21:00 Inside Waco
23:05 GBH
00:40 Relocation, Relocation

jed_ (jed), Saturday, 10 February 2007 19:47 (seventeen years ago) link

So it's pretty much the same as channel 4, then.

g00blar (gooblar), Saturday, 10 February 2007 20:47 (seventeen years ago) link

I have just done a search for the Liverpool Everton thread, but ended up here instead.

So...

I take back what I said about Life on Mars being rubbish. I enjoyed epsiode 2 very much, and although I didn't enjoy episode 3 as much, I think it might be just a question of overdoing it. I am looking forward to the one about wife-swapping parties.

My cheapo digibox's perfromance gets worse and worse. I often switch over to "normal" telly now. I take great comfort in this act of rebellion, but it is not that convenient really.

PJ Miller, Thursday, 22 February 2007 13:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe it's a seasonal reception thing - all our ITV channels are blocking and breaking up something chronic thesedays.

Michael Jones, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:55 (seventeen years ago) link

The damp/rain can play merry hell with any connector or junction boxes you have on the line from your aerial and the damp air isn't great for radio propagation either. It's been wet recently.

Ed, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:57 (seventeen years ago) link

I was worrying that maybe the strong winds in January had loosened something up there and I was going to have to emulate Rod Hull and get a big ladder to fix it. But the junction box is a good one - it's just to the left of our living room window so perhaps I can put a little mac on it.

Michael Jones, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:55 (seventeen years ago) link

junction box theory is a good one, I meant to say

Michael Jones, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:56 (seventeen years ago) link

second week running the tivo has turned over to record a (unwanted) second showing of Screen Burn and then try and turn over for Millennium on itv4 an hour or so later only for the poxy set top box to stick on bbc4. on the recording i can see the '28' appear on screen but the box just sticks on '9'. argh.

koogs, Friday, 23 February 2007 08:50 (seventeen years ago) link

That is terrible news, Andy. May I suggest a HUMAX dual-core model?

I'm not sure we even have a junction box, but the aerial is pretty crap. Previous resident was a Sky person.

Am I right in thinking a new aerial would be in the region of a hundred nicker?

I think I might have asked this question before, so here is an additional one:

And could we take it with us when we move? Assuming we eventually do. Would this involve Rod Hullism?

I wonder if Rod Hull lived in the Thames Valley. Seems likely, after all, it is the light entertainment capital of the world.

PJ Miller, Friday, 23 February 2007 09:30 (seventeen years ago) link


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