Quest TV last night

[spider]

Did anyone see "South Beach Classics" on Quest (Freeview channel 38) last night ?

Amongst other things they had a white Peugeot cabrio (a RHD in America, probably a bit rare in itself?) although I missed nearly all that part. I think it was a 304 but I'm not sure.

[Citroening]

Indeed, 'tis a good programme that.

It was a 304, yes.

[CitroJim]

Indeed, 'tis a good programme that.

Except for all the bloody adverts Tried to watch an episode of Red Dwarf on Dave last evening. Totally spoilt by all the adverts and trailers for other programmes.

Thank goodness for the good old BBC who don't play that game...

I see Channel 5 has a programme called Classic Car Rescue on tonight at 8. No doubt it'll be good and enjoyable but totally ruined by being interrupted by adverts and trailers. Still, at least Channel 5 are not quite so bad as some of the others...

[CitroJim]

Did anyone see Classic Car Rescue on CH5 last night?

What a load of old cobblers Entertaining but technically very questionable. I'd love to know how they replaced a worn piston in the engine of the E-Type without major engine surgery and how having the Stromberg carb dashpots too full of oil was the sole cause of the engine running problems

It looked like it was a great bodge-up from start to finish...

[Xaccers]

Indeed, 'tis a good programme that.

Except for all the bloody adverts Tried to watch an episode of Red Dwarf on Dave last evening. Totally spoilt by all the adverts and trailers for other programmes.

Thank goodness for the good old BBC who don't play that game...

You need a subscription to Netflix Jim, all the episodes from all the seasons, loads of Dr Who too, for £6 a month.
No adverts either.

[CitroJim]

Indeed, 'tis a good programme that.

Except for all the bloody adverts Tried to watch an episode of Red Dwarf on Dave last evening. Totally spoilt by all the adverts and trailers for other programmes.

Thank goodness for the good old BBC who don't play that game...

You need a subscription to Netflix Jim, all the episodes from all the seasons, loads of Dr Who too, for £6 a month.
No adverts either.

Thanks, I will look into that Xac, I'd enjoy relaxing and watching things but for all the advert interruptions....

[Xaccers]

Thanks, I will look into that Xac, I'd enjoy relaxing and watching things but for all the advert interruptions....

Pretty sure they do a month free trial, which we did and within a couple of days had decided to subscribe.
You'll either have to watch it on your laptop or connect your laptop up to the TV, or get a game console like the Wii (we have one, along with the Dr Who sonic screwdriver controller which works great).

[CitroJim]

You'll either have to watch it on your laptop or connect your laptop up to the TV, or get a game console like the Wii (we have one, along with the Dr Who sonic screwdriver controller which works great).

Oh gawd, I might need some specialist help for that

[Xaccers]

You'll either have to watch it on your laptop or connect your laptop up to the TV, or get a game console like the Wii (we have one, along with the Dr Who sonic screwdriver controller which works great).

Oh gawd, I might need some specialist help for that

I'll pop over and show you

[CitroJim]

You'll either have to watch it on your laptop or connect your laptop up to the TV, or get a game console like the Wii (we have one, along with the Dr Who sonic screwdriver controller which works great).

Oh gawd, I might need some specialist help for that

I'll pop over and show you

Excellent Let me know when and I'll get the kettle on....

[spider]

As a slightly off topic note, has anyone with a freeview box had a channel (or group of) lock up ?

It does it with different box's, basically the audio/video is fine for about 5 seconds then the video freezes but the audio carries on. It stays like that as long as you leave it, its not temporary. Seems to effect "groups" of channels but not about half of them so its not like it used to be with analogue satellites H/V switch thing.

Cannot find any pattern or logic to it, as its not the box as another does the same. Perhaps its just this area ?

[myglaren]

I have a freeview enabled TV and don't get anything like you describe.
We have had boxes in the past too and again, nothing like that.

I really should qualify that statement.
I only watch TV for about two hours a week.

[CitroJim]

Andy, one of my freeview boxes, I think my old Tesco PVR before it blew up, used to do exactly that. Just on one multiplex.

It was, in my case, mainly caused by a weak and multi-path prone signal as we here are right on the very edge of the Sandy Heath transmitter and Newport Pagnell is a terrible place for reception. My latest PVR just pixellates occasionally but soon recovers where the old one would do precisely as you describe.

It seems not all Freeview boxes are equal and a better quality one may just sort it.

You may find another cause is a burst of interference from something like a noisy thermostat. It's a shame analogue is now off and if that was the root cause you would see lines of interference on the screen. In this brave digital age it just causes either the problem you have or a pixellation...

Any interference, due to the AGC action of the receiver, will give far worse effects if the signal you are receiving is weak. The stronger the wanted signal, in general, the stronger the interference has to be to interfere with it. The converse is true that a weaker signal is more easily interfered with...

[myglaren]

It's a shame analogue is now off and if that was the root cause you would see lines of interference on the screen. In this brave digital age it just causes either the problem you have or a pixellation...

They are turning our analogue off in the morning, last place in the UK.
I wonder what we did to displease our digital overlords.
Talk Geordie presumably, like Cheryl (Cole).

[CitroJim]

Gosh, you're late to loose analogue Steve Still, one good thing is the majority of power that went into the analogue signal will now be switched over to the digital multiplexes and reception will be much more solid and reliable. It was night and day here when they switched off analogue. Freeview went from being barely watchable some days to being 100% rock solid always, even in summer when traditionally it all went a bit pete tong due to a big tree nearby in the direction of the signal being in full leaf...

Andy, another thought. With a bit of detective work you should be able to work out which multiplex it is causing your issues mainly. Generally all the multiplexes are wide-spread across the UHF channels and unless you have a wide-band 'digital' aerial some multiplexes may not be well received. In analogue days all five channels were closely spaced and aerials were 'grouped' into three distinct sub-bands in the UHF TV band. Group A was for say Channels 21-38, Group B for 38-50 and Group C/D for channels 50-68. So in the old days all 5 analogue stations would be broadcast on channels that fell into one of the above groups. Nowadays the digital multiplexes can spread right across the whole band (they do here as we have one down on Ch21 and another right up in the high 60s) so you need an aerial that covers in one go Groups A, B and C/D. If you are still using your old analogue aerial it just won't cut the mustard and needs to be replaced. These 'digital;' aerials are, by their nature, low gain so if you are some way from the transmitter you'll likely need a masthead pre-amp to give the signal a bit of a boost before it runs to your freeview box.