Radio Times

Q Could you explain why thousands of set-top boxes are apparently no longer able to receive digital signals?
Brian Collins, Yeovil

A A number of Freeview boxes did stop working recently. Over to a Freeview spokesperson for the details: "It's a consequence of technology evolving. In 2002, when Freeview launched, there were around 30 TV channels. Since then, DMOL , the company that manages technical changes to the Freeview platform, has made enhancements to the infrastructure, and Freeview now offers up to 48 TV channels plus digital radio and red button features.

"As a result, some...

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Q RT lists More4 as Freeview channel 14, when in fact it's Freeview 13; and E4 as Freeview 29 (rather than 14). I don't know how many other channels are given the wrong Freeview number…
Pilar Lizana, via email

A With apologies to readers who have seen this query answered in Radio Times before: the channel numbers on our listings pages are correct! But sometimes, if a channel's Freeview number changes (as Channel 4's digital channels did last year), your digibox might not register it and will keep displaying the old numbers.

To put it right you...

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Q Currently in Wales, BBC2 splits its programming on weekday evenings. Analogue carries the national programmes while digital carries programmes commissioned by BBC Wales. With the digital switchover due to start in Wales in 2009, will we still have a choice of viewing, or will we have to put up with Welsh-made programmes whether we want them or not?
Dick Thompson, via email

A After switchover there will indeed be a single BBC2 Wales service, which will continue to carry regional programming, although how much is as yet unknown. BB C Wales says the new amalgamated digital service...

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Q What's so good about Blu-Ray? Should I be buying Blu-Ray discs instead of DVDs now?
Helen Martin, Sheffield

A Blu-Ray is better than DVD. But all the technical details come down to this: Blu-Ray discs can hold more data than DVDs - typically up to six times as much. And that extra room means Blu-Ray can carry high-definition releases, such as the HD version of Torchwood. So Blu-Ray will always be the better buy for picture quality.

But it's also more expensive. Prices are falling, but a Blu-Ray player still costs about £190, while you can pick...

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Q What exactly does "widescreen" mean? Are widescreen TV broadcasts only available via digital transmission? When we look at TV sets in the shops the "aspect ratios" seem wrong, with news journalists sporting Arnold Schwarzenegger-width shoulders, and incredibly fat faces!
Mitch, via email

A The only way to see a true widescreen picture (sometimes referred to as a 16:9) is via a digital set-top box, so invariably when you view programmes in analogue on a widescreen TV the picture will look distorted. Very often, electrical goods shops' picture source may be digital, but it's then "piped" across...

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Q I'm about to take the plunge and investigate watching TV online, armed with a new laptop. Can you run through the basics of iPlayer?
Margaret Stevens, Tonbridge, Kent

A Essentially, iPlayer performs a very simple function. It allows you to watch or listen to, via your home computer, most BBC TV or radio programmes broadcast over the last seven days. Simply visit www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer, type the name of the programme into the search box, and there it is. It's free, and you can revisit the programmes as many times as you like. You can access "streamed" content...

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Q You advised Barry Hyman (Feedback, 5 July) to buy a hard-drive recorder to solve the problem of recording one digital channel while watching another. Is that the only advantage they offer over videotape?
Janet Miller, Bristol

A It's the main one, but hard-drive recorders (also known as personal video recorders or PVRs) do much more. Get one with a twin tuner built in and you can record one programme and watch another, record two programmes, or record two while playing back another. But you can also pause live TV and rewind it, because the PVR makes a...

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Q In 21 June's Feedback you said Meridian's digital switchover would take place in 2011-12. What about my TV region, Westcountry?
Di Taylor, Plymouth

A For you specifically (the Caradon Hill transmitter), switchover will be July-September 2009. Westcountry as a whole makes the change from April 2009.

The full list of TV region switchover is as follows:
Border Nov 08-Jun 09
Central 2011
Westcountry Apr-Sep 09
Anglia 2011
Granada Oct-Dec 09
Yorkshire 2011
Wales Jul 09-Mar 10
Meridian 2011-12
West 2010
London 2012
STV North 2010
Tyne Tees 2012
STV Central 2010-11...

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Q On Virgin cable I can only VHS-record a programme if my TV is switched to the same channel. On terrestrial TV I could watch one and record another. On Freeview, I can't VHS-record at all. Not what you'd call progress, is it? Or is there a way round this? And I don't mean "chuck away your video recorder and get a hard-drive recorder"!
Barry Hyman, Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire

A Sorry, but the obvious solution here is…chuck away your video recorder and get a hard-drive recorder.

However, you can record Freeview onto VHS. If your video recorder and...

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Q Are there no Freesat boxes with built-in hard-disk recorders (PVRs)?
John Lesley, Edinburgh

A It's inconceivable that there won't ever be any Freesat PVRs, but none is currently available. If you're very technically minded, you could try rigging something up with an existing PVR or even a PC, but we hear that viewers who have tried this have had only limited success.

**

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Q I understand that initial HD transmissions on the new Freesat service will be 1080-interlaced. Is there any hope that this will be upgraded to 1080-progressive in the near future, with a 24-frames-per-second option for films? I have a 1080p HDTV and want to maximise the quality of picture received.
Peter Cash, Manchester

A It's no to both, we're afraid. The highest-quality HD system at the moment, called 1080p, is used by Blu-Ray (high-definition DVD ), but not much else: no UK HD broadcaster transmits in this format as yet. Most are broadcasting in 720p, which is lower quality,...

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Q I have a digital TV with built-in Freeview. Since getting it, I've noticed that whenever my neighbour uses his ride-on mower, my TV picture breaks up. I have a roof-mounted aerial and the neighbour is at the other side of a one-acre field! What can I do?
Viv Bell, Bournemouth, Dorset

A It sounds as if your signal is weak. Look at your Freeview settings: there should be an option to show signal strength. If it's below 30 per cent, there may not be much you can do. Freeview's signal will be boosted once analogue TV is...

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Q If I only watch TV programmes via catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer, can I stop paying for my TV licence?
Alan Gray, London SW19

A In theory, yes! You need a licence to watch programmes as they are being broadcast, so watching channels that are streamed live online requires a licence (BBC News and BBC3 are available this way, and BBC1 will be within the next 12 months). But catch-up services aren't covered by the law. What you actually watch is what's crucial: whether or not your receiving equipment could be used to watch programmes...

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Q Before digital, I taped radio programmes onto cassettes, which I could listen to in my car. Now I record both TV and radio programmes from digital TV on to DVD-RW, but these can only be viewed/listened to on the same recording device (unless you finalise them, making it impossible to re-record on the disc). Is there any other means to record digital radio and play it in a normal CD player?
John Collison, via email

A You'll need some new equipment. There are DAB radios that come with SD cards, the same type of memory card...

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