Digital Switchover Talk - Ferndown U3A

I shall be giving my Switchover Talk to Ferndown U3A next Friday, 3rd February, at the Barrington Theatre (conference room). Entry is free to both members and non-members of Ferndown U3A and a free cup of tea or coffee is available between 10.00 am and 10.30 am. During that half-hour you'll also be able to chat to me about any special concerns you may have about the Switchover.

The illustrated Talk will start at 10.30 am and last for approximately one hour. Afterwards there will be time for questions and, if you've lost the Digital UK booklet "Your Guide to Switchover" which was delivered to all households in the area before Christmas, or you'd like another one, you'll be able to take one away with you.

If you cannot make that date, I shall be repeating the Talk on 16th February to Bournemouth U3A and 17th February to Wimborne U3A. Location details are in the sidebar to the right here.

Switchover Events This Year

Friday 3 February
U3A Digital Switchover Talk
Barrington Theatre
Ferndown
10.00 am for 10.30 am to 11.45 am approx
(Free entry to non-members of Ferndown U3A also) 

Thursday 16 February
U3A Digital Switchover Talk
Orchid Hotel
Bournemouth
10.00 am for 10.30 am to 11.45 am approx
(Free entry to non-members of Bournemouth U3A also)

Friday 17 February
U3A Digital Switchover Talk
Wesley Hall
Methodist Church
Wimborne
10.00 am for 10.30 am to 11.45 am approx
(Free entry to non-members of Wimborne U3A also)

Wednesday 7 March (DSO-1 day)
Digital UK Road Show
Outside Obscura Café
The Square
Bournemouth
All day

Thursday 8 March
Digital UK Road Show
Outside Obscura Café
The Square
Bournemouth
All day

Wednesday 21 March (DSO-2 day)
Digital UK Road Show
Outside Obscura Café
The Square
Bournemouth
All day

Thursday 22 March
Digital UK Road Show
Outside Obscura Café
The Square
Bournemouth
All day

Wednesday 18 April (DSO-3 day)
Applies to the Rowridge transmitter only and not to its relay transmitters

Remember: a rescan (retune) will be needed by each Freeview receiver on each of the DSO days.

No Channel 5 HD for Freeview

It has just been announced that Channel 5 has withdrawn its successful bid to run the fifth High Definition station on Freeview. It is likely therefore that the slot will go out to tender again. We shall have to wait and see who will bid and who will be successful. In the meantime, the HD stations on Freeview after the Digital Switchover will be BBC-1 HD, BBC-HD (soon to be BBC-2 HD), ITV-1 HD and C4 HD.

Are You Ready?

On the BBC South tv programme yesterday, Tuesday 8 November, a representative of Digital UK suggested there could be a million people in the south of England who are not yet ready for the Digital Switchover next March. That could create quite a demand for set-top boxes next March. In order to be sure of not missing out, it is important to obtain the Freeview box for an existing analogue-only television sooner rather than later.

There may be a problem in that, owing to geographical position, a household is not able to receive the current digital transmissions so a box purchased now cannot be used until March when the transmission power increases, thus using up valuable guarantee time. There is no solution to that one: you either buy now when the boxes are in plentiful supply or wait and maybe have to wait for longer if supplies run out. Similarly, anyone currently receiving tv from a relay transmitter, like Winterborne Stickland, cannot use a set-top box until next March because such transmitters are not presently transmitting any digital signals.

What to Do About Digital - 5 : Buying a New Television Set, Part 3 (LED or Not LED?)

An alternative sub-title for this article could be: "When is an LED tv actually an LCD tv?". The answer would be "always".

"LCD" stands for Liquid Crystal Display. "LED" stands for Light Emitting Diode, as used to show your tv is in standby or in house/garden lights, for example. There is much misunderstanding about these two terms when used to describe televisions, much of it down to the industry itself not making things clear. The real danger is you may not think you are confused about it (see the final paragraph). Here's an explanation.

All current flat-screen televisions are of two types: plasma or LCD. Notice the absence of the term "LED". The description "plasma" or "LCD" refers to the panel which provides the pictures you watch. Each panel is made up of individual picture elements called pixels. A standard definition tv panel contains around half a million pixels, an "HD-Ready" tv panel has around one million pixels while a "Full-HD" panel has around two million pixels.

The pixels in a plasma panel emit light themselves, much like the old CRT (cathode ray tube) televisions produced light from the end of the CRT which provided the screen. However, the pixels in an LCD panel do not produce any light themselves. They need to have light shone through them otherwise they cannot be seen.

This is where the LED part comes in. LEDs can be used to provide that light source behind the LCD panel. Such tvs are simply called "LED-tvs". Previously, the light source for LCD tvs was a panel made up of one or more CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent lamps: using technology like household low-energy lamps) or an electroluminescent panel (as used in large advertising signs) which was placed behind the LCD panel and made to glow all over with an equal brightness by using a diffuser. You can still buy tvs like that: they're just not called "LED-tvs".

As technology has progressed, a panel of LEDs behind the LCD panel was found to offer an advantage over the CCFL or electroluminescent panel. LEDs could be grouped and the brightness of each group adjusted according to what the LCD panel was showing. Bright areas of the image caused the LEDs in that region to shine brightly, while dark areas of the image would cause the LEDs behind them to dim down. This improved the response of LCD screens to black, previously one of their downfalls.

Later it was discovered that a clever arrangement of LEDs just behind one or more edges of the LCD panel could achieve a similar result, using some sort of mirror arrangement. This resulted in the ability to produce extremely thin LCD tvs, especially desirable for wall-hanging.

Thus LED-tvs are of two types: back-lit and edge-lit. You'll see one of these descriptions in each tv's specifications, though the differences are becoming blurred as the technology advances.

There can be problems with all these technologies. The back-lit CCFL or electroluminescent panel can suffer uneven illumination, especially with larger screens when more than one CCFL is needed - quite a disaster for the resulting picture: always check such a set for that problem. Back-lit LED-tvs can suffer a bloom around dark areas. The LEDs behind the LCD panel are not as numerous as the number of pixels in that LCD panel, so dark and light areas will not match up with the groups of LEDs exactly. Side-lit LEDs can show a glow in the corners of the screen, especially when viewing from a wide angle. All these points are things to watch out for when selecting a new tv.

So you can see that, if we're to describe televisions according to the type of panel used for displaying the image, LCD is the acronym to use. LED is just a description of how the essential light source is provided.

Evidently it's perfectly possible for members of the public not to know they are confused by this. I was once told by a very knowledgeable and experienced sales assistant in a notable tv shop about a lady who asked to see some LED televisions. When he told the lady that all such televisions were actually LCD tvs, she would have none of it. She told the assistant he didn't know what he was talking about and promptly exited the shop!

Switchover Help Scheme

Information about the Switchover Help Scheme has now been sent to all those in our area who are eligible for taking advantage of the scheme. The criteria for eligibility are:

• are aged 75 or over; or
• get or could get Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance or mobility supplement; or
• have lived in a care home for six months or more; or
• are registered blind or partially sighted.

If you have not yet received a communication about the Switchover Help Scheme and you fit the criteria above it would be worth contacting the Scheme to investigate the situation. The contact details are:

Phone free on:
0800 408 5900 or
e-mail info@helpscheme.co.uk

You can also use those contacts if you are unsure about your eligibility.

The basic cost is £40 which includes the equipment, help with installation, aerial check and replacement if needed, a demonstration of how to use the equipment plus a helpline for a year.
This service is free if you are eligible and receive pension credit or income support. There are other conditions possible but they would not apply to Wimborne U3A members.

There are other options available regarding the equipment, all at a considerably reduced cost than that of a normal purchase.

You do have to have a current tv licence and one tv set which can receive only analogue signals. You may have other tv sets which can receive digital but the scheme can still be applied for in order to convert that one old tv. You have until one month after the last Switchover date to apply for the scheme. That means you cannot apply after 21 April 2012.

The basic equipment which is provided is a terrestrial digital box produced by the scheme and, if required, help to install and use it. Alternatives are:
• A digital television recorder or an integrated digital TV for an extra cost
• A free satellite service for an extra cost
• Some money off a subscription service, such as Sky, Virgin Media or BT Vision .

Full information can be found by following this link to the Digital UK website.

Digital UK Roadshow

In the sidebar, a little way down, you'll find a list of the local visits by the Digital UK Roadshow. This is a motorised caravan which will tour the whole Meridian area throughout the coming months up to and including the Digital Switchover. You can ask questions and take away leaflets about the Switchover Help Scheme. Technical questions may not be the best to ask at these events, judging by the Mendip Switchover Roadshow I visited at Shaftesbury in 2010.

My Talk on 17 February, 2012, is likely to be the only truly local to Wimborne event about the Digital Switchover. Wimborne U3A Members are advised to book seats for the Talk - that can be done using the e-mail address given under "Contact and Posting" further down the sidebar.

What to Do About Digital - 4 : Buying a New tv Set, Part 2 (3D or not 3D?)

You cannot fail to have noticed the way 3D viewing has become all the rage these days, both in the cinema (where it started) and in the home with 3D televisions. Without going into the long history of 3D development which has brought it to its current state, there are a few points which are worth making.

There are two kinds of 3D video technology which can be summarised as "passive" and "active". In the cinema it is the passive form. This means the inevitable spectacles are simple pieces of polaroid material, quite cheap, and the digital projection is of two images which are filtered by the glasses so one image is seen by the left eye and the other by the right eye: much better than the fifties 3D versions (remember Vincent Price in "The House of Wax"?) where the glasses contained acetate film of two different colours which interfered with the colour rendition of the image and which gave different light intensities to each eye.

3D television uses the active form, except for the LG company which is championing the passive form. Active 3D imaging uses expensive spectacles which have electronics built into them and which are synchronised with the image on the screen. It's called "active shutter technology". The image on the tv screen very quickly alternates between two versions, one for the left eye and one for the right eye. When it's displaying the image for the right eye, the left glass of the spectacles goes dark and prevents light reaching the left eye: vice versa with the following image, and so on.

Now this rapid switching of light to each eye is not everyone's cup of tea. Indeed, there have been reports of induced nausea and headaches by viewers. If you decide to embrace 3D technology, do test yourself in the shop before you buy to see if you react in that way. Give yourself plenty of time to watch the demonstration screen. It's clearly a personal response: some people will be affected and others not.

There are also technical problems associated with this rapid switching on the screen. All LCD tvs have a response time, which has been reducing as the technology advances. This is the time it takes for the tv screen to "lose" one frame while generating the next frame, essentially. The longer the response time of the screen, the slower will the screen be to change frames, resulting in some very peculiar artefacts on the screen. Bearing in mind that, in general, you're watching twenty-five frames each second (there are variations on this, depending upon the tv set and what you're watching), so we're talking about very small intervals of time. Nevertheless, LCD screens tend to have a slower response time than plasma screens, all other things being equal.

To display active 3D images, the switching involved should not leave any traces of a preceding frame, otherwise the integrity of the 3D image can be compromised. If you decide to go for 3D, do compare a plasma tv set with an LCD tv set, side by side (though you'll have to switch spectacles between looking at each one).

Regular 3D tv broadcasting is some way off yet. The major current source of 3D material is from the high-definition Bluray discs, where they contain a 3D version of the film. You would need a 3D-enabled Bluray player and a 3D-enabled television or projector to watch such discs. Most manufacturers currently include a few 2D-only sets in their catalogue, though they will be at the cheaper end of the range. Most R&D is going into 3D sets so they will have the latest technology even for producing a good 2D picture. It may be, therefore, that you would end up buying a 3D set but use it only to view 2D pictures. You can't help feeling you would be paying for something you're not going to use, but there's little alternative. It's like the gentleman who, visiting a tailors, finds just the suit for him but it's a three-piece and he doesn't want the waistcoat. Upon being asked about that, the salesman replies that the waistcoat is optional; it doesn't have to be worn!

Next time we'll be looking at the question: when is an LED tv actually an LCD tv?

What to Do About Digital - 3 : Buying a New Television Set, Part 1 (Hi-Def or Not Hi-Def)

Maybe, after reading the second article in this series, you decided it was time to replace your ageing television set rather than add a Freeview Set-Top Box to it. This article is for you, then. What do you need to think about and what decisions do you need to arrive at, even before you've set foot in a television shop or investigated on-line shopping?

There are many such matters to ponder: High Definition or not is possibly the first one. All current televisions of any note are flat-screen and come with a built-in digital (Freeview) tuner. In some of them that tuner will also receive the new High Definition transmissions starting at the Digital Switchover next March. Do remember that the average life-expectancy of a tv set is ten years and that many will go well beyond that. A decision now has to last, then. I would advise going for a tv with a High Definition tuner, but they are slightly more expensive than those with just a Standard Definition tuner. In the near future you probably won't have that choice - they'll all have the High-Def tuner as standard.

Why am I recommending this pathway? The likelihood is that your new tv will have a larger screen than your current tv. High Definition allows you to:
a) view a smaller screen from a nearer position;
b) view a larger screen from your current position;
while giving you a very clear, high resolution picture, showing much more detail than is provided by Standard Definition.

Of course, many tv stations are only Standard Definition and if you get too close to the screen or have a very large screen that picture is not particularly good. Need to have movable chairs, therefore, and the space in which to move them. Many years ago there were recommendations about screen size and viewing distance. These have changed since the advent of High Definition and the current Hi-Def recommendations are:

32" to 37" screen : 1.3 metres (just over 4 feet) viewing distance.
40" to 42" screen : 1.6 metres (just over 5 feet) viewing distance.
46" screen : 1.8 metres (just under 6 feet) viewing distance.

These are minimum recommended distances. The maximum distance is around double that distance. How can there be a maximum distance? It's the distance beyond which you won't really be able to notice that a Hi-Def picture looks better than a Standard-Def one. So the size of screen to go for is intimately tied up with the Hi-Def or not decision. The larger the screen, the more expensive the tv set; all other things being equal.

While you deliberate on all that, do have a look at a friend's or relative's tv if they have Hi-Def (Sky or Freesat) and carry out some experiments walking towards and away from (backwards!) the tv on both Hi-Def and Standard-Def tv stations, and see what you can notice. While you're doing all that and coming to a decision, I'll prepare Part 2 of this article - "3D or 2D?" (though you may have already decided on that).

Just one final point about High-Def. On Freeview, as on Freesat, there are four Hi-Def tv stations:
BBC-1 HD
BBC-HD
ITV-1 HD
C4-HD

BBC-HD shows a variety of programming from all its other stations, including repeats of BBC-1 HD material. All its output is in Hi-Def.
Not all programmes shown by the other stations are made in Hi-Def. Those that are usually are indicated as such in listings magazines. If "HD" is not included in the listing information then the programme is Standard-Def. It is then what is called "upscaled" before transmission. Your tv would do that to the Standard-Def station's transmission anyway, so it's nothing special.

Sky transmits many more High-Def stations, but you have to pay a subscription and have a satellite dish installed. Blu-Ray discs (BDs) are the High-Def version of DVDs. They produce a better quality picture than any current High-Def tv station, providing your tv is "Full-HD", sometimes known as "1080p" tvs. All that has no real bearing on your decisions about Freeview terrestrial digital reception next March, but it was necessary to state it at this juncture.

Digital Tips - 2 : Radio (again)

Continuing the theme of Freeview radio, you don't need to have your tv switched on to listen to any of the many radio stations on Freeview if your reception is via a Freeview STB or Personal Video Recorder (PVR). So long as your STB or PVR has "audio-out sockets" (and most, if not all, do), you can connect those sockets to the Auxiliary-IN or Line-IN sockets of your audio equipment. Your Freeview box does need a number display, at least. Radio 2, for example, is on Freeview number 702, so it's easy to punch the number in using the box's remote control.

Of course, if the Freeview box and the audio equipment are a long way apart, you'll need long cables and it may not be acceptable to you to have those trailing around the room. However, I'm going to ignore that and explain just how to set this up as it's the most useful way to listen to digital radio (the sound is better than Digital Audio Broadcasting [DAB]).

The audio-out sockets and the Aux-IN sockets are what are called "Phono" sockets. Here's what they look like:

The white one (sometimes it's black instead) is for the left stereo channel and the red one is for the right stereo channel. You will need to buy a stereo phono cable to connect the equipment together. Here's what the ends of such a cable look like, showing the black and red phono plugs.

The black plugs go into the white (or black) sockets of your STB and your audio equipment and the red plugs go into the red sockets - it couldn't be easier! Just make sure you've measured how long the cable needs to be and buy a cable of at least that length - goes without saying!