I missed the ITV caption because I had switched over to C4 for the next switch off. How come you guys who saw it stayed on ITV? Were you not tempted to go straight to C4 in case you missed it going off?
No, although it initially cut to black, then started thrashing around, the carrier hadn't actually dropped, so I stuck with ITV !
Will we get advance notice of switch off times for the 18th?
At a guess they may very well be at the first programme junction after midnight again. Going by the Digital UK Newsletter Channel 5 will be the last to go and may not disappear until as late as 9am on the Wednesday morning.
I notice the Arqiva light show is stated to be at 9.15pm on 18th April.
Shouldn't it be on the 17th April as switch over night is really the previous evening? By 9.15pm on 18th April it will all be over.
Yes, it's to commemorate switching off analogue there's not much point doing it the night before when it's still on.
Also I suspect the engineers working on the switchover could do without Chris Evans, David Attenborough and other VIP guests there when they're about to do what they need to do!
One question as analogue finally bows out of which I never discovered the answer to. Back in 1997 why was the decision taken to broadcast Channel 5 from Croydon and not Crystal Palace. I know this decision caused many problems for viewers who had their aerials aligned to Crystal Palace not to mention aerial contractors.Was it because there was not enough room in the equipment halls, also would it have meant too much disruption to existing services with shutdowns and extended periods of reduced power operation and antenna modifications. It seems to me when the decision was made to bring Channel 5 on air they virtually tore up the rule book in the procees. Also imagine this for a problem. How would an aerial contractor set about balancing a signal where BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, and Channel 4 were being broadcast with an ERP of 1000 kw and Channel 5 with only 10 kw ERP as was the case at Sandy Heath.
I believe the BBC said there was no room on the CP mast - and there was also the question of the additional weight.But others have suggested this was a ''spoiling'' tactic as the BBC had no difficulty in adding various aerials of its own subsequently.
I believe the BBC said there was no room on the CP mast - and there was also the question of the additional weight.But others have suggested this was a ''spoiling'' tactic as the BBC had no difficulty in adding various aerials of its own subsequently.
There was also the issue that Croydon was (at the time) an NTL owned site, so as NTL were building the C5 network, it was cheaper to provide the service from their own mast, rather than pay the Crown Castle (not the Beeb by then) mast rental space.
Same situation with SC/Lichfield, and Pontop/Burnhope,
I have an old Pace freeview box which I have had since the demise of ONdigital. So it has done good service.
Since the London switchover it has lost the BBC channels (all of them) and using auto-update or loading the channels again does not help.
Is there a way of reloading it or has it finally come to its last days?
That type of box ceases to work at switchover, due a mode change in the digital signal.
Older On Digital and some early Freeview boxes (when Pace were still making them) that are not 8k compatible lose all remaining services at stage 2.
One question as analogue finally bows out of which I never discovered the answer to. Back in 1997 why was the decision taken to broadcast Channel 5 from Croydon and not Crystal Palace.
To save costs, and presumably to keep more control over their network, NTL decided to, where-ever possible, to transmit Channel 5 from their sites. Hence it came from Croydon and Lichfield rather than CP or Sutton Coldfield.
They could have co-sited at CP - NTL had their own part of the building but I suspect they'd have had to pay extra rent either for aerials on the towers (on sites where they did co-site they mostly had to add extra Channel 5 aerials lower down the mast) or rent for combiner space. So I suppose putting in UHF aerials at Croydon wouldn't have cost that much more
Wasn't there also a sense that Ch 5 transmission/reception was going to be a compromise all round and that would have to be accepted, even to the extent of paying to send "technical" people round to every house to help retune VCRs or even filter out the new channel.
"Hi I'm from Channel 5. Would you like me to prevent your TV from receiving us?"
I presume the provider's licence cost reflected this.
They could have co-sited at CP - NTL had their own part of the building but I suspect they'd have had to pay extra rent either for aerials on the towers (on sites where they did co-site they mostly had to add extra Channel 5 aerials lower down the mast) or rent for combiner space. So I suppose putting in UHF aerials at Croydon wouldn't have cost that much more
They may have mitigated the cost of that, by offering ITV and C4 the standby Tx facility at Croydon, I think it became active around that time too. The BBC joined in much later, 2005 ish I think.
During today's episode of Deal or No Deal this afternoon on Channel 4 Analogue there was a message popped up on screen telling us to Retune our Digital TVs or set top boxes on the 18th of April 2012
During today's episode of Deal or No Deal this afternoon on Channel 4 Analogue there was a message popped up on screen telling us to Retune our Digital TVs or set top boxes on the 18th of April 2012
I don't know about you albert, but the Channel 4 analogue signal has been atrocious here since DSO1 and I've no intention of watching it to spot any DSO messages!
I don't know about you albert, but the Channel 4 analogue signal has been atrocious here since DSO1 and I've no intention of watching it to spot any DSO messages!
Very strange. I hadn't tried it since DSO1, but I just had a quick look, and it seemed fine.
Comments
No, although it initially cut to black, then started thrashing around, the carrier hadn't actually dropped, so I stuck with ITV !
At a guess they may very well be at the first programme junction after midnight again. Going by the Digital UK Newsletter Channel 5 will be the last to go and may not disappear until as late as 9am on the Wednesday morning.
http://www.arqiva.com/corporate/digital-switch-over/digital-switch-over-london-region/switchovernight/
Shouldn't it be on the 17th April as switch over night is really the previous evening? By 9.15pm on 18th April it will all be over.
That to give people time to rescan,;)
Also I suspect the engineers working on the switchover could do without Chris Evans, David Attenborough and other VIP guests there when they're about to do what they need to do!
There was also the issue that Croydon was (at the time) an NTL owned site, so as NTL were building the C5 network, it was cheaper to provide the service from their own mast, rather than pay the Crown Castle (not the Beeb by then) mast rental space.
Same situation with SC/Lichfield, and Pontop/Burnhope,
Did C5 at Lichfield stay on air until 9am at DSO2 like C5 is scheduled to at Croydon?
No, it went off around 1am I think
Here's a You Tube video of the Arqiva bods shutting it down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFIki7CYc9o
I have an old Pace freeview box which I have had since the demise of ONdigital. So it has done good service.
Since the London switchover it has lost the BBC channels (all of them) and using auto-update or loading the channels again does not help.
Is there a way of reloading it or has it finally come to its last days?
There are threads about this at
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1648365
and
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1185740
Best just to get a new one, you'll be amazed how much better they've become since the ONd days
Older On Digital and some early Freeview boxes (when Pace were still making them) that are not 8k compatible lose all remaining services at stage 2.
I cant complain as I got plenty of faithful service....
To save costs, and presumably to keep more control over their network, NTL decided to, where-ever possible, to transmit Channel 5 from their sites. Hence it came from Croydon and Lichfield rather than CP or Sutton Coldfield.
They could have co-sited at CP - NTL had their own part of the building but I suspect they'd have had to pay extra rent either for aerials on the towers (on sites where they did co-site they mostly had to add extra Channel 5 aerials lower down the mast) or rent for combiner space. So I suppose putting in UHF aerials at Croydon wouldn't have cost that much more
"Hi I'm from Channel 5. Would you like me to prevent your TV from receiving us?"
I presume the provider's licence cost reflected this.
They may have mitigated the cost of that, by offering ITV and C4 the standby Tx facility at Croydon, I think it became active around that time too. The BBC joined in much later, 2005 ish I think.
Will you put it on youtube?