UK Podcast Team, FrequencyCast has released an audio podcast providing help on the Digital Switchover. This follows results of our survey telling us that 39% of our listeners and visitors aren’t ready for analogue TV to be switched off. See our press release for more.

Our “Unofficial Guide to The Digital Switchover” looks at the top ten things you need to know, and answers our listener’s common switchover questions.

 The show lasts for 20 minutes, and can be downloaded for free from our Digital Switch page

 

 Digital Switch Audio Guide [20:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you’re living in Birmingham or parts of the West Midlands, you may find that any old onDigital/itvDigital boxes you’re using will stop working from the 3rd of March 2008 Work on the Sutton Coldfield transmitter means that some early pre-Freeview boxes won’t. According to the announcement at www.freeview.co.uk, boxes affected include: Daewoo DS608P, LabgearDTT100, Triax DVB2000T, Daewoo SV900 and Bush IDVCR01.

Top Up TV has released an updated version of their Top Up TV Anytime box. The Thomson DTI6300-25 comes with a 250Gig driver (versus the original 160gig version), and can hold up to 180 hours of Freeview programmes, plus the small amount of content that’s automatically downloaded overnight.

 The new box costs £129.99 (£30 up on the previous version, which is still available). More on our TUTV Anytime page.

Apple has issued a software update for the iPhone. The new version, v1.1.3, can be installed via iTunes.

New features include:

• New Maps application - Find location by mobile phone cell site
• Send SMS text messages to multiple recipients
• Customize Home Screen - Rearrange icons and add browser bookmarks to Home Screen
• IMAP support for Gmail
• Support for iTunes Store movie rentals
• Enhanced Video Player (Chapters, Subtitles, Alternate language tracks)
• Lyrics support in iPod

Digital speech-based radio station OneWord is to shut down on 12th January 2008. The station started back in 2000. Owners UBC Media laid off staff back in December, and the station will fall silent in a couple of days.

Another national station is also about to vanish - Music station Core, owned by GCap, is also set to close on Friday the 11th of January. 

National DAB multiplex Digital One now has two gaps to fill, and the recent announcement about the delay of Channel 4 radio is another blow to national digital radio. At the moment, prerecorded birdsong and a trial relay of forces station BFBS can be heard in the national slots previously occupied by Chill and Oneword.

Update 13 Feb: Audio show discussing developments now online

Are you a Lostie? Lost returns to UK screens on Sky One on Sunday 3 February 2008 at 9:00pm. Season 4 of Lost will also be available on Sky HD.

www.frequencycast.co.uk/sky.html

Sky’s High-definition box price has dropped. Their combined Sky HD / Sky + box is now £249 (was £299). If you take out Sky HD with Sky’s broadband, Talk phone service and  Multiroom, the price drops to £199. Details on our Sky Digital page.

We’re taking a straw poll from our listeners to find out how many folk are ready for the Digital TV Switchover, to help with an upcoming podcast feature we’re planning. We’d appreciate your vote:

BT Total Broadband customers will soon be able to get TV, movies and high-definition gaming on an Xbox 360.It’s been announced that the BT Vision TV-on-demand service is expected to be available on X-box 360 consoles from mid-2008, according to an announcement by Bill Gates on the 6th of January.

Existing BT Vision set-top boxes are running Microsoft’s IPTV software. The new partnership between BT and Microsoft brings some potential new opportunties to both parties - A large collection of TV shows and movies available on demand, plus access to Xbox LIVE® on one box. Available services will include voice chat, sending and receiving text and voice messages, as well as access to Xbox LIVE Marketplace, all while watching TV. The quoted example of such integration is that of a footy fan wating a live match on BT Vision Sport having a voice chat abot the game over XBox Live, then playing FIFA Soccer with his friend after the match.

The service will be available to existing and future Xbox 360 owners from the middle of 2008, and it’s expected that BT will be selling the Xbox consoles pre-loaded with BT Vision. No pricing has been announced as yet.

More on BT Vision: http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/btvision.

Later this year, we can expect to see FreeSat launch in the UK. This is a joint free-to-view satellite TV service that’s due to offer 80 free TV channels, plus some high-definition content.

It’s due in “Spring 2008″. What we know so far can be found on our FreeSat UK page.

Happy New Year FrequencyCasters!

To welcome in the New Year, and to give you something to make that hangover even worse… we’ve just released a new FrequencyCast.

FrequencyCast Show 22, our first TV and Tech podcast of 2008, covers the following topics:

• News Updates: Updates planned to Freeview Playback, two new HD channels, news of two new DAB radios, delays to Channel 4’s DAB service, free films from BT and a patch to the Home Hub.
• TV accessories: Carl and Pete look at a wide range of accessories available to enhance your TV viewing, including flashy remotes, AV sender, surround sound, Apple TV, TV-B-Gone, SCART switchers and surge protectors.
• SatNav New Stuff: A quick look at one of the new TomTom devices - take a listen to what’s on offer from today’s satnav devices.
• Your Questions: Listeners questions on iPod Jailbreaking, Freeview Playback, FreeSat, DVD connectivity and Ex-pats TV.

You can download Show 22 direct to your MP3 player, listen online, or view the show notes at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/cast22.html

Spread the word! Do you post regularly to any forums? Do you have a blog or website? Do you have techy friends that might want to give us a listen? Pass on the address - www.frequencycast.co.uk.

Show notes:
After you’ve listened to the show, please have a read through the show notes for more information on what we’ve covered in the show. The show notes are at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/cast22.html

 

 FrequencyCast Show 22 [32:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download