Freeview Category

Regulators Ofcom have revoked Five’s licence to launch an HD service on Freeview by the end of the year. This action has been taken after Five appears to have failed to provide information about when they will be in a position to launch some kind of HD service, or provide Ofcom with details about what HD content would be shown on the channels.

It appears that the licence for the fourth Freeview HD slot now reverts to the BBC , although it’s not clear if they’d look to launch a second HD channel, or if another broadcaster would step in. A fifth HD channel is set to become available in 2011 – and in theory, Five could try for an HD slot again – provided they’d be able to demonstrate that they could start a service in 2012.

Welcome to March 2010, and to a new podcast. In this show, we get all Interactive at you  – hope you enjoy and get involved…

Here’s what we look at in Show 49:

• News Updates: More Freeview HD, the end of 6 Music and a new phone from Puma.
• Focus: Getting more from your Mobile – Apps, Maps and Gadgets
• Hands-on: The latest mobile phone watch, plus the Olympus Tough
• Your podline and email questions on Freeview and Sky signal, archiving video and buying a new telly

You can download Show 49 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

In this show, we want some interaction, so get texting on 07882 043 521!

Links:

• Show Notes
• Mobile Phone Interaction
• Focus Transcript
• Become a Facebook Fan

Share and Enjoy!

 

 FrequencyCast UK Show 49 [30:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We already have a winner for the first Freeview HD-compatible set-top box (won by Humax a few days back) – Now we have the first IDTV set with a built-in Freeview HD receiver. This telly from Panasonic also has an onboard Freesat HD receiver, optional wireless Internet connectivity and an SD card for external media.

The catchily-named Panasonic TX-P42G20B is a 42″ plasma TV supporting “Full HD” (i.e. 1080p) with a refresh rate of 600Hz – and here is our first picture:

The Panasonic TX-P42G20B Freeview HD TV is available now – we’ve found it at Comet online.

Oh – If you’re quick, you can get £60 off this (or anything over £1000 at Comet) using the magic voucher code AW60 at the Comet.co.uk checkout. The £60 off code expires on the 27th Feb 2010.

More on Freeview HD

Freeview has just launched an app for users of the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

Before you get excited – it won’t let you watch Freeview from your iPhone – what it does provide, is a handy and fairly powerful TV listings service to see what’s on the 50 or so Freeview channels.

Easy-to-use, and with handy access to the Freeview Twitter feed for recommendations and news, this is a must – especially given that it’s a freebie!

The Freeview HD iPhone app is available now on the iTunes App Store

Update: Reviewed in our Feb 2010 Update – Listen to Update / Read Transcript

Freeview HD launched in December 2009, but there was one big problem – you couldn’t buy a receiver.

Fortunately, that changed this weekend, when the first Humax Freeview HD boxes started to appear in the wild.

Yes, it’s now possible to get your hands on a Freeview HD set-top box – although HD is only being transmitted in the Granada and London areas at the moment.

The Humax Fox T2 HD

The new box supports DVB-T2, the format used for Freeview HD. It has an 8 day programme guide, auto-updates to new channels, supports digital audio, has HDMI and 2 SCART sockets and a digital audio output.

Those looking to get a little more from their kit will be happy to know that the Fox HD T2 has a USB socket which allows you to connect external storage (hard drive or USB stick) for playback of xVid video, MP3 audio as well as JPG images. The T2 also comes with an Ethernet socket that will shortly be able to connect to your Internet router to give you online services including the BBC iPlayer catch-up TV service

The price?

Considering your average standard-definition Freeview box is around £25, the RRP of the Humax HD T2 of £179 is likely to make a few people gulp (Sky’s HD box, the Sky+ HD box, is currently free, has a Sky+ recorder and can get BBC HD without an HD subscription).

Still, this new Humax looks to be a very capable Freeview HD receiver, and comes from a good pedigree of Freeview and Freesat boxes. We’re reasonably sure this will be a hit.

Available instore at some John Lewis branches. It’s also listed at Argos.co.uk ,
Very.co.uk (cheapest at the time of writing) and
Play.com.

More coverage of the Humax T2 in a podcast update due in the next 24 hours!

UPDATE: Podcast First Look released! Humax HD Fox T2 First Impressions

Happy New Year to all of our FrequencyCast listeners!

Show 47, the first show of 2010, has just been released for your listening pleasure.

In this show, we discuss all that’s new with digital TV and technology. Here’s what we cover in this show:

• News Updates: Project Canvas, Tesco iPhone, iPlayer on Freesat, Freeview HD and BT Vision boxes.
• Focus: New Year’s Resolution – Back up your data
• Your podline and email questions on Dave, Slingbox and the BBC iPlayer

You can download Show 47 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

 

 FrequencyCast UK Show 47 [30:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A new podcast update has just been released, keeping our listeners up-to-date with some hot TV news, including:

• Freeview HD lauches – where are the boxes?
• BT Vision releases a new PVR
• Two new HD channels join Sky’s lineup
• Freesat gets 4 new channels
• Plus your emails on WiFi Hotspots, TiVo and TV listings

The show is attached to this blog entry, or you can listen at www.frequencycast.co.uk/update.html, or get us from the FrequencyCast Podcast page on iTunes.

 

 FrequencyCast Update 16 Dec 2009 [14:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s the first of December and Show 46 of FrequencyCast, the UK’s TV and Tech podcast, has just been released for your listening pleasure.

In this show, we discuss all that’s new with digital TV and technology. Here’s what we cover in this show:

• News Updates: Freeview HD about to launch, o2 Joggler changes, iPlayer news and more.
• Focus: Getting online with a wireless hotspot
• Hands-on: The Chumby desktop companion, plus a new magic wand
• Your podline and email questions on BT Home Hub, mobile broadband connection, plus Freesat

You can download Show 46 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html. If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

 

 FrequencyCast UK Show 46 [30:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Freeview is celebrating its seventh birthday today.

The service launched on the 30th of October 2002 as a joint venture between the BBC, Crown Castle and BSkyB. Freeview offered free-to-view TV after the collapse of ITVDigital, and OnDigital before that.

Greg Dyke, then Director-General of the BBC, said: “Today is an important day in the development of British television with the launch of Freeview – a new digital platform which means that 75% of homes in Britain will now be able to receive digital television completely free. It’s also a big step forward for the BBC, making all of the BBC’s digital television, interactive and radio services available to many more people at no extra cost.”

The last seven years have been a bumpy journey, but Freeview is now in many homes, and most new TVs and recorders come with built-in Freeview. We now have a bunch of new channels (admittedly, many of them shopping or adult chat channels), and with parts of the UK now going through the Digital Switchover (including North Wales this week), signal strengths are set to increase, bringing Freeview to more homes. The future is still looking good for Freeview.

We should, however, take a moment to remember those valiant TV channels that are no longer with us on our journey. raise a cup of tea to salute Sky Travel, UK Homestyle, FTN, BBC Choice, ABC1, Nuts TV, Men and Motors, ITN and UK History, as well as radio stations including oneword and MoJo that couldn’t be here today to celebrate.

Happy Birthday Freeview from all at your favourite Digital TV podcast!

iPhone users – you can now watch 11 Freeview channels live on your phone.

The service from TVCatchup.com allows you to watch the following channels:

BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, ITV1, ITV2, Channe 4, Five, Film 4, e4, More 4 and 4 Music.

To watch, point your iPhone web browser to http://iphone.tvcatchup.com/ – No subscription, no sign-up, no app to install. Nice!

If you’re reading this on Wednesday the 30th of September 2009, today is Freeview Retune Day.

If you get your digital TV from Freeview, you will need to get your Freeview box or TV set to re-scan its Freeview channel lineup, to make sure you get all of your channels.

The changes that are being made at transmitter sites will do a number of things:

1. Improve reception of Five for around half a million Freeview viewers (as a result of a change of multiplex). The downside is that affected users may start having problems with ITV3 and ITV4 instead.

2. The longer-awaited Quest TV documentary channel from Discovery will appear on Channel 38.

3. A bunch of channels will be renumbered – and you’ll find that the following channels won’t be where they were yesterday – Price-drop TV, Super Casino, Rocks and Co, Smile TV2, Babestation and Partyland.

Changes at transmitter sites should be complete by lunchtime, so get ready to re-scan as soon after lunchtime as possible to make sure you don’t loose out.

If you’re not sure how to retune, it’ll be a setting somewhere in the on-sceen Freeview menu, possibly labelled “Channel setup”, “Tuning”, or “Scan for Channels”. BT Vision users should select BT Vision > Settings > TV Settings > Add channels,

If you need help rescanning for channels, see the instructions at www.tvretune.co.uk or call the automated Freeview Retune helpline on 08456 05 11 22.

Happy retuning, everyone!

We’ve just released an audio update. Here’s what we cover:

Quest Take 2, Freeview retune, ESPN latest, iTunes Chart, a Welsh apology and the best deals for your old mobile.

Links from the show:

• ESPN help: http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/espn.html
• Best deal for your old mobile: http://www.sellyouroldphone.co.uk
• iTunes Review: https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/addUserReview?type=Podcast&id=142899029

Today’s update is a 10 minute mp3 file. Download it or listen online at frequencycast.co.uk/update.html

Feed details: iTunes Feed | RSS Feed

 

 FrequencyCast Update 12 August 2009 [10:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As we discussed in today’s podcast update, it’s now possible to get ESPN on a Freeview box or TV that has a suitable card slot (known as a CI slot). The CI slot accepts a CAM, which accepts a subscription card.

If you were previously able to get Setanta Sports on Freeview, then you should be able to get ESPN – You’ll just need to get your old Top Up TV or Setanta subscription card activated by calling 08444 15 20 20.

If you’re looking for full details on how this works, please see the following summary of the ways to get ESPN: http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/espn.html , or listen to our 12 August update

 

 FrequencyCast Update 12 August 2009 [10:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

After spectacularly failing to launch on 14th of May 2009, it seems that Quest TV is to have another go at launching their free-to-view documentary channel on Freeview.

According to a report in Broadcast Magazine, Quest TV will launch on Freeview on the 30th of September.

More details on Quest TV and the failed launch at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/tv/quest.html

This evening, ESPN America has started broadcastoing on Freeview channel 34, the slot taken by Setanta Sports until its collapse yesterday.

It seems that ESPN America is being transmitted by Top Up TV, and anyone with a Top Up TV subscription can view ESPN for free though it’s not clear how long for).

Users with an old Setanta Freeview box / card should also be able to get ESPN America.

It’s assumed that this channel will be used to show the Barclays Premier League matches that ESPN has just bought the rights to – they will offer 46 matches from the 2009/2010 footy season.

This month, Ofcom announced details of the fourth service to be offering free-to-view HD content, when the new Freeview HD service goes live.

Bids are in and the fourth slot has provisionally been awarded to Five. That makes the lineup unsurprisingly BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.

Five will be offering some of their fdaytime and evening shows HD, with an HD-on-demand service overnight. Five HD aims to launch by the end of 2010.

More details: HD on Freeview.

In 2008, a number of national DAB radio stations vanished, due to cost cutting measures.

To fill the void left by speech station Oneword, a 20 minute loop of birdsong took to the air, delighting many and being a welcome and relaxing breath of fresh air.

Yesterday, the 1st of June – Radio Birdsong was abruptly removed.

The now famous birdsong was recorded by Digital One Chief Executive Quentin Howard and was used for the test transmissions used when Classic FM launched – and it was abruptly removed yesterday.

Replacing Birdsong for a trial period of six months is a new station – Amazing Radio. This station aims to showcase new music in a number of different genres, with an element of listener interaction to select what’s played, and who plays it.

Oddly, there’s enough spare capacity on the national DAB channel to allow Birdsong to continue, and it’s reported that Quentin Howard has granted permission for the recording to be used, and is as surprised as we are that birdsong’s no longer being broadcast on DAB.

Show 40 of FrequencyCast, the UK’s TV and Tech podcast, has just been released.

In our regular online radio show, we discuss all that’s new with digital TV and technology. Here’s what we cover in this show:

• News Updates: Plans for Freeview HD in doubt, all change for the charts, new content for Top Up, and odd news for H2G2 fans
• Focus: What’s new with wi-fi wireless technology.
• Hands-on: We plan with the world’s most sophisticated pen.
• Your questions on BT Vision, Virgin Media HD, plus your feedback on the Top Up TV failure in May.

You can download Show 40 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html. If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

 

 FrequencyCast UK Show 40: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As we’re hoping you know, FrequencyCast produces regular online radio shows (a.k.a. podcasts).

Now and then, we release special audio “updates” to cover breaking stories, and so far there’s been a bunch of stories this month already.

So, we’re just out of the studio with a 16 minute audio update looking at Quest’s failure to launch, the Top Up TV problems that hit last week, Tiscali takeover news, plus TomTom FM.

Download our 16 minute update now from http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html

Got an iPod or iPhone? Get shows and updates first via iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=142899029

 

 FrequencyCast Update 14 May 09 [16:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Show 39 of FrequencyCast, the UK’s TV and Tech podcast, has just been released.

In our regular online radio show, we discuss all that’s new with digital TV and technology. Here’s what we cover in this show:

• News Updates: HD on iPlayer, concerns for canvass, plus 1 billion apps on iPhones
• Focus: Get more from Freeview.
• Focus: Hands-on with a low-price home security system from myhome247.
• Focus: FM radio on an iPhone with a Griffin Navigate.
• Your questions on Freeview HD, Slingbox on the move and BT Openzone.

You can download Show 39 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html. If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

 

 FrequencyCast Show 39 [30:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download