HD TV's & freeview?

[ytrebil]

Good morning chaps.

I am going to buy my girlfriend a Samsung LCD TV for Christmas and the one I'm looking @ has built in freeview.

Can anyone give me any more info on freeview? Is it like E4, Filmfour, ITV2 etc through your normal arial?

Also, is there any use for High Definition at the moment for her? I mean are any of the freeview channels encoded in HD at all?

Cheers folks.

TV I'm looking at is this...

http://www.tribaluk.com/detail.php?P...utm_medium=cpc

Best price I can find on the TV as well - saw it in Comet, was really impressed.

[shiato storm]

not sure on the set itself but freeview is basically as you said - and how the ads go on and on about it - 30-odd channels like e4, film4, bbc3, bbc4 etc so tehre's always something on. it does use your normal aerial so there's no need to worry about that either.

[ytrebil]

Not being up to date with TV's and HD - do any of the freeview channels support HD? I know BBC do a HD channel but is that on via satellite or cable?

Thanks mate!

[directhex]

There is no HD over Freeview yet - limited trials are happening on the Crystal Palace transmitter.

Once analog gets turned off in the next 2-4 years (the date has a habit of changing) that should free up sufficient space in the airwaves for HD transmissions - but won't neccessarily work with any existing Freeview kit designed for MPEG2 signals.

Freeview itself is a selection of digital channels made available over the air. Advantages over analog include:
* Clearer picture quality (assuming a reasonable signal)
* Proper 4:3/Widescreen selection
* Program guide information for about the next 7 days
* More channels (http://www.freeview.co.uk/channels/?lv[0]=channels has the full list)

[chrestomanci]

Good morning chaps.

I am going to buy my girlfriend a Samsung LCD TV for Christmas and the one I'm looking @ has built in freeview.

Can anyone give me any more info on freeview? Is it like E4, Filmfour, ITV2 etc through your normal arial?

Yes. There are about 30 extra channels. The choice is much more resticted than on Sky, and untill the analoge switch off in a few years time there will be no room for any more.

Your girlfriend may need her TV antena upgraded if she lives in a poor reception area, or her current one is in poor conditon. If in doubt, I would buy a low cost Digital TV set top box like this one and then pop round her house when she is not there and check if it can get a signal. If it can the new TV should have no problem.

[QUOTE=ytrebil;926923]
Also, is there any use for High Definition at the moment for her? I mean are any of the freeview channels encoded in HD at all?
[QUOTE]
There was an HD freeview trial, but there where only 500 participants in London. There are plans to broadcast freeview in HD in a few years time, but the decoder in the TV will not be compatible so you would need a new set top box.

The TV will contain an upscaller that converts SD TV pictures to HD. Some upscalers are better than others. You should be OK with a premeum brand like Samsung, but I would be more caution with budget brand like Bush or Goodmans.

If in doubt, I would take a DVD of an action film to the shop and ask them to play it on the TV. During a sequence with explosions or fights look for a comb effect on the edge of fast moving objects. If the shop uses a DVD player with an upscaler of it's own, make sure they hook it up to the TV using Scart or S-Video, not HDMI or component outputs. If in doubt you could bring your own.

Your girlfiend could also use her new HD TV for High-def DVDs, High def X-Box or PC games, and if she subscribes, Sky HD.

[ytrebil]

Thanks DH.

I think Freeview is a wise choice for her. I don't think she knows much about it to be honest or it even exists! You know what girls are like!

She always wants to watch Corrie & Eastenders repeats etc.

Do you rate that TV @ that price? Anything else you can recommend?

I liked the look of the Samsung, they make good quality stuff and the TV stood out. Nice glossy black finish, widescreen, nice viewable area, seemed like a clean picture.

Much appreciated.

[5lab]

that sammy is the updated version of the one i got 8 months ago, which was very highly regarded at the time. the price seems right - i'd just say that 26" isnt very big for a livingroom set - for a bedroom set its perfect..

[Funkstar]

as directhex said, it's looking likely that current Freeview decoders will not be able to handle HD broadcasts, even if the panel is HD capable.

HD channels will more than likely be broadcast in H.264 (i.e. MPEG-4 AVC) as opposed to MPEG-2 that regular SD channels are streamed in.

The only exception to this rule that i know of is PC Freeview cards (also known as DVB-T cards as that is the broadcast standard used for Freeview and the other digital terrestrial services in the UK and most of the world) as they don't de any decoding, they just hand the digital stream to the PC software for handling.

[ytrebil]

Thanks for the kind replies!

Yeah it's for her bedroom - to be honest with the size of her room 26" is over-kill but she will be happy with it - she thinks I'm going to get her a cheapo branded 23", but I refuse to buy a cheap brand TV for her!

If a new HD freeview box comes out, I assume it will hook up and over-ride the integrated ones that Samsung use?

She has a DVD player at the moment, but she only bought it because it was cheap! It's really small and she got it from Comet about 6 months ago - cheap branded but plays her DVD's currently okay, if she has any problem with it and the Samsung I'll have to get her a better player.

[5lab]

nah it wouldnt override (or i'd be very surprised if it did). more likely it'd just act like a freeview box does on a normal telly now - so not integrated..

[chrestomanci]

Thanks for the kind replies!

Yeah it's for her bedroom - to be honest with the size of her room 26" is over-kill but she will be happy with it - she thinks I'm going to get her a cheapo branded 23", but I refuse to buy a cheap brand TV for her!

If a new HD freeview box comes out, I assume it will hook up and over-ride the integrated ones that Samsung use?

Some HD TVs have replacable tuner modules. If your Samsung does then there is a chance that when HD freeview comes out you will be able to upgrade the TV. Chances are though that the upgrade will be more expensive than a stand alone HD freeview set top box.

Any set top box will 'take over the tv' in the same way that DVD players do when you put in a DVD. This happens because the DVD player sends a signal down the SCART cable that tells the TV to switch to it. Future HD products will do the same via HDMI cables.

She has a DVD player at the moment, but she only bought it because it was cheap! It's really small and she got it from Comet about 6 months ago - cheap branded but plays her DVD's currently okay, if she has any problem with it and the Samsung I'll have to get her a better player.

I very much doubt there will be any problem using her old DVD player

[ytrebil]

I meant if there is a problem with the upscaling. I assumed it would connect relatively simple, but maybe the higher resolution and clarity of the Samsung will highlight the DVD players poorer quality. I am not sure.

Any ideas on what TV to get for circa the £500 mark. I have now read some contrasting reviews on the Samsung R74 series???

Can't see what I can get which is better, perhaps the Sony Bravia? Someone talked me out of that saying that Samsung produce panels for Sony anyway.

Hmmm decisions, decisions! Want to buy it within the next week or so.

[chicken]

If I was after a LCD I'd get a Samsung, they seemed to have a good track record whilst I was working at Currys and make some of the best panels. Also they're cheaper because they manufacture most of the set themselves.

You friend was right too, they make the panels for Sony, so I personally don't see the point in paying more for a Sony set when the main part of the TV is the same.

I'm quite interested to know what bad news you've heard on the Samsungs as in my experience they've been great.

[5lab]

an lcd panel is NOT the defining factor on quality of a tv. its like choosing a laptop based soley on screen - the electronics that back the panel up are very very important, particularly when watching sd sources.

[ytrebil]

Thanks for all who have replied!

I am almost 100% certain I'll get this TV for her for Xmas. For £489 I can't find a better TV on the market. She will be very happy with it, I'm sure!

I have a Hyundai plasma I got from Comet 2 years ago but it's started to play up - sometimes it won't switch on at all! For example will just turn itself off, then I have to wait 5-10 mins before I can turn it on again - doesn't happen all the time, just every few days, bit of a pain.

I was reading my warrenty and they will replace the TV, but I don't think Comet do my TV anymore, so was reading their procedures on the certificate of insurance. Apparently the store CAN refund you the FULL PURCHASE PRICE of the TV with vouchers IF THEY CHOOSE. No idea what it means, "if they choose" but kinda leaves responsibility to the Comet manager at the time. Obviously if I was to put a claim through I'd want the full purchase price £1400 odd in vouchers to buy a better TV.

Anyone had to do a claim like this before? I'm assuming the more fuss I kick up the more chance I have of getting a full purchase price refund.

To be honest it's not too bad at the moment but to me it suggests my TV is over-heating and could have an inherent problem.

Any thoughts?

Thanks guys.

[Nick]

Am gonna slightly disagree with Chresto over the choice of Freeview versus Sky free channels, unless Chresto means the channels you get on Sky subscription, which there are simply loads of...

You get more on Freeview than you do on Sky Free-sat... more that's worth watching anyway. With Sky you get Men and Motors, a few rubbish film channels (Horror, True Life film or some such other pap)

With Freeview you get UK History which does all those cool history docs and is currently re-running the excellent Blue Planet... then there's the usual BBC, ITV, Channel Four and Channel 5 digital channels, all of which are pretty watchable.

There's no HD content on freeview as yet and HD content on Sky all requires a Sky subscrition, including stuff from the BBC.

But I'd warn off getting an integrated Freeview set anyway. If your Freeview decoder breaks, you gotta send the whole telly back rather than just a separate box, so I'd look at getting a decent HD TV and get Freeview as a set-top box, perhaps with a TopUp TV slot.