Freeview HD- Is it worth it?

[paul kersey]

I live in the Anglia region and receive my TV broadcasts via the Tacolneston transmitter. Today after a lot of publicity the analogue signal was turned off and we became Digital only. I had prepared for this wondrous day in advance by buying Freeview HD ready TV's for the lounge, kitchen and bedroom. I also purchased a DVD/Hard drive/ player recorder which was also Freeview.
I had expected to be able to watch Freeview HD from today, but it seems that in order to do so, I must purchase a Freeview HD set top box . Oh thank-you Freeview, this was just what I did not want to do, I did not want an unsightly box that clutters up my space and I have enough cables behind my TV now, without adding more.
To be honest, I had an inkling that this would be the situation but this was denied by which ever salesman I happened to ask. I feel somewhat cheated that I now require another box when I had spent money to get rid of the last boxes that I had.
It appears that Argos are selling Freeview HD set top box'xs from around �40. Is it really worth the expenditure in view of the lack of decent programmes on offer ?

[Windthrop]

I live in the Anglia region and receive my TV broadcasts via the Tacolneston transmitter. Today after a lot of publicity the analogue signal was turned off and we became Digital only. I had prepared for this wondrous day in advance by buying Freeview HD ready TV's for the lounge, kitchen and bedroom. I also purchased a DVD/Hard drive/ player recorder which was also Freeview.
I had expected to be able to watch Freeview HD from today, but it seems that in order to do so, I must purchase a Freeview HD set top box . Oh thank-you Freeview, this was just what I did not want to do, I did not want an unsightly box that clutters up my space and I have enough cables behind my TV now, without adding more.
To be honest, I had an inkling that this would be the situation but this was denied by which ever salesman I happened to ask. I feel somewhat cheated that I now require another box when I had spent money to get rid of the last boxes that I had.
It appears that Argos are selling Freeview HD set top box'xs from around �40. Is it really worth the expenditure in view of the lack of decent programmes on offer ?

Sounds like you have been mis sold. You say you bought Freeview HD ready TVs - in my book that means the set is capable of receiving and processing the HD signals not just able to be adapted. I have a set ready for the HD broadcasts in my area next autumn and does not need any alterations to receive HD. You sound like you have been misled into buying a standard freeview set. Appalling.

[julian_craster]

It depends on how large your TV screen is and how close you sit to view it...

On larger screens you will notice the difference with Freeview HD......

Incidentally, BBC Freeview HD will soon change to BBC2 Freeview HD (same as BBC2)....but if the programmes are of no interest, HD will not make them better !

And there are no Film Channels like Film Four on Freeview HD.....

[Film Man]

Why not go 'Freesat'...more channels and HD progs...well worth paying out for.
Film Man.

[Richard_in_wales]

HD Ready only means its capable of display HD broadcasts, not that it has a built in HD tuner.

[Windthrop]

HD Ready only means its capable of display HD broadcasts, not that it has a built in HD tuner.

Agreed, but stated as Freeview HD Ready does sound misleading

[MikeB]

I agree with Winthrop - you've clearly been missold (or at least not had it explained very well), and you should take it back to the shop.

There is a lot of confusion between 'HD Ready' and 'HD TV tuner', and I try to explain very carefully this to customers when I'm working. Sometimes its worse -' Full HD Ready' is one phrase which should be banned!
However, the vast majority of the ones we sell (over 32in) will have HD tuners in them as standard. In fact I can only think of two 32in TV's which do not have them (and one 40in), and they are all HD Ready (768 res), not 1080 (Full HD). A full HD TV, from Sony, in LCD in 32 will now be about �349 (minus �50 cashback). And the lovely 5 Series Samsung, in LED and a 100HZ screen, was on sale last week at �429. Thats the price of an HD Ready Samsung LCD three years ago.

You can certainly get an HD box (�40 is very cheap - �60ish more the average, but remember you get what you pay for), and use it in exactly the same way as a digibox. I would suggest you think about a PVR (or Hard Drive recorder) as well. They have two tuners, so you can record two things at once, or (in your case) use one as an HD box, while recording (in HD) with the other. Don't buy cheap. The Humax T2 is the one I always recommend. Its certainly not the cheapest, at around �249, but is very highly rated, from customer feedback. The Digital Stream Buy Digital Stream DHR8205U 500GB Freeview+ HD TV Recorder online at JohnLewis.com is a bit cheaper, and overall still has good review. Panasonic does something similar, with a smaller 320GB hard drive, for �229. I would avoid Sony and Philips (awful reviews). Samsung have both Freeviw and Freesat ones out, and although they beat Humax to the WhatHiFi awards this year, I'm still a little wary.
PVR's cost more, but they basically replace your video (which is unlikely to be digital), so you could kill two things with one stone.

HD is very good. Stuff like the Frozen Planet is stunning (although I only get to see this stuff at work, I still have an old TV...), and BBC1 is HD all day. You will also get C4, ITV and the BBC HD Channel. Freesat is not automatically HD, but tend to have the normal HD channels plus other plus one channels. Bandwidth really isn't a problem, so the picture tends to be slightly better. On the other hand, you will need to get a dish (pref. a twin LNB if you want to watch and record at the same time) and a box of some sort (again, a Freesat box will tend to have a twin tuner). Its �99 for the twin dish, and about �249 for the Humax Freesat PVR.

Can you let me know what the TV actually is? (make, model, size), and where you bought it. It might be that you do have an HD tuner, but the channels for HD start at 50-54. I had a customer who had bought a TV a little while back, and said he couldn't get HD. I knew the model he had did have the tuner, and when I showed him the channels, he went off happy. I also know that certain transmitters in the East (Waltham, I'm looking at you) have problems on Freeview, so the Norwich area might not be immune (unless your looking Yorkshire way).

If you've been missold (after checking), take it back and complain/change it (I can advise you on which one). I'm just hoping you didn't get it from a certain large store in Norwich, because we have a large branch there...and I want the best service for all our customers.

[paul kersey]

I have an LG 32LG5700, manufactured in September 2008. I purchased it from the old branch of Richer sounds in Norwich about 3 years ago. Marked on the front corner is the phrase "Full HD". I suppose that the problem in making any complaint is that I can not prove what was said at the time of purchase.
Now that I am better informed, it strikes me that there are a lot of TV's etc out there which will be incapable of receiving Freeview HD depite being labelled as HD ready, 720p or 1080p. The whole thing seems to have been mishandled and the public has been mis-informed or conned.

[autolycus]

Tesco Outlet are knocking these boxes out for �20 incl delivery on ebay. Not the best EPG but still a cheap way of trying out HD. Don't forget to buy an HDMI lead if you haven't got one. I got my last one from amazon for <�2

TECHNIKA HD FREEVIEW SET TOP BOX STBHDIS2010 | eBay

[MikeB]

Paul - the phrasing is confusing, but when you bought it, there were no TV's using Freeview HD tuners available anyway, because they were only broadcasting Freeview. The Full HD part means that the panel has full 1080 res. Thats actually a good thing, and no worse than your going to get now. It has 3 HDMI's and Freeview (I'm reading this from Amazon - I'm not psychic!). Thats fine.

The extra box route is the simplest. You can pay �40 plus for a reciever box (although I'd go for Goodmans at least rather than Alba, and Humax is the safe choice). Of course you still need to record, so think about the PVR, and about �199 is what I'd expect to pay for a decent one (Sagem doesn't have great feedback).

The whole HD ready/Full HD thing is a bit of a pain, and I had customers some years ago complaining that they couldn't get HD on their HD ready TV. I had to carefully explain the situation. Until Freeview HD came out (about 18 months ago) it would have been SKY, Virgin or Freesat, and they would have had to pay for two of those. Now its much easier. Must 32's are Full HD (the panel) and most now have HD tuners as well. So you can watch HD TV on your HD TV!

I wont say who I work for (but you might guess), but we do have a large store in Norwich - go and see them and they'll take through your options.

[paul kersey]

A huge thank-you to all who have taken the trouble to reply. You have consoled me somewhat and now I shall seek out an HD set top box. I am not too worried about recording TV at the moment as to be honest there is so little on that I want to keep !.