Are NTL launching FREEVIEW?

trackerman

Just spoke with a Sony sales man who told me that NTL "may" launch a freeview service over their cable.
Reason I ask is that I am considering a Sony HDD recorder with a digital tuner.

Any chance NTL will make it real freeview (ie without a special STB)?????

paulm17781

trackerman wrote:

Just spoke with a Sony sales man who told me that NTL "may" launch a freeview service over their cable.
Reason I ask is that I am considering a Sony HDD recorder with a digital tuner.

Any chance NTL will make it real freeview (ie without a special STB)?????

I would imagine he was confusing his ars3 and his elbow.

icdg

The NTL Digital system uses DVB-C, not DVB-T, so no, any system launched would not be compatable with Freeview boxes.

This is of course, above and beyond the fact that the prospect of any cable company providing an absolutely free service to someone is an almost certain non-runner. What **might** eventually happen is that the price of the digital service might possiblity be made exactly the same as the price of taking analogue only, in order to encourage switch-over. Expect that to happen only in the final phases of digital switch over when the vast majority of customers will already be taking digital services. Still wouldn't be free though.

Mossy Monk

trackerman wrote:

Just spoke with a Sony sales man who told me that NTL "may" launch a freeview service over their cable.

I hope you tell him to stick it up his arse.

trackerman

Thanks guys, I may have mis-quoted him... he may have said a freeview-type service that I would pay for.

But I guess my real questions is...should I get the Sony HDD with a digital + analouge tuner or just the analouge tuner ?
I.e. could I get to use a digital tuner on the NTL cable ?

paulm17781

The guy is talking through his hole to try to sell you something. I would go elsewhere for that alone. How can a service be "Freeview-like" when you are paying.

To use NTL Digital you need their equipment. The tuner may be useful once DTT gets up but I see no point in buying it just for the digital tuner.

Mountjoy Mugger

trackerman wrote:

I.e. could I get to use a digital tuner on the NTL cable ?

Not a snowball's chance.

bk

trackerman wrote:

But I guess my real questions is...should I get the Sony HDD with a digital + analouge tuner or just the analouge tuner ?
I.e. could I get to use a digital tuner on the NTL cable ?

The digital tuner is probably a UK style freeview Digital Terrestrial Tuner, it is meant for the UK market, not the Republic of Ireland and no it won't work with NTL.

For NTL you use the analogue tuner for the analogue NTL service and you use a scart cable from the NTL box for NTL's digital TV service.

The government and RTE are currently testing a DTT service which the digital tuner could pick up depending on your location, however when the service is officially launched, it will likely be incompatible with the digital tuner, so you would need to buy a new set top box anyway.

Freeview digital set top boxs cost about €40, so I wouldn't pay extra for it in a TV and I wouldn't make any decisions based on it. But if it is included for free, it will do no harm and might come in handy at some stage.

watty

MwheeeHaaa!
NTL (cable) and Freeview are not techically, financially or philosphically compatible concepts!

O7Pat

bk wrote:

Freeview digital set top boxs cost about €40, so I wouldn't pay extra for it in a TV and I wouldn't make any decisions based on it. But if it is included for free, it will do no harm and might come in handy at some stage.

I presume the same applies to dvd recorders, ie no need to get one with a digital tuner ?? Looking at the ones in argos, some of them have digital tuners.

watty

We arn't getting DTT anytime soon, and when we do it will be MPEG4, so don't worry about digital tuners except for Satellite.