After years
of advising and reminding us of the impending change they finally turned our
old Analogue TV signals off in favour of a new digital TV service.
So, with the
old analogue TV signal turned off the powers-that-be turned up the strength of
the Digital TV signal. Excellent, Great,
Love It…but where’s the benefit to me?
First I lost
BBC2 (no biggie but annoying none the less), then I lost the rest of the
channels (meaning no Take Me Out, The Voice or BGT!?!) so time to act. I had to rescan the digital channels on my TVs
which, because I’d forgotten how to do it, was challenging but it wasn’t
exactly exciting. So far, no benefit.
After the
rescan I found that the TV in my home worked…just like it did pre the switchover? I had a Digital Freeview TV before the
switchover and after the rescan it was working exactly the same as it did
before. I think the picture quality is a
little better but still no huge benefit that I could really see.
Outside
though, apparently here’s where everything had changed and when I stepped
outside my house I found that indeed it had.
Remember
those tiny 3” TVs we all had as kids? The
ones with the retractable aerial, fuzzy picture, poor sound, faux leather case and
that we eventually threw out because they cost £00s in batteries? Well nostalgia leads me to believe that
balancing on the arm of a park bench to get an half decent TV picture on a mini
TV was fun but it wasn’t was it. It
sucked. Now though, a digital version of
the same TV works, and it works well, purely down to the stronger digital TV
signal I’ve got.
Now that’s all
well and good but what else does the digital switchover give me because I’m not
planning to add a tiny TV set to the essentials I usually carry to work with
me. I’m already carrying a book, food,
wallet, keys and iPhone etc so I’m not sure I want anything else.
If this new Digital
signal was so good then what I was looking for was a small gadget that lets me
watch TV on my iPhone but not by via a website or by streaming the content over
3G (and thereby killing my mobile tariff data allowance) but using this new Digital
signal.
In my head I started
to invent the perfect product and just before phoning the patent office (and
mentally retiring on the proceeds following worldwide market introduction and
licencing) I thought I’d have a quick search online which brought good news and
bad news.
The bad news
was that I couldn’t retire because the good news is that these kind of products
are already available. Play.com sell one
for my iPhone 4s for £79.99 (it’s called myTV2GO-m). It’s basically a Freeview TV tuner which
plugs into my iPhone so I can watch Live TV and it also records to my iPhone
too. I’m in heaven! OK, now this Digital Switchover is starting to
press my buttons, so what else can I do?
Turns out
this same device I bought works on an iPad 2 which is great but I don’t have one,
I do however have an original iPad. One
more click online and I’m looking at a product that works for the iPad, iPod, iPhone,
MAC & PCs (this one’s called myTV2GO).
It’s a bit
different because it works over WiFi connection (which is in the device itself)
but the principle is the same, it’s a Freeview TV tuner from which I can watch
Live TV and which also records to my devices (and still no 3G killing my data
tariff).
So now, I and
the rest of my clan can use the iPad etc as an additional TV in the house too. Cool but what about my main household PC
could I now get TV on that?
No need to
invent this one because I bought an USB TV tuner for my PC some time ago
however I’ve never had much success because I don’t have access to a roof top aerial
where the PC is. Now though, this new
digital signal means when I connected a small mobile aerial to it I could also
watch Freeview TV on my PC too, this means I can use my PC like a set top box
(watch, record, pause Live TV etc).
I am now
officially a fan of the switchover. In
June this year, when I’m at work, I’ll be able to record the European
Championship football and watch the games on my way home. When I’m back at home my wife can watch
Corrie on the iPad or PC whilst I’m watching the football on the main TV.
Throughout
the Summer I can do the same with the usual mix of Golf, Tennis and whatever
else is on (Bargain Hunt maybe!!). Not
to mention the fact I’ll be camping during the summer holiday and my kids can
watch TV on their iPods…meaning I get some peace and quiet.
Then there
are the Olympics, I didn’t get any tickets I applied for but now I’ll be
watching. So as much as I’d like the
whole Summer off to watch sport this it isn’t going to happen (I’ve got bills
to pay) but recording them to my phone whilst I’m at work and watching them on
the journey back home is OK by me.
Looks like
the digital switchover could just be a big issue for my life.
Twitter: @shamkat
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