HD Freeview Box News

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Freeview HD Channels now available in Birmingham, Cardiff and Leeds

The official Freeview website have announced that the Freeview HD Channels are now being transmitted and are available to households in Leeds, Birmingham and Cardiff. This adds to the existing London and Manchester areas which began transmitting at the start of the year. This announcement of 3 new cities adds around 4.5 million people to the list of people who can enjoy watching stunning High Definition channles over the digital terrestrial television network (or through your standard tv aerial) free of charge.

If you want to receive the new Freeview HD Channels you will require a compatible HD Freeview Box (Check out our reviews of the latest HD Freeview Boxes and Freeview HD TV's. Of course there is no point buying a HD Freeview Box if you don't have a HD Ready TV as you wont be able to view the HD Channles anyway (just wanted to point that out!). If you don't already have an HD Ready or Full HD TV, instead of buying a separate TV and HD Freeview Box, both Panasonic and Sony have released a new plasma and LCD TV set with a built-in HD Freeview Receiver which starts at just under £600 for a the Sony Bravia KDL37EX403U 37" LCD TV.

Freeview HD Complaints

Freeview has received 3,000 complaints from users who have lost access to channels or experienced equipment failure following the national platform upgrade.

Last week, around 18 million homes receiving digital terrestrial television - including anyone subscribed to Top Up TV or BT Vision - had to retune an estimated 25m integrated TVs and set top boxes to continue receiving the service.

The retune was down to a national upgrade of the DTT platform to make Five more widely available and to prepare for the launch of Freeview HD.

Despite the wider availability of Five, around 460,000 homes lost ITV3 and ITV4 after retuning, with around 700 people contacting Freeview to complain about the absent channels.

However, other complainants have reported the loss of BBC One and other channels following the upgrade

HD Freeview comes at a Cost - From Yahoo.com

Yahoo say that millions of Freeview viewers will have to pay for new equipment to watch the new HD channels which are going to be launched by the BBC and several other broadcasters in the UK. They are looking at releasing the channels ahead of the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa.

Previously "The Daily Mail" has reported that there have been millions of regular Freeview boxes sold in the UK which will be incompatible with the new HD transmission system.

As we already knew, viewers who want to watch the upcoming Freeview HD channels will therefore need to upgrade to a new HD Freeview Box.. known as the new generation of freeview boxes.

Yahoo goes on to say that even those who have been out and purchased a "HD-ready TV" with a built-in digital receiver will be affected and if they want to receive the new HD channels will be forced to upgrade at a cost of around £170.

In a interview with the Daily Mail, technology industry expert Barry Fox says "To watch Freeview HD, you will need either a completely new telly, which has a built-in HD receiver, or a new box that will receive the HD signals"

Barry goes on to say "I think it is monstrous that people have not been told the truth about the technology. I don’t know whether this is incompetence on the part of Freeview, a lack of understanding, or deliberate. Freeview’s job is to educate the public about changes that are coming. I think their failure to do so is nothing short of despicable."

It is estimated that around 20 million normal Freeview boxes have been sold in the past five years. More recently it is thought that around 7 million TV sets with built-in Freeview receivers ave also been sold.

Currently the 5 HD Freeview channels are already available to watch via subscription services such as Sky or Virgin Media.

The Freeview HD 'con': Even viewers with the latest TVs will need to pay £170 for high definition channel - The Daily Mail

Millions of viewers who use Freeview to watch digital TV have been warned their equipment won't work with a raft of new high definition channels. Even those who have recently bought an HD-ready television with a built-in Freeview decoder face paying at least £170 to upgrade. The BBC and other broadcasters are launching a number of free HD channels in time to watch this summer’s football World Cup.

But viewers have not been told that they will need a new generation of high-tech set-top box to see the pictures.

Some 20million digital TV set-top boxes have been sold in Britain in the past five years, offering families access to Freeview TV channels and radio stations.

There are also 7.7million TV sets with built-in Freeview sitting in the nation’s front rooms.

But these are not compatible with the new HD transmissions, which allow much greater picture detail, particularly for fast-moving action such as sport.

Industry analysts have criticised the Freeview organisation, which is funded by commercial channels and the public through the BBC, for failing to alert consumers.

Technology industry expert Barry Fox warned: ‘If you bought a TV in the run-up to Christmas it will be described as HD-ready and it will probably have Freeview built-in. ‘Similarly, if you have bought a digital set-top box it will be compatible with current Freeview services.

‘But to watch Freeview HD, you will need either a completely new telly, which has a built-in HD receiver, or a new box that will receive the HD signals.’

The new equipment – such as the £170 Humax HD-FOX T2 – is expected to be on sale next month.

High definition channels such as BBC HD are currently available only to those who watch via Sky, Virgin or Freesat, who will not need to upgrade their equipment to see the new channels.

The failure to tell the public about the upgrade is good news for manufacturers, who are still selling equipment to customers who are unaware it will not work with Freeview HD.

Mr Fox said: ‘A great song and dance is going to be made around the idea that people will be able to watch the World Cup this summer on free high definition channels.

HD Fox T2 Freeview Box

‘I think it is monstrous that people have not been told the truth about the technology. I don’t know whether this is incompetence on the part of Freeview, a lack of understanding, or deliberate.

‘Freeview’s job is to educate the public about changes that are coming. I think their failure to do so is nothing short of despicable.’

Last night, BBC spokesman Graham Plumb said the need for new equipment was ‘a very important message to get across’. Freeview confirmed that existing set-top boxes will not pick up the HD channels.

A spokesman said: ‘Evolving technology is common in the digital world. We saw the migration from 2G to 3G for mobiles, and this next-generation broadcasting transmission standard will enable viewers to upgrade to Freeview HD should they wish to do so.’