Why did I go for Ondigital and not Sky Digital?
Well I already have Sky analogue and subscribe to the multi
package plus the two movie channels- Sky Premier & Moviemax and I feel
everyone will eventually have to go digital. Plus I am not very keen on the
policies that Sky use, forcing us to pay to watch major sporting events like
boxing, I used to follow and watch all the big fights and knew who the main
boxers were. Since Sky took it over I have not watched any big fights and I
couldn't even tell you the names of the top fighters!!
Plus I refuse to pay the Sky box office fees. If everyone did the same then they
would have to change the way they finance the big events!
The only programs that I watch on Sky, that I cannot get with Ondigital, are the Discovery & Sci-Fi channels. Hopefully Ondigital may make these available. With Ondigital I can receive the 2 Sky movie channels and Sky One. I suppose Sky could stop Ondigital from showing these in the future though!!. Sky offer 150 channels which is a lot of channels to pick from, but I bet you would soon pick your favorites and end up only watching about 10 channels!
Also I do not like the idea of being forced to have the Sky box permanently connected to the phone line, with the box able to phone up the Sky server when it gets lonely - at my cost!!
How much did it cost me?
It cost me nothing unless you include the minimum monthly charge of £6.99. which is actually the monthly rental charge. You don't actually own the box but rent it from Ondigital. As I found out, if the box goes wrong the shop where you got it from do not want to know, you must deal directly with Ondigital who will arrange for a repair/replacement ( you could end up with a reconditioned one! ) I subscribe to the Primary package for £9.99. This increases to £11.99 after 3 months - if you want to keep all the channels you had for £9.99. See www.ondigital.co.uk for more info on subscriptions. If I want the two Sky movie channels it would cost me an extra £15.00 total £24.99 which is about the same as my Sky subscription.
How easy was it to install?
It couldn't have been any easier. I took the decoder out of it's box sat it under the Sky decoder plugged in all the leads and switched on. The instructions were very very easy to follow, if you have a problem with this then I suggest you get your kids to sort it out!!! The only problems you might have is to decide if you should use the aerial or scart connection to your video/TV. I would strongly advise you to use the scart connection as you will lose out on the perfect sound and picture that you will get with digital. The only problems I had was pulling out the TV and plugging in all the leads - anyway at least the back of the TV got dusted.
Did I have any problems with the signal?
Yes I certainly did! This is my story....
When you switch the decoder on it needs to find all the available channels and then to store them. I did this and it found NO channels. I checked all my connections...they were all ok. Next I spotted the signal strength option. Selecting this allows you to select any UHF channel and see the signal strength -
RED = poor, GOLD = satisfactorily, GREEN = good and the colour GREY for no signal - the colour I had!!!!
The aerial I used was a standard 18 element type which gives about 8dB of forward gain. This was mounted in the loft. Not the best place but the easiest. So up into the loft I go. Trying the aerial in all directions to no effect, although I could occasionally get a flicker of GOLD & RED. ( The analogue picture was not perfect but it was watchable. )
Now I know that you are thinking why doesn't he call Ondigital who will sort out the aerial for a special price of FROM £40.00. The from I did not like as I was sure I could sort it myself. You need to get in touch with Ondigital within 14 days, of getting your decoder, to get the special 'from' price!
Anyway out came the ladder, up went the aerial on the side of the house. This time I could occasionally get a GREEN on some channels. The decoder managed to find 5 channels !!!! But the picture would occasionally freeze or any movement on screen would result in large squares appearing, these effects were caused by the loss of signal data. Next I purchased an amplifier from Argos which had a gain of about 20dB. I plugged it in and great I had a perfect picture. But when I checked the signal strength it would occasionally show RED for a split second. So still not a perfect solution. I took the amplifier back to Argos and got me money back. Still this proved that I could get a decent picture and that the connections were correct and the box worked!
Next I made some phone calls to aerial installers. I got quotes FROM £80.00 for a standard installation, plus FROM £60.00 for an amplifier if I needed it. I don't like these FROM quotes!!!! So I decided I could do it cheaper.
I purchased a new aerial. It had 15dB of forward gain for £25.00. The tricky part was where do I put it? All the neighbour's had theirs on the chimney. Luckily the chimney is on the end of the house and my ladder just reached! Up went the aerial. Using the mobile phone I phoned the wife to get her to tell me when the signal strength was permanently GREEN and adjusted the aerial.
The aerial adjustment was done on a clear day but when the clouds came the signal strength dropped, the picture kept freezing and RED started to appear. aaaarrrrgggghhhhh.!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I had a good aerial, with plenty of gain, placed high up and I still had problems! I decided that there must be something I was missing as I could not see every new Ondigital customer having a new aerial AND having it accurately aligned AND an amplifier fitted !!!!
I went into the loft and checked the connections. I thought if the aerial is aligned correctly perhaps the signal is being attenuated somewhere. I removed all the connections the aerial lead went to and just left the decoder connected. A slight improvement. Then it clicked. I had about 20ft of cable along the side of the house then another 20ft inside the loft plus 20ft around the loft then 30ft down to the living room!!! I removed about 50ft of aerial cable by using a more direct link to the decoder. Excellent I now have a superb picture and it's all GREEN on the signal strength. The cable is a low loss type but it has between 1dB and 2dB of signal loss per 10metres/30ft. This would mean the signal from the 8dB aerial would have dropped to about 4dB at the decoder!
The set up I now had was still not perfect. So I purchased a mast amplifier , which had 23dB of gain. Surely this should solve my problems? Alas although I can get ALL 36 channels and the signal strength is now always on GREEN I still have problems with the picture. It will sometimes freeze. If you look at a dark moving object you can see a pixel effect!!! ie it is not a solid colour - but small squares moving around! I think I'll give Ondigital a ring.....
It would appear that if the aerial moves slightly in the wind the decoder can miss a frame of information which can cause the picture or parts of the picture to freeze. As my aerial has more elements than a normal aerial I need to use a bracket that will support the aerial from the middle and not at the end. Up the ladder I go again!
Did I have any other problems?
Yup! The decoder I have is the Philips DTX 6370. My TV is a Sony 28in widescreen Dolby Pro-logic. When I use the Philips remote control the Sony TV will would switch channel. I have been in contact with Ondigital and they are aware of the problem and are looking into it. As the decoder box seems to be driven by software and there is a option to update the software by downloading a new version via the aerial I guess the problem will be corrected later. I found some information on www.jaura.freeserve.co.uk and www.onfaq.freeserve.co.uk that said if you pressed two buttons on the remote and entered a 3 digit number it would reprogram the infra-red signal frequency. But unfortunately this did not work. The decoder would not respond at all. So I reset the remote control back to its original frequency and await another solution.
I have been in touch with Ondigital technical department and I now have a solution....
On the decoder box press the 'M' key for 3 seconds. 'SA' will then appear on the display. Press the '>' key to change it to 'SB'. Now press the 'F' key. The decoder will now reset itself. Now press the 'TEXT' + 'STANDBY' keys on the remote control then press '1' '6' '1' on the number keys.
You should now have full control over the Philips box and your Sony TV will not change channels.!!!
Am I happy with my new toy?
Yes.
Would you recommend it to your friends?
Yes, BUT I would warn them that unless they have either a very good aerial or they live next to a transmitter or that they already have an aerial amplifier, they may need to take up Ondigital's offer of an aerial upgrade!!!!!!
June 2002
Got rid of the analog rented TV and moved over to a brand new Panasonic 32 inch digital TV. This has a built in digital receiver. So you just plug the card into the slot on the front of the TV!! excellent. Saves switching on the box etc. You can still record a digital channel with the TV off as the digital receiver inside the TV will switch itself on using the built-in timer.
18th May 2002
As the whole of England now knows ondigital now called ITV digital have gone into administration!. This means we can no longer receive some the subscription channels. We can still receive the Free to Air channels like BBC Choice BBC 24hr news, etc . As of the 1st May 2002 Sky removed all it's channels from ITV digital as they were owed about £60million in subscription fees etc. BUT good old E4 decided that it was not our fault that ITV digital got into trouble so E4 are still transmitting and we thank them for this as ER, Friends, Ally McBeal are the ones we always watch. So up yours Sky. Penny wanted to move over to Sky but I said 'no way', as we had so much trouble trying to get a system installed. This is the main reason we went for terrestial digital channels.
I don't expect digital terrestial to disappear from the airways as it is a good system and is easy to take with you when you move. Sky will charge you to uninstall and re-install your dish if you move!! All the technology needed for a new buyer is already installed so it would be quite easy for a company to re-start ITV digital without all the costs involved etc. We will wait and see....
19 May 2002