Search blog.co.uk

M-M-M-Max Headroom lives on the Beeb
by loiswakeman @ 11/12/2007 - 18:23:17

Have you noticed how stuttery many digital tapes are these days? In the bad old days of analogue recordings, you got other problems of course, but not what I call the Max Headroom effect.

Does this happen on digital TV? As a diehard analogue viewer, it might be my aging technology: I am sure they are pinching some of the signal to try out digital transmissions ready for 2009, as it's often very thin and we have letters missing from Ceefax, even though we are in clear line of sight to the local transmitter at Stockland Hill and used to be able to pick up a good picture using a bent coathanger. No longer though.

Perhaps the tagline for another story - 'digital gremlins ate my hamstersignal'

Meet Max Headroom - and note the site's nifty icon. Neat! Or watch him interviewed by Terry Wogan on YouTube.

... And the transmitter even has its own web page - I'll get me anorak!

11 comments | Trackback (0) | Permalink | Recommend this post
Tags: digital transmissions, max headroom, signal quality, tv,

Trackback address for this post:

authimage

Comments, Trackbacks: Hide subcomments

UsksiderUsksider pro
http://www.usksider.co.uk
11/12/07 @ 20:12

In this area it does... you also get breaks in transmission, which means the picture freezes then jumps forwards several seconds; very annoying.

Like you I'm an analogue viewer, but have succumbed to a Freeview box in preparation for the digital switchover.

| Show this thread
loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
12/12/07 @ 10:19

I like that: an analogue viewer! So are we all, except the Six Million Dollar Man of course.

We are resisting the blandishments of Digit Al, and intend to cancel our TV licence when the switchover happens (probably April 2009). Instead, we will listen to the radio or watch DVDs, and also get a few extra hours of life back each week!

| Show this thread |
LissaTLissaT pro
12/12/07 @ 13:54

I think that Freeview is worth it for UKTV History and the repeats of good drama series from both BBC and ITV on ITV3, as well as the occasional new programme worth watching on BBC4 and a few of the films on Film4. There is also the football on ITV4 which is sometimes a bonus depending on who is playing.

| Show this thread |
loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
12/12/07 @ 16:09

Hmm: the only bonus of football being on a digital channel is that I don't have to look at it! ;)

I'm sure you are right about the drama: but there is so little of it compared to all the ghastly dumbed-down dross it's worth about a tenner a year rather than 12 times that for the licence!

| Show this thread |
LissaTLissaT pro
12/12/07 @ 19:11

I live with my father: he's over 80 - no fee.

|
UsksiderUsksider pro
http://www.usksider.co.uk
12/12/07 @ 21:31

Six Million Dollar Man :yes: You could be watchig him on Freeview too! :))

I still listen to quite a lot of radio; I've always enjoyed radio dramas.

|
LissaTLissaT pro
11/12/07 @ 21:01

I have freeview and have noticed very few technical hitches - a couple of hiccoughs a week, but only enough for the gain or loss of a single syllable.

jackfrostjackfrost pro
13/12/07 @ 10:15

Go on take the plunge...go didgy...before the great divide.. you dont want to be one of those analoggy's...them folk are different to us didgies...:))

EllieGantEllieGant pro
13/12/07 @ 11:26

How frustrating - but I'll watch with interest your efforts to cancel your TV licence. We tried to cancel one on our flat whilst we were working (and licenced!) elsewhere. You wouldn't believe the reminders, threats, heavy-handedness we had to endure from the TV licencing board - despite taking the trouble to inform them. It made me wonder just how people who choose not to have a TV licence manage to persuade the authorities that they are genuine people who do not wish to watch tv, rather than licence-fee evaders!

| Show this thread
LissaTLissaT pro
13/12/07 @ 19:53

I remember being told by a man who had never owned a TV that he had regular visits from people trying to catch him out. He took a certain delight in the fact that he lived in a tiny cottage with very low beams which caught most of the tall men sent to spy on him.

| Show this thread |
EllieGantEllieGant pro
14/12/07 @ 11:19

Ha! I would like to have had that kind of opportunity to get my own back - but they just kept bombarding me with threatening letters. In the end, I gave up and took consolation from the thought that they could sit outside all night in a freezing van, whilst I was cosily sat in front of a roaring log fire in the Cotswold watching TV!

|

Leave a comment :

Your email address will not be displayed on this site.
Your URL will be displayed.
Allowed XHTML tags: <!, p, ul, ol, li, dl, dt, dd, address, blockquote, ins, del, a, span, bdo, br, em, strong, dfn, code, samp, kdb, var, cite, abbr, acronym, q, sub, sup, tt, i, b, big, small, img>
URLs, email, AIM and ICQs will be converted automatically.
Options:
 
(Line breaks become <br />)
(Set cookies for name, email & url)
Validation code:
Please enter the above code here:
For protection from spambots (case-sensitive).