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Set Top Boxes

By 2012 every home in the UK will need a digital receiver, whether integrated into a television set or as a digital set top box. Analog signals will cease by 2012, meaning no homes can receive a television signal by the traditional analog aerial. The move from terrestrial television does have many benefits, to begin with digital offers more freeview channels, the signal reception is not effected by poor whether conditions and it features a superior picture and sound quality. Many rural areas of the UK still cannot receive the 'Channel Five' terrestrial channel signal for example, whereas there is no such signal issue with digital. A digital set top box look likes a DVD players and simply tunes into a digital signal,

typical set top box -

Currently there are three ways to tune into a digital signal from a set top box, either using the standard Freeview setting, a satellite service from BSkyB which comes with a viewing card to insert into a set top box, and thirdly from a cable service from the likes of NTL. Digital TV also comes with many interactive services, such as Sky bet where you can gamble on the football matches you watch. The interactive services vary between channels and are usually accessed by pressing the red button on the set top box remote controller. Freeview is the standard free subscription available with every set top box, it gives users access to channels only available on digital television such as, BBC3, BBC4, E4, BBC Parliament, BBC News 24, CBBC channel, CBeebies, ITV2, ITV3 and formerly ITV News. Currently there are up to 30 free digital channels. To access Sky or cable services like NTL you will need to pay a monthly subscription fee which is dependent on the amount of channels you want. Most set top boxes connect to a television set via a scart socket, so your television will need to support scart.