The other day I told my old Grundig freeview set-top box to update its channel list... and when it had finished, half my channels had vanished!

I thought it was knackered, but then I did some research. It seems that the people who manage the digital transmitters have just done an upgrade - and any older boxes that weren't built to the specifications no longer work. This will probably affect hundreds of thousands of UK viewers.

The Freeview people say it's not their fault, the people who manage the transmitters say it's not theirs, and the box manufacturers are all washing their hands of the problem - and it was probably caused by the manufacturers cutting corners and not meeting the specs.

Most people are being told to ditch the old box and buy a new one!

Not a happy bunny...

[Edited on 20/8/08 by David Jenkins]

job for watchdog me thinks

I had a feeling freeview was to good to be true, so i bought 3 of the cheapest boxes i could find (bush) the pr
oblem is nowadays we are just not in control of anything.

Yes - it's only the TV in the bedroom so it'll get replaced with one of Tesco's finest, at around £18 last time I looked.

You can do much better than that: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tipnote/cheap-freeview-box

Apparently the Phase 1 box was restricted in-so-far-as it had a limited number of channels. Now digital is rolling out fast Phase 2 has been released and Phase 1 signal is bcoming obsolete rendering the older boxes as useless.

I pity those folk with TV and integrated Freeview Boxes!!

Steve

The worst bit is that the manufacturers always knew that phase 2 was coming at some time, and chose not to make allowances for it...

The only manufacturer to do anything about software upgrades is Sony, who are shipping over-the-air upgrades for their kit fairly soon.

And don't ask about DAB radio, and the soon-to-arrive DAB+

[Edited on 21/8/08 by David Jenkins]

<rant>

I see a thread emerging here.... and I dont mean this one either!

As the development of our electronic products see's constant replacement or electrics with electronics is basically taking control of the consumer purchase power.

The manufacturers are going to dictate when we buy rather than us decide when to replace. Think about it... right now Freeview, soon DAB, whatever next?

I now the benefits of technology can be advantagious BUT just lately I had my (business) phone replaced from a Nokia 6230i to a 6300.

The 6230i is a decent phone - did what it should when it should like connect to my in-car blue-tooth network to make handsfree calls, decent reception, battery life was acceptable etc. The things it didn't do particularly well like take pictures and video I didn't care - it's a phone!

Now the 6300 - it looks good, takes decent pictures and video - the contacts fields are very extensive - name, nickname, company name, address even has an auto generated voice address. Big screen with 65trillion colours etc. What it doesn't do so well - make phone calls (poor aerial), connect to the in-car blue-tooth reliably, battery life is less than the life cycle of a Gnat. Quite simply it is RUBBISH as a proper business phone - it doesn't do the basics very well at all.

I'm going back to using my old phone - oh, hang on the new contact data wont go on my old phone dilemma...

Isn't technology marvellous - when it works yes.... but not necessarily so!

Steve

</rant>