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The Freeview Thread

(October 2003)

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PE
Pete Founding member
cwathen posted:
My Goodmans GDB3 (the same box is also made under the Bush and Alba brands) is fine with everything. I'm not normally a fan of Goodmans, but in this case they've excelled themselves - a nice fast box with excellent connectivity (in the face of the extremely limited approach taken by some manufacturers - the only thing missing is that the RF output doesn't broadcast the box's signal), better ratio switching (you can still force 14:9 even if a 16:9 switching signal is being sent - so I can watch all widescreen material in 14:9, something I've been wanting to do ever since the start of digital, and perhaps crucially for some people, I can also watch widescreen material in 16:9 letterbox even if a 14:9 switching signal is being sent), and the software supports everything that the broadcasters are doing. And apart from anything else, it's not too pricey, being somewhere in the middle of the price range (£74.99 when I bought it, I think it's now come down slightly).


You've had it handed to you on a plate. The GDB 3 comes with version 3.2 of the software while we GDB2ers had to use 2.1.5 for a while.

3.11 has the advantage of having a screensaver for the radio MHEG screens although whether the 3.2 users will get a 3.21 or will have to wait for 3.6 I'm not sure.

Like you I'm not a Goodmans fan but their digiboxes are fantastic.
PE
Pete Founding member
Davester posted:
Good idea! By the way, does anyone know why When i look at my signal details on my Pace Freeview Box i am at approx 36% for Standard Channels and 39% for BBC Channels? My Picture quality is fine and the interactive services load so quickly, i just can't understand it why the little bar still only shows 39% Signal!


well it shows the useful side of digital - running fine at very low signal levels.

I presume this is because you are simply in a bad location for the 2 BBC muxes - Mux A and Mux 1 are they not?
:-(
A former member
Well i'm in Surrey-Greater London and i have a brand new aerial and i was given the green light for this area.. Strange lol, it works still though..
PE
Pete Founding member
Davester posted:
Well i'm in Surrey-Greater London and i have a brand new aerial and i was given the green light for this area.. Strange lol, it works still though..


Well that really means nothing if the signal itself is bad. I was amazed that the Sky mux on Freeview (UK History, Sky News...) works perfectly at my auntie's house while the GDB3's display is barely showing a signal. As evil as compression is you can't grumble at that.

It would not have happened back in the days to ITV Digital when the channels were really compressed.
CW
cwathen Founding member
Quote:
You've had it handed to you on a plate. The GDB 3 comes with version 3.2 of the software while we GDB2ers had to use 2.1.5 for a while.

I did first have the Bush version of the GDB2 (the DTVA1 MK2) but swiftly exchanged it - it came with an old version of the software with buggy MHEG support and there were no immediate broadcasts of the updated software, thus I ended up with the GDB3. Although I'm happier with the GDB3, I think the GDB2 looked nicer, and had a nicer remote (the GDB3's is a bit small)

Quote:
3.11 has the advantage of having a screensaver for the radio MHEG screens although whether the 3.2 users will get a 3.21 or will have to wait for 3.6 I'm not sure.

I don't think there will be any stop gap releases before version 3.6 as it's coming out before the end of the year isn't it? What is 3.6 supposed to add btw? The feature set atm is fine, and there are no obvious bugs in the existing software.

Quote:
Like you I'm not a Goodmans fan but their digiboxes are fantastic.

I think it's probably because they're not actually Goodmans products - exactly the same boxes are sold by Bush, Alba, and someone else. I assume then that they are made by some other (probably unknown) company and then Goodmans have bought a load up and rebranded them. Incidentally, I don't think Bush are up with Goodmans yet; afaik they're top of the line box is the DTVA1 MK2, which is the same as the Goodmans GDB2.
DV
dvboy
Aston posted:
Look out for a new Freeview advertising campaign VERY SOON.

It may or may not involved a certain animal from the jungle Rolling Eyes


You are so slow. Rolling Eyes
PE
Pete Founding member
cwathen posted:
Quote:
3.11 has the advantage of having a screensaver for the radio MHEG screens although whether the 3.2 users will get a 3.21 or will have to wait for 3.6 I'm not sure.

I don't think there will be any stop gap releases before version 3.6 as it's coming out before the end of the year isn't it? What is 3.6 supposed to add btw? The feature set atm is fine, and there are no obvious bugs in the existing software.


there are some minor bugs still left.

To my knowledge it does the following
1 - Bug fixes + screensaver
2 - MHEG 1.06 (hence 3.6)
3 - 7 Day EPG
AS
Aston
Lee Stanley posted:
Aston posted:
Look out for a new Freeview advertising campaign VERY SOON.

It may or may not involved a certain animal from the jungle Rolling Eyes


You are so slow. Rolling Eyes


Well, when I posted that message, AFAIK it haddn't been screened...

No need to be sarcastic, why not point me in the direction of the thread that's discussing it?

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