bubosquared | (no subject)

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Am moved. Not unpacked yet, but moved. Thank fuck. Have discoverd (unless am entirely blind, which is always possible) lack of cable box. Hrm. Oh, well.

Must go set up bank account and other assorted stuff today, like a TV and DVD player and gas and DSL. And call my parents.

On a related note, some pictures of my family's visit here.

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Cable TV box. I'm pretty sure I have several boxes of cables in the jungle that is the box room at the moment.

I don't remember seeing one in the flat when we viewed it. Most places don't have it.

You can always put the postcode into http://www.telewest.co.uk/ and see if you're in a covered area. I don't think we are - not that it matters, I'd rather get a digital box and use the 'top up' service. For just TV, telewest aren't good value.

How does one go about getting digital, then, or get TV channels without cable? (I come from able country, remember, 95% of Belgium has cable. :)

There should be a cable in the living room. This runs up to an external antenna on the roof. You plug it into your TV to get the channels that we had at Merchiston Crescent. You can buy a digital box from any electrical retailer - ASDA have one for £50, I wouldn't recommend paying more than that (with one exception that I'll get to later). You plug the antenna cable into that and it gets digital channels over the airwaves.

There's a 'top up' service, which is very new, that lets you get subscription only channels on a 'freeview' box (the digital box). However, it requires a digital box that takes smart cards. Most freeview boxes don't. I've seen one for sale for £70-80 that did. (The top-up service is mostly aimed at people with older boxes, pre-freeview.)

If you don't use the top-up system, once you buy the freeview box you don't need to pay anything else. There's TVs, VCRs, and DVD players that include built-in freeview 'boxes', too.

We're planning to get one of the top-up capable boxes, but once I've checked (by borrowing my mother's freeview box) that we can get suitable reception here. No point spending money on a digital box that might not work. :o)

Thing is, I'm not seeing the TV cable at all. I could of course be very blind. Must check again tonight.

There might also just be a socket in the wall for you to plug your own cable into. (Which is what we have here.)

Failing all of that, you're stuck with an indoor antenna, and crappy pictures, probably.

No socket, either. :( Ah well, indoor antenna it is, then. :/ (Or maybe I'll ask the neighbours or something.) Don't watch much TV anyway.

The cable would just be some big (probably brown) cable coming in from near a window in the lounge. It's unlikely that you'll have no access at all to the external antenna. Maybe ask the agency about it?

Will check again once I get home in a bit.

Oh, and on a related subject, somewhere in my Bunch o' Boxes I'm sure I have a spare coaxial (sp?) cable, if you still need one.

Ooh. That would be handy, although I only really need it for setting my SNES up. :o) (Or a digital box, when we get one.)

I have a bunch of spares sitting around, even more since I'll now have to connect my VCR to a TV via scart, so 's no problem.

Well, might be a problem to find them, but I'll find them before the weekend, I hope.

No rush - whenever you come across them is cool.

Oh, I meant to say...

Amazon.co.uk will sell you a region-free DVD player for £30, including free delivery. My mother's picked up a one of Amazon's cheap region free DVD players before, and it was a nice little unit, and that particular one looks even better.

Index (who have physical retail locations inside Littlewoods department stores as well as selling online) are selling a 28 inch widescreen TV for £190.

ASDA have a surround sound speaker set, including a separate amp, for £50.

Which would just leave you to find a decent VCR cheaply - and you can find NICAM stereo VCRs really cheaply these days.

I already have a VCR, so that's no problem. Will probably pick up a TV at the chas generator for £50 or so (don't need much), and thanks for the Amazon tip--as soon as I get some sort of bank card, I am SO all over tha.

Er, in a non-sexual sense.

Do you guys use PAL on the mainland? If your VCR can't handle PAL, you'll need a new one.

Even if that specific DVD player is gone, Amazon always have a region free player for that kind of money. I suppose it makes sense - the more people with DVD players, the more people buying DVDs from them.

Yep, we've PAL, and mine can handle US format as well, so. :)

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