ANALOGUE OR DIGITAL? - THAT IS THE QUESTION

In the adverts on the TV we are advised to buy a TV that is digital, perhaps good advice, but digital is not all it is cracked up to be - read my view on what is good, bad and ugly in the land of TV and see if your opinion gets changed!?

First and foremost if you have a caravan or a boat then whatever you do not NOT buy a digital TV!

If you have a digital TV you will get loads more channels, true - but equally chances are you will get nothing at all to watch. The digital signal is an "all or nothing" signal, you either get a wonderful picture and loads of channels to watch - or you get nothing at all (OK there is a very small area on the cusp - but that means freezing pictures and missing sound - almost unwatchable).

If you have an analogue signal (or "old type" as we could call it) you should, with a half decent aerial, get something!! OK it might be a case of watching it through the "snow" but at least that is better than nothing!

SO YOU ARE BETTER OFF WITH AN ANALOGUE TYPE TV THEN A DIGITAL ONE at least until the "switch off"

Which brings us to another issue - the planned "Switch off" of the analogue transmitters.

The switch off starts in 2008 and finishes in 2012, so in theory a set bought today (2007) is good for say 5 years depending on the area you live in. But how many times have such plans been put back. The last major change was the change from 405 lines to 625 lines, and the last 405 line transmitter was not switched off until 21 years after the new system (625 lines) was first introduced. The PLAN is that once the analogue system is switched off the power on the new digital system will be increased so that sets connected to less than perfect aerial systems will have a better chance of getting a picture, but until this actually happens nobody knows how reception will affected.

SO YOU ARE BETTER OFF WITH AN ANALOGUE TYPE TV THEN A DIGITAL ONE at lease until the "switch off"

Ah, but suppose you find yourself with a spanking good TV picture and want to watch one of the new digital channels, with an old analogue TV set you cannot.

True, but this is where you bring out your new digital decoder and hook it in to your TV set and "convert" it to a digital TV set!! Have a look on the 12 volt TV index page. Chances are we have in stock a unit that will convert ANY TV with a SCART socket in to digital TV set. This option gives you "The best of both worlds". Analogue when the signal is poor, digital when it is good.

SO BUYING AN EXTRA "SET TOP BOX" IS CURRENTLY THE BEST OPTION IF YOU HAVE A TV THAT IS IN A MOBILE CARAVAN OR A BOAT

Have a look at the boatshare web site now and make your selection

as an aside.......................................

LCD or CRT

If you are not sure what I mean let me explain.

LCD is, basically, a flat screen TV set, it stands for Liquid Crystal Display. Some folk call them Plasma, but these generally are the much larger screens you see in pubs etc.

CRT is the "old" tube style screens, it stands for Cathode Ray Tube.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each type when used on 12 volts.

The LCD draws less power off the battery, a major plus point, and also gives you, in essence, more "screen" for your money, it also is much less bulky from front to back, and can be wall mounted (usually). The cheapest size to buy is the 15" LCD, a bit like with the CRT the 14" TV set was the cheapest. The 10" CRT we do are in fact more money per inch of screen.

BUT, that is not the whole story. The CRT gives a better picture, in terms of up front quality, and it also offers a greater viewing angle, which could be important in a confined space. Imagine if you will your TV set being on a shelf in your boat/caravan. To watch a LCD set you really need to be in front of it, whereas with a CRT you can be very much towards the side and still see a reasonable picture, with the the LCD set if your viewing angle is too shallow the picture goes to a strange "negative" look.

Have a look at the boatshare web site now and make your selection (or hit BACK on your browser if you arrived here via a link from a set you were reading about)

 

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