From Newsgroup: uk.tech.digital-tv

This morning my wife and I, as usual, watched Talk on channel 280. We
went out to an appointment at 09:45 and returned about 11:20 to find
that the channel had been replaced with an on-screen message that they
had pulled out of Freeview - plus Android TV, Apple TV, and Fire TV. It
is still available live on Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Prime Video and YouTube.

The Freeview hybrid channels - which many do not seem to know about -
can be used by owners of TVs that have Freeview and an Ethernet socket.
Plug the Interweb into the socket, select 280 and the TV will look at
Freeview control data to find out where to go on line to collect the
relevant programme and display it on screen. AAPOI the hybrid channels
also have France24 on 255 and EuroNews on 257 amongst many others.

The annoying bit - a sure method of driving away your viewers - is that
there was no advanced warning, it just 'happened.' No warning even as it
is not on the Talk web site, and (as of an hour or so ago) even Freeview
did not know about it!

Any thoughts/comments peeps (leaving politics out of it?)
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From Newsgroup: uk.tech.digital-tv

On 27/05/2026 13:51, Woody wrote:

This morning my wife and I, as usual, watched Talk on channel 280. We
went out to an appointment at 09:45 and returned about 11:20 to find
that the channel had been replaced with an on-screen message that they
had pulled out of Freeview - plus Android TV, Apple TV, and Fire TV. It
is still available live on Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Prime Video and YouTube.

The Freeview hybrid channels - which many do not seem to know about -
can be used by owners of TVs that have Freeview and an Ethernet socket.
Plug the Interweb into the socket, select 280 and the TV will look at Freeview control data to find out where to go on line to collect the relevant programme and display it on screen. AAPOI the hybrid channels
also have France24 on 255 and EuroNews on 257 amongst many others.

The annoying bit - a sure method of driving away your viewers - is that there was no advanced warning, it just 'happened.' No warning even as it
is not on the Talk web site, and (as of an hour or so ago) even Freeview
did not know about it!

Any thoughts/comments peeps (leaving politics out of it?)

presumably not worth it financially.
it certainly would only attract a narrow audience i'd think.
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
www.avg.com
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From Newsgroup: uk.tech.digital-tv

presumably not worth it financially.
it certainly would only attract a narrow audience i'd think.

I suspect that a "narrow audience" is the whole point of HBTV ?


Seems to me that the whole system is in a permanent state of flux -

I have tuned in a few minutes ago and spotted a few "new" channels which
I have never heard of - "Nosey" on 278 and "GIGS" on 284

and ... would you believe it ... Dog the Bounty Hunter is back on
Trailblazer



also ... (although I am certain this is TV dependent and/or channel dependent) in some cases its not immediately clear to me whether the
media is a program or a channel/subchannel
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From Newsgroup: uk.tech.digital-tv

On 27/05/2026 13:51, Woody wrote:

can be used by owners of TVs that have Freeview and an Ethernet socket

Neither necessary nor sufficient. The set has to be new enough that it supports the options used by the channel.

(And they can work without the socket, if the set has WiFi.)

I have a Humax 2000T that is not capable of accessing many of these
channels, even though it has an Ethernet socket, which can access the internet, and a Toshiba branded (badge engineered) TV that doesn't have
an RJ45 socket, but can access them, although, as it went end of life
quickly, I suspect it will start to fail with those, too.

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From Newsgroup: uk.tech.digital-tv

On 28/05/2026 23:06, David Woolley wrote:

On 27/05/2026 13:51, Woody wrote:

can be used by owners of TVs that have Freeview and an Ethernet socket

Neither necessary nor sufficient.-a The set has to be new enough that it supports the options used by the channel.

(And they can work without the socket, if the set has WiFi.)

I have a Humax 2000T that is not capable of accessing many of these channels, even though it has an Ethernet socket, which can access the internet, and a Toshiba branded (badge engineered) TV that doesn't have
an RJ45 socket, but can access them, although, as it went end of life quickly, I suspect it will start to fail with those, too.

I have had at least 6 (I have literally lost count) assorted Humax
Freesat boxes and it seem to me that most of them have either a Ethernet
port or (on the earlier ones) a RS232 port.

Some of them seem to be completely undocumented and of no practical use whatever and in at least one case I suspect it wasnt even connected to anything.
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From Newsgroup: uk.tech.digital-tv

On 28/05/2026 23:06, David Woolley wrote:

On 27/05/2026 13:51, Woody wrote:

can be used by owners of TVs that have Freeview and an Ethernet socket

Neither necessary nor sufficient.-a The set has to be new enough that it supports the options used by the channel.

(And they can work without the socket, if the set has WiFi.)

I have a Humax 2000T that is not capable of accessing many of these channels, even though it has an Ethernet socket, which can access the internet, and a Toshiba branded (badge engineered) TV that doesn't have
an RJ45 socket, but can access them, although, as it went end of life quickly, I suspect it will start to fail with those, too.

The code needed to include working HbbTV in a product seems to remain proprietary and secret.
--
Brian Gregory (in England).
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