# Digital TV / Freeview in UK

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-freeview-in-uk/490299>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 21, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-freeview-in-uk/490299 "2009-03-21T23:32:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dioptre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/278dde/32.png) [@Dioptre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dioptre)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-freeview-in-uk/490299/1 "2009-03-21T23:32:30Z")

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I moved from Australia to the UK, and I find that my  
Digital TV card in my PC (specifically a  
Hauppauge Nova-DT on Windows Vista)  
isn’t receiving any signal. Could this be an  
issue with Freeview, meaning that I need a  
new Digital TV card?

What’s the deal anyway with Freeview vs  
Digital Terrestial TV in other countries such  
as Australia?

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**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-freeview-in-uk/490299/2 "2009-03-22T00:01:07Z")

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The [Freeview website](http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview) may help you, or [this specific page](http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Resolutions/About-Products/Product-types/Can-I-watch-Freeview-on-my-computer-PC) dealing with Freeview on your PC.

Basically it’s a set of digital TV channels available free of charge (hence the name) to anyone with a suitable decoding box. When the service was first introduced, people who wanted it had to go out and buy a Freeview box costing £50-60. For the last 3-4 years, most new TVs and DVD recorders have had the Freeview capability already built-in.

Watching Freeview on your PC is as easy (or not) as explained in the link above. If you have a tuner card with the Freeview decoder built in, you’re okay, and if not then you won’t be able to watch it on your TV.

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**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-freeview-in-uk/490299/3 "2009-03-22T00:15:23Z")

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Digital terrestrial TV in the UK is just standard DVB-T. Maybe your card is set up for a different frequency range?

Here are the frequencies per channel, and the channels used for DVB per transmitter (e.g. if you’re in the London area, you would probably use the Crystal Palace transmitter):

[http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/terrestrial/tuning/](http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/terrestrial/tuning/)  
[http://www.wolfbane.com/ukdtt.htm](http://www.wolfbane.com/ukdtt.htm)

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-freeview-in-uk/490299/4 "2009-03-22T00:28:46Z")

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Whereabouts are you? Not all areas have good reception. Like where I live. I need to use a booster box.