According to Freeview themselves, Freeview HD is now available to households in Leeds, Birmingham and Cardiff, adding to London and Manchester that were ‘enabled’ at the beginning of the year. With the 3 latest cities, this adds around 4.5 million people who can now enjoy stunning High Definition pictures over the digital terrestrial television network (in other words… a standard tv aerial) free of charge.
All you need to receive Freeview HD is a compatible set-top-box (read our reviews of the Humax Fox-HD T2 – £150 – and the Bush DVB680 – £100 – which are both available to buy now) and an HD Ready television. If you don’t have an HD Ready or Full HD TV, rather than buying a separate TV and set top box, both Panasonic and Sony now have plasma and LCD TV sets with built-in Freeview HD and Freesat HD tuners starting from under £600 for a the Sony Bravia KDL37EX403U 37″ LCD TV.
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when is Freeview HD coming to us in South Lakeland?
Hi Roy…. the Freeview website now tells you when you will be able to receive Freeview HD using your postcode…. try it here
Hi – I have a checked my Freeview coverage on the link you provided and although i have four TVs all showing a multitude of freeview channels, the site states i can’t get freeview! If i am already receiving Freeview channels does that automatically mean i will be able to get HD Freeview when it is activated in my area please. (Heathfield transmitter). Thanks, Bill.
Hey Bill, I completely agree, what a completely useless link provided by “admin” above – I live in the Kent countryside and when I typed my postcode in it also says I cannot receive Freeview until the digital switchover, despite the fact I have been doing so for the past FIVE years!! This is exactly the problem we have these days, the company partly responsible for the digital switchover cannot even handle the effective comunication of its own services!! Completely useless …
Martin, Bill…. Without knowing what postcodes you have used, it’s hard for me to say. I’ve used a postcode for Heathfield Park (which I guess is near the transmitter?) and it says currently receive some Freeview channels, and will be able to receive them all after the switchover in 2012. A bit lower down the page it also says that that postcode will be able to receive Freeview HD in 2012 too.
I guess with TV signals it will be almost impossible to be 100% accurate where they will and wont be received.
What I would like to point out is that I can only point you in the direction of the Freeview site… unfortunately I have no other information, and I am only trying to help!
Let me know if you find out anything more and I’ll add the info to this site.
Tom
Will a full HD Panasonic with freesat and integral freeview receive freeview HD, or would it need another freeview set-top. Leeds was supposed to be on line for HD in March
Despite numerous attempts I have been unable to add the additional channels on freeview , whilst being successful, in adding channel 119 on the freesat.
I am also unable to obtain any increased channels with my Sony (HD Ready)with integral digital converter
Brian… Freesat works from a satellite dish, Freeview HD works through an aerial. Although your TV is Full HD, it may not (probably won’t) have an integrated Freeview HD tuner (as these have only just been release in the last few weeks), but is likely to have a standard definition Freeview receiver.
The ‘Full HD’ on your TV means that it is capable of showing pictures in 1080p (the better version of HD) if it is fed an HD picture from something like a Bluray DVD player, or a Freeview HD Set top box.
If your TV has an integrated Freesat HD (not just Freesat) then you will be able to receive HD channels if you connect a satellite dish to your TV (useful if you have an existing dish having previously had a Sky subscription, or if you live in an area that doesn’t receive a stong signal from the regional transmmitter)
With regard to additional channels, there are only currently 2 HD channels, which are BBC HD and ITV 1 HD.
I hope this helps, and hasn’t confused you further. If you tell me the model number of the TV, i’ll find out what it has and what you can/can’t receive.
Tom
So what you are saying is that retailers are selling out-of-date equipment these days
Why has the integral digital converter unit been left undeveloped, when your plans were made to introduce the HD signal requiring a further developed converter..
Is it fair to say that there is no point buying a HD Freeview set top box until my area (Devon) becomes HD ready in September? Thanks, Derek.
I live in Leeds, in fact you can see the TV transmitter that feeds my area a bit further down my road. And yet even though according to the freeview hd website I should have been able to receive HD channels on 31st March, i still cannot get them. I have an HD ready tv with a bush dvb869 freeview HD box connected.
Liam, can you receive the standard definition Freeview channels with the Bush DVB869?
Hi, yes i can receive all the SD channels.
and sorry i typed it all wrong, it’s a Bush DVB680
i’ve semi fixed it. It turned to be single frequency interference that was causing the issue as i turned my sky+ box off and the HD channels appeared on the freeview HD box. Now i can’t find an RF output channel that makes them both work together.
Hi can you receive freeview HD through your television without buying a new box??
Hi Claire…. only the brand new Sony Bravia’s and a few Panasonic TVs released in the last couple of weeks have an integrated Freeview HD tuner. Without one of these, to view Freeview HD you will need a Full HD (1080p) or HD Ready (720p) TV and a Freeview HD box like the ones on this site.
Don’t forget to check the coverage checker as only half of the country can receive Freeview HD right now.
Good luck!
Just to let everyone know ive got hitachi hd freeveiw recorder and it works fine i pick up hd channels perfect this.
Thanks
keith
Hi Keith…. i wasn’t aware that Hitachi have released a Freeview HD (High Definition) recorder yet – does the HD not stand for Hard Drive recorder in this instance?
Hi, we’re having the same problem Liam had but we can’t sem to fix it! We’ve checked the postcode which is B25 8US and it says we should have had HD from March 2010. We’ve got the Bush DVB680 and it’s picking all the other channels except HD. We’ve turned off the sky box and done it through single frequency but to no avail. Please help!! Thanks
Like Julie above, I live in Birmingham and have the Bush DVB680 but no HD channels. All the freeview ones are there but no HD
I HAVE A TOSHIBA HD READY TV WITH BUILT IN FREEVIEW ALSO A DIGITAL TV RECORDER- SO CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT I REQUIRE TO RECEIVE HD PICTURES.
THANKS
NEIL WILLIAMS
Hi Neil, apologies for the delay.
You will need to buy a new Freeview HD receiver to go with your HD ready TV. The digital TV recorder, unless it’s one of the Sagemcom or Philips models reviewed on this site, will only be a standard definition version.
Freeview HD uses a completely different technology to the standard definition Freeview, and therefore the built in Freeview receiver in the TV, and your existing Freeview recorder cannot be upgraded.
The fact that your TV is HD Ready means that it is capable of showing HD pictures, however it needs something to feed these HD pictures to it – that is where you need a Freeview HD box.
There are now a few good models – going from £100 for the Bush at Argos, to the Humax around £160. Also look out for the Icecrypt model which I have been using over the past few weeks and of which I will add details to the site later tonight.
Hope that helps, feel free to ask any more questions.
THANKS FOR REPLY. IS MY STANDARD TV AERIAL SUITABLE. HOPE TO HEAR ABOUT THE ICECRYPT MODEL.
REGARDS
NEIL.
HAD A QUICK LOOK AT THE ICECRYPT T 5000 WHICH I ASSUME YOU MEAN. SEEMS VERY CHEAP AT £30.00 IT ALSO SAYS NO TO HD TV. SO IS THIS APPROPRIATE. ALSO STAR RATING NOT GOOD.
WHAT DO YOU THINK.
NEIL.
Neil, the tv aerial you have should be ok. Have you used the Freeview coverage checker to make sure you can receive Freeview HD as only 50% of the country is currently covered.
The Icecrypt T2200 is the only Freeview HD box and it’s priced around £150. The review is here..
http://www.freeviewhdbox.co.uk/icecrypt-t2200-freeview-hd-receiver-media-player/
Hope this helps.