Analogue, am I the mourner at its funeral?

[MikeB]

Am I sad to see the last of analogue? Not really. Its perfectly true that you can still watch a slightly rubbish analogue picture, as opposed to the breaking up picture (then black screen) of digital. Mine still does this sometimes, but it might be the slightly old digibox I've currently got. The recorder is rock solid.

On the other hand, the digital signal is so much stronger (10x once you switch entirely), its much less likely to happen, and the picture is certainly much better (having looked at my recently digitalised VHS recordings, the difference is stark). You also get more channels and HD, and the hard drive recorder is far easier to use than a VHS. Its a bit like mourning the loss of your old twin-tub washing machine when you get a new front loader. Yes, the old one did the job, but the new one is a lot better, quieter and easier to use (having used both, I'm sticking with the new one).

Of course you don't need to throw away your old analogue TV - you can still use it with a £25 Freeview box, and Sony still do trade-ins every so often (a couple some years ago were proud to tell me that they'd taken the old one to the tip - that was £100 they'd lost) .
If you are having poor reception, then check out your ariel (much better if its not in the loft), make sure you don't have a booster fitted, and possibly wonder if your signal is too strong for your equipment (a seperate box usually has a better gain than something built in). You can also look at the excellent Welcome page | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice - really useful. Bad weather does affect reception, but even Sky dishes can get affected as well. An indoor ariel is not that great, so if you can hook the TV up to something better, hopefully things should improve.

Moor Larkin - your eyes are right. Sky (and Freesat) signals have a higher bandwidth than Freeview (a certain amount of squishing is needed to get HD on Freeview), so with less compression, you get a better signal. Hopefully the 'jerkiness' will be cured with a modern TV with better processing (and a 100hz screen will be even better).

I have to admit that digital switchover has been pretty good for me personally, but I do sell TV's!

[Dame Starry]

My analogue TV is amazing with my indoor digital aerial.

My landlords have erected a communal aerial + satellite dish for the block I live in - on my outside (end) wall as it happens (what a ruddy noisy day THAT was!). The cables are all ready hanging on the outside walls for the faceplates and, when I can afford the equipment, I'll be able to get Freesat as well.

Naturally the rent's going up...........