So far I have managed to resist the lures of digital television. I do not want a huge choice of channels and I do not want to sign an expensive contract to receive them. However, there are some programmes which are only available on digital television that I would watch if I could receive them without a monthly fee and via an ordinary aerial.
Now, it seems, I shall be able to, for the once-only expenditure of (just under) £100. A firm called Pace is to launch a digital TV adapter on 30 March 2002 which will make receiving free-to-air digital programmes from the BBC and ITV simple. This is the world's first low-cost (well expensive in my terms, but not horrendously so) set-top box to be marketed to do this job. Hopefully others will arrive soon which will cost less.
I am still waiting for a reasonably-priced digital radio. A rather expensive tuner is advertised in The Voice of the Listener and Viewer newsletter but it is not what I am looking for. It costs too much and it is not easily portable. If anyone knows about one, please tell me.
(Note by Web Editor - a new chip is near production which will bring the cost of (some) digital radio receivers under the £100 mark this year. In addition, certain branches of Dixon's Group have been clearing the Psion Wavefinder which lets you have digital radio on your computer, through a USB port, for £50 or so, It uses the computer itself for some of the processing, so the better the computer the better the service, but you finish up with about 40 high quality radio stations [well - high quality reproduction! ].)
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