Charlie asked

20th June 2010

I have recently got a V+ Box, can you connect my TV or PC via the USB connection?

Thanks for your question. Sadly there isn't much you can do with the USB port on your Virgin V+ box, it's powered so you can charge or power other devices from it, but beyond that it's not at all useful. Your computer won't recognise it as a device when connected to it and anything you plug in to it, like a USB hard disk won't be recognised by the box either. I'd love to say a future software update might enable some useful functionality, but Virgin will want to keep their content suppliers onside so are unlikely to allow you to record on to external storage devices.

John asked

16th June 2010

I have a new Toshiba 42" LCD TV with Freeview HD, The picture clarity is fantastic, but when watching the HD channels the volume is very low and I have to put the volume up to 100% to hear the TV.

This one's probably going to need some trial and error to fix but I would start in the TV's menus to ensure you are using any volume equalisation facility that your TV provides, on some Toshiba models this seems to be called 'Dolby Volume'. This type of setting should help maintain a more consistent volume level between channels and programmes. You may also like to experiment with different sound modes where available on your TV, for example by disabling any surround sound processing as you may well have found that your TV handles surround formats using on Freeview and Freeview HD inconsistently.

Richard asked

16th June 2010

I have a new Alba ALDTR160 Digital TV Recorder. It is Freeview+ and I am using it quite successfully with an analogue Samsung TV. I am considering buying a new Full HD TV which will be Freeview HD.

Can I view TV in HD and record in SD. I ask this because I do not record very much and Freeview+ HD recorders such as the new Philips at around £290 each is expensive for an OAP such as myself (81 next birthday). If so, how do I connect it?

There's nothing to stop you continuing to use your existing standard-definition Freeview recorder with a new television so long as you are able to connect to two together.

A more modern HDTV with built-in Freeview HD will have an integrated tuner to which you will connect your aerial, and this will give you some high-definition channels if you're in a part of the country where Freeview HD is already available. If you kept your current Freeview recorder you would also connect this via a second connection to your aerial so it's inbuilt tuner(s) can record.

With regards to connecting your recorder to an HDTV, your Alba model looks to only have an analogue SCART output so you will need to make sure you purchase a TV with at least one analogue/component video input. The analogue input doesn't have to be in the form of a SCART socket you can readily convert from cart to component with an adapter.

Kevin asked

16th June 2010

I Have a new 100hz 42" LED TV which I am very happy with, but once connected to my V+ Box it only displays in 50Hz, is there any way to change this?

Thanks for your question. This in fact shouldn't be anything to worry about, the 50Hz is the frequency of your input source only, your television should then apply its 100Hz processing to that, doubling the frame rate in the output picture you see.

Jeff asked

14th June 2010

Can you tell me what is the difference between HD ready and Full HD?

Thanks for your question. An HD Ready TV is one that meets a very specific set of requirements in terms of picture resolution and input compatibility. It essentially specifies that any TV with the logo meets the requirements listed here:

http://www.hdtvfaq.org/hd-ready.html#hd-ready-in-europe

Full HD is more of a marketing term used by manufactures to indicate that their products are capable of displaying 1080p content (1080 vertical lines scanned progressively). It doesn't necessary tell you anything else about the displays inputs or ability to handle other input formats correctly.

Your choice of which type of display to buy will probably depend on the screen size you are purchasing and the video sources you have. A 1080p display may be a little more future-proof than a 720 line HD Ready TV, but if you're purchasing a relatively small size screen or are likely only to watch broadcast HDTV you may well find a HD Ready TV will suffice.

Ken asked

14th June 2010

What is the broadcast frequency of the HD multiplex from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter? We have had cases of Freeview SD ok, but not receiving HD channels, it seems to be related to signal strength.

Digital switchover which is when the Freeview HD transmissions will begin is not scheduled to happen until next year at the Sutton Coldfield transmitter:

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/central

If you are able to receive high-definition broadcasts at present you are likely to be be receiving from another transmitter. BBC HD is on channel 50 where available, with ITV HD and 4HD on channels 51 and 52 respectively.

Russell asked

14th June 2010

I want to buy a 26" HD Ready TV because think anything bigger will look obtrusive in my living room. However my techie friend has just told me that I will not get the benefit of HD with anything less than than a 32" set. So before I pay out and buy a new HDTV is he right?

There's nothing at all wrong with a 26-inch HDTV in principle but as you can imagine if you sat a long way away from that that screen your are unlikely to be able to perceive much if any of the increased picture definition a HDTV provides you. Typically a 26" display should be suitable for viewing distances up to around 3 meters or 10 feet, but the perception of the picture quantity can be quite subjective from person to person.

I would definitely recommend you visit a shop beforehand to see how your prospective screen size looks to you when viewed at a similar viewing distance to your home.

Sue asked

10th June 2010

We have a Virgin Plus HD box on poor TV downstairs and a regular Virgin box on the small LCD TV upstairs. We decided to have a plus box on the TV upstairs as well. When the engineer came he set up the new box on the TV downstairs and we brought the original box upsatirs to set up ourselves.

The problem is, we have managed to get a picture and can just about change channels but all the other functions on the remote, eg, the TV guide, recording etc will not work. Is it possible that my tv isn't compatible to the plus box even though it worked perfectly well with the old one? We can only get it to work at all if the SCART lead is in the VCR socket. Please help it's driving me mad!

From afar this one is a little tricky to debug, but you are either running in to signal strength issues on your cable connection or that your upstairs V Plus box has been deactivated or block from the V Plus service. There are something like 3 tuners in each V+ box each of which reduces the signal strength as it is shared between all of them. You may like to try disconnecting the decoder downstairs to see if that helps but I suspect this is more of an access issue. If you are only able to get basic Virgin Cable channels I would get in touch with Virgin and explain the situation to them, from memory they may want to charge you a little extra to use the V Plus features on a second cable decoder.

To get your HDTV working you do need to connect it via the SCART initially but then you should be able to enable the HDMI output in the menus and then be able to swap the SCART lead for an HDMI one.