The Tomorrow's World Trusted Guide to Digital TV - BBC Choice (COMPLETE)

Re-uploaded in full and better quality
This is the 2nd programme shown on BBC Choice on its launch night in 1998 (and repeated many times over the following few months) - a Tomorrow's World special all about digital TV
Presented by Peter Snow and Lindsey Fallow and featuring Kevin Greening

[@johnking5174]

The joys of analogue television signal was that even with poor reception you could still receive BBC One, BBC Two, ITV and Channel 4, yes a bit snowy, but it was watchable. Now, if you lose the digital signal, you lose all or most of your Freeview channels in 2019.

[@liverush24]

I was about to make this exact point.

[@vesavius]

"the future of television is secure" he says as I watch this on YT. It never turns out how we think I guess.

[@carlybishop6160]

"This is what 'Top of the Pops' will like in a few years time" :)) Hahaha! What it will like is non-exisent.

[@rtc9063]

Who had one of those On Digital boxes that would lock up nearly every night of the week?

[@Jmcinally94]

If only that orchestra got paid per play of the theme tune. They would be rich after the first 5 mins alone 😂😂😂 Interesting that they guessed analogue would be switched off between 10-15 years later.

[@SamSamShine]

To already have widescreen broadcast in 1998 was really ahead of its time. Most European TV channels only started switching to 16:9 ten years later with Portugal the last one 17 years later.

[@Connie_TinuityError]

but then again, a huge majority of those European TV channels are available in HD on terrestrial, compared to here where on Freeview we have less than 10 HD channels

[@cromulence]

BSB (the failed competitor to Sky) supported widescreen back in 1990 believe it or not, with the movie channel for the service transmitting in full widescreen. There were even provisions for HD too, though the service sadly didn't last long enough for that to come to fruition.

[@johnking5174]

6:08 - A little note here when Peter said satellite would not provide the ITV channels. This was all down to the shit storm in the launch of On Digital service, which initially was to have Sky as a partner with ITV, then Sky were forced out by the regulator, this meant ITV had exclusive provision on On Digital and Sky could not air ITV until sometime later, when ITV Digital went down the toilet.

[@Hertfordshire247]

I never understood why they never continued on the director option. I loved the option on Sky Sports when watching football, I could pick my camera angle. As for the archive, all that stuff sat on shelves. I'd love to wake up on Saturday mornings over the winter months and re-watch Live & Kicking, Run The Risk etc. What's more annoying, we bloody own it anyway!

[@stephendaniels4048]

Wow - the BBC Interactive service had a "Blogs" section in the 1998 trial - the term had only been coined a year earlier. They even predicted the iPlayer (though still waiting for the "Whole of the BBC archive"!!). Good old Beeb.

[@robthemodYT]

I doubt the entire archive will ever be made available, but Britbox will launch in the UK soon so...

[@likatwaaaaaaaa2466]

Same for digital sky compared with analogue, there was such a wide range of channels it was so interesting, the digital version takes all the wonder out of it

[@johnking5174]

6:08 - The reason why ITV channels were not available at first on Sky was due to the fact that On Digital (later renamed ITV Digital) were supposed to include Sky in their company. The broadcasting regulator rejected that idea and Sky were kicked out, meaning Sky refused to air ITV channels on their platform and ITV wanted their channels on On Digital only to enable to gain more customers. It wouldn't be until around 2003 when ITV channels would become available fully on Sky.

[@hermanmunster3358]

Digital TV, and indeed Radio is by no means FLAWLESS, as they sold it to us back in the day. Even now, digital terrestrial broadcasts can suffer from environmenral issues, and drop outs in signal, signal strength, or slightly mis-aligned antennas or even the "wrong antenna". You have to tick way more boxes if you want to receive a strong, consistent, and reliable signal, than we did for analogue. But when all boxes are ticked, digital TV, as opposed to Analogue TV are like night and day in comparison.

[@puddle_puddle]

Great intro tune (by the Devine Comedy) but they soon ruin it by playing that same sting every few seconds between cuts.

[@Blubatt]

Clearly, someone in the BBC was a Divine Comedy fan

[@sillygoose635]

hey someone finally noticed!

[@Blubatt]

@@sillygoose635 Damn right. I have all the albums, so I know their songs when I hear them. Generation Sex was used on promos for BBC Choice, and the Tomorrow's World theme here was an instrumental version of In Persuit of Happiness

[@Emily-r1n]

This video includes part an old TV program, when there was a color signal on a black & white system on BBC one for the first time. That was fun to study in school for professional program prerequisites

[@Emily-r1n]

Like signal processing and radios

[@Emily-r1n]

Which is funny because I just realized I am dressed like Steve Jobs and earlier today I reviewed my clothes on the site where I got them

[@Emily-r1n]

I write bad I had to drop technical writing in grad school because, so I never learned how to use Grammarly

[@2steppa3]

Analogue gets interference yes, but digital still breaks up or goes completely off. And DAB radio is even worse, a joke.

[@johnking5174]

That is what I have been saying for years. Digital TV is all or nothing signal. With analogue, you always had something, even with fringe reception. For example, when we went on holiday into Scotland, our cottage could get fringe reception, but we could watch and enjoy BBC 1, BBC 2, STV and Channel 4 when we holidayed there in the early 90s. Today Freeview digital signal is patchy.

[@robertcomer2767]

That first Sky Digital box was an eyesore

[@Hertfordshire247]

I never understood why they put the message icon on the box which had an orange light underneath it. I know you could send and receive E-mails via "OPEN" interactive services (including the wireless keyboard you could buy which I got my Dad to get) but, it never worked. Make ya wonder what it wonder what it would be for.

[@danps7167]

Aircraft goes over and say goodbye to your digital signal.

[@johnking5174]

Oh bless, who remembers SCART cable?

[@LuthansaTerminal]

Remember them? I'm still got one in the back of my telly!!

[@johnking5174]

@@LuthansaTerminal None of my family have them now. Replaced by HDMI cable which is how I watch Freesat and stream Netflix etc

[@wx4newengland]

In America, our digital tv system is very prone to multipath which causes many drops out.

[@nazirkhalifa5377]

Kevin knows, what he is talking about, as I watch this while a twitter message pops up at the top, Whats happening in the next 20yrs Kevin????.

[@jaycbills]

Unfortunately Kevin didn't make it to the next 20 years as he died of a heart attack caused by a massive drug overdose just under 10 years after this broadcast.

[@Thebustermann]

Rip Kevin x

[@locouk]

Where do I get a set top box? 🤔

[@Firefoxfifty]

I bet the BBC never saw Netflix coming!!

[@RevZman]

To be fair, the BBC iPlayer released 5 years before Netflix in the UK

[@theancientsancients1769]

Lol Homechoice I had it in the 90s and it's still more advanced than Netflix which is a copy! It was way ahead of its time

[@robthemodYT]

21:02 - they're literally descripting Netflix right there "No more schedules, no more listings. You pick what you want, when you want to watch it. imagine a world where the entirety of the BBC archive is available"

[@joshleafjl1]

that boy is like 12

[@boblowes]

That's a woman.

[@CamcorderSteve]

What happened to the idea of being able to choose your own camera angles? I would like to watch the 2nd violins or the 6th placed F1 driver, or even watch Grant Mitchell in East Enders - well probably not that one, but is it possible now to do this?

[@LuthansaTerminal]

It's possible, that wouldn't be really anything particularly technically special - just having several video streams you can switch between. Interactive TV went away really I think because people couldn't be bothered. Plus they need x number of extra channels which take up bandwidth. The BBC's Red Button offering is now one TV channel, but lots of online ones

[@legobrickabrac]

Interactive TV for most people don't go much further then checking the name of the program there viewing and watching programs on catch up or demand.

[@letstalkcriterion]

almost as unlikely to happen as streaming?

[@wibblywobblytimeywimey7042]

Digital Television, pffft, it'll never catch on....

[@AlexanderEdoh2013]

Digital Television is already here.

[@wibblywobblytimeywimey7042]

Alexander Edoh I know, that was just a joke.

[@IanRM]

Alexander is not the brightest candle in the box.

[@sillygoose635]

IanRM of course he isn't

[@geofferzh79]

you dont say?! no way... this was originally showed in the 90's you know that yeah?

[@mikejandrews]

"no interference"... LOL! 😆

[@tylercoombes8493]

R.I.P. Cheat 4 (2013-2021)

[@malcolmfairs7752]

Good old SCART connectors

[@johnking5174]

The all or nothing attitude of digital television is the problem. At least with analogue you always got something. Yes it may not have been great, but you could at least tune in some kind of picture and sound. Remember moving the indoor aerial around to improve the reception? With digital it is all or nothing. The signal has to be there fully otherwise you get pixelation. Something this programme never told us about. When it was a snowy or bad weather day, yes your analogue might have been a bit poor, but you usually never lost the signal 100%. With digital you lose the lot. Bring back analogue.

[@AlexanderEdoh2013]

I love digital TV. Digital TV is much better because you get clear signal and no more fuzzy pictures.

[@johnking5174]

Yes, but the all or nothing signal is the problem. At least with analogue you could receive some picture, with digital if a tree is blocking your way no Sky/Freesat, with you live in an area with crowded houses, then no Freeview, and if you live in an non cable area your screwed.

[@AlexanderEdoh2013]

John King I live in London. I get Freeview HD (DVB-T2)

[@sbred6009]

I get Virgin Media and I am in a cable area so no problem 😘

[@Connie_TinuityError]

@@johnking5174 Yes, that's why Sky launched Sky Glass to remediate these issues

[@Majorhappysaccount]

The problem with this is it was on BBC choice, so they are preaching the people who already have digital.

[@johnking5174]

This was a repeat of the original broadcast aired on BBC One. Tomorrow's World always aired on BBC One. BBC Choice simply repeated it which is where we get this copy from.

[@kurt479]

This is more like a propaganda advert to sell people digital TV. All digital gave us was more channels, and lower quality.

[@marcse7en]

I got TERRESTRIAL DIGITAL TV when it first came out. Some nights the PIXELATION and BLOCKING was so bad, it was UNWATCHABLE, and one had to switch back to ANALOGUE! 👎 Thankfully, in 2020 things are improved, which is just as well, as analogue was switched off in my area in 2009!

[@likatwaaaaaaaa2466]

Have you ever wanted to know about digital television?? uhhhh .... NAH...lol

[@likatwaaaaaaaa2466]

lol digital text sucks so badly, compared with teletext, i miss teletext and the internet is the only thing thats better

[@likatwaaaaaaaa2466]

Digital is absolutely bobbins compared with analogue its a right pain in the butt to tune a portable telly these days, I even smashed up a mini portable because it was useless

[@sillygoose635]

nah, more like analog.

[@enoz.j3506]

Shame they didn't warn us of the utter crap the BBC would end up being, same goes for other channels ,with the minority people in the UK, being misrepresented as a majority,especially in adverts,i dont watch TV anymore & im a healthier person for it.

[@LeighRichards27]

Yawn....another gutless anonymous racist crank! BTW the ku klux klan are offering a free lifetime's subscription to their tv channel this month

[@lizichell2]

Digital TV sucks

[@marvy3022]

lizichell2 No. It's way better than analogue actually.

[@lizichell2]

@@marvy3022 it is a crappy dropped out pixelated mess

[@marvy3022]

@@lizichell2 No it isn't.

[@lizichell2]

@@marvy3022 soon as a storm hits it knocks it our

[@millionsurpriseeggtoyvideo3709]

analog is better also because it has anal in the name