Welcome to the world of VoIP

Yesterday was the day I ditched BT and their expensive ISDN 2e service. I’d had ISDN for around fifteen years – back when I started writing about the internet, it was one of the simplest ways of getting a relatively fast connection. I carried on using it both as a way of providing backup for other net connections and because it provides some useful features for people who work from home.

For example, an ISDN 2 line allows two simultaneous calls, and you can have blocks of numbers allocated to the line – I had the typical ten number block, allowing me to have a main number for business, one for fax, one for family, one ‘public’ number in the phone book, plus others that were used at various times for things like specific projects, or to give my then lodger a separate phone number on which he could be reached. It was all routed through a small Euracom 141 phone system (originally made by Ackermann), which also allowed clever stuff like automatic diversions based on time of day, so if you call by business number any time other than 1000-1800 weekdays, you get voicemail, and I don’t get disturbed.

But times move on; my Euracom died earlier this year, and I’ve been using a FritzBox as a stop-gap, while porting my numbers to a VoIP service (provided by Gamma Telecom). One of the reasons for doing that is BT’s charging policy for ISDN; you get the feeling they never wanted it to succeed, certainly not when  a typical quarter’s bill would come to £151.41 (plus VAT) for line rental and services, with calls making up a measly £24.96. That line rental bundle is made up of £103.41 for the basic rental, £2.40 for the first two numbers, £19.20 for the additional ones, £8.25 for the ability to divert calls, another £8.25 for caller ID display, and finally £9.90 for the ‘Total Care’ package that I took out after one too many BT mistakes had left me without any service at all. It’s really pretty overpriced, in my view, and a good example of how BT puts prices up on some services, while pretending to keep them low overall. (And don’t forget the £9 charge just for not letting BT, with their broken billing systems that have overcharged me so often in the past, have the keys to your bank account).

So, VoIP. And what can it do for me? Well, my VoIP service is about £10 a month for a SIP trunk with two channels, so the same call capacity as BT. No extra charges for number rental, or call diversion, or caller ID. All those things are taken for granted, and I have a relatively low-powered PC (a Via mini-ITX system) running Windows XP Pro with 3CX.

Now, I have the same numbers, and I can do most of what I did with my Euracom and ISDN via 3CX (a few things I’m still working on, some you can’t do with the free version of 3CX).

And I can do more clever things; my Nokia E72 connects to the phone system. All my numbers are stored on that in international format, and 3CX works out what to do when I call via the Nokia, which can be done over WiFi  when I’m in the house, or using SymVPN to connect back into the phone system when I’m somewhere else (see this post for more). So, I can be anywhere I like, find a number on the Nokia, select ‘Internet call’ and as far as the person I’m calling is concerned, it looks like I’m sat at my desk in Hackney. If there isn’t a network connection to let me use VoIP, I can just dial using the mobile as normal – no need to store numbers in different formats at all.

Diverting calls over the internet effectively costs me nothing. As far as most people are concerned, nothing’s changed – they dial the same number to reach me. But for people who live back home in Winchester, I have a local number there, so they can dial me with six digits instead of eleven. Thanks to a service called IPkall, I also have a number in Washington state’s 360 area code, where my half-sister lives. Rather than being a separate VoIP account, that simply directs the number to any existing SIP address you have.

Voicemails are delivered by email, as well as being available from the phones; so since I use the excellent ProfiMail program on my E72, I can pick them up easily too.

And for my own convenience, 3CX makes it simpler to dial people I call a lot; key in a six digit number, and it’s set up to add the dialling code for Winchester automatically. Enter eight digits instead, and it’ll assume a London number, prefixing 020. Enter just four, and it’ll add the prefix for the numbers at Incisive Media, where I work with quite a few people, so I can effectively just dial their extension numbers, like I do when I’m in the office. And any number starting with 118, or just three digits long, is passed to the FritzBox and on to the analogue phone line that provides my DSL service.

There are some other useful goodies too, like ‘digital receptionists’ that answer the call and give people a menu; I’ll never have to listen to a telemarketing recording again, because it won’t know which button to press to reach me.

I’ll be blogging a bit more about the technical side of this later – but for now, so long, BT. I’m really not sad to be leaving you, and I’ll be glad of the extra cash in my pocket.

What is Project Canvas?

If you want to know the answer to that question, then why not pop along to my feature on RegHardware for the answer.

You’ll find the official website here.

i-Can EasyHD to get FreeviewHD surround updates

ADB, the makers of the i-Can Easy HD receiver that came out top in the group test I did for Register Hardware, tell me that they’re working on updating the box for Dolby Digital output.

This is likely to happen in two stages, with the first update in around six weeks to give two channel Dolby output, and then another update later in the year to give full 5.1 Dolby Digital surround.

More info when I have it.

What’s in your FreeviewHD box?

There are quite a lot of Freeview HD boxes around these days, but did you realise quite how many of them are the same? And that one company is responsible for a huge number of the budget boxes?

Step forward Vestel, a large Turkish company that makes just about everything electrical that you can think of, even though you’ve probably never heard of them. They’ve been making boxes for Freeview for years, including plenty of Freeview+ recorders, and were also one of the first companies to pass the FreeviewHD certification tests, with their T8300 receiver. They work with Cabot Communications, a UK company that creates some of the software, like the interactive engine, so it’s not entirely a foreign affair.

You won’t find Vestel boxes on UK shelves under their own name, though. They manufacture kit that’s branded by other companies, often for their in-store brands, and sometimes even with the suggestion of Britishness. So, the Bush DVB-680, far from being the product of a once well-known UK brand is actually the Argos version of the Vestel T8300. The same is true of the Linsar FHDF1 sold by John Lewis. When Linsar says on their site “Linsar is a British company, manufacturing affordable technology” it really means “paying Vestel to make it for us.”

You’ll also find Vestel kit in stores like Tesco, Asda, and plenty of other places too. Many of the budget Freeview HD boxes around at the moment, including some on eBay, are the Vestel T8300, with each brand having a slightly different front panel.

How can you tell? One way is to look at the sticker on the bottom, with the model number, where you’ll see ‘T8300’ as part of the designation; another give-away is the on-screen displays, which all look like the Bush – you can see the EPG in my gallery here – and the only-its-mother-could-love-it remote control.

The other way you can find out which boxes are the Vestel T8300 is by keeping an eye on the software update page of the DTG website. As I write this, it lists a firmware update for the T8300, and helpfully lists all the models that covers. So here’s a handy list for you.

The Vestel T8300 is currently also known as:

• Antiference HDSB
• Bush DVB680
• Digihome Freeview HD Box
• Ferguson F02HD
• ISIS ISI-DVBT2
• Krystel DVBT2
• Linsar FHDF1
• Lowry GSHDTB1001
• Luxor LUX-DVBT2-690
• Metronic T2HD
• Xenius DVB100HD
• Finlux DVBT2665
• Technika STVHDV2010

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that the T8300 is a bad box; it’s affordable, and also one of the very few that will produce a Dolby Digital output, though it lacks polish in other areas. But don’t be fooled by the marketing people into thinking that you’re somehow supporting a plucky British company against the big Japanese and Korean electronics giants.

It’s also worth pointing out that, just because some products under a particular brand are made by Vestel, that doesn’t mean they all are. Quite often a company will have different products in their range made by different people.

Buyer beware: Freeview HD bargains aren’t always what they seem

Freeview HD is a brand new technology and like most of those, it comes with a price tag attached; when I recently looked at set top boxes, most came in at over £100, with some costing up to £170. When you’re used to the incredibly low prices that a standard definition Freeview box can be found for, it’s not surprising that many people are hunting for bargains, or complaining that the price is too high for HD.

It’s instructional to remember that when the first Freeview (or OnDigital as it was then) boxes appeared, they cost an awful lot too, until OnDigital joined Sky in giving away free boxes with a subscription. Now a better featured receiver is much, much cheaper those those first boxes, and the same will happen with HD – probably even faster.

Not everyone can be patient, and it’s no surprise that people are turning to sites like eBay in search of bargains. And having seen questions on AVForums regarding one potential bargain, I though it prudent to remind people to check carefully what they’re spending their money on.

A quick search for ‘Freeview HD’ on eBay turns up plenty of products. Some of them are indeed what you’ll be looking for, but there are equally plenty that won’t, and that you need to be careful about.

Check the specs

First, there’s the problem of what you search for. Type in ‘Freeview HD’ and you’ll see plenty of TV sets turn up with that in the description; look more closely though and they’re ‘Brand X Freeview HD Ready TV’ – and you really need to imagine a comma between ‘Freeview’ and ‘HD Ready.’ As I’ve mentioned before, ‘HD Ready’ means that a set can display an HD picture, from an external source, and these are typically HD Ready sets, that have a Freeview tuner, which will only be standard definition, rather than a built in Freeview HD tuner.

Worse still, I found two auctions for products described as ‘Freeview HD’ which clearly are not.

One was a Philips DTR 5010 set top box, and the other was a TV tuner for in car entertainment systems. Both can indeed decode high definition pictures that use the H.264 codec. But what neither will do is tune in to the UK’s high def broadcasts in the first place, because they don’t have the DVB-T2 tuners necessary.

That, in short, is what you need to check for; the UK Freeview HD system uses brand new DVB-T2 technology, not the DVB-T that’s used for HD in other countries. If you don’t see it on the specification sheet, then it almost certainly isn’t there, and the receiver will only pick up HD channels in other European countries that use the older system.

Another thing you can check for, if you want to be sure, is the ‘QAM’ types listed on a spec sheet, which is one of the parameters of the digital broadcast; standard def services in the UK use QAM16 and QAM64; sometimes the number is listed before, like 16-QAM. Freeview HD, as part of the DVB-T2 system, uses QAM256. No mention of either DVB-T2 or QAM256 is pretty much a dead giveaway that the product you’re looking at is not capable of receiving Freeview HD, and you should walk away because it’s not the bargain that you were hoping for.

And while I have your attention, remember that there’s no such thing as an HD aerial.

TVs vs set top boxes, and an erratum

Having looked at both Freeview HD TVs and set top boxes for RegHardware, it’s interesting to note that there is a marked difference in the audio capabilities between the two types of product.

When I looked at set top boxes, of the eight products I’d played with and evaluated, only two were able to produce any sort of Dolby Digital output from Freeview HD, which is a pretty poor showing, frankly, for reasons that have been done to death on the blog over the last six weeks.

However, when it comes to TV sets with Freeview HD built in, the situation is almost entirely reversed – of the six sets tested, all but one (the Panasonic) were able to produce a Dolby Digital signal.

In the original review, I said that the LG set that I tested, the 42LE5900, could not produce Dolby Digital from the HE-AAC broadcasts on Freeview. I’d like to correct that, having taken it out and checked again, after noting that it’s in the list that What Hifi have of working equipment. You can indeed get a Dolby Digital signal – but only if you first turn off the built in speakers via the menus. If you leave them turned on, then the optical connection simply outputs a stereo PCM signal. I’ve updated my own list of tested equipment accordingly.

So, that’s two out of eight set top boxes that do provide Dolby Digital output, and five out of six TVs. Clearly, at the moment, the chances are probably a bit better with a TV, but even so, you would still be well advised to do your research carefully before parting with any cash.

Not quite so simple

You may notice that I said “any sort of Dolby Digital” signal above. That’s because things are rarely as simple as they seem, and some of the equipment that is creating a Dolby Digital signal from Freeview may only be creating it with two channels, rather than the full 5.1 channel surround mix.

Right now, my AV processor doesn’t tell me the number of channels it has in its Dolby Digital input, so I can’t comment on each product, unless I happen to have it hooked up when the BBC is broadcasting the test signal. I’m looking for replacement kit, and when I have found something suitable, I’ll be able to provide more information with the test results.

EPG gallery – FreeviewHD

For your delectation and delight, here’s a little gallery of images, showing the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) on fifteen different Freeview HD products. This is what you’ll be using to find what you want to watch, unless you’re still buying a printed TV guide. Perhaps, with some of these, you probably should…

From the Bush set top box; you'll find the same guide in the Linsar and other boxes made by Vestel - look for 'T8300' in the sticker on the bottom

Digital Stream's twin tuner recorder - which seems to take a little while to fill up the EPG

Goodmans set top box; expect the Grundig to look similar - same box, different brand

Humax HD-FOX T2. Their recorder will probably look very similar

iCan's EasyHD - Editor's choice in my roundup for RegHardware

The Icecrypt T2200 - actually made by Topfield

LG's TVs use this guide - not the best use of screen size, perhaps?

Taken from the FreeviewHD recorder, but the Panasonic TV's also have those adverts in their guide

The Philips set top box is actually designed by Pace, who license the name

Sagem's Freeview HD recorder

This is the guide from Samsung's Freeview HD set - another RegHardware winner

Sharp's FreeviewHD set top box

Sharp's Quattron FreeviewHD set - but it's test firmware; there's no Freeview HD logo

The EPG on Sony's TV set

Toshiba's EPG. You can even change the colour coding