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no teletext on modern TV sets?

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williamwright

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Dec 10, 2021, 9:15:41 AM12/10/21
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I have several fairly new tellys and they all do teletext. But my mate
says his doesn't and nor do the tellys of some of his mates. So it it
true that new tellys will do red button but not teletext?

Bill

MikeS

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Dec 10, 2021, 10:46:29 AM12/10/21
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This mostly applies to BBC channels but if the TV is correctly designed
it will do both on either Freeview or Freesat.

On my Panasonic the remote Text button opens the digital text pages, the
Red button opens the red button screens. There may be an issue with
newer Freeview Play sets. For a while I could not get the Text option to
work on Freeview but a forum post explained why (needed a data option
correctly set for each BBC channel).

Torx

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Dec 10, 2021, 11:02:37 AM12/10/21
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On 10/12/2021 14:15, williamwright wrote:
My new all-singing-all-dancing LG 48" oled does not have teletext, much
to the wifes annoyance.

Woody

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Dec 10, 2021, 11:44:02 AM12/10/21
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Teletext was switched off in 2009 so you if your TV has it there is
something wrong!

Red button text was supposed to be switched off last year because of the
(yet again) metrocentric decision that it is not required as most people
get their news on their phones. There was such an outcry that (I think)
it is now running until at least the back end of next year.

The annoying bit is that the best TV we have - a Samsung 32" smart TV -
doesn't have red button either, or rather it does but (on BBC) it just
uses iPlayer to restart the current program!

Mark Carver

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Dec 10, 2021, 11:58:36 AM12/10/21
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On 10/12/2021 16:43, Woody wrote:
> On Fri 10/12/2021 16:02, Torx wrote:
>> On 10/12/2021 14:15, williamwright wrote:
>>> I have several fairly new tellys and they all do teletext. But my
>>> mate says his doesn't and nor do the tellys of some of his mates. So
>>> it it true that new tellys will do red button but not teletext?
>>>
>>> Bill
>> My new all-singing-all-dancing LG 48" oled does not have teletext,
>> much to the wifes annoyance.
>
> Teletext was switched off in 2009 so you if your TV has it there is
> something wrong!

 World Standard Teletext (Ceefax and Oracle in old UK money) is still
used by broadcasters on digital platforms in other countries, so some
receivers still support it.

I think some UK satellite channels might use WST for subtitles (in
addition to the DVB versions) I've lost track ?

Max Demian

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Dec 10, 2021, 12:05:40 PM12/10/21
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On 10/12/2021 14:15, williamwright wrote:

If you mean digital text, the red button just does the same as pressing
the Text button, and is only available on BBC stations.

--
Max Demian

MikeS

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Dec 10, 2021, 12:16:57 PM12/10/21
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As I said earlier, if the TV is designed correctly pressing the Text
button is NOT the same as the Red button on BBC channels (Freeview or
Freesat).

Jeff Layman

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Dec 10, 2021, 1:05:04 PM12/10/21
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On 10/12/2021 14:15, williamwright wrote:
Is it possible they were designed at the time BBC intended to switch off
its text service? The manufacturers wouldn't want to waste money on a
non-existent service and so "designed it out".

--

Jeff

Torx

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Dec 10, 2021, 1:33:10 PM12/10/21
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On 10/12/2021 16:43, Woody wrote:
My old Samsung "smart" TV got Teletext, as does my LG set in the
bedroom. We can also get it via our DVR. I don't know why people think
it was switched off in 2009, it wasn't because there was a huge outcry
over it and the Beeb quietly changed it's mind!

MikeS

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Dec 10, 2021, 2:03:04 PM12/10/21
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FWIW Teletext died on UK terrestrial TV when the analogue shutdown
completed in 2012. The current BBC service (which they intended to close
more recently but relented) is digital text.

John Hall

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Dec 10, 2021, 2:29:16 PM12/10/21
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In message <sp0896$76i$1...@dont-email.me>, MikeS <Mi...@fred.com> writes
I suspect that the BBC's original intention to close their text service
may be why some modern TVs don't make provision for it. There would be
no point in offering a facility if it was expected to become redundant
in the very near future.
--
John Hall
"Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

Woody

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Dec 10, 2021, 3:05:53 PM12/10/21
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I think we should stop using the title of Teletext as that was nothing
like Digital Text of today.

Teletext was made of of very tiny square blocks that were made to merge
together by clever character design to look like text but which could
not have smooth corners and the like.

Digital text on the other hand is more like ANSI text and 'looks' like
proper text with smooth and rounded edges and is very much more readable.

Andy Burns

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Dec 10, 2021, 3:15:47 PM12/10/21
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Woody wrote:

> Teletext was switched off in 2009 so you if your TV has it there is something
> wrong!

It still exists on some satellite channels, at least on 19E2

As handy now for horoscopes, tarot reading and german 0898 equivalents as it
ever was.

Owain Lastname

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Dec 10, 2021, 4:11:02 PM12/10/21
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On Friday, 10 December 2021 at 16:58:36 UTC, Mark Carver wrote:
> I think some UK satellite channels might use WST for subtitles (in
> addition to the DVB versions) I've lost track ?

My HD FreeSat box has options for Subtitles and Teletext Subtitles. I haven't paid sufficient attention to whether some channels have only one or the other.

The Teletext Subtitles are much larger, and in blocky teletext character style. I can see larger text subtitles being useful, but I don't know why they have to be blocky.

Owain

MB

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Dec 10, 2021, 5:31:19 PM12/10/21
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On 10/12/2021 20:05, Woody wrote:
> Digital text on the other hand is more like ANSI text and 'looks' like
> proper text with smooth and rounded edges and is very much more readable.

But teletext was a better system than the digital text service and did
things digital text is not capable of doing.

It would be interesting to see some usage figure for digital text
compared with teletext. I have not used digital text for years and it
was only briefly then. In analogue days, I used teletext all the time.

David Woolley

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Dec 10, 2021, 6:13:39 PM12/10/21
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On 10/12/2021 20:05, Woody wrote:
> Teletext was made of of very tiny square blocks that were made to merge
> together by clever character design to look like text but which could
> not have smooth corners and the like.

That was only the case for very large fonts. The standard, for 40 x 24
character displays, fonts were properly character generated, as were
double sized versions.

The blocky graphics were done with special 2x3 blocky characters in an
alternative shift mode.

See PDF page 13 in
<http://www.elektronikjk.com/elementy_czynne/IC/SAA5050.pdf> for the
complete code.

Brian Gaff (Sofa)

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Dec 11, 2021, 5:00:07 AM12/11/21
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Bring back old teletext based on text not pictures.
It was big and chunky but people liked it.
I've not been able to view or listen to it since the old stuff went away,
since modern sets render the screen as graphics, it appears, so it cannot be
spoken.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
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Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"MikeS" <Mi...@fred.com> wrote in message news:sovsoj$e8n$1...@dont-email.me...

Richard Tobin

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Dec 12, 2021, 7:15:08 AM12/12/21
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In article <sp0kfk$sbb$1...@dont-email.me>, MB <M...@nospam.net> wrote:
>In analogue days, I used teletext all the time.

So did I, until the BBC news had a website.

It has been replaced by a far better technology, regardless of whether
it's analogue or digital television.

-- Richard

MB

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Dec 12, 2021, 9:01:04 AM12/12/21
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On 12/12/2021 12:11, Richard Tobin wrote:
> So did I, until the BBC news had a website.
>
> It has been replaced by a far better technology, regardless of whether
> it's analogue or digital television.

Is it better technology?

Where is the Newsflash button on the digital Text system? I learnt of
many major news stories through a newsflash appearing whilst watching
another programme.

charles

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Dec 12, 2021, 9:43:26 AM12/12/21
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In article <sp4vau$gk7$2...@dont-email.me>,
That comes up on your phone.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

MB

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Dec 12, 2021, 9:54:04 AM12/12/21
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On 12/12/2021 14:43, charles wrote:
> That comes up on your phone.


Not mine.


David Woolley

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Dec 12, 2021, 12:23:31 PM12/12/21
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On 12/12/2021 14:01, MB wrote:
> Where is the Newsflash button on the digital Text system?  I learnt of
> many major news stories through a newsflash appearing whilst watching
> another programme.

I believe that is the result of editorial policy, not a technical
limitation. I believe that the press red button prompt, and messages
say you will soon need to retune, are not built in but use the same sort
of mechanism as could be used to put up news flashes.

JNugent

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Dec 15, 2021, 9:42:15 AM12/15/21
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But was before t'internet, yes?

Rink

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Jan 13, 2022, 1:56:19 PM1/13/22
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Op 10-12-2021 om 17:43 schreef Woody:
> On Fri 10/12/2021 16:02, Torx wrote:
>> On 10/12/2021 14:15, williamwright wrote:
>>> I have several fairly new tellys and they all do teletext. But my
>>> mate says his doesn't and nor do the tellys of some of his mates. So
>>> it it true that new tellys will do red button but not teletext?
>>>
>>> Bill
>> My new all-singing-all-dancing LG 48" oled does not have teletext,
>> much to the wifes annoyance.
>
> Teletext was switched off in 2009 so you if your TV has it there is
> something wrong!
>


No it's not switched off at all tv-stations.
BBC still uses page 888 for subtitles. And that's on our cable-tv. in
the Netherlands.
Maybe there is more teletext on BBC TV in the UK?

Dutch and German TV have more teletext. It even is used for news and
information.
Not all tv-programs has teletext, especially commercial tv switched it
off, or are using it only for subtitles.

Rink

Rink

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Jan 13, 2022, 2:01:55 PM1/13/22
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Op 13-1-2022 om 19:56 schreef Rink:
Sorry, now I see a lot of you has already react the same as I did.

Rink

Andy Burns

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Jan 14, 2022, 3:39:53 AM1/14/22
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Rink wrote:

> Woody wrote:
>
>> Teletext was switched off in 2009 so you if your TV has it there is something
>> wrong!
>
> BBC still uses page 888 for subtitles. And that's on our cable-tv. in the
> Netherlands.

If Dutch cable TV has 888 subtitles, I suspect they're extracted from the UK
MHEG data and re-inserted locally as teletext?

Andy Burns

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Jan 14, 2022, 3:44:26 AM1/14/22
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Andy Burns wrote:

> If Dutch cable TV has 888 subtitles, I suspect they're extracted from the UK
> MHEG data and re-inserted locally as teletext?

Sorry, they'll be part of the MPEG-TS not MHEG

NY

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Jan 14, 2022, 4:45:41 AM1/14/22
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"Andy Burns" <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote in message
news:j4cr6m...@mid.individual.net...
Satellite broadcasting (DVB-S) of UK TV channels broadcasts three subtitle
streams (*): DVB (bitmapped overlay), teletext subtitles (888) and a third
teletext stream that is a mystery to me. I'm not sure how an old TV would
respond if it was fed (eg by analogue SCART) from a digital decoder box and
you pressed the teletext button and selected page 888. Do decoder boxes
generate teletext data locally from the satellite stream so as to drive the
TV's teletext decoder?


(*) Unlike terrestrial which just broadcasts the DVB subtitles.

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