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Top Gear goes HD on Freesat

From November 15th, another of the BBC's premier shows goes into high definition.

From November 15th, another of the BBC's premier shows goes int
Published on by on UK Free TV

Dust off your racing whites as Top Gear in high definition is on its way to a living room near you, completely subscription-free on Freesat. The show starts from 15th November on the BBC HD channel.

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are back in the studio bringing the nation's most popular driving programme back to our screens and for the first time in glorious high definition. While the presenters may not be the most popular candidates for HD, the cars, stunts and celebrity guests certainly are.

Other BBC HD highlights on Freesat include Life, Strictly Come Dancing and The Thick of It. Meantime ITV HD are showing the Star Wars series in its entirety, as well as UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and England home international football matches.

A long-standing BBC favourite, Top Gear is the perfect showcase for High Definition. With a picture five times the quality of standard definition TV, HD shows every wheel spin, every understeer at 'Gambon' and even host Jeremy Clarkson in pin-sharp clarity.



So get ready to buckle up for all the favourite Top Gear features: 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car', the OTT driving challenges and the mystery surrounding the identity of The Stig but now in the ultimate format and all completely subscription free on Freesat.







Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom


Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

John Hindley (Aerial Services)
Tuesday 10 November 2009 4:20PM
Hello Brian.

Just griping, but how does one check the quality of transmissions on the missing multiplex on ch.29 from Stockland Hill transmitter. Obviouly the dependant relays are only transmitting 2 multiplexes so the same problem arises also. I realise that the broadcasters are reserving this MX for HD but surely they could at least transmit a blank carrier for checking purposes.

Kind regards,
Briantist
Tuesday 10 November 2009 4:37PM
John Hindley (Aerial Services): Until 30th September there were services on PSB3, but they have been cleared. I think most are still outputting and empty PSB3 in 64QAM mode, but this may have changed.

Bob Loader
Wednesday 11 November 2009 3:12PM
I cannot find ITV HD on my freesat tuner.
Is it available yet?
Chris
Wednesday 11 November 2009 4:11PM
Bob, ITV HD is only available using the red button when a HD programme is broadcast. Normally one or two programmes are broadcast each day, check out www.itv.com link icon HD | ITV HD Schedule - ITV Channels for the weekly schedule.
Briantist
Wednesday 11 November 2009 6:36PM
Bob Loader: ITV HD will be replaced by a full ITV1 HD on December 2nd.
Hawke
Wednesday 11 November 2009 8:37PM
What about Channel 4 HD, as I understand it C4 now receive PSB money so do we not have a right to receive it on Freesat, we have C4 SD so what is the problem with C4 HD.
Briantist
Thursday 12 November 2009 7:26AM
Hawke: Channel 4 has always been a PSB. C4 HD will be on Freeview HD, it's waiting for a slot on Astra 2D to go on Freesat.
Bob Loader
Thursday 12 November 2009 5:05PM
Thanks Chris for the ITV HD information, I will be on the look out for it.
Bob Loader
Thursday 12 November 2009 5:07PM
Thanks Braintist for the ITV HD update
Hawke
Thursday 12 November 2009 8:36PM
Thanks for the info on C4 Briantist perhaps the report I read said they were getting more! And its great that ITV1 HD is getting rid of the "red button". I don't know how others get on but I find that if recording ITV1 and the program starts late the end is missing, as additional time cannot be programmed. (Humax FoxSat).
Briantist
Thursday 12 November 2009 9:20PM
Hawke: Yes, it will be much less annoying with a proper service, with good listings too.
BobtheBodger
Friday 13 November 2009 4:38PM
It would be a great assistance to many of us out in the great non-techy world if media pundits could differentiate in their offerings between the various flavours of HD. I suggest HD(720), HD(1080i) and HD(1080p). Which for example is intended in this article??? and what do we need to have in the way of hardware to get it??
Briantist
Friday 13 November 2009 5:54PM
BobtheBodger: Freesat HD is 1080-line, Freeview HD (when it starts) will be 720-line. There's an article www.ukfree.tv link icon A comparison of TV, HDTV and computer monitors | ukfree.tv - independent digital TV + switchover advice, since 2002 for comparisons.
MICHAEL WHITBROOK
Saturday 14 November 2009 9:45PM
recently i recorded a programme on my freesat foxsat-hdr,but accidently deleted a programme is there any way i can restore this programme back to its original
Briantist
Saturday 14 November 2009 9:57PM
MICHAEL WHITBROOK: No, but you might be able to grab it from a catch up service on the computer.
MICHAEL WHITBROOK
Sunday 15 November 2009 9:51PM
thank you,could you recommend one as it was one of the finalists on bbc four of the leeds int piano comp.
Fred Whalley
Tuesday 17 November 2009 4:46PM Cirencester
Anyone help
I need to copy a HD documentary I recorded on my Humax Freesat box, I have a 4GB pen drive that is not large enough, what size will the hour long program in HD be ?, I have a spare portable hard drive with my HP PC , but Humax box say it needs formatting and does not recognize it , so how do I format it .

thanks Fred
Briantist
Tuesday 17 November 2009 5:06PM
Fred Whalley: You might need to format the drive using the FAT32 file system, rather than the NTFS system.

Use the "format" right click option when in the Windows Explorer "My Computer" and select FAT32.
David Haworth
Friday 5 February 2010 4:25PM
Hi Brian - Did I see you saying that full ITV HD is now being broadcast. I haven't seen it in the Granada region - as far as I know we are still on the red button.
Also had lots of very annoying intermittent clicks when watching "Antiques Roadshow" Sunday 30th Jan but not on the following "Larkrise".
Any thoughts?

Hawke
Friday 5 February 2010 7:52PM
Hi Brian - Yes do you know what has gone wrong with the switch of ITV HD over to a dedicated slot rather than RED button, 2nd Dec 09 has long gone.
Also any news on C4 HD.
Briantist
Sunday 7 February 2010 11:32AM
Hawke: There is going to be a "PR launch" of Freeview HD before the World Cup, when there is kit in the shops to buy.

ITV1 HD was also waiting for clearance from Ofcom (from the advertising market share perspective) and this has now happened.

Channel 4 non-appearance is very disappointing.
Briantist
Sunday 7 February 2010 11:38AM
David Haworth: There was a problem because of the CRR agreement (an advertisting sales agreement imposed when Carlton and Granada merged to form ITV plc) and this delayed the introduction of a proper ITV1 HD (and ITV1+1) and this has been cleared - www.guardian.co.uk link icon  Abolish ad rules, says ITV after minor change to CRR announced |
Media |
guardian.co.uk
Hawke
Sunday 7 February 2010 10:06PM
Brian - You seem to have answerd a question I didn't ask, I was already aware of the Freeview situation, I was talking Freesat, perhaps someone is waiting elswhere for that answer.
Thanks for the update on the ITV1 HD situation. And to the Channel 4 HD non-appearance, I take it you have no news on that one.
Briantist
Monday 8 February 2010 7:27AM
Hawke: I thought I said, Channel 4 will appear for the PR Launch of Freeview HD.
David Haworth
Monday 8 February 2010 9:33AM
Brian - many thanks - any thoughts on the very annoying clicks watching 'Antiques Roadshow" on Freesat HD.
It was so bad we switched to 'lowly' digital to watch - but no problem with following programme.
Briantist
Monday 8 February 2010 11:26AM
David Haworth: Do you listen to the "stereo" sound on Freesat HD, or the "5.1" version. You might find that if you are listening to the "5.1" sound you might get audio artefacts when it mixes down to stereo?
David Haworth
Monday 8 February 2010 6:24PM
Dolby Pro-logic 11 - 5.1 on Freesat HD via Humax which is what it is all about - why would anyone want to listen to stereo with no centre speaker where all the dialogue is.
My main point was that the clicks only happened on "Antiques Roadshow" and it was unwatchable - it did not happen on the following programme - "Larkrise"
Funnily enough this is not the first time it has happened on Antiques Roadshow.
Briantist
Monday 8 February 2010 6:49PM
David Haworth: As long as the 5.1 output is hooked up to a 5.1 system then that's OK. I could be a technical fault with the Antiques Roadshow recording. Can you describe the fault in more detail, like which speaker, the frequency and type of click.
David Haworth
Tuesday 9 February 2010 9:41AM
Quite a high frequency, loud enough and frequent enough to make it unwatchable - a bit like when the picture pixelates and you get a crack with it.
I will see if it happens again next weekend.
Briantist
Tuesday 9 February 2010 10:04AM
David Haworth: But otherwise your HD pictures and audio are 100% fine?
David Haworth
Wednesday 10 February 2010 10:53AM
Absolutely fine - 5.1 on Dolby Prologic 11 is exceptionally good - just seemed to happen on the one programme - surely can't only be me?
Can you clarify if and when we will get Full ITV HD on Freesat.
Briantist
Wednesday 10 February 2010 12:26PM
David Haworth: I don't think it's you at all, however no-one else seems to have reported such problems.

ITV1 HD is expected to relaunch as a full service in March.
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