The idea of seperate channels for teletext is stupid as most people are not going to bother tuning to a teletext channel unless they are really bored and all the shopping channels have closed down for the night
I want teletext (BBC or ITV) to be there when I press the text or red button so that I can still hear or see the channel I am watching.
BBC has the best teletext at present, but ITV is closing in
Basically BBCi wins for me, as Teletext doesn't work on my old Nokia...well, if it does work, it must be very slow. Skytext, wouldn't know, I don't watch any of the Sky channels
BBCi. No question about it. It's good, but the numbering is VERY illogical IMO - and the index is just plain stupid. I like the new design a bit more though.
Sad that my PCI DTT card doesn't support it.
Thing is if they add in more pages to BBCi it'll slow it down even more won't it?
I find TeleText on 9 to be awkward to use and slower than it need be. It seems to have more updating problems than BBCi.
Teletext Digital has always been an absolute shambles. Both they and the BBC launched their digital text service in 2000. The BBC produced something fairly simple which worked. Despite a bit of tarting up over the years, present day BBCi Text is pretty much the same now as it was 5 years ago. Teletext on the other hand when it launched was a nasty, buggy thing which crashed the box frequently (although it did have page numbers). Eventually they completely gave up on it and started again with a new service which appeared when the Teletext logo changed. That service looked pretty, but was short on content and deathly slow to use and removed the page numbers which were so useful.
Now they've ditched that and gone for yet another new start. It re-instates page numbers, and it's been designed for speed rather than pretty graphics, but it's still useless. It's frequently out of date and inaccurate, and whilst page numbers have been re-instated, it's been done as some sort of quaint harking back to the past rather than as a useful feature (i.e. not every page has a number, meaning you still can't jump directly to certain sections but instead have to wade through a menu system). And for no particular reason, they've wasted the green button on a silly, redundant 'exit' feature which serves no useful purpose.
They've been hacking around with this thing for 5 years now, and it's still crap. As indeed is most digital teletext.
BBC has the best teletext at present, but ITV is closing in
The only Teletext which ITV has is the few surviving ancillary services and the GMTV pages on analogue. They have nothing else at all. How can that be considered 'closing in' on the BBC?
The idea of seperate channels for teletext is stupid as most people are not going to bother tuning to a teletext channel unless they are really bored and all the shopping channels have closed down for the night
What exactly are Teletext Ltd supposed to do then since they don't operate any TV channels to link from? And the BBC do provide a direct link to the services, you don't have to use the LCN.
Well BBCi has a rubbish tv guide, hile teletext's is better. However, Teletext starts fast on my DTR100, but then slows down. On my Ondigital box teletext actually works at a deacent speed. But my favouite text service has to be Sky Text - all its missing is a tv guide. I miss Teletext tv guide:(
i give teletext on 9 a 9/10 and bbci a 6/10. what would others give?
i think teletext is the best service as it looks nicest and works best. a lot of people say its slow but it works really quickly with my humax. the only downside for it is its on its own channel, which makes bbci the easier to get to and you can carry on watching tv. plus i wish pressing text would take you straight out instead of asking if you are sure. the front screen says "you can change channels from here" so it doesnt need to say 'are you sure'.
the problems with bbci is the bridge should be removed, the blue menu re-instated, more pages should have page numbers, shouldnt have to press OK after entering page numbers, all page numbers should be 3 digits, sometimes only 1 paragraph (4 lines) fits on a page - it should fit more, green should be made to hide/restore the service as shortcuts is pointless and there are probably others too.
Is anyone familiar with the equivalent services on the mainland or in Australia (whom I understand use a different type of software) and how it compares to the British version?
BBCi for me, I think it's great! SKYText way too slow & as 079700 has said, who wants to tune into a seperate channel just for teletext? - I've got a Thomson DTi1000 & since the new download a few weeks back I've found all the text services are now very quick (BBCi, SKYText, the Hits video selections etc) - but having the EPG is brilliant as none of the text services seem to have a particularly great TV guide.... IMO
BBCi. No question about it. It's good, but the numbering is VERY illogical IMO - and the index is just plain stupid. I like the new design a bit more though.
Why's the Index stupid?
Thing is if they add in more pages to BBCi it'll slow it down even more won't it?
Yes. BBCi is like Ceefax - the more you put in it, the slower it will get as Sky Text shows nicely - bung in a load of very heavy ads and the thing will crawl.
Also don't forget that teletext capable TVs are built on a technology in use for 30 - they process it very fast. Early DTT boxes in contrast were slow and cluckly, but some of them now are outshining traditional teletext. Try digital text on a Sony box or a Goodmans GDB3 and man do they fly - easily faster that the traditional text.
I agree that the BBCi page numbering is illogical, but I suppose it's the best way of doing it while Ceefax is still around. As soon as Ceefax is eventually shut down, which will probably be at analogue switch-off, they'll be able to renumber the pages, all as three digits, because they won't have to worry about any being the same as Ceefax anymore.
I rarely use Teletext because it's stupid to have to change to a different channel to use a text service. I sometimes use Sky Text if I'm watching a Sky channel, but most of the time it's BBCi.
Comments
Read above dippy
I find TeleText on 9 to be awkward to use and slower than it need be. It seems to have more updating problems than BBCi.
I wouldn't accuse people of being "Dippy", when you call it "Digital TeleText". The name is "Teletext".
Johnny English thought you were comparing BBCi to the analogue equivalent service.
I noticed you changed the title.
SkyText is better at the moment BTW.
Yes I did- I thought he was asking which is best Ceefax or BBCi and accidently put TeleText instead.
I want teletext (BBC or ITV) to be there when I press the text or red button so that I can still hear or see the channel I am watching.
BBC has the best teletext at present, but ITV is closing in
Sad that my PCI DTT card doesn't support it.
Thing is if they add in more pages to BBCi it'll slow it down even more won't it?
Now they've ditched that and gone for yet another new start. It re-instates page numbers, and it's been designed for speed rather than pretty graphics, but it's still useless. It's frequently out of date and inaccurate, and whilst page numbers have been re-instated, it's been done as some sort of quaint harking back to the past rather than as a useful feature (i.e. not every page has a number, meaning you still can't jump directly to certain sections but instead have to wade through a menu system). And for no particular reason, they've wasted the green button on a silly, redundant 'exit' feature which serves no useful purpose.
They've been hacking around with this thing for 5 years now, and it's still crap. As indeed is most digital teletext.
The only Teletext which ITV has is the few surviving ancillary services and the GMTV pages on analogue. They have nothing else at all. How can that be considered 'closing in' on the BBC?
What exactly are Teletext Ltd supposed to do then since they don't operate any TV channels to link from? And the BBC do provide a direct link to the services, you don't have to use the LCN.
I am right you tell me. Toasted cheese on a gondolas floor.
i think teletext is the best service as it looks nicest and works best. a lot of people say its slow but it works really quickly with my humax. the only downside for it is its on its own channel, which makes bbci the easier to get to and you can carry on watching tv. plus i wish pressing text would take you straight out instead of asking if you are sure. the front screen says "you can change channels from here" so it doesnt need to say 'are you sure'.
the problems with bbci is the bridge should be removed, the blue menu re-instated, more pages should have page numbers, shouldnt have to press OK after entering page numbers, all page numbers should be 3 digits, sometimes only 1 paragraph (4 lines) fits on a page - it should fit more, green should be made to hide/restore the service as shortcuts is pointless and there are probably others too.
Neither, the both are just so incredibly slow.
Is anyone familiar with the equivalent services on the mainland or in Australia (whom I understand use a different type of software) and how it compares to the British version?
QVC seem to manage very well using the old analogue text service on their satellite service.
I expect ITV to be similar to Channel 4 and Sky Text - crammed with adverts!
It could be between BBCi, Digital Teletext, Sky text, Ceefax or Analogue Teletext.
I would like to see the outcome.
Why's the Index stupid?
Yes. BBCi is like Ceefax - the more you put in it, the slower it will get as Sky Text shows nicely - bung in a load of very heavy ads and the thing will crawl.
Also don't forget that teletext capable TVs are built on a technology in use for 30 - they process it very fast. Early DTT boxes in contrast were slow and cluckly, but some of them now are outshining traditional teletext. Try digital text on a Sony box or a Goodmans GDB3 and man do they fly - easily faster that the traditional text.
I rarely use Teletext because it's stupid to have to change to a different channel to use a text service. I sometimes use Sky Text if I'm watching a Sky channel, but most of the time it's BBCi.