Buying Freeview PVR - future-proofing

[koonl]

Hi all,

Need some answers to help future-proof my Freeview/PVR purchase:

1: Are there any FV channels at the moment in HD, and any on trial?
2: Will there be any HD channels in the future if "no"?
3: Is there such a thing as an HD FV PVR?
4: If "no", is there such a thing as an upscaling FV PVR?
5: I saw a Topfield FV PVR at Currys, with a couple of CI slots. I thought the purpose of Freeview was to watch free telly. Why would there be a CI slot in a FV box? Are there any pay channels on Freeview?
6: Does an DAB FM omni ariel feed into the same "terrestrial input" in a "loftbox"?

Thanks all.

[LV426]

1: No. There is (was?) aBBC trial in the London area, but that's all it is (was) - a trial, with no promise of long-term broadcasts.
2: Probably, but there are no concrete intentions at this time.
3: No.
4: I don't think so. In any case, your Plasma TV has a scaler onboard and scales everything incoming up to the panel's resolution anyway.
5: The Freeview platform is also used for PAYTV broadcasts, but the offering (TopUpTV) has recently changed to mean that you really need their proprietary PVR to make any use of it. I understand that the Setanta Sport channel uses a CAM and CI slot. Hence the CI slot is of limited use at present. Of course, things may well change.
6: That I don't know. Interestingly, though, you can get a good range of digital radio stations using Freeview, and, I gather, with less compression (and hence better audio) than via DAB.

[SamRadford]

Originally Posted by koonl

6: Does an DAB FM omni ariel feed into the same "terrestrial input" in a "loftbox"?

Loft box info here: http://www.satcure.com/tech/lofthelp.htm
See the various diagrams.