Advantages: A steady stream of reading for hard SF fans
Disadvantages: Not easy to find for the casual reader

...I have been a subscriber to the US published Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine for several years now (this is short compared with many subscribers, its readership is typically very loyal), and have never had an overall bad issue. -- Overview -- Despite the title, the magazine is mainly science fiction. I will cover a breakdown of contents below. The science fiction is of the 'hard' variety. This means that the science is an integral part of the story. In 'soft' SF the story could effectively be set anywhere- it 'just happens' to be set (for example) space. In Analog the vast majority of the stories are firmly based on what could potentially happen (i.e. the science is realistic) - this is definitely not a fantasy magazine. However do not be put off by this; the characters, plots etc are not reduced in quality because of this... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to Set Up, Better quality?, Tup-up TV
Disadvantages: Instructions are almost unreadable, basic box

...Interactive digital TV will be the ruination of mankind, I tell you, and I have finally relented and gotten myself a digi-box. This one the Sagem ITD68 is available from Argos for a mere £39-99, a bargain for something that will bring about the premature destruction of humanity, it is also compatible with top-up TV (http://www.topuptv.com/) which for a initial fee of £27-99 and a monthly payment of £7-99 will give you an extra 11 channels of utter tripe on top of the 30 channels of utter tripe you get on freeview. Installing this is dead easy provided that you completely ignore the instruction manual which is a tad confusing to say the least, all you have to do is fix the scart lead in the appropriate slots attach the ariel to the box and the back of your telly, then switch it on. The box will automatically tune into the available... Read review

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Advantages: Great picture, lots of choice
Disadvantages: no ITV yet

...We upgraded to Sky digital from Analog abouyt a year ago after the analogue system packed up. There was a long waiting time for an installation, but this is probably not an issue any more as the rush seems to have died down somewhat. The dish itself is much smaller than the old one and the digibox is much sleeker. The picture quality is where most people will not the improvement, the movie channels can look stunning some times, especially the Widescreen channel. There are a good selection of music channels catering to every taste from R&B to Rock and Alternative. There is no shortage of news/documentary channels and Sky's EPG makes it easy to navigate and easier than ever before to see whats on and when. Highly recommended for all TV fans.... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent picture quality, compatible with Windows Media Center
Disadvantages: Supplied software is buggy, internal fan produces a bit of noise

...I had been looking into TV tuners for a very long time to watch TV in my room on my laptop and convert VHS and camcorder tapes to DVD. After extensive research, I decided to buy the LifeView card. It has a good range of connections (dual coaxial aerial, composite and s-video) and receives Freeview digital channels. Information from manufacturer: "The FlyDVB-T Duo CardBus is the world's first and only CardBus TV solution with both digital and analog TV functionality." Features: Digital and analog TV Supports worldwide TV standards (PAL, NTSC, SECAM) S-video and composite imputs Watch analog and digital TV at the same time (picture in picture) Recording function Timeshifting Scheduled recording Still image snapshots Before it was due to be delivered, I installed Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 to make use... Read review

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Advantages: Help on deciding to go digital for newbies, Olympus Camedia C3020 used as example
Disadvantages: No case made for or against other cameras nor traditional (film) photography

...the flash feature to fill in the harsh shadows caused by bright sunshine. This camera has both optical and digital zoom. My optical zoom feature is 3x from an effective 38mm lens. This is very handy for framing shots without relocating to the middle of a busy street! Also, portraits shot zoomed out to near 100 mm are more flattering because the fish-eye effect of a short lens is eliminated. Much more zoom than this is hard to handle without a tripod. I can obtain additional zoom digitally; however, optical zoom is much more important inasmuch as it retains the resolution of the shot. The digital zoom doesn’t add any detail; it is analogous to sitting closer to a television set where the graininess is simply enlarged without adding detail. Speaking of resolution, this is perhaps the key feature of any digital camera... Read review

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Advantages: YOUR CHOICE.
Disadvantages: YOUR CHOICE AGAIN.

...Who in this “digital” world would fork out around 1550 pounds –lotta dosh- for an “old” analog camera nowadays? Raise hands… two out of two thousand people? Just two nostalgic human beings in all this crowd? Can’t believe my eyes! Maybe it’s the sign of the times that everything is going digital. Analog –why on earth do they call them analog, for God’s sake?- cameras are increasingly becoming part of ancient history by leaps and bounds. Companies are bloodily competing to take home the biggest possible piece of the photographic digital market. They’ve made us think that digital is cool and of course it is in a way. But when you take into account the costs of a decent digicamera – memory cards and so on and on and on…- it comes clear than the 35 mm Nikon we bought the year dot offers better results –for the time being – than an equaly... Read review

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Advantages: cheap digital television
Disadvantages: sometimes breaks up late at night

...I originally got onDigital in March 1999 after I discovered that I was only watching a couple of the channels on TeleWest and they were available onDigital for half the monthly fee. I had not been happy with TeleWest customer service for a while and the only other option I had had been sky, I didn't want a dish on my house, so I had stuck with TeleWest. Anyhow after deciding to get onDigital I paid me money (£200) got my box and sign up and was happy. That was until onDigital started giving away free boxes when you signed up, but they wrote to me saying I would be paying less so I was still all right (not as happy as before) Then one day while looking on the QXL web site and saw they were selling prepaid boxes with a starting price of a pound, what a bargain I thought. Well after a little thought I decided a second box would... Read review

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Advantages: No waiting for installation. No Dish. Can be up and running the same day you sign up if you pick up your set top box from a retailer. Clear, crisp pictures and sound. Good quality channel line up, with unique service such as Internet access. Pay-per-view.
Disadvantages: Can require an aerial upgrade if it is damaged or old. Channel line up is improving but specialised channels need to be replaced with more general channels. (Now occuring, with the launch of new general channels such as Discovery Channel)

...ITV Digital (previously called ONdigital) is Britain’s only Digital Terrestrial Television platform. Basically in simple terms, if you hook up a set top box or Integrated Digital Television to your aerial, you will get ITV Digital. With ITV Digital you get free to air channels such as those from the ITV Network and those provided by the funding from your TV licence. Other channels are also available free to air such as the ITN News Channel. ITV Digital offers a wide range of programming from entertainment, old movies, new movies, lots and lots of sport, factual channels, kids, lifestyle and Music channels. These are available as either Primary or Premium channels, with premium channels being the more expensive. Also available is a pay per view events service, which offers blockbuster movies, musical events, sport and lots more... Read review

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Advantages: No waiting for installation. No Dish. Can be up and running the same day you sign up if you pick up your set top box from a retailer. Clear, crisp pictures and sound. Good quality channel line up, with unique service such as Internet access. Pay-per-view.
Disadvantages: Can require an aerial upgrade if it is damaged or old.

...***I have asked for this opinion to be removed as i have posted it in the ITVdigital section under this category. Please rate that opinion, not his one. Thanks!*** ITV Digital (previously called ONdigital) is Britain?s only Digital Terrestrial Television platform. Basically in simple terms, if you hook up a set top box or Integrated Digital Television to your aerial, you will get ITV Digital. With ITV Digital you get free to air channels such as those from the ITV Network and those provided by the funding from your TV licence. Other channels are also available free to air such as the ITN News Channel. ITV Digital offers a wide range of programming from entertainment, old movies, new movies, lots and lots of sport, factual channels, kids, lifestyle and Music channels. These are available as either Primary or Premium channels... Read review

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Advantages: No flickering, free to view channels mean you dont have to pay subscirtion, its easy 2 use, the text service is like the internet
Disadvantages: some but none that are to wrorry about

...I have been with the normal four channels for the past 13 years (im 14). And over the years I have noticed a great decreace in the qulity of the programs on offer. So ive changed to digital. I bought my self a nice wide screen tv with the digital decoder built into it and ive set it all up. For the first year I get to choose 6 of the subscription chanels I want for free which is good value seeing you dont have to pay subscription seeing there are already 10 or more free to view channels which have a lot more varaity and much better qulity shows that the normal anolog chanels. This is all very well, and what is even better is that if I wanted to continue to have the six subscription chanels that I get free for one year after that year has expired I only need to pay £9.99 per month which is much cheaper than sky! Seeing that digital... Read review

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