Engineering tests for the new Freeview service have begun across the UK this afternoon.

UPDATED 4.30pm & 6pm - Channel names and numbers are beginning to appear. If you do a rescan the new BBC MUX B running 16 QAM is now operational for BBC4 / CBeebies and BBC Parliament. If you do a store channels these will become the primary channels while the ones on MUX 1 move to channel numbers 100-102 or 800-802 depending on your STB.

Further updates can be found here.

Currently channel names and numbers are appearing on the Crystal Palace transmitter; details are as follows from a Pace DTVA (except where noted) Please note that not all transmitters are fully configured so doing a store channels may lead to problems (we have had reports that doing a store on the Sandy Heath transmitter will cause a loss of ITV and C4 - 8th October 9am - this has now been reported fixed - 8th afternoon.):

Channel 01 - BBC1
Channel 02 - BBC2
Channel 03 - ITV1
Channel 04 - Channel 4
Channel 05 - five
Channel 06 - ITV2
Channel 07 - BBC THREE - CH 25 - MUX 1
Channel 09 - Teletext
Channel 10 - BBC FOUR - CH28 - MUX B
Channel 11 - Sky Travel - MC3
Channel 12 - UK History - MC4
Channel 16 - QVC
Channel 17 - TV Travel Shop
Channel 18 - The Hits - EMAP - MD1
Channel 19 - UK HomeStyle - UKTV - MD3
Channel 20 - F tn - Flextech - MD4
Channel 21 - TMF - MTV Europe - MD2
Channel 22 - Ch 22 - MD5
Channel 30 - CBBC - Ch 25 - MUX 1
Channel 31 - Cbeebies - Ch 28 - Mux B
Channel 32 (seen on old philips DTT box)
Channel 40 - BBC News 24
Channel 41 - ITV News
Channel 42 - Sky News - MC1
Channel 43 - Sky Sports News - MC2
Channel 44 (seen on old philips DTT box not on Pace)
Channel 45 - BBC Parliament - Ch 28 - Mux B
Channel 46 - Community - Ch 28 - Mux B
Channel 50 - FourText
Channel 51 - BBCi
Channel 52 - NTL
Channel 71 BBC 1 Xtra - (seen on old philips DTT box not on Pace)
Channel 75 - BBC R5 Live - channel broadcasting
Channel 76 - BBC R5L SportsX - channel broadcasting
Channel 77 BBC 6 Music - (seen on old philips DTT box not on Pace)
Channel 78 - BBC 7 - sound engineering test
Channel 79 BBC Asian - (seen on old philips DTT box not on Pace)
Channel 80 - BBC World Service - blank
Channel 81 - Smash Hits - blank
Channel 82 - Kiss - blank
Channel 83 - Kerrang! - blank
Channel 84 - Jazz FM - blank
Channel 85 - oneword - blank
100 - BBC Parliament - Ch 25 - Mux 1
101 - BBC 4 - Ch 25 - Mux 1
102 - Cbeebies - Ch 25 - Mux 1
103 - empty - Ch 34 - Mux C
104 - empty - Ch 34 - Mux C
701 - BBC - Ch 28 - Mux B
702 - BBC - Ch 28 - Mux B
703 - BBC - Ch 28 - Mux B

At this time ITN News has also changed its name to ITV News and Channel 5 is now called "five". There may be additional changes over the next few days -- if you do a store / save channels, you may need to repeat it in the future.

Note when using the old Philips DTT box there is a sigificant pause (around 5-6 seconds) when switching from a 16QAM channel to a 64QAM channel. There is no such pause on the newer Pace DTVA. However the Pace DTVA seems to have a bug on radion channels with their MHEG layer which once loaded removes the sound of the radio channel itself.

Further updates and news on these changes will be carried on Digital Spy as we get the information and don't forget to participate in the lively discussion on what is going on check out the DTT forum.



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Earlier today the depending on the type of receiver you have, these will appear in the 100 or 800 range of channels and are simple placeholders for future tests. On our Pace DTVA receiver in central London we get:

At the moment DS forum members are reporting that 20 new blank channels have appeared on a number of transmitters around the county.

100: MD1 - channel 29
101: MD2 - channel 29
102: MD3 - channel 29
103: MD4 - channel 29
104: Blank - channel 29
105: Blank - channel 29
106: Blank - channel 29
107: Blank - channel 29
108: Blank - channel 29
109: Blank - channel 29
110: Blank - channel 29
111: MC1 - channel 34
112: MC2 - channel 34
113: MC3 - channel 34
114: MC4 - channel 34
115: Blank - channel 34
116: Blank - channel 34
117: Blank - channel 34
118: Blank - channel 34
119: Blank - channel 34
120: Blank - channel 34

These would appear to be the Crown Castle MUX C & D from Crystal Palace (London). The blank ones do not have any video portion according to the technical information available from the Pace box. MHEG placeholder info is appearing giving details of some of the radio and data services.

Further information in the Digital Spy news pages and on the forums over the coming days and weeks in the run up to the Freeview launch at the end of the month.