| Q: |
What is TELETEXT? |
| A: |
TELETEXT is a service operated by MediaCorp Pte Ltd, providing
the latest updated News and Information on demand. The service
is available 24 hours a day on a TV set that is capable of receiving
teletext. The pages are broadcast in a hidden part of the television
signal called the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI), and decoded
by the television set. |
|
|
| Q: |
Do I need to pay to get TELETEXT? Is my TV licence a subscription
fee? |
| A: |
No, Teletext is free. It does not receive any part of your TV
licence fee. The licence fee goes to the Singapore Broadcasting
Authority, which uses the funds for the production of public
service broadcast programmes. |
|
|
| Q: |
How do I view TELETEXT? |
| A: |
You need a teletext-capable television set to view the pages,
which are broadcast over Channel 5, Channel 8 and Channel NewsAsia.
Turn to the appropriate channel and press the TEXT button on
your remote control (see your TV instruction manual). You will
get page 100, which is the Main Menu page. It gives you the
page numbers where the various main categories are available
on that channel. The pages can be accessed by using your remote
control to key in a 3-digit page number. |
|
|
| Q: |
Is the TELETEXT content on the three channels different? |
| A: |
Yes. Each channel broadcasts a specific type of content to make
it easier for you to find the information you need: |
|
Channel
NewsAsia is our Business & Community hub. It contains financial
information such as share prices, unit trusts and currency rates;
news and sports; flight information; career listings; COE &
ERP rates; and ministry & town council listings. |
|
Channel
5 is an Entertainment and Lifestyle channel. It displays Games,
Health & Entertainment News, Music & Movie Reviews, Events,
Ringtone Downloads, TV/Radio Listings and Lottery Results. |
|
Channel
8 makes Classified Advertisements work for you. Categories include
Food, Beauty & Health, Property, Travel, Education, Club Memberships,
Home & Biz Needs, Services and Vehicles. |
|
|
| Q: |
Where can I find the content page? |
| A: |
Go to the Main Menu page 100. You will find the page numbers
for the various main categories. For detailed listings, go to
page 899. |
|
|
| Q: |
Why does it take so long for the pages to be displayed? |
| A: |
In a conventional teletext system, there is no way of relaying
the page number you key in back to the broadcaster. Instead,
all the pages are broadcast in rotation (known as a data carousel).
Once you have keyed in a page number, your TV waits for the
page to be broadcast and then displays it. Thus, the more pages
a system has, the slower it will be. The speed of page access
also depends on the size of your TV's memory chip. Some big
TVs are capable of caching between 80 and 100 teletext pages,
allowing you to flip quickly through your most frequently viewed
pages. |
|
|
| Q: |
Why are some pages quicker to display than others? |
| A: |
The
more popular pages are allocated more VBI lines to speed up
access. As the number of VBI lines is limited, not all pages
can be given the same amount of resources, and some will be
slower to load than others. |
|
|
| Q: |
Why do I get garbled text/jumping characters/missing words? |
| A: |
The problem could lie with your reception. If you are using
a roof-top antenna, try fine-tuning the channel. In some cases,
you may have to get a repairman to adjust the antenna. If you
are using cable, call SCV. |
|
|
| Q: |
Why are there no fancy graphics or fonts and only a few colours?
|
| A: |
This is due to the technical limitations of the conventional
TV decoder. The teletext screen has 23 lines of 39 characters
on each line. For the purpose of graphics, each character is
split into six pixels. Only eight colours are available. |
|
|
| Q: |
Why do the numbers keep scrolling after I key in a page number? |
| A: |
The page does not exist or has been removed. |
|
|
| Q: |
Why do some pages flip by themselves? |
| A: |
These are multi-pages that flip automatically after an average
time of 20 seconds. You can see which page you are on by looking
at the top or bottom right-hand corner of the screen eg. 2/5
is the second page out of five. To stop the page from flipping,
press the Hold button on your remote control. Press Hold again
to release the page (you will need to do so for the page to
be refreshed). |
|
|
| Q: |
What is Fastext? |
| A: |
Fastext is a shortcut key that allows you quick, one-button
access to a particular page. It works by downloading to your
TV cache the other four pages linked to the page you are reading.
Four coloured codes corresponding to four pre-selected pages
appear at the bottom of the screen. Select the colour button
on the keypad of your TV remote control to access your preferred
page. |
|
Fastext
links work best if you have been on the page for about 30 seconds
- the time needed to complete the downloading process. Viewers
with older Teletext TV sets that do not have Fastext will not
be able to use this feature. |
|
|
| Q: |
How do I advertise on TELETEXT? |
| A: |
Advertising
on Teletext is both cost effective and convenient. For classified
advertisements of up to five lines, you can submit your ads
through our Booking Centre - SMS. Categories include friendship, garage sale, handphones,
vehicles, property, jobs, travel, education and miscellaneous
services/items. For full page advertisements, please contact
our Sales Department. Details of the various advertising options
are available on Ch8 p101. |
|
|
| Q: |
Is the TELETEXT information on the web similar to that on TV? |
| A: |
The pages on the web may be delayed between 5 to 10 minutes
because of the time taken to capture all the Teletext pages. |
