All posts by MikeP
Below are all of MikeP's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Nick:
Further to that said by MikeB, you are required by law to have a TV licence if you watch or record live TV programmes, see http://www.tvlicensing.co…one.
That being the case it is entirely proper for those evading the law to receive a penalty when they are discovered and appear before a Court.
As regards BBC 'bias' I find they do display some leaning towards the views more to the left of centre than to the right, they are not completely unbiased in my view. In their pre-election coverage in News and Current Affairs programmes they were decidedly selective of stories that were anti-UKIP, anti-Tory, pro-Labour, pro-SNP, etc. They are especially selective when it comes to covering many matters of science, demonstrated by their refusal to include unbelievers in global warning in any discussion on the matter (science is not a democracy, a majority can easily be wrong as they were about the 'flat earth theory').
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James:
To clarify that said by MikeB, you will need a satellite receiver, maybe one that has a built-in PVR so you can record programmes. You will need a dish, but check whether planning permission is needed if you are in a conservation area or a listed building, and it should not be bigger than 100cm across, most southern areas don't need one that big but farther north may do. A quad LNB gives you flexibility to add additional devices, some TVs have sat receivers already and need one cable feed, the PVR normally needs two feeds (hence the quad advice). The adjustment of the dish is critical to get the correct signals properly, so it's worth having it professionally installed.
Some PVRs may have an RF output that can be distributed around the home, but they are getting fewer as more TVs offer digital reception only. It is possible to distribute the satellite signals too, but that gets complicated and loads of cables! Depending on the equipment design, it is usually possible to view one programme whilst recording another.
You can compare what programmes you would get by looking at the channel listings, at Freesat Channels - Free Satellite TV, HD and Radio Channels and
Freeview Channels | Freeview These show what channels are currently be broadcast.
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Tony Hill:
I believe that the different broadcasters use different methods to create the sub-titles. Some ar manually added and they seem to be better, but others use a software system of voice regonition that does make some basic errors - aometimes amusingly and sometimes annoyingly.
Adele:
I too have to wear hearing aids due to loss of high frequency hearing from working with TV sets for so many years plus an inner ear infection. I have set up a bluetooth system that takes the audio from my SKY box and links it to an in-ear earphone which I put in the ear that does not have a hearing aid. That lets me hear the TV much better and still hear family conversations, and there are no wires trailing across the room. One problem I discovered is that the headphone socket on the TV cuts out the speaker sound when anything is plugged into it! What we all need is an audio out socket that does not cut off the normal sound so we can hear as well as the family - hence I had to connect the bluetooth to the SKY box audio out phono sockets. Not ideal, but better than not hearing the commentary, dialogue, etc.
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Mike Higgins:
This website is nothing to do with the broadcasters, it is entirely independent of them. Therefore it is also reliant on the information made available from the responsible operator regarding status of transmitters and any engineering or maintenance work at them.
It seems that many problems relating to loss of some channels occur after some engineering work has been completed. There could be many reasons for that, such as an increase in output giving some viewers too much signal and hence loss of some services (check whether your TV has a signal strength display, it should be around 70% or so but not 100% as that is far too strong. See Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you There could be other reasons including aerial problems.
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Tricia Camm:
From what you have stated, it would appear that you already have a dish but may also already have a TV aerial. If you need/wish to add a second dish and you do already have 2 antennas (a TV aerial counts as one and a dish counts as another) then you may need to contact your local planning authority as only 2 antenna are permitted on any building, see Planning Portal - Satellite,TV and Radio Antenna for more details.
Changing a dual LNB for a quad is not difficult but does mean climbing up to where the dish is mounted. There will need to be an additional set of signal cables fitted as well.
Note also that there is no such thing as a 'digital aerial', all TV aerials - even the old ones - can receive Freeview signals perfectly well.
Hope that helps?
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MikeB:
The LG is connected to the soundbar via the optical connector - which is disabled when the headphone socket is used! That made me think about how to get a bluetooth 'transmitter' connected so that both headphones and speakers were working. It's a pity that there are no audio output sockets other than the headphone and optical ones, even the SCART does not output audio and there are no phono/RCA audio outputs, plenty of inputs but no other outputs.
That's the only negative aspect of this TV we have found - so far. Picture quality is good (and as an ex-engineer I can be rather critical), operation is easy and the facilities for terrestrial, satellite and auxilliary inputs are good. The internet connection is easy to use and can be useful, particularly for catch-up if we missed a programme. As the TV is only 8 months old I will not be replacing it anytime soon, so what we now have will suffice for some time.
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Martin Baines et al:
In addition to that said previously, there is the problem of how to control who has access to the services under a subscription funding model. Sky use a conditional access system that is incorporated within their receivers, the signals are 'scrambled' at source and unscrambled at the receiver if the access control allows. I know of no Freeview TV set that has any such conditional access system built-in already, though there are models that can have them fitted at considerable expense (it's cheaper to fit them during manufacture, but still expensive). So if the BBC went to a subscription only service everybody would need to change their TV equipment, not just the TV but also their PVRs as well, so that their viewing can be controlled by the CA system. That is an expense that nobody wants and I suspect that the BBC and Ofcom do not want to go down that route because of the expense for everyone and the major problems that will cause across the board.
The same problem arises with viewing via the internet, controlling who can watch what on a computer, smartphone, tablet, etc would also require a conditional access control system. Again, I know of no such equipment that has such a system built-in.
Then consider the administration costs involved. Sky charge a significant fee for the most basic package they offer and a large proportion of that goes to paying for the administration of the conditional access system, most of Sky's profits are made from selling the additional packages hence their constant promotion of the 'add-ons' like Sport, Movies, etc. If the BBC were to be subscription funded than they would have to charge fees sufficient to cover those costs over and above the normal running costs to produce and broadcast their programmes.
Thus the whole concept of a BBC subscription model does not work commercially nor practically. The whole idea is a non-starter in my view.
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Mike Ricketts:
Pleased see Freesat Channels - Free Satellite TV, HD and Radio Channels which gives a full official listing of the available channels on Freeview.
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MikeB:
Thanks for the ideas about splitting the optical and a DAC. My LG is a 585 model, so I presume that has the same/similar range of outputs.
I'll investigate the options you mention further once I have finished refitting the bathroom!
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Saturday 22 August 2015 8:53AM
olapel:
You could try contacting them using info@theafricachannel.com. They appear to be based in Los Angeles!