All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
melissa: OK - a postcode would help, so we can see what channels your supposed to be getting.
However, your TV is telling you there is 'no signal', which points to a fault in your system - perhaps a break, water in a loose connection, etc. Dont retune if you can help it, but check each bit of your system, however, you might need to call a professional.
| link to this comment |
M. Ruthra-Rajan: For the third time - can we please have a postcode, it really helps...
If your getting no signal, your system has a fault, perhaps a broken cable, etc. Since your getting some channels, it might be a faulty aerial lead, or a loose connection somewhere.
| link to this comment |
Charles Stuart: Its almost certainly due to the fact that having mobile phones use the same band internationally is much more important to the telecoms industry (and those they lobby), than the need to buy a new TV aerial by some Europeans. Money talks.
| link to this comment |
trevorjharris: Considering brianist pointed out in some detail the havoc and extra costs that would result from any end to the licence fee, why would they want to?
Of course we could go down the route of the Sky model, but looking at press reports about how they operate in selling their subscriptions, More Sky agents blow whistle over doorstep selling claims | Money | The Guardian , most of us would prefer not to. I'm surprised we didn't hear from you about this - in fact your silence was deafening.
| link to this comment |
Rp: What model/make is your TV, and what model is your soundbar?
Its very unusual not to have an optical output on a TV, but its does happen - certain Panasonic 37in Tv's never had them, and I've noticed one or two cheapie TV's, such as Celcus, have digital coax instead. OK - an old TV will normally still have left/right RCA phonos out (Red/White), plus a 3.5mm jack. If your soundbar has a 3.5mm jack, then at least you can use those (RCA to 3.5mm leads are really cheap). Not great, but not the not of the world.
Have a look for the digital optical - if its one of the big four brands (LG, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung), its almost always has one, but they are difficult to find - look at the manual. Digital optical to coax do exist, just try finding them on Amazon/Ebay.
If your TV is 3D (and a lot of 2D these days), you should have Audio Return Channel (or Circuit), or ARC. Connect the TV via 1.4 HDMI via this HDMI port (normally the second, but could be the first), and off you go - its does audio and if its a Panasonic TV, then you'll get Viera Link as well, so you can change the volume on the soundbar via the TV remote.
Frankly, if you'd bought it from where I work, I'd have asked you what TV you had, etc - so you'd avoid this problem. Soundbars and TV's should work well together, but there are some quirks. However, if you let us know the model numbers of both, hopefully we can find the best solution.
| link to this comment |
trevorjharris: And yet Brianist has analysed the figures for any change from the licence fee BBC 2017: Tell me about the 16 options to collect the BBC 4 billion quid a year? | BBC 2017 | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice , and none of them either bring in enough money, are fair, are relatively easy to collect income or are politically acceptable. The licenec fee is the worst solution, apart from all the rest.
You keep saying its 'outdated and unfair', yet you have not come up with a model that works. Instead, you keep saying the same thing, without any reference to reality.
| link to this comment |
Trevor Harris: 'the BBC is too big'. Who says? Its a bit like saying 'government is too big' - thats an ideological/philosophical question. Considering the PSB requirements expected of it (and the extra burdens from the last settlement), it might be judged to be just right.
' There are many ways to finance it. Sponsorship, voluntary and compulsory subscription, advertising etc.' Except, as Brianist has carefully pointed out (and as usual, you have totally ignored), these revenue streams all have their own problems, costs, or often too little to substain even a slimmed down BBC. And do I really want begging ads every five minutes on the BBC or telethons? (five pounds helps put on Springwatch this year....') Its very funny in the Frasier episode 'Look Before You Leap', but it makes no sense in terms of what I want from the BBC.
The licence fee is able to substain the BBC - if the link between the licencee fee and RPI was reinstated, then the income stream is reasonable. Its been frozen for a while, but overall, its lower than it was in the 1990's, and was certainly higher a lot of the time in the 1970's Television licensing in the United Kingdom (historical) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . And considering the extra services available...
Is the quality low, and is ITV doing fine? Its nice to see ITV drama winning awards (finally), but there has been some cracking stuff on BBC this year. The Fall, Line of Duty, Burton & Taylor, The Village, Top of the Lake, The Wipers Times, Last Tango in Halifax. And those are just the Drama's. On the other hand, ITV really doesn't do current affairs, original childrens programmes, much music or comedy.
Is the licence fee unfair? Life isn't fair, but its the easiest, fairest and most cost effective way of funding at present. Sky subscriptions aren't fair either (want one - yes?. Afford one? No. Not fair).
Why are the 'expenses' huge? Compared with whose? The head of Sky gets about £7m a year, and it would be interesting to see what his expenses are, and the pay of the rest of his team. Are they overpaid? How about C4 or ITV?
If you want a very senior member of a very large organisation in charge of a very large budget to be paid no more than £30K a year and luncheon vouchers, good luck with finding someone. However, in the real world, you have to pay the going rate.
UKIP are a minority party. They have no MP's, 153 councillors (a number falling almost week by week, it seems), and just 9% of the UK population able to vote actually turned out for them at a European election (which had a turnout of just 33%). And if the BBC wanted to put on a happy face, why did they feature only negative comments on Points of View?
Please put on a new record, the old one is very worn.
| link to this comment |
A McGrath: Yes, you can get ba couple of attenautors (pretty cheap from the the net), and put them in series - you just need some cheap aerial leads to connect them together.
| link to this comment |
Conor: I dont think so, at least not on your TV at present. Sony is filming at least 3 matches (including the final) in 4K, and this will form part of the 'offical film'. There will be excepts which will appear on Sony 4K TV's in showrooms (they did much the same for 3D four years ago - I got so sick of those clips, but since I dont like football...). There seems to be some possibility of the matches being streamed in 4K to some cinema's.
Frankly, I wish someone in the UK was showing coverage in 4K, we'd sell a lot more 4K sets if they did! However, it appears the Japanese will be getting some 4K coverage in July, and apparently so will the Brazilians.
Check out this rather good guide here: How to watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup on TV and online
Personally, I'll be avoiding the whole thing as much as possible, but if you do want to buy a new TV, let me know...!
| link to this comment |
Thursday 29 May 2014 6:05PM
D Butters: Firstly, a postcode would help (just put one in the website when you next post, and everything happends automatically). Since I dont know where you are, I dont know what transmitter your supposed to get. However, it could be that you have found another transmitter, lower down the channel numbers, which is difficult to get, but one which is automatically picked up by your TV.
Most TV's dont need to be retuned - if there are new channels, they just pick them up on an update - whats the make and model?