All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Ian: I agree that there will be costs, and even some landfill (and the costs v benefits figures that Ofcom quote are somewhat general, to say the least), but I suspect that costs and problems may be less than feared.
If the switchover events are in 2018, you have to think what people will actually be watching with at that point. Ofcom assume that there will be a cost for retuning, but recognise that in reality, most TV's and PVR's auto retune, and although there will be people who do need to pay someone to retune their TV for them, those are relatively few. The allocated £20-30m as an 'opportunity cost' for the time spent retuning - rather than a real cost.
Older aerials might need replacing. But again, just how many (105,000?) is a bit of a guess. If your aerial falls down in a storm next year, then it will be replaced anyway. There will be a natural watage of older aerials in any case.
Probably the biggest possible cost will be equipment. If T2 tuners are to become standard, then obviously equipment without them becomes obsolete. However, looking at the general replacement rate of main room TV's, which seems to be on a 5-8 year cycle, judging by customer feedback, within 4 years many of the existing DVB-T tuners will be replaced or supplemented.
Remember that T2 tuners started to appear in 2011, so there has already been 3 years of them being fitted as standard to many TV's and the majority of PVR's since that date. I wish all TV's were fitted with T2 tuners, but the manufacturers and retails who sell the DVB-T equiped models do it because they are a cheaper.
However, a T2 receiver with Iplayer is around £60, so as long as you can plug your TV via HDMI (or even scart), thats not a huge problem. In fact many have already purchased a T2 equiped PVR, thus killing two birds with one stone, and that will continue. In fact its the PVR's which will cause the biggest problems, because it will be much easier to replace a DVB equiped one with a T2 box, rather than try to modify it. This was pretty much the same thing that happened with VCR's during digital switchover - the TV's were easy, the recorders were difficult. Reember though that PVR's tend to be replaced far more often than TV's - if only because their storage capacity seems pretty small fairly quickly.
There will be costs, and I'd be nervous if I was in charge of Freeview, at least in the long term. But I suspect that much of the money that needs to be spent would be spent anyway. Still a pain though....
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Brianist: You might be right, but I dont think the people pushing for a BBC on subscription are that clever - you've laid out the financial, technical and practical problems very well already, so I suspect their thinking is closer to 'then a miracle occurs', than anything else. As the line goes in 'Sneakers', 'Organised crime?...Hah. Don't kid yourself. It's not that organised'.
If the Tories do win the the election next year, it might well happen - if they have a majority, they can push through what they like. However, I suspect the real crunch point is going to be convincing the readership of the Daily Mail - thats the pressure point.
The DM might be the house journal of cognative dissonence (and the the Dunning Kruger effect, come to that), but even its going to have a problem dealing with the contradictions its faces. Never mind that although the DM constantly runs stories dissing the Beeb, its readers quite like it, and they certainly have no love for the other channels (Michael Grade was 'pornographer in cheif' while at C4, and after Milly Dowler, Murdoch is hardly a hero).
The demographic is also conservative with a small 'C' and hates change and spending money on said change. Think of all those articles about how much cost and distruption just retuning after 4G would bring. Another retune is going to be more of the same. And having to buy another box (or boxes) is going to be much much worse.
The other thing of course is that they already will own (by and large) T2 tuners. No PVR will have been sold without one in for at least 6 years, and I can imagine the outrage of having to buy another box, exactly the same as the one you already have, but now its got something in it to allow you to pay for and watch the BBC. And you might have to do this for lots of boxes. They are going to love that.
Someone might say they can kill two birds with one stone, but it would be interesting just how many manufacturers are going to want to make a box for a market which might not bother.
Perhaps inertia, a certain level of Luddism and general unwillingness to spend money might be the BBC's friend! Of course, they could just make it into the UKS's PBS, so we will just see documentaries on cheese making...
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H J Hill: Panasonic's have sensitive tuners. It could be that you've too high a signal, even from 51km away (my parents in law have a similar problem). Check signal strength on both the TV and the PVR, if its near 100%, then that would be the problem, and if not, at least you've eliminated that possibility.
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Kevin Greenhill: We really need a postcode, but I suspect its partially to do with where you are, and what trasnmitters your picking up. The Lincs transmitter is Waltham (which I use), but Yorks has Belmont, which might be picked up first, before Sutton Coldfield.
If you can check which transmitter your various kit is actually tuned into (look at BBC1), then that would also be a help.
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Jonty58 & Grummpy : Whats your signal strength, and what transmitter are you actually tuned to? I know you think its Ridge Hill, but its could the TV has found something else...
Also try swapping out the aerial lead, does it make a difference?
Jony58 - a postcode would really help
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Jonty58: Have a look at the links next to your third post, it will have the info you need (if you give the site your postcode, it bring up everything automatically).
If your tuned into Nottingham, your just 17km from the transmitter - and since you point out that the strength is excellent, but the quality is not, it could be this: Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you
I know I constantly reckon is too hign a signal, but it semms to fit the facts.
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Jonty58: Your signal strength might be fluctuating, so although its Ok at the moment, if it is too high a signal, then it will proably reoccur. Check your signal strength if it does, and if its very high, follow the advice on thew linked webpage.
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Andrew: There is no reason why you'd lose your HD channels - in fact with the move to T2 tuners, you may well get some more. You havn't given a postcode, but its not impossible you might get reception from a main transmitter, and of course you could get a dish right now - its often a very good idea of those relatively small numb er of people who can only use a Light transmitter.
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Malcolm J: How are the boxs/ TV set up? If you have a Humax with the aerial coming from the wall, and then going via a Goodmans box, the Goodmans box's connection is probably the weak point - so perhaps change the aerial lead.
If they are coming off the the same aerial, but are split, find the common point where the Goodmans boxes are - thats proably where the problem lies. Humax's normally have more senstive tuners than Goodmans (I have one of the latter). If you have a problem with your system say a break or frayed wires, then the Goodman's is going show up the problem first.
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Thursday 20 November 2014 6:03PM
John Ogden: Are you perhaps buying into the meme that the BBC spends lots of money on 'celebs going on holiday'? Or is it that they are spending money on programmes you just dont like?
If your refering to 'Top Gear', then I have to admit that I hate it and everything it stands for. However, there are three things to consider:
1) Its a popular programme, so a decent budget is justified.
2) I might not like the programme, but since the licence fee also pays for programmes I do like, its quid pro quo.
3) Thanks to its international popularity, both the programmes themselves and the format are widely sold. Add to that merchandising, and the programme is highly profitable for the BBC. So rather than costing licence fee payers money, it makes money.
Strangely, ITV never gets any flak for sending 'celeb's' to Australia for IACGMOOH - even though it must be costing them a fair amount, for a programme which is certainly could be described as 'a lame excuse for a show'.