All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
David Anderson: OK - your TV is about 4 years old (was it even sold in the UK?), and probably only has Freeview, not HD (its a 4 series), so just keeping the Humax reciever the way it is is fine, since your not really gaining anything by connecting up the internal tuner.
Frankly, the Samsung is a bit of a pain to find anything on - we never sold that model, so the best I can do is either look at the back of the D550 (a more expensive TV) or an Israeli version of the manual. According to page 9, you can use RCA phonos to output a signal (this possibility vanished about 2 years ago from most TV's). Use the left/right phono connections on back panel, and use the yellow phono on the right to connect up for video. A cheap RCA/scart convertor should give you the chance to connect both a dvd and a vcr.
However, this looks like a faff, and if you dont need the VCR, I wouldn't bother. In fact, if the DVD player is still boxed up, I'd take that back , and put the money towards a decent blu ray. The new non wifi Sony's are £69, and a new J6500 from Samsung (so wifi as well) is about 99. 2014 models are really vanishing, and I'm not sure the prices are all that great compared with this year.
A general lesson is not to buy anything with a scart these days - you've basically bought the same DVD player as you did 20 years ago. Your TV is totally different from the one you had 20 years ago, and so are all the connections.
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Steve: I'm not sure what 'digital coax' even is - its all the same stuff, although sat. standard stuff is going to be WT100, etc - just better quality than the cheapy nasty stuff you might find at B & Q (ATV sheffield has a whole bit about coax). Leave the coax were it is.
Have a look at the digital UK link, etc. Your just 8km from the Bluebell transmitter, whcih ordinarly would mean your getting far too much signal (search for 'too much of a good thing' on this site). On the other hand, DigitalUK thinks your recpetion could be patchy for certain mux'es. Could you find out which transmitters those TV's are tuned into, and what the signal strength is across the muxes? I cant really check the terrain (it just brings up Roucefall), but I'm sure Dave Lindsay or JB38 would be more help.
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Roy Rees: If your getting a loss of signal at the same time every night, that indicates a problem close to home - perhaps local interference from a thermostat, etc. These days a local/national broadcast should have any real break at all.
search for 'single source interference' on this site.
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nickwilcock: Looking at the track record of the other 'local TV' stations, why is that a surprise?
What annoys me is that Jeremy Hunt got the licence payer to largerly foot the bill for this rubbish - and now has a nother 5 years to do so!
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Briantist: You've laid out the logical, sensible possibilities of an alternative to the licence fee (if one is needed). Sadly, this 'debate' is not going to be logical, sensible, or anything else. Instead, the choice BBC funding over the next five years will be marked by dogma, crass commercial self-interest masked as ideology, political free-market nihilism, and thermonuclear levels of lying and stupidity. Basically its Dunning Kruger as performance art, which (sadly), we've already seen on this thread.
I agree that the Finish system has a problem with regards to the UK - the intrastructure simply isn't up to the job. Ian Duncan Smith might say that Universal Credit works fine, but nobody else is convinced, and you'd be looking at a similar level of complexity.
The German system has much to commend it. Its simple, straightforward, and since pretty much everyone has a TV or uses the net, everyone is covered. However, the biggest moans about the licence fee are:
'I have no choice - I have to pay it' (you might say the same about Car Tax),
'I dont use the BBC, why should I pay for it' (96% plus use it on a weekly basis, so your probably lying)
'It's a tax!' (call it a 'user fee' instead - happy now?)
'It doesn't reflect the ability to pay' (True, but niether does Sky or your Gas bill)
'Its the principle of the thing!' (Life isn't perfect - get used to it)
Alas, the German system doesn't answer any of these, and actually makes it slightly worse. At least if you dont have a TV, you pay nothing. If the BBC made Iplayer only available if you've paid you licence fee (perfectly doable), then that loop-hole would be closed up anyway, and there would be little difference between the two. I think the German system is perfectly sensible, but its not going to happen, if only because its a German idea, which is unlikely to find favour with certain tabloids.
Much can be said of the French system - logical, but French! Unfortunately, that sysyem is out of the question, because Council tax is a nightmare. The banding hasn't been changed in decades (because government is terrified of the outcry), and many councils will do almost anything other than actually raise those rates (my local council boasts of leaving it as it is, yet has a huge deficit). Politically - its a no go.
The most sensible option - leave the system for now, raise the fee to a level which covers the inflation of the past 5 years, etc, and stop it bleeding money through having to pay for whatever nonsense Jeremy Hunt though up 5 years ago.
Unfortunately, thats not going to happen. The Tory Party has both ideological and other reasons to destroy the BBC (their patron doesn't like it), and so they will keep the licence fee at the same level, which amounts to a cut after inflation, just as its has suffered for the past 5 years. This (in US GOP circles), is called 'starving the beast', where you cut off as much funding as you can. You can then claim you didn't kill it - it died of natural causes.
It will of course get worse. The next charter renewal will see even more burdens put on the BBC - apparently the BBC local news is responsible for the death of local newspapers (I thought it was the net and the fact theat they are a bit rubbish), so money will go to that, plus whatever whimsical idea enters Whittingdales mind. LW will not be going!
This has the advantage of stretching BBC finaces still further, which will lead to cuts in services, which will be unpopular, and lower quality, which will be an excuse to lower the licence fee still further. There will also be endless investigations, 'scandals' (the Daily Mail and Sun will be busy), and of course at least one report a year written by a friendly hedge fund manager, which will lay out how things must change. Every bit of election coverage will be looked over for 'bias', which of course will be found.
Ultimately, the BBC will wither on the vine, and then the American system will come into play. A tiny PBS, funded by an unwilling government and whatever assets it has been left with. It will do its best, but its funding will be subject to the whims of politicians, and its news output will be anodyne and non threatening (just listen to NPR for a taste). The BBC will be killed like a boa constrictor kills - slowly, by squeezing again and again. Except that those doing it will not need to eat, just to prove that the free market must always be best, and because someone lse will make money.
Of course it doesn't have to be this way. The Tories have a small majority, and David Cameron knows that the BBC is a much loved institution which is vastly more trusted than any politician. Whittingdale and others are zealots, who often over-reach, and the press is powerful, but its not all-powerful. Ultimately, people actually like the BBC, and killing it will not be easy, even if the Tories want to. However, lets not get lulled into the Wykehamist Fallacy - there are many who would cheerfully kill the BBC, just because they can.
If you want to see what the BBC does do, look at PBS in US - they dont make drama, becuase they cant afford to. They buy ours - the bulk of it from the BBC - PBS: Public Broadcasting Service
Someone thinks the BBC does a good job - perhaps we should as well, and fund it properly.
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brian walmsley: WHO SHOUTS ON THE INTERNET.....seemingly using strange syntax.....when this website has nothing at all to do with the channel?
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Briantist: Your more optimistic than I am, but I hope your right!
Whittingdale is an interesting (and perhaps contradictory) character. The good news is that he actually has an interest in the arts, and having sat on the Parliamentary Committee for so long, actually knows the issues. he also does think the BBC should be making quality programmes that the commercial companies dont really touch, such as childrens programmes and the arts.
If we take the BBC's mission from the old Huw Weldon quote 'make the good popular and the popular good', he's strong on the first. However, his ideological belief in the free market and the notion of 'crowding out' means that he simply cannot accept the second part, that the BBC should be making programmes that are for a mass audience. In effect, he believes in the US model.
He is there for a reason. David Cameron has appointed ministers knowing exactly what they want to do, and generally removes them only when the political cost has been too high or they have failed, such as Andrew Landsley or Owen Patterson. I'm a great believer in Molly Ivin's dictum about deciding what a politican will do in office ' You consider three things - you look at their record, you look at their record, and you look at their record'.
Whittingdale called the licence fee a 'poll tax' - thats what he really thinks, and thats the basis on which he will operate. Of course his idea of funding from general taxation is even worse. It does not take into account of whether you are in a position to use the service, obviously raises the problem of direct political control of the broadcaster, and creates a funding stream liable to be changed at any moment. Its not just grandstanding free market types who might cut funding (although this is exactly what happened some years ago when the Republicans tried to kill funding for PBS in the US), but I'm reminded of the Blair government using the National Lottery Fund as a slush fund to cover some NHS costs. The tabloids loved it: 'Sick children, not ballet', but it was blatently populist blagging.
Frankly, funding a non populist BBC from taxation is like assuming everyone should shell out for a big box of Quality Street, but only letting people have the really nasty ones, or nothing at all. I think everyone should get at least some sweets they like!
I'm encouraged that he rejected the 'subscription now' idea as unworkable (unlike so many commentators), and I hope that other players in the market will point out the folly of radically changing things - UK Broadcasting is a delicate ecosystem, and with any luck his pragmatic instincts will kick in. Besides, he'll have a lot on his plate.
The current government majority is both a good and bad thing. Its good because I suspect there is little appetite on the moderate wing of the Tory party to cause uproar, and the Lords are unlikely to be happy. Its bad because the right will have a lot of leverage, and will want a statement of radical political intent. The Major government privatised the railways because they wanted to send a bold message that they were not just treading water, and because they'd pretty privatised everything else. Governments often do really stupid things, just to be able to say they are doing something. And I'm sure Very Serious People will tut loudly if the Salisbuy Convention is broken, no matter how unpopular the result.
It also depends on what the other political parties will do. The Labour Party made a manifesto commitment to support the licence fee, although at what level will now be interesting (and listening to the vapid and nonsenscial statement from at least one candidate for the leadership, I wouldn't count on that either). The LD's (under Tim Farron) will probably hold the line, and the SNP might do so (although they might still hold grudges from the Indepence Vote).
What would happen during the European Vote might be interesting - if one side loses, will they blame the BBC for their coverage? And if the Scots trigger another Independence vote, then that will also be a possible Casus Belli for many. And it also depends on Rupert Murdoch's health. If he died, would the pressure on the BBC be the same?
I cannot see any alternative to the licence fee - everything else is either politically unacceptable or fails to answer any of the basic criticisms from the right. And never underestimate the British desire to do as little as possible - inertia is a given. Instead, it will be death by starvation and constant harassment, if they can get away with it. Of course this will not be stated. Instead, it will be a case of 'we had to destroy the village in order to save it'.
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Thursday 7 May 2015 11:17PM
John Dunmall: If they are LG's, then certain models did have them about 5-6 years ago. If the 39in you bought last year is a 575 (a good bit of kit, although we didn't stock much of the 39), then its likely to have a generic sat, tuner on the back. Simply look at the back of the TV, and look for a screw-in fitting exactly the same as the one on the back of the Sky boxes, etc. If you have one, then (if your not bothered about the EPG being Freesat), your sorted.
You would see any reference to Freesat in the manual. A) Its not Freesat, but a generic tuner. B) LG for the past year or two havn't made a big deal of this tuner - in fact an LG rep told me 'we dont talk about it' when I first spotted an F fitting on the back of it.
As for the PVR - Humax is pretty much the only game in town (OK, there is Manhattan..). Its certainly the only brand (apart from Panasonic) that we recommend at work for PVR's generally.
The 500gb version Buy Humax HDR-1000S Freetime Smart 500GB Freesat+ HD Digital TV Recorder | John Lewis
is getting a bit scarce, perhaps because its cheaper than the 1tb, but also perhaps a new version is coming out? The 1tb is about £195. Both of course have Freetime, so you'll get all four channels on demand. If you want to wifi it, then the dongle for it is about £30. Of course the one with wifi built in (the white one) is 1tb, and is about the same price as buying the black version and the dongle!
Brianist has commented that he loves his Humax, so it comes highly recommended!