All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
fozzy: If your not finding it on either tuner, that points to the feed to both. Motors TV needs an HD box, but if you've had it and now dont, check your signal levels for all muxes - it might be that ones gone but the others are a bit weak as well. If they are, try another cable. If that doesn't work, follow it up the signal path.
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Sally J.: 'Of course if you're faking the 'Cord Cutting' to dodge the Fee, then having everything still connected might look suspicious to a Licensing Inspector (should you invite one in to see). But that's a different issue. If you're genuine, and don't watch or record live TV, even briefly or inadvertently, then your conscience and the law are aligned, not matter what you don't uninstall. '
That sounds great in theory, but saying 'I dont watch anything live' whilst having all the equipment and means to do so would invite some questions from the Licencing people. Its a bit like saying 'I dont intend to break into that house' while dressed all in black, with a balaclava and a bag full of tools - your going to raise an eyebrow or two.
The sad reality is that the vast majority of people who claim that they dont need a licence are just faking it. The really sad thing is that they are going to all this hassle for the sake of 45p a day.
Personally, they should have closed the loop hole a year or two back, but the government is still keeping the BBC on the hook.
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rusty kettle: Its one of those eternal mysteries - but I suspect its to do with the fact that the BBC reports things that not everyone likes, and therefore confirmation bias takes hold. The fact that both parties have mantained that the BBC is against them and for the other party (at the same time!) shows a degree of confusion.
Oh, and Murdoch.
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Sandra Newport: There are more channels, and most are still not in HD (although you might need an HD tuner to get them). Sorry, but HD is the way of the future, but since you can get an HD box for a whole forty four pounds, your not exactly going to break the bank.
While not everyone might want to watch in HD, once you have, you really will find it much better. The Attenborough nature programmes are filmed in HD, but are shown in SD and HD. Trust me, the HD looks much better, with a far greater degree of detail.
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fozzy: JB38 answered your question about Motors TV! If its not on any more, that explains it.
Your Sony should have a DVB-T2 tuner in it - even a basic Sony has one as standard. If your getting a 110% quality, great, but 42% is a surprisingly low for being only 30km from Winter Hill.
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Sally J.: 'But if you can answer honestly that you don't watch or record live TV, and that the aerial is still connected because you listen to Freeview radio, then that is the end of the matter. '
But they wont answer honestly, will they? And speaking as someone who does pay their licence fee, why should they dodge the colunm, just because they say so? Listening to Freeview? If they wanted to do that, they could just have a radio....
145.50 a year equals less than 40p a day per household. For that you get BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 (now, alas, online only due to the need to save money), BBC4, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC News, plus Red Button (for the moment), plus Iplayer, local and national radio and the website. With no adverts. And any other terrestial broadcaster as well. 40p per day is less than the cost of the average newspaper, and is probably the most cost effective way to get the most entertainment/information for the least money.
And for those who are cutting the cord - they are going to need broadband to watch anything online - how much does that cost per year?
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trevorjharris: Does The One Show have a left wing bias? I must admit I seldom watch it, but the last time I did, nothing in it struck me as left or right wing. I'd love to know exactly what is left wing about it.
Of course its a show where guests plug their latest TV show, film, book, etc - its like every other chat show in existance, from Parkinson to Grahame Norton to Wogan, etc (including R4's 'Midweek'). Thats not surprising - a programme needs people on it, and they are not just going to appear for nothing - Tom Hanks isn't just going to fly all the way from Hollywood for 10min of chitchat. On the other hand, if he's in town to promote his new movie, then he's more than happy to sit on a sofa.
If you just had guests on a chat show who were just available for no other reason than they just were, it probably wouldn't be very interesting or star studded.
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MikeP: 'Many programmes from the BBC, and others, have a left-wards bias' - do they? Is there any actual emperical evidence of this, or is it merely in the eye of the beholder?
The Guardian link is a red herring. The Guardian has specialised for years in its media coverage and media advertising, so its not surprising that media companies (not just the BBC, but ITV, independents and even Sky) use it. Its a bit like advertising for CEO's in the FT - its what it does. The 'left leaning policies' of the paper is neither here or there. And I should add that the when the Daily Mail got into a froth about how much the BBC spent of subscriptions to the Guardian compared to the Mail, it forgot to factor in the fact that the Guardian's cover price is rather higer. The BBC actually bought abou the same number of both.
' Programmes like Quaetion Time are supposed to have audiences selected to be 'neutral' but yopu only have to watch the reaction of Dimbleby and a significant section of the audience to know there is a clear bias'.
Google is your friend. Here is the impression of someone who has been a member of the audience (and who thinks that the BBC is too right wing, as a matter of fact) - - the whole thing seems fairly balanced, while trying to get questions which are topical and provocative. And the BBC itself has a FAQ about the programme, which has a link to this article - NewsWatch | Notes | Question time for Question Time , which explains how people are selected. It was written in 2005, and as it points out, people were accusing it of of being 'anti-government', which was of course a Labour government at the time. It also points out that 5 years before, it would have been the other way, when the Tories were still in power.
The reality is that governments do things that people often dont like, and they are more likely to voice that dislike. And if you read the press, most of which is right wing, they are more likely to view anything that does not support the current government as 'left wing'.
As for the notion that Dimbleby is 'anti-government' by calling for people to support the BBC, you could argue the same for anyone who speaks well of the NHS. being is support of either organisation does not make you 'anti-government' or left wing. However, if the government choses to blatently attack the BBC, thats their lookout.
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fozzy: Motors TV seems to be basically via the net, although it also requires an HD tuner. The website says that any post 2012 Sony Smart TV W series will be fine (yours is 2014), but :
' It must be connected to the internet via either a cable back to your home router or WiFi (some new TVs also have in-built WiFi that can connect). Follow your manufacturer's instructions on how to do this.'
Yours has wifi built in, so you need to to set it up to go on the net, and then follow the channels instructions from there.
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Sunday 14 February 2016 8:22PM
FrancisA: Thanks - I dont think the BBC is anti-Labour, but if most of the press is, you end up reporting stuff thats been preframed in a particular way. C4 News is really good (better in some ways that the BBC), but ITV's is a bit bland, and C5's is pretty much nonexistant. The BBC, overall, does a very good job, and the licence fee is very reasonable. What Hifi's Awards issues some months back reckoned that Iplayer alone was worth cost of the licence fee - and a look around it shows a huge amount of stuff.
Nick - And your back with the usual nonsense ('The BBC is a rancid bunch of Marxists' - are you some sort of Uber Poe?). This is not so surprising if you read the likes of Guido Fawkes - and reading that bunch of comments reminds you of just how many people wear tin foil hats.
After reading your usual bunch of hyperbole and delusion, I suggest you actually look at the viewing figures - people really like watching BBC programmes. The Guardian just featured an article singing the praises of Countryfile, and pointing out that it gets two million more viewers than The X Factor. And Bakeoff got a huge 13.4m people watching. If they are so awful, we do we watch?