All posts by Jon
Below are all of Jon's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
"The issue is about the lack of 'universal' coverage at a data rate good enough for TV streaming as well as other normal usage at the same time (Mum and Dad watching TV while children play on-line games, etc). "
Exactly. To pick on our own circumstance, even if it is possible to just about scrape though, would it be fair for me to view some streaming video knowing full well I'm making my father's life on ebay difficult? The policy we have at home is about sharing a limited resource as best we can.
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I think the last time I used the red button was during Springwatch. My parents had spent a while trying to get into some follow on thing, asked me when they got stuck and it took me something like a further 10 minutes to get them where they wanted to be!
As for the text side, I think the Internet has replaced that for us although in view of a previous comment, it might also be worth noting that while I liked the old ceefax where I used to flick through things like county cricket scorecards, I never really got on with the digital "improvement". I think in terms of being able to get to read what I wanted, Ceefax made excellent usage of what were presumably limited resources.
As for cutting the cord and iPlayer, some of this started when things were a lot slower and Internet speeds here have improved here over the past 12 months and we often can get 3Mb but I still view it as a limited resource. We have mythtv with both dvb-t and dvb-s2 tuners and both PCs where tv might also be watched have their own dvb-t cards and I don't think we will be moving from this in the foreseable future. Our "rule" use don't use the iPlayer for what you can do by the other means still stands here.
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Thanks for the info, Brian. I'll try to read up on the tech info which seem way above my own head at tomorrow. and see what bits I do understand.
I'm not sure about the carrying more data bit and would suggest that the ceefax (etc) bit at least for me was possibly a user interface type thing?
I'm no computer expert but followed the sort of Vic 20 to PC1512 to the past 10 or more years a Linux user and have some basic familiarity with the command lies/ shells.
I can't draw exact time lines but I guess I could suggest that where ceefax sort of fitted with my say DOS experience, the newer thing never for me was say a Windows (or as a Linux user say KDE) experience.
Sorry, clumsy I know but I can't think quite how to explain. It looked nice but I never found it worked as I'd have wished.
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Anthony, unless things have changed over the past 15 years, I think they will hound anyone who doesn't have a licence regardless of whether or not they had a radio. I went "tvless" a few years back when I moved into a flat and was on my own with little income. They sent threatening looking letters. After a few, I phoned them and asked if someone could call round and inspect my flat. The reply to that was "That would defeat the object". I then asked about how to stop to letters and got "You don't have to open them". and so on... Their position at least was that anyone who claims to be without a tv must be a liar.
Just to continue briefly with this off topic bit. I didn't find life without tv that bad and given that the bits I missed most, eg. some live test cricket has since gone pay to view (something I will not go for), I'd probably find cutting out tv completely even easier now if I decided again to take that decision.
OK, so I can and have opted out in the past and would like people to be able to do so honestly without being considered criminal but I think the question "Am I in favour of the licence for those who watch tv?" is rather different. Now the BBC has an awful lot of output (let's start with Strictly....) that is of zero interest to me and I may in my own tv watching hours spend more time eg. watching re runs of detective things on ITV3, etc.
But I don't consider the licence fee unreasonable and I suppose I am of the school of thought that still views the BBC as some sort of maintainer of standards???
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Just to clarify something MikeB. I do use BBC (most regularly Pointless followed by the 6 O'Clock News at tea time) and BBC is more widely used within the household both with tv - and radio - Radio Norfolk is used regularly for the Norwich City games by one member who is also a fan of The Archers on Radio 4... Even if our personal usage involved no BBC, I think I would be in favour of the licence - although, in that situation, I probably would be questioning why we could find nothing of any interest to any of us....
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Page 2
Sunday 30 November 2014 3:00AM
Dave Lindsay: Hmm, you are certainly right in suggesting there is a fair amount of vegetation here. I'd still think our ariel has a clear line of sight to Talconeston though. My own (perhaps as tried to install this one) biggest worry in that respect was whether or not I'd clear a silver birch tree for freesat. That points in a different direction though.