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TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

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Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#61

Post by myrandomcomment »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #12
myrandomcomment wrote: post #4

I have said this before and I will say it again...Dear BBC, please allow the rest of the world to pay for a subscription to the iPlayer. Just take my money, really, please?

Geniune question: what is on the BBC that you would want to watch that you can't get elsewhere?

Between myself and my wife...Dr. Who, University Challenge, Only Connect, Death In Paradise, Escape To The Country, Top Gear (they have the formula right now after some false starts), tons of good mystery shows, lots of great new comedies, etc. I can “find” them all elsewhere but I would be happy to pay for them as a service.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#62

Post by beerandt »

scrooched_moose wrote: post #29
offtop5 wrote: post #3

Pretty sure this was outted as fake. The idea of a van watching you is enough for many to change their behavior

I believe the current theory is they simply look for light leakage. If they see a "flash - 200ms - flash - 400ms - flash - 350ms - flash" pattern leaking through your curtains precisely at the moment the same pattern occurs in a live broadcast they know you're watching.

You say simply, but I think that's much more difficult than just detecting the presence of em noise conforming to a broadcast standard.

Anyone that's put an AM radio next to a CRT TV knows it emits em noise.

The CRT itself is, to over simplify, a high voltage capacitor. It's one of the most popular devices used to power hobbyist Tesla coils...

I don't know why everyone seems to think that just because TVs were "receive-only" devices, that they wouldn't emit any sort of easily detectable signal.

Also, when this enforcement began, broadcast was the only source of TV content, so the presence of a TV was generally proof of watching broadcasts. There wasn't really any need to prove the TV was tuned to any particular content.

Now, whether it is a practical, effective method of enforcement that was actually used is another matter.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#63

Post by scrooched_moose »

beerandt wrote: post #62
scrooched_moose wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the current theory is they simply look for light leakage. If they see a "flash - 200ms - flash - 400ms - flash - 350ms - flash" pattern leaking through your curtains precisely at the moment the same pattern occurs in a live broadcast they know you're watching.

You say simply, but I think that's much more difficult than just detecting the presence of em noise conforming to a broadcast standard. Anyone that's put an AM radio next to a CRT TV knows it emits em noise. The CRT itself is, to over simplify, a high voltage capacitor. It's one of the most popular devices used to power hobbyist Tesla coils... I don't know why everyone seems to think that just because TVs were "recei…

Maybe poor phrasing on my part, but that's the prevalent theory I've seen for how they do it today. Various other methods of EM leakage might have worked in the past (unproven as far as I know), but modern televisions are so much better built that visible light leakage is believed to be the only effective detection method.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#64

Post by soneil »

tobylane wrote: post #51
mhh__ wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Britbox is supposed to be that, I think, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the BBC cannot legally sell iPlayer subscriptions as easily as you'd think because the BBC's copyright library (especially music) is unbelievable [1] compared to most other organizations, so they'd have to make multiple versions of everything on their books to deal with licencing issues. Lots of British shows get their soundtracks neutered…

I’m surprised to hear that, because my understanding is that all the major broadcasters have a blanket licence to play all music (from major record labels). They can just stick a top 40 hit in the background of a soap without planning for it. Maybe that doesn’t apply to something as primary as the shows theme song.

I believe that’s exactly the problem - that licence is only good for the UK.

When shows are exported they’ll gut them. Top Gear is the best example I know of, on the netflix & bbc america versions, most the recognisable songs have been replaced by musak.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#65

Post by soneil »

LatteLazy wrote: post #48
CodeGlitch wrote: post #9

With Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, YouTube, etc. the BBC have a hard time justifying the license these days. The only exception would be live sporting events, which is something I don't watch. Given I only watch about 1 hour of "TV" a day I was very glad to stop my license last year. It will not be missed.

Respectfully, you're not just wrong, you're wrongly wrong. The nature coverage on BBC is an order of magnitude better than anything else on TV. The science coverage on BBC is better than anyone else on TV. The news coverage on BBC is better than anything else on TV. And that's just the starters. The podcast revolution were in right now? Brits have had that since the 70s with radio 4 producing great audio programs. Ev…

I love the beeb, but I’m happy enough for people to criticise them too - just because I think it’s great, doesn’t mean it can’t improve.

I used to think the TV licence was oppressive, until I moved to the US - and quickly realised I’d happily pay the licence if I could.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#66

Post by LatteLazy »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #54
LatteLazy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Respectfully, you're not just wrong, you're wrongly wrong. The nature coverage on BBC is an order of magnitude better than anything else on TV. The science coverage on BBC is better than anyone else on TV. The news coverage on BBC is better than anything else on TV. And that's just the starters. The podcast revolution were in right now? Brits have had that since the 70s with radio 4 producing great audio programs. Ev…

Thanks for your response - feel free to rant. I agree with what you said, but given there's only so many hours in the day, and I only watch TV to "switch my brain off", I didn't feel it worth the cost given that Netflix et al fills that hole just fine- for far less. To get my science / nature / news I turn to podcasts.

Thanks for YOUR response! Sorry if mine was too confrontational.

I definately know what you mean. I've spent more time vegitating in front of Brooklyn Nine-nine than watching enriching educational material myself.

May I recommend 2 BBC podcasts for science etc as our ships pass in the night?

The life scientific

40 to 60min interviews with scientists about what they do, how they did it, why they ended up in the field. Very interesting!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015sqc7

More or Less

A statistics program. Only about 20m per episode, they take a statistical question or a lie or similar and research where it came from and what the truth is. There are some really good episodes on Covid stats recently as well as a few that answer (disprove) articles that have cropped up here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrss1/episodes/downloads

Both have RSS feeds.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#68

Post by sys_64738 »

zapdrive wrote: post #5
comprev wrote: post #2

Ireland also requires a TV license for each home. If you have any device _capable_ of receiving a signal you're required to pay.... even if you only use the TV for games consoles or Netflix.

Wouldn't it make sense to just add the license fee/tax at the source of sale, just like electronic waste recycling fee etc.

When you bought a new TV or video recorder then you used to have to supply your name and address. The selling business had to provide that info to the TV Licensing body by law. This was the mid-90s so it might have changed.

I remember paying 300 quid for a VCR and giving them a fake name and address before leaving with my JVC under my arm.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#69

Post by aldanor »

lqet wrote: post #38

> The United Kingdom is somewhat unique in the world for requiring those households which view broadcast television to purchase a licence for the privilege. I know at least three countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) which do the same (edit: according the Wikipedia [0], such a fee exists in basically every European country, Japan, Israel, South Korea and Namibia). In Germany, the situation changed a few years…

+Ireland

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#70

Post by SheinhardtWigCo »

offtop5 wrote: post #3

Pretty sure this was outted as fake. The idea of a van watching you is enough for many to change their behavior

I don’t believe there has been a single conviction based upon evidence gathered by these vans. They’re like lie detector machines - useful only as a tool to get people to confess. Same with the inspectors, they’re private citizens with no legal authority to enter a property without permission. Their purpose is to cultivate fear of prosecution, not to recoup lost revenue.
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