My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

In article
,
wrote:
On Aug 20, 12:17 pm, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Martin if you
want an evidence-based debate on this, you and Bill could try posting
on a *political* group. Not trying to hide away in OT threads here.
Also read PE. Find a local library and read though the last few years
of issues. Note how they also expose Tory councils, *and* LibDem ones,
*and* Labour ones when they get up to no good.

I buy a PE occasionally, but I find it a bit self-absorbed sometimes. It
is, as they say, a bit specialised for the general reader.

They have tended to adopt a mix of "running joke", "in joke" and "undergrad
humour", perhaps for good reason. More than once they have rebuffed
attempts to sue them for defamation on the basis that "Everyone knows PE is
a silly magazine that no-one takes seriously because it is humour." Witness
their current run-in with the lords of Sark. Odd. isn't it, that the daily
papers seem not to cover such matters. I wonder why... 8-]

For readers, the trick is to know how to read though the camo and detect
the meat. That may well take a while for people to get accustomed to.

OK, they do at times ride the wrong hobby-horse. However OTOH their
advantage is that they often expose dubious goings-on that take years - or
decades - to later appear as 'revelations' or even 'scoops' elsewhere.

My impression over the years is that it is routine reading by many MPs and
journalists - who presumably often wish they could print the same material
but are prevented either by their owners or m'learned friends. Mucky work,
but someone has to clean the stables... :-)

I've never felt that the mag had any particular political leaning.

Nor I. Their speciality is to gore all the oxes they can manage. And for
obvious reasons, they are attracted to do this when the target is well
known as a celeb and/or rich and/or influential and - particularly - has
'dun wrong'.

And these days, who else is thowing light into the dark corners like what
some councillors and councils get up to? Newham, Tower Hamlets, Doncaster,
etc, etc. The daily and local papers cannae be bothered with actually
checking such things any more. Cheaper to lift PR off the wire services or
from the pages of competitors.

I've got some of those flexible gramophone records that they used to put
on the cover in the 1960s.

I think that Lintone have now gone out of the biz of making those. I'm
impressed you've kept your 1960s ones. I have a couple from later decades,
and IIRC at least one Xmas CD. But in general I found them less interesting
than the actual magazine.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:37:22 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote:

In article , R. Mark
Clayton
wrote:

"Mark" wrote in message
...
Last week I went on a break to an area that has already switched off
the analogue transmissions. Analogue reception was satisfactory
before switch-over. The things we notice now:

- The sound often does not sync with the picture.

Sound is fine and 48kPCM - comparable to Nicam and FM.

Erm. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think 'Freeview' sound is transmitted as
PCM. It is based on 48k sample-rate, though.

Slainte,

Jim

Got back from a few days away today and retuned. Dundee was finally
"converted" last Wednesday. I am served by the Tay Bridge relay.
Because of a block of flats between me and the transmitter, the
analogue reception was abysmal, so I had Virgin cable installed a
number of years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that digital
reception is good, even with my Antiference pre-amp disconnected. I'd
be interested in the views of any experts here, please, as I really
didn't think I was going to get a picture.

Not so pleased to see that I'm only going to get two multiplexes,
though, and even less pleased to see the drivel they are transmitting
ITV2, ITV2+1, and some tripe called Rabbit and Gay Rabbit. Really
nothing for people with an IQ in double figures. Who makes these
decisions?

John

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

On Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 20:22:01h +0100, John J Armstrong wrote:

Who makes these decisions?

OfCon the light tough regulator decided that only the three PSB multiplexes
should have "universal coverage" with a BBC multiplex, a multiplex carrying
split between the Channel 3 licencee and Channel 4, and a multiplex carrying
the HD services. Then apart from the must carry the Channel 3 licenced service
and Channel 4 and `five' rules for this multiplex, how the Channel 3 licence
and Channel 4 use the rest of the gifted bandwidth on their half of the
multiplex is left entirely at their discretion. Which is why you get
ITV2+1 and not ITV-3 or ITV-4, and why you get Channel4+1 and not Film Four.

So please send your letter of thanks to your local MP and more importantly
the Right Honorable Tessa Jowell and Tory Bliar who were responsible for
the Communications Act of 2003 which established Ofcon.

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

Not so pleased to see that I'm only going to get two multiplexes,
though, and even less pleased to see the drivel they are transmitting
ITV2, ITV2+1, and some tripe called Rabbit and Gay Rabbit. Really
nothing for people with an IQ in double figures. Who makes these
decisions?

John




Ever thought of using Freesat?...
--
Tony Sayer

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

On Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 23:02:14h +0100, Tony Sayer asked:

Ever thought of using Freesat?...

An FTA receiver with a dish on a rotor will give even more choice.

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:15:22 +0000 (UTC), J G Miller
wrote:



So please send your letter of thanks to your local MP and more importantly
the Right Honorable Tessa Jowell and Tory Bliar who were responsible for
the Communications Act of 2003 which established Ofcon.

Thank you! I shall write today. Not sure though if my local MP can
read,

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:02:14 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

Not so pleased to see that I'm only going to get two multiplexes,
though, and even less pleased to see the drivel they are transmitting
ITV2, ITV2+1, and some tripe called Rabbit and Gay Rabbit. Really
nothing for people with an IQ in double figures. Who makes these
decisions?

John




Ever thought of using Freesat?...

Yes, that is an option. As I said, I have cable, so I have the
channels anyway. I'm more concerned at the gross inequity of many of
the population having to pay the same licence fee for a very
restricted "service", simply because the clowns at Ofcon deem that we
should have to.

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

At 22:52:31 Fri, 20 Aug 2010, J G Miller wrote:
On Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 23:02:14h +0100, Tony Sayer asked:

Ever thought of using Freesat?...

An FTA receiver with a dish on a rotor will give even more choice.

Or a dish with several LNBs and a DiSEqC switch - better for instant
switching between satellites.

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

In article , John J Armstrong
wrote:
On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:37:22 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote:


Got back from a few days away today and retuned. Dundee was finally
"converted" last Wednesday. I am served by the Tay Bridge relay.
Because of a block of flats between me and the transmitter, the analogue
reception was abysmal, so I had Virgin cable installed a number of years
ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that digital reception is good,
even with my Antiference pre-amp disconnected. I'd be interested in the
views of any experts here, please, as I really didn't think I was going
to get a picture.

Can you not get either Angus or Durris? They both come in fairly well here,
but we are up a hill. I presume, though, you in the part of Dundee shaded
from them by the Tay slopes.

If I let my RX boxes do auto-scans they tend to choose the weaker of the
pair. So I do an auto-scan with no antenna connected, then connect and do a
manual scan for the specific channels.

FWIW The BBC Mux now seems distinctly higher power than the others. Anyone
know if the others will soon have there levels cranked up to match?

Not so pleased to see that I'm only going to get two multiplexes,
though, and even less pleased to see the drivel they are transmitting
ITV2, ITV2+1, and some tripe called Rabbit and Gay Rabbit. Really
nothing for people with an IQ in double figures. Who makes these
decisions?

The people who pay the money to buy the airtime. I agree with you that many
of the stations are tripe. But to displace them you'd need better stations
that are *also* willing to pay more than the sources of the rubbish.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

My first experience of freeview ;-)
 

In message , Jim Lesurf
writes

I've got some of those flexible gramophone records that they used to put
on the cover in the 1960s.

I think that Lintone have now gone out of the biz of making those. I'm
impressed you've kept your 1960s ones. I have a couple from later decades,
and IIRC at least one Xmas CD. But in general I found them less interesting
than the actual magazine.

Slainte,

Jim

I remember having at least one of those.

The only thing I remember from it was,

" Grocer Heath Grocer Heath cover up those awful teeth ", and

" Grocer Heath tell the truth, is it true that your aloof ",

to the tune of " Excerpt from a Teenage Opera ", by Keith West and
Tomorrow.
--
Ian