Sound only

In message
, Mike
writes
On 23 Dec, 15:16, Ian Jackson
wrote:
In message , Phil Cook
writes



Mike wrote:

On 23 Dec, 13:47, "Graham." wrote:
All the set top box needs is a converter to the kind of socket
a pair
of
amplified speakers, which are very cheap.

I know several people who operate this way. One snag of course
is that as
far as I am aware, if under 75 years old and blind, a set top box needs
payment of a half price tv licence, whereas the old sound only
tuner does
not.

I feel that must be incorrect Brian.
Let me illustrate this by posing the following question:

If that was true, then would a set top box without a
means to display a picture require a *monochrome or
coluor licence.

From the TV Licensing web site

How much does a TV Licence cost with the blind concession?

- The blind concession reduces the cost of your TV Licence by 50%. So
a colour TV Licence will cost £69.75 and a black and white TV Licence
will cost £23.50.

However a STB without a TV is possibly exempt from a licence. I think
somebody had correspondence with the TV licencing athorities about
using a STB as a radio and I think the upshot of it was that a STB not
connected to a TV didn't need a licence in much the same manner that
the OP's sound only box doesn't need one.

A related topic has just been discussed in uk.legal.
See the thread "This is very sad (bbc)", starting 18 Dec.

One poster ('The Real Doctor') stated that
"TVLA have confirmed to me in writing that they will not sell B&W
licences in digitally-converted areas, because all digital televisions
and digiboxes are capable of decoding a colour signal".

I ventured the opinion that this could not be true (for various reasons,
including the B&W concession licence for blind viewers and the
no-licence for sound-only reception).
--
Ian

The concession appears to cater for households with a Blind person and
a TV.

This link (paragraph 3 seems to clarify)
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/informa...ndex.jsp#link1

Good information, although there are a few bits which, without reading
everything, maybe could be initially misinterpreted.

At one time, a blind viewer (if the sole user) could probably use a B&W
TV set, there being no advantage in having a colour set. [TV sound-only
tuners were not commonly available for the domestic market.] In fact, I
do believe the licensing people used to allow the use of either a B&W or
a colour set, but only charged the B&W licence fee.

These days, the situation has change a lot. It's essentially impossible
to buy a B&W TV set, and certainly not one which is digital. On the
other hand, all digital STBs have baseband stereo audio output, so are
effectively both TV sound and digital radio tuners. Apart from the
initial tuning-in process, there is absolutely no advantage in a
sole-user blind person having a TV set connected to the STB, and would
be better served by a stereo audio system of some sort. Unless the STB
has the ability to record the off-air TV signal, no licence will be
required.
--
Ian

In article ,
Ian Jackson wrote:
These days, the situation has change a lot. It's essentially impossible
to buy a B&W TV set, and certainly not one which is digital. On the
other hand, all digital STBs have baseband stereo audio output, so are
effectively both TV sound and digital radio tuners. Apart from the
initial tuning-in process, there is absolutely no advantage in a
sole-user blind person having a TV set connected to the STB, and would
be better served by a stereo audio system of some sort. Unless the STB
has the ability to record the off-air TV signal, no licence will be
required.

I use my Toppy to record radio progs. Is that facility to be denied a
blind person?

--
*60-year-old, one owner - needs parts, make offer

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"ChrisM" wrote in message
...
In message
,
Mike Proclaimed from the tallest tower:

On 23 Dec, 13:47, "Graham." wrote:
All the set top box needs is a converter to the kind of socket on a
pair of
amplified speakers, which are very cheap.

I know several people who operate this way. One snag of course is
that as far as I am aware, if under 75 years old and blind, a set
top box needs payment of a half price tv licence, whereas the old
sound only tuner does not.

I feel that must be incorrect Brian.
Let me illustrate this by posing the following question:

If that was true, then would a set top box without a
means to display a picture require a monochrome or


From the TV Licensing web site

How much does a TV Licence cost with the blind concession?

- The blind concession reduces the cost of your TV Licence by 50%. So
a colour TV Licence will cost £69.75 and a black and white TV Licence
will cost £23.50.
-

But if you don't have a means of displaying a picture, do you pay half of
a colour licence, or half of a black and white licence...??

The 50% concession is for households with a TV picture display and a
registered blind member under 75
If there is no TV picture display on the premises, then the "concession" is
100%



--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

"Bill Ridgeway" wrote in message
...
My mother (who is blind) has an (analogue) TV sound box so she can, at
least, listen to the TV. This will become useless on change to digital.
Does anyone know of a similar (digital) product? It's got to be cheap.

Thanks.

Bill Ridgeway


I don't think you can continue using the existing TV sound box, if you want
it to be cheap. She could keep using the TV sound box for years, but would
several Freeview boxes, each outputting a single channel. So one would be
BBC1, another set to BBC2 etc. Then just combine the feeds and send this to
the TV box as normal. She wouldn't know any different. But this would be say
4 Freeview boxes (4 channels) and a 4 way filter so you'd definitely not get
any change from £200 if you did it yourself.

Cheap way would be to find a Freeview box which has audio output (£20). Get
a pair of cheap amplified speakers (£10) and rip out all the buttons from
the remote except volume, and channel up/down. If she's not interested in
any "new" channels over the ones she had before, then make sure to get a
Freeview box that allows you to remove individual channels from the stored
list. Just leave the ones she wants.

The Humax F2 Fox T has a UHF modulator and a row of well separated buttons
for on/off, up, down, and radio/TV.

Bill

"Graham." wrote in message
...
If that was true, then would a set top box without a
means to display a picture require a monochrome or
colour licence?

I am required to report every set top box sale to the TV Licencing bods.

Bill

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Surely this is no different from using a VHS with a B&W TV - didn't you
then only need a B&W licence regardless of receiving the recorded prog in
colour?

No definitely not. You needed a colour licence if you had a VCR.

Bill

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Surely this is no different from using a VHS with a B&W TV - didn't you
then only need a B&W licence regardless of receiving the recorded prog in
colour?

No definitely not. You needed a colour licence if you had a VCR.

Well, possibly, it depends
You don't need a licence to posses a VCR
You don't need a licence to play back tapes.
You do need a licence if you intend to make an off-air recording with it,
even if you are not equipped to view it.
What is not clear to me is whether a B&W licence will suffice in this
instance.
I could give the recording to someone else, they would not need
a licence at if all they watched was pre-recorded material.

Lets take this argument one step further, someone show me
why I can't do this:
I have a B&W licence
I record a program on my PVR and chase-play it a few seconds
or minuets (or any time which you decide is not "near real-time")
later, on a colour screen.
Am I within the rules? if not, why not exactly?

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

In message , Graham.
writes


"Bill Wright" wrote in message
.. .

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Surely this is no different from using a VHS with a B&W TV - didn't you
then only need a B&W licence regardless of receiving the recorded prog in
colour?

No definitely not. You needed a colour licence if you had a VCR.

Well, possibly, it depends
You don't need a licence to posses a VCR
True.

You don't need a licence to play back tapes.
See below.

You do need a licence if you intend to make an off-air recording with it,
even if you are not equipped to view it.
True.

What is not clear to me is whether a B&W licence will suffice in this
instance.
Unlikely. You are recording a full colour signal.

I could give the recording to someone else, they would not need
a licence at if all they watched was pre-recorded material.
Maybe, especially if the person who recorded it had a licence. However,
are there any implications about copyright etc?

Lets take this argument one step further, someone show me
why I can't do this:
I have a B&W licence
I record a program on my PVR and chase-play it a few seconds
or minuets (or any time which you decide is not "near real-time")
later, on a colour screen.
Am I within the rules? if not, why not exactly?
No, if it is decreed that you need a full colour licence to record in
the first place (which I think you are).

I don't think that the TVLA have really got their act together regarding
the difference between watching 'live', 'nearly-live',
'well-delayed-and-not-as-live-as-it-might-be' and
'watch-it-when-you-want'. It's still a bit of a muddle.

As I have a TV licence, such arguments are essentially academic, but I
think that there should not be ways of avoiding paying a licence fee
simply by watching TV programmes at other than their 'normal' live
transmission times.

On the other hand, I don't like to see people charged for a service
which they don't (or can't) use.
--
Ian

Carpy wrote:

Cheap way would be to find a Freeview box which has audio output (£20). Get
a pair of cheap amplified speakers (£10) and rip out all the buttons from
the remote except volume, and channel up/down. If she's not interested in
any "new" channels over the ones she had before, then make sure to get a
Freeview box that allows you to remove individual channels from the stored
list. Just leave the ones she wants.


I suggest a programmable remote, and don't programme all the other buttons.

Andy