Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: On Telly, Telly Off

Pete

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:36:48 +1300

Threw my telly out when all that reality tv malarky started and don't regret it.
Since Te Internet I've been loving House of Cards, OITNB, Orphan Black and lots of shows, ad-free.

It's not elitism, I absolutely abhor advertising. Being yelled at and condescended to and have my favourite movie…

Kyle Matthews

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 16:45:49 +1300

I think it’s still the case that broadcast, once the infrastructure is in place (which it is) scales better than IPTV.

I do think there's a growing market for some sort of netflix like arrangement where you pay a subscription, or buy either channels or shows, and then just pick…

Russell Brown

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 20:03:35 +1300

Now we have the technology to offer an infinite amount of choice cheaply – the only constraint is the content’s creation and availability.

Why will we keep the old system – unless it’s to keep a large number of people thinking the same way as a result of having common…

Sacha

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 18:34:23 +1300

no medals

Richard Grevers

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:46:03 +1300

Ok, I won't mention that we haven't watched broadcast TV for 4 years then.

Andrew C

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 14:23:34 +1300

if you have a good terrestrial signal you should use that rather than Sky satellite – the terrestrial steams are higher quality than the satellite ones

Do you mean HD, or just a better all round signal quality?

Paul Campbell

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 10:35:40 +1300

Am trying to get to grips with the whole analog/digital/terrestrial/satellite/dish/UHF aerial/Freeview/SKY/built-in Freeview/Freeview box/MySKY/TIVO issue right now. Feeling hopelessly confused!

So one thing to realise – Sky and Freevoew satellite come off of the same satellite (in fact they are the same channels – TV1 and the other freeview channel is…

Andrew C

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 09:38:09 +1300

I’m not sure how many CRT sets are still out there

We have them. And each time they break down I pop onto trademe and pick another one up for under 10 bucks. Why? Young kids. Fists, balls, bats, you name it – they all end up in contact with…

anth

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 22:28:41 +1300

I have… problems… with “I, personally, never watch broadcast TV and therefore it has no value and should DIAF” arguments.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-tel,429/

Howard Edwards

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 15:17:58 +1300

Am trying to get to grips with the whole analog/digital/terrestrial/satellite/dish/UHF aerial/Freeview/SKY/built-in Freeview/Freeview box/MySKY/TIVO issue right now. Feeling hopelessly confused!

Present setup:

1. House has two CRT TV sets, one plugged into old analog socket on wall, other with two inputs plugged into a) same plus b) SKY box (not MySKY)…

Danielle

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 15:04:14 +1300

I wasn't responding to your post, actually, more Slarty's.

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:54:44 +1300

I, personally, never watch broadcast TV and therefore it has no value and should DIAF

I was never really arguing that.

When broadcast TV was instigated, there was no way to implement television other than by putting antenna on various hilltops and allocating maybe 20MHz of bandwidth to three or…

Tim Michie

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:37:16 +1300

Agreed. As it said in my Jetsons storybook, "Never is a very long time."

Danielle

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:32:01 +1300

Those vintage rabbit ears are awesome! Alas nothing on trademe....

I love them and can't bear to part with them (like my pink-painted 50s fan heater, which is loud, slightly whiffy and probably a fire hazard in every possible way, so I never use it, but... pink! With rounded edges!…

Paul Campbell

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 12:31:34 +1300

BTW – be careful when you see mention of "Dish-TV" online – one of the two major US satellite operators is called "Dish-TV" AFAIK they have absolutely nothing to the settops of the same name sold in NZ

I've always been a bit amazed there's not been some sort of…

Paul Campbell

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 12:28:00 +1300

I'm surprised that so many people use the signal to the tower rather than the signal to the satellite. Is that through choice because it offers more, or avoiding the cost of installing a dish on the house?

Remember that the signal from the tower is higher bandwidth than the…

izogi

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 11:46:49 +1300

Hi Kyle.

I’m surprised that so many people use the signal to the tower rather than the signal to the satelitte. Is that through choice because it offers more, or avoiding the cost of installing a dish on the house?

For us several years ago, in a rental home, installing…

Stephen Judd

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 11:26:15 +1300

the dollar savings on retail, energy and maintenance

And flat screens don't smash up like glass CRTs.

Kyle Matthews

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 11:24:00 +1300

I'm surprised that so many people use the signal to the tower rather than the signal to the satelitte. Is that through choice because it offers more, or avoiding the cost of installing a dish on the house?

We had a sky dish on the roof when we brought our…

Russell Brown

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 10:32:02 +1300

as if the “flat screen” part of a TV is somehow more of a luxury for prisoners than the dollar savings on retail, energy and maintenance are for taxpayers over a CRT.

Not to mention that for quite some time it's been impossible to buy a TV with a screen…

izogi

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 10:27:26 +1300

and getting some dodgy terrestrial reception with the channel scans, despite being in J’ville and having direct line-of-sight to the top of the transmitter on Kaukau

For fairness I should also add that there doesn't appear to be any antenna on the roof of the 5 year old rental that…

izogi

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 09:35:25 +1300

I’m not sure how many CRT sets are still out there – you can’t even give them to op shops these days – let alone vintage cabinets from the 70s stuck on TV One, but Tim’s right, they’ll be out there.

I think there must still be a fair few,…

Tim Michie

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 09:18:02 +1300

As I've had past periods without TV and can do without, have a dying CRT (bought on the cusp of LCD becoming affordable) and am expecting some inflation on units in December, I'm experimentally keeping the analogue running to see if anyone hijacks some frequesncy. Just to see what there…

Myles Thomas

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 00:51:59 +1300

The really bad news is that none of the new frequency space created as a result of DSO is to be set aside for PSB. We did have at least one non-commercial regional channel (triangle in Auckland used it) but even that's going ( and so is triangle). Meanwhile the…

slarty

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 23:17:00 +1300

Gave up on Telly in 2003. Haven't missed it whatsoever. Occasionally I have a moment where I don't get a reference (e.g. the cobblers about dog-napping a few weeks back).

Must confess I hope it will contribute to the end of the 50 year experiment that was broadcast TV.

"chris"

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 21:26:31 +1300

Perhaps God is having his revenge on Grey Lynn.

Jesus he was evil...?!

paynter

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:44:38 +1300

As each region has gone digital, there must have been people for whom TV just ceased. What did they do?

What did we do? Read books. Talked. A bit of coding. Watched 7days and John Stewart and Lorde online. I might even finish the weekend paper this week.

Coincidentally, we…

B Jones

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:42:25 +1300

they shouldn't have missed anyone

Not if they did it right. But you'd need a hands-on, low tech communications strategy tightly geared towards older viewers – going viral on twitter won't reach them.

The degree to which this will inconvenience people without a lot of other cheap accessible entertainment makes…

Paul Campbell

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:31:26 +1300

So they're selling off all the soon to be unused TV spectrum – where's the money going? to fund more NACT tax cuts? in the US they at least used some of the revenue from the sale of spectrum to pay for set top boxes – everyone got a $50…

kiwicmc

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:17:50 +1300

Those vintage rabbit ears are awesome! Alas nothing on trademe....

Martin Brown

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 19:09:27 +1300

Around $10 million Govt ad spend – plus the Freeview budget of say another 9 or so over three years – they shouldn't have missed anyone.

Russell Brown

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 17:48:53 +1300

I’d like to take exception to your anecdata.

Happy to be corrected. Perhaps God is having his revenge on Grey Lynn.

Russell Brown

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 17:47:28 +1300

(btw Russell I think you’ve marked up an extra para at the end of Tim’s bit that’s actually back to you talking: “I’m not sure how many CRT sets” etc.)

Gah! Thanks.

Graham Dunster

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 17:44:00 +1300

I'm starting to hope that the resurgence of the Labour Party could lead to PSB again, fool that I am.

Julian Melville

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 17:15:07 +1300

My Dad still complains about the imposition of UHF aerials...

(btw Russell I think you've marked up an extra para at the end of Tim's bit that's actually back to you talking: "I'm not sure how many CRT sets" etc.)

Chris Waugh

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:59:38 +1300

The Freeview “Chinese” channel is basically CCTV 6, 4 and their news channel feed; with two weeks delay.

Well that is majorly disappointing news. Even if you stick with only CCTV they've got so much more variety on offer. Or is there nobody in NZ who could be interested in…

Chris Waugh

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:54:36 +1300

Promising a new Ferrari that is prone to breaking down randomly is not as appealing as a dependable Datsun Sunny for many, no matter how shiny the badge.

Well, on that point at least I agree with him.

As each region has gone digital, there must have been people for…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:50:53 +1300

I'm wondering how long broadcasting a few dozen pre-chosen sets of non-interactive programming using expensive wireless bandwidth will continue. The bandwidth/quality/availability thing is fast dying out – look at the technical quality of some Youtube videos today.

I reckon 10 years and TV will be a bit retro, 20 and…

David Hood

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:47:45 +1300

We have never had a satellite dish of any sort, and are within very clear line of sight of the main tower in the area. With a new powered antenna we get occasional dropouts, and the signal is petty marginal in the rain. But to be honest, we are largely…

GemmaG

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:37:26 +1300

Thanks Russell! You make my job easier ;-)

This is one of my favourite NZ On Screen titles. Neil Roberts wandering around Otara/Mangere and then Howick/Pakuranga, observing these two very different South Auckland areas in 1982. I was just a wee thing living in Papatoetoe when this was filmed, so…

Raymond A Francis

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:32:23 +1300

Poor old Tim, we seem to have had digital in the South Island for ever, I certainly didn't hear of any old folks/fogeys not getting their fix because they were not up to speed with the new technology

Brent Jackson

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:31:06 +1300

Unless you live in a non-coverage area, your Freeview terrestrial signal will look and sound better than the old analogue broadcast did. It’ll quite probably be fine on rabbit ears. No ghosting, and I’ve actually never experienced rainfade on a terrestrial signal.
I'd like to take exception to your anecdata.…

Bevan Shortridge

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:30:55 +1300

And went to watch the "This Is New Zealand" segment at nzonscreen and saw in the comments someone answered my 2010 query about the segment (the last time I watched it)!

Danielle

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:28:53 +1300

Vintage pink rabbit ears I keep on my desk at home, obsoletely. Seemed an appropriate thread contribution. :)

Bevan Shortridge

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:12:16 +1300

Rabbit ears aerials don't seem to pick up TV3 or FOUR on Freeview, unfortunately.

Idiot Savant

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:10:41 +1300

Analogue switched off in PN the other day, and I didn't notice. I haven't even bothered wiring up the cast-off freeview box I got a couple of years ago because there's no point. My TV is just a monitor for stuff I get off the internet. Even with news, broadcast…

Tony Siu

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:10:12 +1300

The Freeview "Chinese" channel is basically CCTV 6, 4 and their news channel feed; with two weeks delay.

Public Address

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:10:12 +1300

Discussion from blog post.