TV licencing bloke calls...

[pelmetman]

I find this quite interesting, we have one small quite old television and possibly is not good for the environment but then again we have a computer is this any better/worse for the environment?
~Sue

[Ellendra]

I always thought their special vans could detect if you had a telly without the man having to go inside the house - am I just very gullable?

They could only detect signals being broadcast, not signals being received.

[Ellendra]

All televisions and computer monitors have an oscillator to scan the screen which can be picked up by a special receiver several metres away. (An oscillator is like a mini transmitter)
Televisions (and radios) also have what's called a "local oscillator" which varies depending on what channel you are tuned to (analogue TV anyway, not sure about digital), which can also be picked up from a distance. So, with an analogue TV they can tell if it's switched on and what channel it's tuned to, but with satellite TV just that it's switched on.

Really? I hadn't heard about that. Maybe I just haven't gotten to that part of my electronics classes.

I'll have to look that up now.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

All televisions and computer monitors have an oscillator to scan the screen which can be picked up by a special receiver several metres away. (An oscillator is like a mini transmitter)
Televisions (and radios) also have what's called a "local oscillator" which varies depending on what channel you are tuned to (analogue TV anyway, not sure about digital), which can also be picked up from a distance. So, with an analogue TV they can tell if it's switched on and what channel it's tuned to, but with satellite TV just that it's switched on.

Really? I hadn't heard about that. Maybe I just haven't gotten to that part of my electronics classes.

I'll have to look that up now.

Certainly the case with the (now) old-fashioned CRT tellys. They emit masses of detectable radiation. I don't know about the flat screens. Perhaps that is why one doesn't see the detector vans any more: all those computer monitors confused them and the modern TVs just don't show up.

[greenorelse]

I find this quite interesting, we have one small quite old television and possibly is not good for the environment but then again we have a computer is this any better/worse for the environment?
~Sue

Twice as bad as someone with only one or the other?

[Shirleymouse]

I expect the worst thing about all electricals is when they end up in landfill.

[greenorelse]

Wandering off-topic, do we have any other technophobes here who eschew the 'benefits' of electronic gadgetry (barring the computer of course...if we are allowed one advanced technology, it has to be that)?

[Kezz]

Just filled out the "I don't need a Licence" form. Packed the freeview box up and the ariel cable.

I can now move all the furniture around because the tv only needs a plug now :D room for the xmas tree!

[Shirleymouse]

Wandering off-topic, do we have any other technophobes here who eschew the 'benefits' of electronic gadgetry (barring the computer of course...if we are allowed one advanced technology, it has to be that)?

I'm a bit of a technophobe compared with most people my age (early 30s). I have an Ipod and a very simple mobile phone. I can do essential work things with the computer i.e. email, word processing, using movie maker but I have no idea how to do most of the things that other people can do with their phones. computers, Ipads etc. I don't even care!!!

[Big Al]

How bad for the environment are TVs? I was just thinking that people with bigger car engines have to pay more road tax so it would be logical for people with bigger or multiple TVs to pay more for their TV licence and yes I know that's not what the TV licence is for but it might put people off owning ridiculous sizes and numbers of TVs. Someone I know has a 50 inch screen - their front room is like a cinema!

So where does this sort of idea stop. Do you have to pay more if you have a fast processor in the computer? maybe if the fan is 500 watts then that is more than a normal 300w fan but a gamer may have two 500w fans and desperatly needs the chips to be cooled so he can have a faster gaming experience.

[gregorach]

The idea of having different license rates for different sizes of TVs completely ignores the importance of how long you have the thing on. Someone with a 21-inch TV that's on 12 hours a day and on standby the rest of the time will use more energy than someone with a 50-inch TV that's only on a few hours a week.

[MKG]

For those of you still worried about TV detector vans - don't. It is technically possible to determine the direction in which an operating TV lies, and it's feasible to determine the channel being watched. However, that isn't enough. To determine the absolute position of a TV set, TWO detector vans would be required simultaneously to triangulate the signal source. The Beeb did spread the story of detector vans as a deterrent to would-be licence dodgers, and they may even have built a couple of vehicles with sticky-out antennae on the roof to make them look good, but whether they ever bothered making any real detector vans is a moot point. Certainly, there has never been a conviction for evasion in the UK which relied upon detector van evidence (simply because it wouldn't be evidence at all).

Mike

[Millymollymandy]

Wandering off-topic, do we have any other technophobes here who eschew the 'benefits' of electronic gadgetry (barring the computer of course...if we are allowed one advanced technology, it has to be that)?

I'm a bit of a technophobe compared with most people my age (early 30s). I have an Ipod and a very simple mobile phone. I can do essential work things with the computer i.e. email, word processing, using movie maker but I have no idea how to do most of the things that other people can do with their phones. computers, Ipads etc. I don't even care!!!

Me too (and me neither to last comment!), don't even have an ipod and don't even know what they look like.

My OH on the other hand has all these all singing all dancing new fangled things and I am so fed up with a houseful of things going 'beep' 'you have new mail' 'ding ding' all the ruddy time. Turn the bloody volume OFF!!!!!!

[Green Aura]

I was told years ago that TV detector vans were nothing but an urban myth, encouraged by the beeb for obvious reasons.

[Zech]

Wandering off-topic, do we have any other technophobes here who eschew the 'benefits' of electronic gadgetry (barring the computer of course...if we are allowed one advanced technology, it has to be that)?

I wouldn't call myself a technophobe - I love technology - but I don't like using electricity where human-power would do instead. Having recently taken up baking in a big way, I mix everything by hand instead of using the mixer. It's really not that much effort. I'm also planning to convert my sewing machine to run off a treadle instead of its electric motor.

Mind you, the thing that annoyed me most about by husband's Blackberry (electronic gadget, not fruit, and he really does need it for work) was that it meant he could go online when we didn't have a landline connection, so I couldn't!