A long shot

[akicif]

...that probably won't work, but....

Is there anyone reading this who is:

• In/near Edinburgh
• With access to a TV and video recorder
• Who could tape today's BBC One O'Clock News

Please?

There's a story on one of our work conferences, but we've not got a TV license here at work, and there's no decent aerial for our TV, anyway....

Comments

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Yes, no problem.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Many, many, thanks indeed!

[princealbert.livejournal.com]

Im going to attempt to vid capture the story for you.
Will let you know in the after the article in question.

-Roy

[guybles.livejournal.com]

Could you not stream the video from the BBC website after the event? Okay, it's RealPlayer stuff, but I'm sure you could find a way to copy it locally.

[princealbert.livejournal.com]

Errrr....

shush

of course you can't capture live streams off the BBC website, they use Realservers to stop us doing that.

;^)

So what happens...

[seawasp]

... if you use a TV without a license? Do they have a large network of spies and sensors so that the moment you turn it on, American Black Helicopters swoop down on you? Do they do nothing, and it's a matter of they won't likely know for a long time if at all?

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Taped! It's on a tape I was using to record a programme for my mum, but I'm sure we can work it out. When do you want it?

[guybles.livejournal.com]

Of course. How silly of me. Naturally, there is no way whatsoever of cracking a streamed RealPlayer movie so it may be saved locally. How could I even have suggested such a thing?

(whistles innocently)

[princealbert.livejournal.com]

Which bulletin was the article on?
BBC One o'clock News or BBC Reporting Scotlands local news at 13:30?

I didn't actually see a relevant article

[princealbert.livejournal.com]

nor can you obtain software that collates four seperate streams into one perfect captured media file.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

How would I know? I just taped the whole hour.

Re: So what happens...

[muninnhuginn]

Not quite helicopters. Detector vans. The current "buy a licence or else" campaign posters state very plainly that "they" have a database of all the addresses without a TV licence. The knock does come on the door of the non-TV owning households--it happened to a friend recently.

Re: So what happens...

[timill]

A list of all addresses in the UK costs about £3k for a licence IIRC. I bought one for work once...

So they can get all addresses, and they know all addresses with a licence. After that, the problem is simple.

Re: So what happens...

[seawasp]

How do you detect a TV, as opposed to a CRT computer monitor?

Re: So what happens...

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

And they reset this flag once a year. So you have to tell them every year you don't have a tv - they don't trust you to tell them if you change your mind. Bastards.

Re: So what happens...

[muninnhuginn]

'Twas ever thus, too. I remember my mother, frequently, recalling the argument she had with the detector van man just after she'd got married and she and Dad were living in their flat for the first time sans TV. This was 1963 and the notion that folk couldn't live without TV could not be contemplated even then.

I can see that keeping a list of homes without TVs must seem like a good idea to the enforcing agencies. But there's something truly offensive about the implicit assumption that those who don't have a licence are automatically fraudsters as opposed to genuinely not owning a TV. (This from someone who does have a TV.)

[akicif.livejournal.com]

The message I was passed from the conference just said "one o'clock news", but I suspect it'd have been in the Scottish bit at the end....

Using news.google on "Men Can Care" gives all of two cites at the moment (one of which transposes the roles of the organising bodies).

Re: So what happens...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

They're detecting the UHF circuit, I think, or at least it used to work that way. Plus they get the address of anyone who buys a TV, video, digital receiver, or subscribes to cable services. But I suspect that their main technique is to look for addresses that aren't listed as having a TV, take a look to see if there's an aerial, and knock on the door if there isn't.

Case in point, a friend of mine who has never owned a TV but moved into a house that had an aerial and gets regular enquiries from the licensing people

Re: So what happens...

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Apparently it works by detecting the intermediate frequency leakage from the receiver.

However, many people believe this is physically impossible, and all they're doing is matching the uk address database against a list of known TV owners.....

Re: So what happens...

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

It has been physically impossible ever since we stopped using VHF televisions. Sure, there are one or two detector vans crammed to the gunnels with expensive-looking test equipment, but most are garden-variety white Ford Trannies.
And yes, I got a visit a few weeks back, and the inspector was physically flung out of the house by me.