How does the man in the van know if you’re watching TV?
I have assumed he has a microphone that he points at your windows, listens for sounds on a machine to see if they match the TV signals in his van. Yes?
If this is right, could he evesdrop your conversation should he wish to?
Could they detect you if you watched TV with headphones on?
No microphone is involved. They are detecting electromagnetic signals from your television. Were I designing the equipment, I would probably try to pick up the signals generated by the deflection circuitry and coils.
From the TV licensing website in the UK - but applies everywhere
http://www.tv-l.co.uk/penalties/penalties_detector.html
The local oscillator controls the raster scan, moving the electron beam across the screen. The signal is transmitted by the aerial and that is what is detected. The detector - in a van or mobile, will take 2 or more readings to triangulate on you.
AFAIK - it is the aerial that is detected and not the TV set itself, so most of the offenders caught in blocks of flats are caught by database check - with the assumption that everyone will have a TV, and if they find no license then you are likely to have a visit. The vans prowling the streets aer a good reminder.
Russell
I always thought they were a publicity stunt ?
L-C
Both a PR device and reality.
My cousin used to work for the GPO(that brings back a few pre-Thatcher memories) and they were responsible at one time for operating the tv detector vehicles.
There were only a very small number of them, the rest were simply vans with a large rotating egg-whisk stuck on the roof and a few old oscilloscopes inside.
My cousin used to drive the decoys, the idea would be that they would make their presence very high profile ,and usually in the immediate area there was a sudden take-up of licences.
I remember seeing one around the council estate where I used to live, it charged around the various streets, stopping hard so its brakes squealed, and hurtling off again(I doubt that they payed too much attention to the speed limits with the pace they were going - in residential areas) trouble is though, that estate, Seacroft, is not a very nice place to be at all if you are a stranger, it was soon mobbed and the windows put through.
Don’t see decoy vans around there any more.
The real detectors are just small portable devices, not much larger than, say, a gas detector and easily operated very discreetly.
Why do who use these things?
Well, now you’ve got me curious. What is the cost to watch TV there and what does the government do with the money they collect?
Here in Idaho, we have a translator charge on our county taxes. I think it’s around 10 dollars a year. It is required even if you don’t own a TV or as in my case use a satellite dish because I can’t get local reception due to mountains.
I wonder if they can detect if you are watching TV on your computer with a TV card. Because that’s what I do.
Um, am I to understand that you need a license to watch TV in certain countries?
You used to need a TV licence in Australia if you owned a TV (whether or not you watched it). I can’t remember when they were abolished here but it’s a very long time ago.
Also what about lcd or plasma tv’s?
There’s a fine of upto £1000 if you are caught with a TV without a license. Normal license is £120 (ish) a year, even of you only watch commercial channels.
In Britain, doesn’t part of the money go to maintain the non-commercial channels?
Ah-ha! Tax TV… Bloody good idea… I’m surprised they haven’t started that up here (US).
What pray tell is a translator?
I was recently in London visiting friends and the subject came up that they didn’t have a license for their TV and what sorts of trouble they could get into. maybe its cultural but the thought of taxing TV ownership like that would make my blood boil and if I ever live in the UK I would take great pleasure in cheating. I don’t normally watch TV that much but in the UK I would do it just for the pleasure of knowing I was cheating that indefensible tax. I have great admiration for the Brits on account of their standing up to Hitler and for having the courage to drink warm beer but the fact that they allow themselves to be subjected to a tax like this indicates how low they have sunk since their days of glory.
This as been mentioned before in previous threads but just to remind you:- The TV licence is used to fund the BBC TV and radio channels which are completely free of commercials and need to get their funding from other sources . It is great not to have your enjoyment spoiled by endless commercial breaks. This only applies to the BBC channels . There are other TV channels ( ITV , CH4 and CH5 ) which doe carry commercials and do not recieve payment from the licence fund.
The English aren’t the only one who have to pay a TV tax. Here in Germany, you pay tax on TVs and radios, too.
Mybe Coldfire could give us the straight dope on the Netherlands.
In Germany you pay a tax every year if you own a TV or radio? How much? Or is it a one time purchase tax?
casdave – Didn’t know they had any. Thanks. FWIW, I tend to think they rely far more on BT (new property owners or renters having the phone installed or changed) notifying them as well as the big electrical stores (I was asked for details when I bought a teevee for cash – couldn’t work out why at the time. Penny dropped later) referencing credit cards, etc. It seemed a bit underhand to me…
On taxation:
I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable characterising it as a tax. Yep, it’s compulsory if you own a teevee, just like, for example, taxes due in relation to owning a car – 'cept car taxes go into the general tax raising fund whereas the License Fee goes exclusively to the BBC.
Nor is it a Government determined levy – the BBC apply for an annual fee under the terms (presumably) of their Royal Charter. This is a crucial point as it distances the BBC from political interference (in theory). Generally seems to work, IMHO.
Anyone who thinks their teevee viewing is free is wrong. I guess, in one sense, what I’m paying for is advert free teevee. In another, it looks like a great bargain – compare the income (through advertising) of a commercial channel with that of the BBC, compute in broadcasting hours, quality, etc…all I know is that (when last I looked) the BBC was running on approx 2/3 of the income of the main rival commercial channel.
Advertising revenue doesn’t come from shareholders profits of the company’s paying for advertising, it’s derived from us every time we go to the supermarket or the gas/petrol station, etc.
BTW, I think we’ve been through all this before…