TV is losing Viewers? I Wonder Why.

[taco]

I don't tend to watch much TV over the air. Things rarely are on at the same time that I want to watch them.
Exception is the cooking shows on SBS on a Thursday night which go on in the background while I cook dinner.
The only commercial show I watch is Mr and Mrs Murder on Ten (I'm a fan of anything Micallef does), and it gets timeshifted and the ads fast forwarded as I'm usually doing something else at the time.
ABC iView and YouTube makes up the rest of my TV viewing.

[robusto]

Yeah, sometimes the logo blends into the picture and looks to be part of the scene. The new SBS2 one is huge and hideous.

[Journeyman]

It's meant to be an anti-piracy thing I think. So if you for some reason get caught with such content they can charge you for illegal piracy. e.g. you might record something then upload it to a torrent site - the logo means they have evidence you 'stole' the footage.

[Rocky]

Now that Robusto has mentioned it, I keep noticing the station IDs on the bottom of the screen.
I noticed last night on the (pre-recorded) movie I was watching that WIN-GO had this massive logo in hot pink.
Literally screamed at you from the screen. Who thought of that and what is their logic?
Do they misguidedly think this is some sort of PR? I really wonder about the rationale used for some of these things.

[MrJack]

There are no ads. ABC quality isn't bad, and BBC have HD content.

[fruity]

TV is losing Viewers? I Wonder Why.

Ive got a raspberry pi running raspbmc (variant of xbmc media player). I can watch catchup tv from most aussie channels websites and, coupled with some dns meddling, even iPlayer (bbc).

So good!

The thing that bugs me about doing it that way is that the quality on many "catch-up" offerings is pretty poor compared to the equivalent FTA broadcast. And it's harder to skip the ads. ;-)

That being said, it's even more annoying when you download a UK or US version if a local FTA broadcast and realise that our broadcast quality is pretty crappy compared to other countries.

[MrJack]

Re: TV is losing Viewers? I Wonder Why.

Ive got a raspberry pi running raspbmc (variant of xbmc media player). I can watch catchup tv from most aussie channels websites and, coupled with some dns meddling, even iPlayer (bbc).

So good!

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Iview is amazing and you can watch it though Xbox, Playstation, Western Digital TV LIve, or a PC media server (probably other ways too.)

Normally only 2 weeks worth but some shows they keep all of them available.

It's really awesome if you can get it.

Resolution of programmes through ABC iview is good but isn't quite up to my rather large TV (at least last time I bothered checking). Use it for missed programs but typically just watch on my PC.

[Caneurysm]

+ any browser via their websites.

[KiteStyle3]

Iview is amazing and you can watch it though Xbox, Playstation, Western Digital TV LIve, or a PC media server (probably other ways too.)

Normally only 2 weeks worth but some shows they keep all of them available.

It's really awesome if you can get it.

[Caneurysm]

I'm just grateful that free-to-air TV still exists and that it is possible to record it.
I am very selective in what I watch and will only watch the occasional show in real time.
I find Tom Waterhouse the most offensive presence on TV and avoid him and all other gambling enticements as they are a social evil.
The ads for MKR (which I don't watch) are equally offensive with obnoxious people making rude statements about other contestants.
I find a lot of very interesting documentaries on ABC and SBS with fewer annoying ad breaks.
I keep a good book handy and mute the sound and read the book during ad breaks.

Thought you might like to know that both ABC and SBS have free online streams of their shows for some time now. 'Iview' is ABC's and their programmed content stays up for 14 days after it aired on tv. They also have additional 'repeats' content that stays up more permanently if you are just browsing for something to watch. 'SBS On Demand' is SBS's version and has a similar 14 day window after the program has aired before it is taken down.

[robusto]

A couple more annoyances...

The station logos that remain on screen. Totally unnecesary when button on the remote control calls up the channel ID on the screen. The logos are intrusive and too large---nothing discreet about them.

There is also a possibility they may cause screen burn.

[Journeyman]

@Joe - what firmware is your TViX on? I was on 1.9x - my TViX 6640N kept saying the server was uncontactable so I went to the web site (TViX Website - hope non-coffee sites are OK to post) and downloaded v2.1.0, stuck it on a USB drive and ran it on the box - now everything works just fine, although I can't say anything about IceTV because I don't have it.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Hey Joe (as a famous singer once cried),

I've stuck with the November 2011 firmware, which was originally a bit iffy but after IceTV reconfigured their servers has been great. However, I also use an app that automatically shuts the Toppy down once a day (4am), and an app that makes it view a channel once a day (basically turns the machine on and 'views' channel 9 at 3pm). This ensures that it talks to IceTv frequently enough, although is probably only strictly necessary if nothing is scheduled to record for several days. IIRC my initial problems were related to the fact that the machine needed to be turned on / off every few days to ensure that it communicated with Ice.

Cheers
BOSW

[joe]

When I bought the Topfield, it came with 12 or 18 months IceTv subscription. After some initial teething problems relating to firmware on the PVR, it works well for me.

Hi Barry,

I'm curious about the firmware problem you had. I had an Ice TV subscription for 12 months, but let it go once it expired.

It worked well, but for one annoyance: after recording a set program, my TViX would remain on, and not turn off (i.e. go into standby).

Does your Topfield always stay 'on' or does it go into standby?