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Simple TV. Is it possible?


MtB

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Just now, Mike the Boilerman said:

Ah now that's something else I was wondering about. TV on the lappy. Does that actually work? It must use up lots of bites. How many per hour of TV watching, roughly??

Yes it does - a shocking waste of a limited resource (while you're watching tv everybody else can't use their Facebook...)

Reception - as always depends on where you are, if in a weak signal strength  area a dish is more predictable

We cruise the Thames, Oxford and up and around Brum. For 'emergencies' I have a snazzy new flat satellite dish (got it quite cheaply from Amazon) - 'cos there's no sticky-out-arm to make storage a pain. I've made a pole socket on the front deck by the anchor for either an aerial or the dish. I used to try the sat: first, now it's terrestrial first! We get good reception from Crystal Palace or the Oxford transmitters. Nearer Brum it's Holme Moss

The aerial is a log periodic from eBay (they're all the same...) for around a tenner. An extra long model makes hardly any difference - so don't waste your money. A  pole height of around 8 ft works for me. Every thing gets stored away before we cruise.

FWIW Sterling are selling off 200W pure sine wave inverters for really silly money, so it's worth considering a mains tv. Currys have small Samsung 23" tvs in their ebay shop and I've bought some - always virtually mint.

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11 hours ago, Neil2 said:

We just have a small aerial a DM18 log which I got from this guy http://www.aerialsandtv.com/

No gurt long poles, just sits in a bracket on the boarding plank on the roof.   Very rare not to get a good signal with dozens of channels. 

Any 12v TV will do we have the Cello TV that Midland Chandlers sell it's actually a better picture than our "spare" TV at home but the sound isn't very good.

 

I can second that combination - as we have the same!

 

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On 14/07/2017 at 10:49, bizzard said:

You could watch telly through a television shop window as they usually have a couple of telly's on all the time.  Tip= Ideally, If you want to know what folk are saying on them you would need to learn how to lip read or take someone along who can. :closedeyes:

 

Good point. There are, however, not many telly shops on the K&A especially not in the rural bits. I could get a telescope I suppose. 

As a brat I was fascinated by those telly shops with 20 tellys in the window all tuned to the same channel. I used to try to watch all the screens at once hoping to find little differences in the pictures. But I was always disappointed. It was a bit like opening the fridge door really quick to see if the light was off when shut. 

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22 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Good point. There are, however, not many telly shops on the K&A especially not in the rural bits. I could get a telescope I suppose. 

As a brat I was fascinated by those telly shops with 20 tellys in the window all tuned to the same channel. I used to try to watch all the screens at once hoping to find little differences in the pictures. But I was always disappointed. It was a bit like opening the fridge door really quick to see if the light was off when shut. 

You can still watch telly in stores like Curry's though, until they close for the day that is which might happen bang in the middle of something interesting. I think you will still need to lip read though. Go in there looking smart and dapper though, not with that hoodie thing on Mike, as if your going to buy lots of things or they'll think your a burglar and keep following you around, the problem I've experienced in the past.

Edited by bizzard
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Can't really give any advice other than I empathise over the antenna: Lutine had a satellite dish and a standard TV aerial when I picked her up at Lapworth, both had been removed (by me) before I had got to Garrison Locks...

The Haunted Fish Tank itself has now been gifted to the songbird, as she has a flat to use it in. 

I watched most of last Summer's European Football Championships on the large fish tank at the Clifford Arms in Great Haywood

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1 hour ago, bizzard said:

You can still watch telly in stores like Curry's though, until they close for the day that is which might happen bang in the middle of something interesting. I think you will still need to lip read though. Go in there looking smart and dapper though, not with that hoodie thing on Mike, as if your going to buy lots of things or they'll think your a burglar and keep following you around, the problem I've experienced in the past.

That reminds me of watching the moon landings...

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14 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

I'm just wondering about getting a telly on the boat. I only want to watch BBC and ITV. BBC2 would be a bonus. (I'm sure that nice mrsmelly and nice Mr Athy will approve of my approach!)

Is it possible to do this with just a telly and a sensibly small aerial on the roof? Or does one need to erect poles and aim dishes at satellites, install adaptor boxes inside and such ridiculous complications? 

If yes, which (small) telly and which aerial does the team recommend?

BBC2? don't be bloomin daft..............when the hell do you think that will come along?

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3 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Ah now that's something else I was wondering about. TV on the lappy. Does that actually work? It must use up lots of bites. How many per hour of TV watching, roughly??

Check out 'Go Binge' on 3, sounds to good to be true but if it works I'll be getting it added to my plan when current contract runs out 

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8 minutes ago, Jamboat said:

Check out 'Go Binge' on 3, sounds to good to be true but if it works I'll be getting it added to my plan when current contract runs out 

It only offers "free" data from 4 sources, Netflix and some others I don't recognise. It doesn't, for example, allow unlimited streaming from BBC iPlayer.

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

BBC2? don't be bloomin daft..............when the hell do you think that will come along?

 

I think you'll find they've already started broadcasting BBC2. You really need to get with the times...

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1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I think you'll find they've already started broadcasting BBC2. You really need to get with the times...

:lol: What a bloomin pratt, you will tell me its " in colour " next :rolleyes:

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52 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

It only offers "free" data from 4 sources, Netflix and some others I don't recognise. It doesn't, for example, allow unlimited streaming from BBC iPlayer.

Ahh but it does allow TVplayer, which lets you watch the mainstream channels on your device

https://tvplayer.com/

A no brainer if you have a decent phone signal.

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3 minutes ago, Dave Payne said:

Ahh but it does allow TVplayer, which lets you watch the mainstream channels on your device

https://tvplayer.com/

A no brainer if you have a decent phone signal.

Isn't TVPlayer a subscription service though..? Why would you want to pay for Freeview channels...?

Edited by Rob-M
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3 minutes ago, Dave Payne said:

They offer a free option and a 'plus' option where you pay, this removes ads and offers other channels and catch up.

 

When I looked on their website it looked like a free trial and then either a monthly or annual subscription. I'll take another look.

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For an easy extending pole, I use a thing called a Caramast (< £30 on ebay or Amazon). It comes with plastic mounts (or mine did anyway) but if you need it protruding past the end of your roof line (ie at the bow or stern) then wall mount type domestic tv aerial pole brackets can be used. The advantage is that you get quite a tall pole that drops down when cruising, so provided you don't have an aerial with a very large rear reflector, you don't have to worry about dismantling or getting caught under low bridges etc. Also you can swivel the pole easily.

Both my tv and my pvr box have decent signal meter display options, I guess most modern stuff does? And I find that the pvr box makes a pretty good booster too.

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Do you want to watch live as it happens tv? The alternative is secondhand boxe sets of series or films. No aerials and available at a time to suit you?  

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20 hours ago, Jess-- said:

A lot of boats (mine included) use the moonraker DTV1000 aerials for normal tv

I found it outperformed my directional aerial by a good margin (and no messing around aiming it)

I bought one of these for my Dad last Christmas. He rates it very highly and said he can pick up many channels. He is average at DIY and said it was no hassle to install.

Personally I don't have an aerial of any sort as I don't want to bother (or be bothered) about a TV licence. I just have a Amazon fire TV stick plugged in to a 37" Sony Bravia TV. I only stream non-live TV content and don't bother with any of the drivel produced by the BBC. Obviously it can be heavy on the data but on the other hand, I don't watch an awful lot. Maybe 2-3 hours per week at the most. 

 

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On 14/07/2017 at 21:31, Peter Reed said:

Surprised by this statement as BBC produces some Damn fine drama and documentaries.

 

They can aslo produce some pretty poor documentaries these days. A good example being the recent edition of 'Panorama' on the Grenfell Tower. Hardly any real content. Just a programme recycling interviews of people heavily affected by it. Very little proper investigative journalism about how and why the fire actually happened, which the trails implied.

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20 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

They can aslo produce some pretty poor documentaries these days. A good example being the recent edition of 'Panorama' on the Grenfell Tower. Hardly any real content. Just a programme recycling interviews of people heavily affected by it. Very little proper investigative journalism about how and why the fire actually happened, which the trails implied.

True but that was just populist pseudo-doc rushed out as hot (no pun intended) news. A proper documentary would take months to research and prepare. This is why I tend not to watch panorama much, if it's a reactive doc. However the Beeb do a lot of other good stuff. It's not perfect, but when you look at what eg the Americans have to put up with, it's bloody fantastic!

  • Greenie 1
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On 07/14/2017 at 10:29, Mike the Boilerman said:

Ah now that's something else I was wondering about. TV on the lappy. Does that actually work? It must use up lots of bites. How many per hour of TV watching, roughly??

You can buy a dongle that lets you view TV on a computer, laptop, tablet, phone etc. via the terrestrial signal. Therefore not using data. Still need to have a suitable aerial. I doubt the ones supplied will be much good used inside a steel box. Might save on the cost of a TV though.

Example here.

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