Beeb to get smaller

At least that is what Mark Thompson says here and he is, after all, the man who might know. Nomad likes to think this might be due to his blog, but then maybe not.

It is interesting however that one the reasons given for this possible reduction in the number of broadcast channels is that viewers are increasingly going to use the internet for content delivery. There would appear to be some danger here of the BBC finally waking up to its predicament. If the viewers downloading from the internet realise that they no longer need a TV Licence then the game might be up.

Climategate and the BBC

Nomad is a sceptic, but an open minded one, on the subject of global warming. In any case this blog is not about global warming. Nomad does, however, take an interest when the BBC becomes part of the story. Read this link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1230943/Climate-change-scandal-BBC-expert-sent-cover-emails-month-public.html

So to summarise the Mail's story the BBC were given a potential scoop on Climategate but never followed it up. Why not? Surely the BBC is a news organisation? Try reading this from the excellent 'Burning Our Money' blog:
http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2007/06/bbc-bias.html

So the BBC held a seminar with the "best scientific experts"; presumably the same people who were privately writing about finding a "trick" to "hide the decline". The seminar decided the BBC line which is pro global warming. So when a BBC journalist gets held of some embarassing e-mails he is unable to do anything with them because they do not fit the agreed approach.

So far as Nomad is aware, to date no one has been thrown in the Gulag for climate change denial . Nonetheless Stalin would be impressed at this use of 'science'. A position is agreed. The data is made to fit the party line. Any dissenters are just sidelined by the state sponsored media organisation.

Are you still happy to pay for your TV Licence?

Not Listening! La La La La!

So now everybody and his dog is having a go at the BBC, this blog is even starting to look like mainstream opinion. The BBC however still sees no need to change thier ways. The problem with being funded by a tax is that there is not much point in being responsive to your public. Until one day your public disappears, and by then it is too late.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6606844/BBC-director-general-refuses-to-act-on-scale-of-executive-pay.html

Jeremy Hunt

Some useful clues that suggest we are on the winning side:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/andrewpierce/6587076/Unlike-some-BBC-channels-Jeremy-Hunt-is-worth-watching.html

Where the licence fee goes!

Those of you who have not yet seen the light and actually pay the TV Licence will no doubt be interested to know where your money goes. I mean obviously the BBC has to pay for things like cameras and mixing desks, one hardly grudges the make up girl her salary, but........
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6551214/Top-100-BBC-bosses-salaries-and-expenses-revealed.html

DVD Player with Blu-Ray and DLNA

The LG BD390 has just gone on Nomads wish list:
http://www.lge.com/uk/tv-audio-video/video/LG-BD390.jsp

Update: yes it plays Audio CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and supports audio, video and picture over DLNA. What more do you want?

Editorial

The problem with a blog like this is that the important stuff ends up in the archive for six months back. If you stumble across this blog then an article on the merits of TVersity will be of little interest if you dont know what podcasting is.

In an attempt to solve this, Nomad has put in a Quick Start guide that takes you straight to the basic introductory articles. This then caused Nomad to realise that some of these articles are now out of date and need re-written. Nomad will be focussing on this for the next few days before resuming normal service.

Introduction

If you have decided that you are fed up with paying a licence fee to the BBC then there are three routes open to you. Firstly you can just carry on watching television and hope that you do not get caught. Alternatively you could give up all forms of video entertainment altogether. However there is a third choice open to you and that is what this blog is all about.

For rather abstruse political reasons 'television' is legally defined to mean watching a live broadcast. If you do not have a TV Licence it is therefore possible, for example, to watch DVDs or to watch content downloaded from the internet (but not live streaming). Video Podcasting allows you to subscribe to your favourite programmes (or 'feeds') and new episodes (or 'podcasts') will be automatically downloaded over the internet to your computer. You can then watch them whenever you like. Link your computer to a Media Player device in your lounge and you can now watch your favourite programmes from your favourite armchair.

Video Podcasting is a developing field and currently has limited media content. The central thesis of this blog is that as it becomes more widely used it has the potential to undermine the TV Licence system in the UK.

Basic Technical Guide (updated article)

This post discusses the system setup that Nomad uses. It goes without saying that there are numerous ways this could be done and some of these are discussed in other articles.

Lets start with the obvious: a broadband internet connection is needed and a minimum download speed of around 2Mbs will be required for reasonable performance. This setup uses a Network Router with a PC running Windows XP. Almost any PC that was bought in the last 5 years or so should prove adequate for the job.

A software product called Miro is used to download video from compatible web feeds. The good news is that Miro is available free and is easy to install. Once Miro is installed you can subscribe to compatible web feeds (for example Sky News Headlines). Miro then downloads new items as they appear on the feed and stores them on your hard drive (Sky News Headlines is updated 4 times a day). You can change the settings to control which new items are downloaded and which old items are deleted. Downloaded items are typically in MPEG-4 format. You can also use Miro to watch downloaded items on your PC.

Server software on the PC is TVersity. This provides audio and picture media in addition to video. Tversity can also be used to download data and in theory could replace Miro. However the Miro user interface is much better than TVersity for which reason it is worth keeping. The basic version of TVersity is free.

To view downloaded video items a Linksys Kiss 1600 Media Player is used. The Kiss 1600 also plays DVDs via a front loader tray. The Media Player has a remote control which allows the desired operation while slumped in armchair mode (the technical term is a '10 foot interface'). The Kiss 1600 is now obsolete and as of today the Linksys DMA2200 would be a good buy (if your PC runs Windows 7). The LG BD390 is also worth looking at, as it pays Blueray DVDs. Go for a unit that is DLNA compliant.

The Media Player is currently connected to the PC by an ethernet over mains adapter which provides better than 100Gb data rates.

The display is a 27" monitor connected to the Media Player by HDMI interface. We recommend buying a monitor with native 1920x1080 pixel resolution (16x9 aspect ratio). This will give the best results when viewing Full HD output (Blu-Ray for example).There is a separate output from the Media Player to an audio amplifier and speakers.

Internet: Pipex (download speed runs at 3.2Mbs)
PC: Dell Optiplex GX280 2.8GHz 2Gb RAM 80Gb Hard Drive
Router: Belkin ADSL Modem with Wireless-G Router
Download Software: Miro 2.0.3
Server Software: Tversity 1.7.2.1
Ethernet over mains link: Maxvalue 200Mbps Home Plug
Media Player: Linksys Kiss 1600
Display: Iiyama ProLite B2712HDS-B1

http://www.getmiro.com/
http://tversity.com/
http://news.sky.com/skynews/podcasts
http://www.linksys.eu/

Updated 10 July 2010