From what I remember In canada what they do is pick up signal leakage from the junction boxes and all of the connectors you use to connect things. all they have to do is drive down the street with a sterio antenna and watch the signals peak and fall. The Coax acts like a big antenna, and the cable companies know how much TV you have licenced and how much a normal house with normally degraded cabling should leak, anything more than that and they get suspicious. An easy way to foil that is to leterally foil each of your connections. and to make sure you are running new cable. Wrap each junction in alumininum foil and tape(duct or electrical) and away you go each junction will leak lessdo two layers of aluminum and you get better, but dont go over nuts. So usually you can attach two mre TV's than usual. As far as satellite some of our companies (bell) can send a signal through that activates your decoder box. If the signal they send doesent match what you card is preproggrammed for it zaps the card and you have to call to get it reprogrammed, call more than three times and they will not do it because you are ovbiously piriating. Yet more reasons whay it is better to program a 486 to decode than to use the card.
I'm dubious about their ability to detect whether you're watching TV. I'm even more dubious about their ability to reduce that technology to the size of a handheld unit at a realistic price. But I do know that most of their vans/equipment is dummy anyhow. While living in the 'Boro I had the opportunity to take a peak into one of their vans. What was inside you ask? Seats. It was basically a minibus. But as has been said. Pay the license. Yea, it sucks to pay for a few channels when so much of it is crap anyway, but it'sthe law. If you wanna change that, write to your MP.
As far as I know that is true. Most of the Licensing scheme is run on a national database of every house/flat/apartment etc in the country. They know exactly which addresses have a license and which don't. You could try sending a mate who already has a license to buy the TV for you, and they'll just assume that he owns the TV, and probably won't bother you for not having a license... afterall he's already got one, and they are none the wiser. Detector vans as bradford010 says are usually fake. There are some real ones that can pick up on the "local oscillator" inside your TV or PC TV card. Most of the information about there being hundreds of detector vans driving around the country is just propaganda to scare you into buying a license. It costs way too much to kit out a transit, it's much cheaper just to send letters to every address who don't have a license and wait to see who replies. If the letter is ignored only then will they check if that have an aerial on the roof and see if a signal can be detected... and you'll get a knock on the door. There are ways around not paying, when I was staying in Uni accomodation I didn't pay for almost a year... and did receive many letters asking me to pay for a license. Nobody turned up on my door asking to see if I had a TV or not, but maybe I was just lucky. It's not worth the risk - pay the £110, don't get a £1000 fine... and STOP MOANING about it!
Refering back to my Comet Days - If you buy something under £100 you get a crappy "Thin" reciept, but if you buy anything over £100, or even a TV under £100 then an address is asked for. If it's anything except for a tv you are allowed to refuse to give your address, EXCEPT where a TV is concerned. When you buy a TV, the order goes through the computer up to head office where the SKU or product category is checked, and whenever they come up with a TV purchase the customers details are sent on to the licensing agency where they check for a license under that name, or under that address. We never sold TV Cards in our store so I'm not sure about them, besides, I think TV Cards are crap and not worth the trouble, give me my 28' Tosh 16:9
BTW - as soon as you sign up to accomodation at a uni they are allowed to send the Licensing agency your term address ETC. (Check it should be in the T & C) Also, if your a student and want a TV licence agree to pay for it VIA direct debit as 4 quartely payments, then once you go home in the summer cancel the last payment, you end up saving about £30 quid, (And it's totally legal, because while your back at home you no longer need the cover, the TV licensin woman told my mother to do it!) personally I think it's downright stupid for students living in halls to have to pay seperately, and at full price. They should at least have a discount, or a shorter cover period if required.
The other thing is that you do not need to get a licence if the TV is running off a battery. I now have my Shuttle ss51 with my tv card. Hmmmm. Maybe I can run it off some car batteries!??
t'looks like the base for a Sony XPlod system there have you seen that Alpine sat nav system where the screen comes out of the unit? Mmm nice, the old one was a bit poo but the updated version is fantastic! If you want to part with that much money!!!
I think what she means is those hand held pocket tv things, If I remember correctly the license stands for the building not the device, therefore in reply to Koolvin's question a car tv would also be exempt, a TV license is like a franchise, you franchise the area not the device(or shop as in franchise!)
That's off the TV Licensing website - so you DO need a licence to cover your home if you have a battery operated TV as well.
Damn! Thats annoying. The good thing about the Shuttle though is that as soon as the TV guys come to check, I can put it in a bag and walk out of the door. Come to think of it, a TV licence might be easier....
ive decided koolvin has way to much money so can i borrow a tenner i can say out as idont have a car but im already drwaing up the disingnes for the custom door panels for the speakers to be angled perfectly, the same on the reer doors, designes to mount small subs (yes there are such a thing look @ the jl audio 6wo) by the passenger front seets to pick up low freuencys than the isobaric case disgins for the 2 15inch sb i will be running in the boot (what can i say i like good quality sound & admitedly it may be a b reg fiesta but it will be the best on the planet ) as far as i know cars are exempt from tv licencing but then again ti is illegal to run the tv or a dvd in a car with the output to a front screen unless the wheels are locked & the handbrake is on
If you read my post again... cars are NOT exempt. You MUST have a licence to cover your house - which will also cover your car.
sorry i did not word that correcly, my mind is on other things (like trying to remember where my certificates to say i passed my course are for when the lass from jobseekers calls) i was meaning ot back you p by saying tht as ling as you have a licnece for your house you have one for your car, like i said the brain is fried today
I heard that students at uni say for example sharing a house/flat have to buy a licence each if they wish to watch TV, even if there is only 1 TV, I don't really know why that is, but it's darned stupid. Basically if you don't want to pay, don't have a TV or anything that can receive the signals.
Morning Jobseekers... now who didn't return my pens to me yesterday? Gotta love League of Gentlemen. Depending on how they are sharing, you might need one licence or one per tv. If you are in Halls of Residence and have a number on your door, you probably will need a licence per tv (like in my first year). If you rent a house from a landlord with 4 other guys (like in my 2nd) you will only need one licence per household. As Behemoth said, if you really don't want to pay... and don't want to get caught not paying - DON'T own anything that can receive the signal. It's pretty simple
