Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

TV License Inspector Van

Options
13

Comments

  • Options
    #62
    ilovesleep
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,619 ✭✭✭ilovesleep


    I cannot understand this tv license thing. It and the laws are extremely old and outdated. Televisions are nowadays used for so much more aside from watching tv like dvds, games, ipods, etc. They would really be taking the absolute mickey too if they were to demand a tv license for a computer/laptop.
    Have a tv myself but signal is very bad and I use it for watching dvds and for plugging in the ipod and watching music videos through the tv. Hope to get a games console soon too. Very rarely watch the tv and when there is something due on that i am eager to watch - i go to the pub or go home to watch it.


  • Options
    #63
    Amhran Nua
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,124 ✭✭✭Amhran Nua


    ilovesleep wrote: »
    Televisions are nowadays used for so much more aside from watching tv like dvds, games, ipods, etc. They would really be taking the absolute mickey too if they were to demand a tv license for a computer/laptop.
    They can and do, quite successfully. There's no point in trying to reason it out folks, its basically just another tax, with its own mobile enforcers. What beats me is that some people complaining about it will then go ahead and willingly pay more for sky. :D


  • Options
    #64
    tman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,339 ✭✭✭✭tman


    Amhran Nua wrote: »
    They can and do, quite successfully. There's no point in trying to reason it out folks, its basically just another tax, with its own mobile enforcers. What beats me is that some people complaining about it will then go ahead and willingly pay more for sky. :D

    Well you get a ****load more than 3 channels and a couple of radio stations for your money with Sky!


  • Options
    #65
    Elevator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 844 ✭✭✭Elevator


    tman wrote: »
    Well you get a ****load more than 3 channels and a couple of radio stations for your money with Sky!

    you can watch years worth of shows in a month online, no ads, pause it when you like, rewind or fastforward, it's amazing really :)

    15mb connection €40 win win win

    keep your curtains closed (can never understand people insisting on showing off their prized posessions with big open window spaces!!) so they can't get a pic of your telly

    also if people aren't currently in contract with sky or UPC then you tell your friendly inspector to kindly fupp off!!


  • Options
    #66
    Amhran Nua
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,124 ✭✭✭Amhran Nua


    tman wrote: »
    Well you get a ****load more than 3 channels and a couple of radio stations for your money with Sky!
    Yeah but half of those are repeats of the other half, most of those which aren't repeats aren't worth watching anyway, and of the ones which are worth watching, you get to see adverts every five minutes after paying for it.

    Oh yeah, and you don't even get the Irish channels on it, to add insult to injury.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #67
    mikom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    Amhran Nua wrote: »
    They can and do, quite successfully.

    They would have to prove that your laptop or pc had a card that enabled it to receive a TV signal.
    No card, then you are being fined in the wrong.
    You do not need a licence to watch RTE player on your laptop or pc once you do not have a card that enables it to receive a TV signal.

    Most laptop and pc's are exempt in this way.

    The TV licence thrives on misinformation.
    Don't let it cod you.


  • Options
    #68
    Amhran Nua
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,124 ✭✭✭Amhran Nua


    mikom wrote: »
    Most laptop and pc's are exempt in this way.
    By all means contest it in court if you like, I'm just passing on the experiences of my neighbour. I'd say even a mobile phone at this stage would require something of the sort. As mentioned, there's not much point in trying to reason it out - its a tax at the end of the day.


  • Options
    #69
    mikom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    Amhran Nua wrote: »
    By all means contest it in court if you like, I'm just passing on the experiences of my neighbour. I'd say even a mobile phone at this stage would require something of the sort. As mentioned, there's not much point in trying to reason it out - its a tax at the end of the day.

    Here's your contest....
    http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/12982-government-says-no-tv-licen
    The Broadcasting Bill 2009 specifically exempts mobile phones, “standard PCs with a broadband connection and laptops with TV cards” from a television licence requirement, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan TD, has said.
    What this means is that anyone in Ireland watching streamed or downloadable video content, be it from a service such as YouTube or the RTE Player – which has shows such as EastEnders and Grey’s Anatomy available for viewing after broadcast – will not have to hold any form of TV licence.

    Better get on to your friend....

    It gets better actually.
    Interestingly, the Broadcasting Bill 2009 also exempts “laptops with TV cards” from payment of a TV licence, meaning that while the owner of a TV set will have to cough up the €160 for a licence, a laptop owner can tune in the exact same channels on their TV card, put AV out to a large monitor, and thereby neatly (and legally) sidestep payment.

    So I am enlightened even more now.


  • Options
    #70
    Amhran Nua
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,124 ✭✭✭Amhran Nua


    mikom wrote: »
    So I am enlightened even more now.
    That makes two of us, very good! The court case was back in 2001, so clearly some things have changed in the interim.


  • Options
    #71
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    Amhran Nua wrote: »
    That makes two of us, very good! The court case was back in 2001, so clearly some things have changed in the interim.
    Are you sure he didn't have a tv card or was simply running the computer through a tv? I used to use a tv as a second display for watching films.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #72
    mikom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    In 2001, a crack TV watcher was sent to prison by a Irish court for a crime he didn't commit. This man promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Galway underground. Today, still wanted by the government, he survives as a soldier of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire... The licence dodger -Team.


  • Options
    #73
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Big thread on the USB TV Tuners for laptops HERE, many come in under €10, delivered.

    You may need extra software to decode mpeg4, particularly with xp or vista. win 7 has it built in.


  • Options
    #74
    alex73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭alex73


    happyoutscan wrote: »
    Just seen it, white van with black lettering striking fear into the hearts of all in Joyce's car park in Knocknacarra. Close those curtains guys.

    Van have radar, they know if your TV is on. No need to close the curtains that won't help.


  • Options
    #75
    mikom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    alex73 wrote: »
    Van have radar, they know if your TV is on. No need to close the curtains that won't help.

    Unless you are watching you TV on-board a Sikorsky rescue helicopter, I don't think that's gonna work.


  • Options
    #76
    joeKel73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭joeKel73


    I don't have a TV (genuinely!) but this has often interested me when I lived in other houses.

    If they come to your window and see you've a TV, surely that can't stand up in court as evidence. And surely they can't photos into your sitting room, on grounds of privacy. I've had TV licence inspectors arriving at the house when I lived elsewhere and they always gave 5days notice. You could just deny having a TV and "give it away" to a friend for a few days when they arrive back surely. I suspect if they're to take any evidence from inside your home they'd need a warrant??

    Also if you let them in to see your lack of TV, they take you off the list.... just sayin....... ;)


  • Options
    #77
    Amhran Nua
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,124 ✭✭✭Amhran Nua


    ScumLord wrote: »
    Are you sure he didn't have a tv card or was simply running the computer through a tv? I used to use a tv as a second display for watching films.
    This was more or less before the advent of flatscreens. The CRT on a computer and that of a TV look the same from a certain perspective. Good to see the legislation was updated though, I recall there was some talk of charging businesses a licence for their purely business PCs at one stage.


  • Options
    #78
    Xiney
    Registered Users Posts: 8,085 ✭✭✭Xiney


    alex73 wrote: »
    Van have radar, they know if your TV is on. No need to close the curtains that won't help.

    Urban myth - has to be.


  • Options
    #79
    thesandeman
    Registered Users Posts: 10,256 ✭✭✭✭thesandeman


    Not an URBAN myth as such. More a myth orchestrated by the Licence people themselves. In the 70s the van used to go around with a kinda frying-pan thingy on the roof and they advertised that big brother was watching for your TV from inside the van.


  • Options
    #80
    red_fox
    Registered Users Posts: 642 ✭✭✭red_fox


    Even if there was a 'TV radar' then I doubt it could distinguish between a TV and a monitor. Of course monitors weren't very common in the 70s


  • Options
    #81
    Westwood
    Registered Users Posts: 535 ✭✭✭Westwood


    they can kiss my ass for 160E and lick my balls and my uncle tommy's :)


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #82
    Fionn MacCool
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭Fionn MacCool


    lol I love the "TV detector van" story, even though 0 people in the history of anything have been brought to court and fined after the presentation of this make believe evidence. Clearly they are an authority which uses lies and deception whenever they can, so I would encourage everyone else to do the same when dealing with them.


  • Options
    #83
    Max Power1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,272 ✭✭✭✭Max Power1


    Xiney wrote: »
    Urban myth - has to be.
    If anyone can prove the existence of such technology I will eat my hair.

    (a la Jeremy Clarkson)


  • Options
    #84
    dibi
    Registered Users Posts: 38 ✭dibi


    what's the story with people who live in apartment blocks, the inspectors can't use the "saw tv through the window" line...so either they do have a "tv radar" or they're just leaving notices with everyone, assuming they all have tv's??

    come to think of it i've never gotten notices in the past living in 3rd or 4th floor apartments...always have living in houses though...so does this not make the whole thing pretty inconsistent with the actual law? lettin' off the people who's windows are too high up to look through?
    :D


  • Options
    #85
    Fionn MacCool
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭Fionn MacCool


    dibi wrote: »
    come to think of it i've never gotten notices in the past living in 3rd or 4th floor apartments...always have living in houses though...so does this not make the whole thing pretty inconsistent with the actual law? lettin' off the people who's windows are too high up to look through?
    :D

    I live in a second floor apartment and got a letter from em a couple weeks ago. I guess if they just send them out to everyone who doesn't have a license (regardless of if they need one) then at least some of them will cough up.


  • Options
    #86
    The Cool
    Registered Users Posts: 1,094 ✭✭✭The Cool


    I think they just check the apartments up on their lists and send out letters regardless. I live on the 4th floor, and recently got a letter from them stating that they were aware that this apartment is not covered by a tv licence. I rang them the next morning (actually got through!!) and told yer man we have no TV. He said thanks for calling, I'll update the files in regard to your call.
    End of story. I got off the phone after about a minute, thinking, REALLY!?


  • Options
    #87
    bildo
    Registered Users Posts: 289 ✭✭bildo


    Your TV picks up a certain frequency (high) and converts that into a frequency that you can watch on TV(low). The converter I believe does emit a certain amount of this frequency after if has been converted from the broadcast frequency. Theoretically this means that with a high focus receiver one could pick up the converted frequency from a switched on television, this would basically mean that they can sit in their van and watch what you are watching on the tele.

    I doubt this is the case as after conversion the frequency is massively reduced in strength and probably the actual casing of the tele would be enough to shield your converted reception from any receivers outside.

    I'm no physics buff but I'd say the technology is possible but not probable, certainly wouldn't be probable enough to stand up in court anyway, we live in a world where the air is saturated with all sorts of radio frequencies, it'd be impossible to 100% determine the source of any received transmission.

    I cannot find any proof to either effect so I assume the TV licence people are talking ****e.

    Intersting article on television detection


  • Options
    #88
    Fionn MacCool
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭Fionn MacCool


    Surely they still wouldn't be able to pinpoint who's house was emitting the signal anyway, unless your house was isolated. Definitely not to a degree that could be held down in court.


  • Options
    #89
    po0k
    Registered Users Posts: 15,815 ✭✭✭✭po0k


    tman wrote: »
    you get a load of **** channels for your money with Sky!

    Fixed that for you :)

    I want to see more stuff like single handed and reeling in the years rather than eastenders, talent tripe and coronation st.

    tg4 weather is worth every thigh-rubbing cent


  • Options
    #90
    yeehaw
    Registered Users Posts: 217 ✭✭yeehaw


    If you look at the legislation on this, which is seriously dated, strictly speaking you need a tv license for mobile phones.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #91
    dilallio
    Registered Users Posts: 2,728 ✭✭✭dilallio


    yeehaw wrote: »
    If you look at the legislation on this, which is seriously dated, strictly speaking you need a tv license for mobile phones.

    And a wire clothes hanger - that's also capable of picking up a tv signal (when shoved into the arial-slot in the telly)


    If they drop a letter through your letterbox, and it does not have your name on it, then there's not a lot they can do. They have to have a name on it before they can prosecute you.

    They get names from:

    �� [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Household and occupier details are checked against the electoral register as frequently as it is issued. [/FONT]

    [/FONT]�� [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Information is compiled from inspectors reports, ‘on the ground’ information provided by post deliverers (including details from re-direction forms) and other local sources. [/FONT]

    [/FONT]�� [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Lists of persons entitled to have their television licence fees paid under the Department of Social and Family Affairs free licence scheme, and terminations of free licence entitlement are provided by the Department to An Post on a monthly basis. [/FONT]

    [/FONT]�� [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Results of centrally-organised mail shots are analysed and used to update the database. [/FONT]

    [/FONT]�� [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]County Council planning permission numbers and local authority housing completions augmented by inspectors’ reports are used to identify new houses. [/FONT]

    [/FONT]�� [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Commercially available household directories are used to identify houses not recorded on the database. [/FONT]
    [/FONT]Source : http://www.audgen.gov.ie/documents/v..._TVLicence.pdf

    For anyone who is afraid of registering to vote before the Nov 26th deadline (in case you now get a letter from the TV licence crowd), there are now 2 application forms to register, and on one of them (the new one), they cannot use your information for anything other than placing you on the electoral register.

    If you look elsewhere in the report above, you will see that for 2009, very few large fines were issued by the courts - most cases were resolved by the person buying a licence before the court case.

    The only people I've heard who actually went to jail for non-payment, didn't pay because of their personal / political views, and the courts were left with no other option.


Advertisement