On TV...

[Hell Razor5543]

The BBC have a 30 minute program repeating on the BBC News channel (Freeview 231). "Where the Polar Bears Wait" is very interesting and thought provoking. It will be on this evening at 16:30.

[Hell Razor5543]

The BBC has a new series of "The Repair Shop". The first items to be brought in (for this evenings' episode) tore at my heartstrings. They were a dog collar and tabard from a rescue Border Collie called 'Pepper'. His trainer/handler doted on him, and he was a very intelligent little dog (he entered service at 18 months old). Pepper was one of several rescue dogs who were at Lockerbie. Unfortunately the aviation fuel (and, possibly, radioactive materials used in the manufacture of the 'Clipper Maid of the Seas') caused tumours to develop in all of the rescue dogs, with the inevitable outcome.

[mickthemaverick]

About to start on Quest, so on Quest +1 at 9. Wheeler Dealers doing a 405 Mi16

[mickthemaverick]

ON C4 now and hence C4+1 at 9 documentary about Lithuanian car thieving gangs

[PaulC5]

Just watched that, might explain why ebay has lots of car parts available in Lithuania. Of the Audi featured as stolen with a hidden tracker, they only recovered the wiring loom still with the tracker attached in Lithuania. The rest of the car had disappeared.

[mickthemaverick]

ITV4 + 1 At 7.20am this morning an episode of Minder featurng a Trabant!!

[CitroJim]

Speaking of ITV there Mick, I hear on the news today (via proper old-school FM on a proper old-school radio) that ITV have fallen to third place behind YouTube in 2nd place and the BBC as the most watched TV broadcaster in the UK!

The news item also said most YouTube was watched on TV sets and not computers, tablets and phones as might have been expected.

[mickthemaverick]

Speaking of ITV there Mick, I hear on the news today (via proper old-school FM on a proper old-school radio) that ITV have fallen to third place behind YouTube in 2nd place and the BBC as the most watched TV broadcaster in the UK!

The news item also said most YouTube was watched on TV sets and not computers, tablets and phones as might have been expected.

I am clearly getting too old, 'old school radio' for me would be The Home Service on the wireless. I don't even recall AM being mentioned let alone FM. It was always Medium Wave or Long Wave in those days, Short Wave was something for the Hams to play with!

[CitroJim]

Ahh, these days FM is proper old-school Mick - ask anyone younger than 30 and they'll have no clue I was listening to the Home Service this morning even if it has been called Radio 4 since 1967 on a wireless made in the mid-60s....

[bobins]

I definitely watch more YouTube than conventional TV these days. TV tends to present far too much of a homogenised mush of blandness for me these days, I much prefer older TV from 20+ years ago or YouTube content that's interesting and informative.

[CitroJim]

TV tends to present far too much of a homogenised mush of blandness for me these days

Yep, that was my distinct impression when I last watched the BBC. Dumb'd down to a ridiculous level and aimed at those with the memory of a goldfish and an IQ in single figures. I only watch TV when I'm too ill to do anything else and know instantly when I'm on the mend as I then find the TV intolerable.

When I can watch YouTube sans adverts on my TV set without having to mortgage the house to do so then I may.

[mickthemaverick]

Youtube premium subscriptions are £13 a month for a single user with a 30 day free trial up front. Hardly Mortgage money Jim, less than 50p a day which I think is well worth it if you only watch one video a day!! At least you can choose what it will be about and of course you could watch as many as you want!!

[CitroJim]

Can't possibly afford that Mick - I'm an OAP you know And one who's been truly mugged by the taxman

[myglaren]

TV tends to present far too much of a homogenised mush of blandness for me these days

Yep, that was my distinct impression when I last watched the BBC. Dumb'd down to a ridiculous level and aimed at those with the memory of a goldfish and an IQ in single figures.

Oi! I resemble that remark!

I only watch TV when I'm too ill to do anything else and know instantly when I'm on the mend as I then find the TV intolerable.

When I can watch YouTube sans adverts on my TV set without having to mortgage the house to do so then I may.

Adblockers Jim!
If you have a laptop, or even a conveniently located tower, then an HDMI connection to the TV, YouTube on the computer with adblockers (I use Adblock + and Ublock Origin, all free to use)
Never see adverts.

[CitroJim]

I'm thinking that as I have a period of compromised mobility and need for rest and recovery approaching, I will very much consider a YT subscription. I might actually get some use out of it for a month or so...

Steve, I really can't be doing with fiddling around with laptops, HDMI leads and adblockers to watch a bit of YT. I want to watch it on my big telly. I have a Google dongle stuffed in the back of it and that works well enough even if waiting for it all to boot and selecting what you want to watch is a bit of a faff. Less of a faff than all the faffing a laptop would demand though...

I so miss the days of just being able to turn on your telly with a simple on-off switch and a picture more or less instantly appearing on the same channel last viewed without having to bugger around with waiting for it to boot up, fiddling with remotes and confirming you have a licence and so on... It's like we've gone backwards in a way - back to the days when we had to wait for a valved telly to warm up and it was a toss-up if it would work anyway such was the inherent unreliability of them in those days...

It's what I like about my vintage transistor radios. One switch, one volume knob and a tuning knob. Turn it on and it immediately bursts into life playing what it was last tuned to with no fuss... I so want a telly like that.