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Why Free to Air Sucks!!!

by tagiscom
9 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
    • |
Yeah, l know it is the time of the month when l have to have a rant, but l am not the only one that is p***!

You're trying to find out who a particular actor was and the credits get sqashed to 1/4 of the screen size
Or, you get up to go to the toilets and the promo gets played literally three times louder than the volume of the show / music over the credits. And the promos are ALWAYS for idiotic "reality" shows that they promo every five seconds anyway
ie My Kitchen Sucks, suX-Factor, Australia's got no talent, Dancing with the c-grade stars
Dancing with the c-grade stars, LOL, pretty accurate. They also rope at least one talentless footballer as well, as a cheap way to boost ratings, groan.

The Rules For How TV Annoys Us | Lifehacker Australia

- (This is a new rule) Sources are for university students and the sackless. Be first! even if you are First to be wrong.
- Saturate the market if your opponent is successful. If they have a cooking show. You must develop 10 cooking shows! Flood the market until the next fad topic emerges and then cancel the shows you spent millions developing
- Find out your advertiser is lying about something. Play it as often as possible before someone complains. This is ad revenue after all
Yes, unfortunately accurate, cooking and travel shows, have been thrashed beyond padded cell tv.

- Television will always cater to the lowest common denominator as it is easier for smart people to dumb down that it is for dumb people to read a book every now and then.
Maybe that is why they are dumbing us down? Easier to make money from zombies?

Every show not made in Australia has to have their beginning intros sped up - it's only minor, maybe buying the station a few seconds - so annoying!
I have to admit that l haven't noticed this, but the main reason l have posted this is because they seem to have sped up MASH?

The intro and end are at normal speed, but l swear the show has been slightly sped up?

The show also has lost about 5 minutes as well for more dumb ad's, but speeding it up?

This sort of crap is also happening with classic songs on the radio, they seem to chop the hell out of it!

They also do it online, but it is probably a copyright avoidance thing with YT?


Destroying the end credits of movies with, an overloud Biggest louder crap is also a biggie.


Yes, free to air is turning into Maccers, l rarely go there, and when l do l stay away!

  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Ummmm....don't like TV? Turn it off.

    I don't watch anything "live" or "when aired" - everything I want to see (or think I want to watch) is recorded so I can fast forward or delete as I please.

    Life is too short to sit staring at crap.

    One of the selling points of the new TiVO Bolt is that it speeds up TV as much as 30%...I thought that was a great idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      Ummmm....don't like TV? Turn it off.

      I don't watch anything "live" or "when aired" - everything I want to see (or think I want to watch) is recorded so I can fast forward or delete as I please.

      Life is too short to sit staring at crap.

      One of the selling points of the new TiVO Bolt is that it speeds up TV as much as 30%...I thought that was a great idea.
      "Life is too short to sit staring at crap."

      You have been reading Claude's posts again haven't you!
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      One of the selling points of the new TiVO Bolt is that it speeds up TV as much as 30%...I thought that was a great idea.
      We don't have TIVO here. The free to air channels as well as the cable TV monopoly won't allow anything which stops people watching the adverts which riddle their content (apart from a remote control, and the off switch), and as all of them donate money to the two major parties, it will never be available.

      Still, now we have Netflix and 2 other streaming services (Presto and Stan), we really don't need it.
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      • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        Ummmm....don't like TV? Turn it off.

        I don't watch anything "live" or "when aired" - everything I want to see (or think I want to watch) is recorded so I can fast forward or delete as I please.

        Life is too short to sit staring at crap.

        One of the selling points of the new TiVO Bolt is that it speeds up TV as much as 30%...I thought that was a great idea.
        Speeds up tv, might be good for ad's, but tv shows?

        Crap, yes, l only mention the MASH one becuase they are on in the morning, and it seems sped up?


        Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

        Can the TV and subscribe to NetFlix. It's only $8.99 a month and you get to watch (whenever you want) a great collection of fairly recent movies (within the last 10 years), a host of decent TV shows from the past as well as a few that Netflix itself has produced. All of that without having to watch a single advert.

        The added bonus is, if you know how, you can access the US and UK versions of Netflix as well, thereby pretty much tripling the amount of stuff you have to watch. There is some overlap between the three different versions, but there's a lot that's unique to each.

        I'm currently using the US version and am alternating between episodes of The Walking Dead, Cosmos and Third Rock from The Sun, with the occasional movie and documentary to break them up.It also has a couple of shows that I haven't seen since I was a kid such as The Night Stalker, The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents which is a bit of a hoot. Oh yeah, it also has every episode of MASH as well as The X-Files.

        The Australian version, it has to be said, has the best collection of "recent" movies while the US version has a better collection of classics as well as a better collection of TV shows, and the UK version fills in a few gaps. Whichever you use, there's more than enough there to keep you busy for the rest of your life.

        A warning though, if you have a wireless internet connection, don't bother. It's just not worth it. The constant buffering and dropouts will render the whole exercise pointless. Also, if your ISP has data limits, keep a close eye on it, as you'll use up your limit pretty quickly.

        I'm with TPG on their "unlimited" plan. $59.99 a month. with reasonable speeds (for Australia), and never have to worry about data limits. Netflix itself has issued a report saying that TPG has tested as being the fastest ISP here as well, whereas Telstra throttles the speed who you access Netflix with because they have their own streaming service (Preato) in competition with Netflix. Presto has nowhere near as good library as Netflix, though.

        So, stop whingeing about the parlous state of free to air (it ain't gonna get any better), switch to TPG's unlimited plan, subscribe to Netflix and die happy.

        Plus if you ask nicely, I'll even tell you how to access the US and UK versions well. You don't need to learn any tech tricks, or even pay for a VPN service to access them either.
        Arrr, no, thanks anyway Whatever....,but you could do one thing for me, watch a free MASH episode and a Netflix one, and tell me if you notice a difference in speed?

        Couldn't find anything online about it, but l would be interested to know.

        Well, interested to know how far they are prepared to f*** things up?

        Or are they doing it, to force us onto Foxtel?

        I had a chat to some tv sales guys in G B Hi Fi today, and they said that Freeview+, will only be available on new tv's.

        Freeview+ is a poor mans Netflix.

        My Mother is looking into it since most of the stations online, (her tv) or freeview are gone, it is only the ABC that works, and the Foxtel tentacles are trying to buy them out as well.

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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          Speeds up tv, might be good for ad's, but tv shows?
          You can SKIP ads entirely with TiVO - the new one is supposed to actually speed up the show. They say it doesn't affect quality - but it would cut into those numerous meaningful glances and pregnant pauses....I doubt you'd miss much.

          Commercial breaks are good for:

          tossing the ball a few times for the dogs
          using the bathroom
          fixing a sandwich
          grabbing a handful of peanut M&Ms
          getting a soda or a beer
          unloading the dishwasher ( or loading it)
          toss a load in the washer or move clothes to the dryer
          reading a chapter on your kindle
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          • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
            Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

            You can SKIP ads entirely with TiVO - the new one is supposed to actually speed up the show. They say it doesn't affect quality - but it would cut into those numerous meaningful glances and pregnant pauses....I doubt you'd miss much.

            Commercial breaks are good for:

            tossing the ball a few times for the dogs
            using the bathroom
            fixing a sandwich
            grabbing a handful of peanut M&Ms
            getting a soda or a beer
            unloading the dishwasher ( or loading it)
            toss a load in the washer or move clothes to the dryer
            reading a chapter on your kindle
            Developing a free way to generate electricity
            Developing a time displacement experiment.
            Overthrowing the free world
            Grabbing another donut, (that is Claudes one)

            Soda, oh, you mean soft drink, or as we like to call it in Australia, crap!

            Speeds up the show, groan, if that means it speeds up like MASH has, then l wouldn't be interested..

            Some of the time you don't notice, but others, it is pretty obvious. And very annoying!

            MASH eventhough on around midday is most likely still a high rating show, well considering the s*** it is up against at that time of day.

            So, they naturally f*** it up as much as possible, l bet the Foxtel version isn't a dogs breakfast.

            Yes, l usually have the tv turned off, most of the time.

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            • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
              Found this online.

              From The Australian

              The major issue now for Australian broadcasters is that any local subscribers Netflix allows dilute the value of their output deals with international partners, such as Nine's with Warner Bros or Foxtel Movies' with various Hollywood studios. The number of viewers lost to Australian networks is unquantifiable though.

              "This is an issue the US studios should be taking up with Netflix because they're not getting paid," one network executive said.

              Good to see that those A***H*** are squirming. Maybe they should play movies without over movie advertising or destroying the end credits.

              Or speeding up and chopping MASH episodes?

              Or playing endless cooking crap on tv?

              In AU, there are so many shows about some idiots in the top end fishing in Crocodile infested waters, and, (if they survive, cooking some fish later on) they could create a channel and play it 24/7.

              But l have to admit that English shows on antique appraisals and renovation shows, l am starting to say Pounds instead of dollars!

              They should set up a new digital channel and call it 324, thousand pounds!

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              • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
                Originally Posted by tagiscom View Post

                Found this online.

                From The Australian

                Quelle surprise that a newspaper 100% owned by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp is speaking out in defence of FozTel which is 50% owned by Newscorp.

                Incidentally, I have it on good authority that Netflix, which has been open for business in Australia for just over 6 months, has more subscribers than FoxTel which has been running for more than 20 years.
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  • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
    Can the TV and subscribe to NetFlix. It's only $8.99 a month and you get to watch (whenever you want) a great collection of fairly recent movies (within the last 10 years), a host of decent TV shows from the past as well as a few that Netflix itself has produced. All of that without having to watch a single advert.

    The added bonus is, if you know how, you can access the US and UK versions of Netflix as well, thereby pretty much tripling the amount of stuff you have to watch. There is some overlap between the three different versions, but there's a lot that's unique to each.

    I'm currently using the US version and am alternating between episodes of The Walking Dead, Cosmos and Third Rock from The Sun, with the occasional movie and documentary to break them up.It also has a couple of shows that I haven't seen since I was a kid such as The Night Stalker, The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents which is a bit of a hoot. Oh yeah, it also has every episode of MASH as well as The X-Files.

    The Australian version, it has to be said, has the best collection of "recent" movies while the US version has a better collection of classics as well as a better collection of TV shows, and the UK version fills in a few gaps. Whichever you use, there's more than enough there to keep you busy for the rest of your life.

    A warning though, if you have a wireless internet connection, don't bother. It's just not worth it. The constant buffering and dropouts will render the whole exercise pointless. Also, if your ISP has data limits, keep a close eye on it, as you'll use up your limit pretty quickly.

    I'm with TPG on their "unlimited" plan. $59.99 a month. with reasonable speeds (for Australia), and never have to worry about data limits. Netflix itself has issued a report saying that TPG has tested as being the fastest ISP here as well, whereas Telstra throttles the speed who you access Netflix with because they have their own streaming service (Preato) in competition with Netflix. Presto has nowhere near as good library as Netflix, though.

    So, stop whingeing about the parlous state of free to air (it ain't gonna get any better), switch to TPG's unlimited plan, subscribe to Netflix and die happy.

    Plus if you ask nicely, I'll even tell you how to access the US and UK versions well. You don't need to learn any tech tricks, or even pay for a VPN service to access them either.
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